Do you want to trust Andrea again?

After reading her Ex-husband's message, Soo-Min sighed, "Is everything alright?" Joel asked.

"My ex-hubby is gonna be in town tomorrow!" she said, "Oh! he must be here to check on your daughter, are you bothered by him?" Joel asked.

"Not really! he and I are like Best friends! I'm just not sure Jin would be as happy as I am to see him." Soo-Min replied.

"Best friend with your ex, wow! glad to know there's a divorce that didn't end bad." Joel said surprised, though he was slightly jealous.

"It was a marriage for benefits, so there was no feelings between us." Soo-Min explained making Joel smile.

Suddenly, Lydia walked into the kitchen with an empty bowl in her hands.

"Oh Hey Lyds!" Joel greeted her, "Lyds? that's my nickname?" Lydia said smiling, "It's good right!" Joel replied.

"Wow, your cat ate well!" Soo-Min said looking at the empty bowl, "He's always a hungry cat, I find it cute to be honest." Lydia replied, then she winked at Soo-Min without Joel noticing.

Soo-Min's instincts knew something was wrong, "Hey, didn't you tell me earlier that you wanted to pet Mr Cyrus but was afraid he'd scratch you? well now that his belly is full, he's at ease, if you come with me, you can pet him." Lydia said.

"I'll come right away! Yay!" Soo-Min said in a Cutesy way to make Joel laugh and not suspect anything, before she followed Lydia outside the kitchen.

...Few minutes later...

After going to the basement, Lydia explained to Soo-Min how the situation has changed once again, which freaked Soo-Min as a result.

"YOU TOOK THE JOB?!" Soo-Min whisper-Shouted, "Calm down I had no other choice!" Lydia replied.

"Don't tell me to calm down! I'm new here! how am I going to deal with Joel!"

"Listen, we have two options now, either that we move your sister and her driver from this house before Joel realizes who they are, And it's better if we move them today, sooner is always better than later.

Or, we have to come clean to Joel about this and see his reaction...and if we do that, You might need to give-up on your sister this time Soo-Min."

"You want me to just hand her to Radka?" Soo-Min said angrily.

"Yes... Anyways, if we choose option 1, we'd need a car and a place to hide these two other than Joel's.

You'll handle Their transportation since I'll be Away, is there anyone that you know that would help you this way? I ran out of friends to ask." Lydia said.

Sighing, "Someone that can help? Has a car and a place, the only person I know like that is Ha-yoon!" Soo-Min replied, "But..."

"Ha-yoon, of course...You're not sure she'd agree." Lydia said to which Soo-Min nodded to.

"Ha-yoon has a thing for cash, maybe we can pay her in exchange for help." Lydia spoke again.

"Money may not be enough, When I told Seong-min about me being an Ex-Assassin, she warned me that Ha-yoon is seriously afraid of the police and illegal activities for some reason, and warned me to not to get her involved if I ever did something like that.

Besides, it's too dangerous bringing my sister to where an innocent woman and my daughter are staying!" Soo-Min replied.

"Innocent...but Ha-yoon might be our only hope, plus Joel seems to trust her, and he doesn't trust people that easily." Lydia explained.

Surprised, "He does? I feel like you're hinting at something." Soo-Min said, "I am but don't worry about it now.

Anyways, you have to ask Ha-yoon for help, if money is an issue, I'll take care of it...I have enough money for emergencies like this to help me retire 7 times in my life." Lydia replied.

Soo-Min decided to think for a minute, Lydia was right about Ha-yoon being the possible way out, plus she isn't going to that carnival like she and her daughter will, she can easily come pick the prisoners, and hide them in her house.

But there's one problem.

"Lydia...we can do this, but not with Seong-min aware."

"You're going to hide this from your daughter?"

"Princess and Jin are as tight as fresh elastic band, she will tell him if she finds out, this concern Nikolai too."

"Then blackmail her? you're aware your daughter is still after Moses right? From what I know already, Jin didn't like what she did with the other two ex-bullies behind his back, he'll be mad once again if he knew she's still chasing Moses after everything that happened."

"The solution is blackmailing my daughter?" Soo-Min asked a little angrily, "Unless you have another way to buy her silence, or magically remove her forever from Ha-yoon's house, starting tonight?" Lydia asked.

"Give me a minute, I'll think of something!" Soo-Min replied.

...Meanwhile...

As he began washing the dishes while Nikolai enjoyed his pie, "It seems like even director Cliff doesn't like Andrea too!" Jin said, he was slightly happy about it.

"Unfortunately, I can't blame him since Andrea is a tough manager... but in his defense, Andrea is like this with directors because well... usually the directors we work with are tough as well!

They're judgey, overly controlling and they don't like it when somebody else shares Their attitude which is basically Andrea." Nikolai replied.

Surprised that Nikolai was suddenly defending Andrea's behavior, "Niko, but Director Cliff is a good director, and he believes Andrea is controlling you, but you sound like you're defending Andrea!" Jin said.

"Hey look! you're not the one who befriended Andrea for 7 years Jin!

