"I need to go get groceries. Anyone want to come with me?" Mina asked as she looked through the fridge. No one volunteered and Mina sighed, "Y'all, if no one comes with me, we will starve," And in that instant, Risále and Lumina both volunteered.
Xander just stared at them before shaking his head, "You two are so easy to read," He muttered. His sister just shrugged.
"Hey, if it's for the food, I'll do anything."
Only a few moments later, the three women were at the grocery store, "Alright, Risále, Lumi, you both go to the spices and dairy section, I'll get the bare essentials, because God knows we keeping running out of those as well," Mina explained, grabbing a shopping cart. Lumina and Risále nodded as the two grabbed another shopping cart and went ahead. However, the light-blue-haired woman stopped for a moment, feeling eerily as though someone was watching her closely. She spun around quickly, hoping to catch a glimpse of anyone staring.
But there was no one.
Mina shook her head and shrugged.
Half an hour later, they all met up at the checkout lane, "Did you guys get everything on the list? If we have it all, we don't have to leave the house for a while, and that is my goal."
"Well ...We got the bread and bagels and stuff like that, rice bags, cereal…" Risále listed off all the items on the list until she got to the bottom of the list and paused, sighing, "Water. How the hell did we forget to get water?" She turned to the two women and asked.
"I'll go get it. It'll be quick, I'll be back in a few seconds," Lumina promised them, and at Mina's expression, she grinned, "Stop worrying so much, I'll be back before you know it. I promise I'll be fine, okay, Princess?" She said sweetly before dashing off.
Mina knew her face was bright red and turned to Risále with a scowl, "Not. A damn. Word. Out of you," She gritted, but Risále had already started giggling and Mina knew there was no way to stop her at that point.
"That's so cute! Is that why she calls you Princess? Or are you her Princess?" Risále said, giggles dying down.
Mina groaned, "Well, I sure as hell wish I was her Princess because that would mean my dreams since I was fourteen would come true."
Risále turned to her, jaw dropped, "You have to be kidding. Nine years. You've been pining after her for nine years. How do you deal with yourself?" She said in amazement.
"You think I deal with myself?" Mina asked in the same tone of amazement, "Someone better give me an award, I must be a legendary actress."
Meanwhile, Lumina was rushing because she knew that if she wasn't back soon, Mina and Risále would raise hell looking for her. She got to the aisle she was looking for and found the gallon bottles of water, picking up two quickly.
"Need a hand?" Lumina dropped one of the bottles after hearing the sickeningly familiar voice. Someone grabbed the bottles before they could hit the ground. She didn't want to, but she knew she had to see who it was, "It's been too long, Jiali."
When she had finally forced her body to function, Lumina looked the other woman in the eye, "What do you want, Veronica? I thought I made it clear years ago; we're over. I don't care about you anymore. Do you—Are you such a fucking moron to think that I could ever forgive you for what you did to me?" Lumina tried to keep her voice steady, looking around to see if she could manage to catch anyone's attention for help.
Veronica scoffed, "Look me in the eyes and tell me that you have no feelings at all for me. Tell me that you never thought about me after you ran away," And Lumina took that as a challenge. She looked at Veronica straight in the eyes with a hard, cold stare. Veronica seemed surprised by that, "Look, Jiali, I know I fucked up—"
"—Understatement of the fucking year, Veronica."
"—And I want to make it up to you. Don't you remember? We were perfect. I could give you everything you wanted. I can give you everything we had. And I could give you more than that little Princess could give you," Veronica finished.
"Don't talk about her like that. She's treated me better than you ever had. