Going back to the greenhouse, "I'm sorry we took our time, Niko and I had to talk about this situation in private." Jin spoke-up as they walked inside.
Then when he noticed someone was Missing, "Where's Lydia?" Jin asked, "Out, for a phone call." Minnie replied while watching Nikolai's nervous expression.
So she asked "Nikolai, Are you feeling alright?"
"No, and I don't want to talk about my feelings." Nikolai simply replied.
"Noted, I won't ask again." Minnie said.
"Nikolai, did Jin explain to you our situation, me and Lydia's?" Salvatore asked.
"Yes, and he told me You guys are leaving in the morning.
Btw what time is it now?" Nikolai asked, "It's 2Am." Jin replied after checking his phone.
"The girls will be back at 9Am exactly, so we're definitely leaving before then.
I didn't survive Andrea to get caught by your mother Nikolai...no offense." Salvatore replied.
"None taken...I too don't want you to fall in my mother's hands either.
She is too angry about what happened to me, to let you walk away from this alive." Nikolai replied.
"Just why the fuck did you push Nikolai, Sal?! If you didn't do this! none of this would've happened." Minnie Asked suddenly.
"I KNOW I WAS WRONG OKAY?! I ACTED THE SAME WAY AS ANDREA, I HURT NIKOLAI BECAUSE I WAS JEALOUS OF HIM!" Salvatore screamed, startling everyone.
Sighing, "Salvatore, calm down." Nikolai said.
Sighing. "I'm sorry...I didn't mean to..." Salvatore replied.
"I know, but control yourself... You're in no position here to be screaming at anyone." Nikolai said.
Walking back into the greenhouse, "I'm back...Oh, Jin and Nikolai, you two are back too." Lydia sounded a little unsure as she got closer, "Is there a problem? Minnie said you had a phone call." Jin asked.
"Yes...I just secured a ride and place for Salvatore to stay in, out of this town...but there's a problem." Lydia replied.
"I don't understand, What's wrong?" Nikolai asked.
Taking a deep breath, "The person helping me, says they can't help both me and Salvatore.
I was just asked to choose only one of us to Stay with them, so the obvious choice would be Salvatore since we need him secured, not me." Lydia replied.
"That's not possible! you have to stay by Salvatore's side!" Jin said.
"Isn't there anybody else that can help you Lydia?" Nikolai asked.
"Unfortunately aside from Radka's girls, which obviously I can't ask for their help, since being kicked out of the girls means I'm blacklisted and anyone working under Radka could face punishment for helping me, including you Minnie and Jin... I don't have anybody else to turn to.
The friend that's helping me at the moment, is an old customer that couldn't pay my expenses when they hired me long ago, I took pity on them due to their impossible situation so instead of requesting money, I told them they owe me a favor for later.
So aside from that friend, I have no one I can contact at the moment...Blame it on my antisocial lifestyle." Lydia explained.
"I totally forgot you would take other jobs other than from The Madame, and you're right about being blacklisted, no girl or guy of Radka's will help you.
So, is there any other customer of yours that didn't pay their money yet? someone who can offer you a better chance?" Minnie asked.
"No, I'm usually strict about payment, so all of my clients have payed what they owed, so that one friend is an exception.
Although I do keep track of all of my old jobs and I can run a little research by reviewing them, I might find someone who owes me...
This would still require going back to my apartment and wasting a couple of hours...because I may or may not have done a lot of jobs, meaning I have tons of files to review." Lydia replied smiling apologetically.
"A busy sinper...I see." Minnie said nervously.
"I don't wanna sound evil, but can't you force that friend to accept helping both of you and Salvatore? and by force I mean threatening." Nikolai asked, making Jin knit his eyebrows together when he didn't expect such dark suggesting from Nikolai.
"No, I may be a killer for hire but I'm not that evil...I Know this friend, I can't do this to them." Lydia replied.
"Oh! I'm sure there's nothing evil about being a killer for hire!" Minnie said sarcastically.
"I'm with Lydia, I don't think it's a good idea to scare her friend now, they might back away from even helping Salvatore.
But we still need Lydia to be by Salvatore's side, to act as his bodyguard." Jin spoke-up.
"Oh! so she's gonna be the bodyguard's bodyguard!" Minnie commented,
"I'm no longer Andrea's bodyguard, I can protect myself from now on Jin.
Besides if Lydia disappeared with me, this would be suspicious for her...she could get into more trouble with Radka, god only knows if that woman doesn't have her watched...she could be even aware of what we're doing right now.
You know how the likes of her are too suspicious." Salvatore spoke-up.
"That woman is my mother...and while I agree with you Sal that my mother is overreacting about Lydia, please try to mention her in a kinder way." Nikolai said, "I'm sorry..." Salvatore apologized.
"Radka isn't aware of this... I made sure of it, so don't think about it too much Salvatore." Lydia said.
"But still Lydia, I'm serious about not needing you to nurse me." Salvatore replied.
"I understand that Lydia is still in hot waters with Radka but Sal, you're injured! you need someone to nurse and protect you.
You need Lydia.