It's true that now i suspect him more to be a bad person...but I'm still having doubts, OK!

Andrea and I have...Had something special." Nikolai replied, his words made Jin feel agitated, "We're Something that's kind of between friends and lovers, You remember that I said we were intimate before, right?

if it wasn't for what happened with Salvatore the other day, I would've never believed you if you said Andrea is capable of harming other people." Nikolai Added.

Sighing, "I'm sorry Niko...I know this is all new to you, doubting Andrea after a 7 years of whatever it is of a relationship, but you've seen how far he went with Salvatore?

Let's say you can't believe me because I'm Me, But I thought you believed Director Cliff too? the man you consider like a second father? you just told the man you'll handle Director Lanetti's offer without Andrea knowing anything?" Jin asked.

"I'm having my doubts right now because I never personally saw him being dangerous! You've seen it Jin, but I didn't.

Andrea is bossy and controlling at work, there's no denial in that, but only at work.

He's a complete gentleman, and a lover boy outside the job with me, he and I almost never had a conflict as friends and he never treated me badly in any way.

The very first time Andrea has treated me differently was when I went to visit him after he got out of the hospital, when I had my accident I mean... I was so shocked that he kicked me out of the house, but he wasn't the one who pushed me! Salvatore did!" Nikolai said.

"I Can't say that Salvador is not a bad guy too, I didn't like that you forgave him easily, I wanted him to pay for what he did, but then again I was the one who saved him because I knew I'll never get another chance at stopping Andrea!

I asked Lydia to save Salvatore, so that i could prove to you once and for all, that Andrea is dangerous." Jin replied, he was getting angry at this point and Nikolai was getting Angry too.

"At the time, I didn't think much of it, what Andrea told me at the party scared me off, true! but now I think Andrea acted just like how my mom would act!

He only attacked Salvatore because he deserved it for hurting me." Nikolai said.

Scoffing, "Whether it's Andrea or your mom, Killing Salvatore is not the right punishment.

Don't you think I wanted to kill him too for what he did to you? why can I hold back when they can't?

Am I weird because I kept my head cool? I could've hurt him! but i needed him alive." Jin said tossing the dishes he was holding back into the sink, he turned around to face where Nikolai was sitting and continued, "However, there's another strong reason why I saved Salvatore instead of letting Andrea get rid of him, because killing him wouldn't make me a Better man than Andrea.

Nikolai... I can barely see myself worth breathing the same fucking air as you! I thought that if I killed a man even to get revenge for you, You'd hate me forever!

But did you want me to hurt him? you sound like you're okay with Salvatore getting killed?" Jin added, he found himself panting out of frustration.

But Nikolai was stunned by his words, "You were afraid I'd hate you?" Nikolai questioned.

Jin decided to calm down and take a deep breath before he answered, "Ever since you've told me that you didn't actually hate me that much since the past 7 years, You actually hating me became my number one fear at the moment..." Jin's words made Nikolai's heart flutter, "I spared Salvatore for the greater good which is stopping Andrea, but also for you because I don't want you to feel unsafe around me.

Saving Salvatore doesn't mean I'm not planning to get him punished, when this is all over, he'll get what he deserves for harming you Nikolai." Jin added.

Smiling to himself, "I hope you don't get me wrong Jin, I'm actually glad that you saved Salvatore.

whether he ended up in Andrea or my mom's hands, he would have been dead, and I don't like to punish people unfairly." Nikolai said.

Sitting once again besides Nikolai, "Niko..." Jin said taking Nikolai's hands in his, it surprised Nikolai a bit "Uh? what are you... Jin!"

"Niko... I'm sorry if I'm having problems understanding your sudden defense for Andrea... I'm not exactly the kinda guy with a 7 years long best friend, to understand your bond.

I just want you to be prepared for anything and everything, to be safe." Jin said.

"Jin, I understand your concern, I'm not saying that I don't believe something is wrong with Andrea... it's just that it's too early to make a certain judgment... especially without an evidence.

For 7 years, he was my friend, family, I'm scared to actually believe...I made him the bad guy." Nikolai replied.

As Nikolai said that, Jin could see the sadness on Nikolai's face, he knew his beautiful boyfriend blamed himself for all of Andrea's actions, but he wasn't the one to be blamed.

Love shouldn't justify hurt, just because you love someone, it doesn't give you the right to harm those around that someone and call it love.

Jin placed one of his hand on Nikolai's cheek, caressing it as he spoke "You didn't make anyone the bad guy Niko.

When you love someone, you're bond to feel jealous, some get only a tiny bit jealous, some can be a little too crazy... but when things escalate to kidnapping and killing, that's not love, and it's not your fault Andrea is like this.

you can't blame yourself for it, even if his feelings for you are a motivation, Andrea is the one making these decisions and carrying them out, not you Niko!" Jin said.

"I don't like thinking that Andrea is evil...i... don't want to believe it anymore." Nikolai fumbled over his words, he suddenly felt like crying.

Sighing, "You don't have to.

I realized I was wrong to get you involved into this.

Niko...do you want to trust Andrea again?" Jin Asked.

"Trust him...again?"