Besides, I can tell you're grateful that we saved you from Andrea and that we're not handing you over to Radka, but you have to understand that personally, I still don't trust you fully yet to let you go on your own.
I have no guarantee that you won't try to disappear from us too." Jin replied.
"I won't, let me prove I'm trustworthy Jin! The best way to find out if you can trust somebody is to trust them.
Let me go Alone, I can take care of myself without you Or Lydia, you guys done enough.
I don't wanna be any more of trouble for you two, we should be working together, but so far you're the only ones doing anything.
It's my turn to do something." Salvatore said making Lydia and Jin look at each other, questioning with Their eyes whether this is a good idea or not.
"Jin, You asked Lydia to save my life knowing very well that by doing so, you can cost yourself your relationship with Nikolai, you two have something special, I know because it's driving Andrea insane!
And you Lydia, you already got beat the hell out of you by Radka...this time you could die.
I won't have your blood on my hands." Salvatore spoke again.
"Are you worried about me Sal? I'm a strong girl." Lydia said, "I know Lydia, I saw it firsthand and I'm grateful for it.
But for Whatever reasons, you still risked your life to save mine, and the bullet that got to me could've gotten to you, so I owe you at least to worry about you." Salvatore replied.
"Wow, how gentlemanly of you." Minnie mumbled sarcastically to herself.
Smiling, "Don't worry Sal, I can handle myself and I won't let this slight hiccup become an obstacle in my way." Lydia replied.
Suddenly, "I think you should trust him." Nikolai spoke-up.
"You mean Salvatore?" Jin questioned, "Yes! I think...You guys should give him the opportunity to prove himself." Nikolai replied.
"Thank you Nikolai." Salvatore said, "Don't thank me yet, I'm only taking your side because I think it's a bad idea for both you and Lydia to disappear.
I trust Lydia when she says she made sure my mother don't know what's happening right now, but I can't trust her to be aware of what my mother is planning for her.
Judging from today and how things were still awkward between my parents, my guess is that they're still not completely over what Happened to their relationship because Of you, Lydia.
Not that I'm saying you did anything wrong, it's my mother getting unnecessary jealous of you while you're clearly head over heels for Cyrus.
But my mother have a hard time owning her own problems, she likes blaming other as an easy way out.
So knowing that, I suggest that you stay here in town, and act as normal as you can, so that you don't draw anymore attention to yourself...And avoid my Father as much as you can." Nikolai explained.
"I know, Nikolai...And you're right, Thanks to the misunderstanding between Radka and Rushil during the Flint incident, all the girls are calling me a homewrecker now, which is funny...Like you said I have eyes only for one man, Cyrus.
And Radka is probably aware by now that I stalk Cyrus, but I don't understand why she's not squashing the false rumors that something between me and her husband, has happened." Lydia replied.
"I'm sorry, rewind a little...you said 'I stalk'.
You're not gonna stop stalking Cyrus even though we all found out about it?" Minnie's asked.
As if it's the most obvious and normal thing to say, "Of course not dear! I have to do this.
While I can't lie and say that I do stalk him 24/7, I mean I'm a human after all, and I need to go to the bathroom, grab a bite or sometimes have an alone time...or even have an emergency like the Flint incident and saving Salvatore from Andrea's men.
But I do watch over Cyrus whenever i can, mainly to make sure he's safe...which I unfortunately wasn't so successful in lately, Flint was a huge oversight for me since he ended-up stabbing poor Cyrus.
Anyway, I'm not like other stalkers, I do it for a good reason.
For example, Because he's born on the 4th of July, Cyrus doesn't feel special on his birthday and often celebrates it boringly with just a cake at home with Ha-yoon, since most Businesses are closed due to it being a national holiday.
So knowing that, I prepay for his cake before Ha-yoon orders it and makes the cake shop owner tell her the cake is on the house because They give out free cake for anyone born on 4th of July." Lydia said while happily smiling, "Which reminds me, I can't leave town just yet! I have a cake to pay for! his birthday is in two days, or one since it's past midnight." She added.
"What the...Fuck." Minnie said shivering.
"Jesus, Not even Andrea is this dedicated to stalking Nikolai." Salvatore mumbled, a little disturbed.
Faking a smile, "Lydia speaks in a somewhat elegant and soothing manner, I forgot she's deranged!" Nikolai whispered, "I get it why Minnie is scared of her now." Jin replied blinking twice.
"Lydia hun, you're right that the best way to a man's heart is through his stomach! so the cake is a good idea, but why not give Cyrus the cake in person?" Minnie said.
"Wait! it may not be bad after all! we have a good relationship now that I helped him with Flint, we can celebrate his birthday together! do you think he'll let me organize his party? I know everything he likes, it'll be perfect!" Lydia said enthusiastically.
"Freakishly perfect." Minnie said sarcastically, But Lydia in her little moment of enthusiasm, didn't catch the sarcasm.
Pulling Jin aside, "I promised your sister this remains a secret between us, but seeing how Lydia is literally crazy about Cyrus, you should know that Seong-min happened to be crushing on Cyrus too." Minnie whispered.
With wide terrified eyes, "What did you say?!" Jin whisper-screamed.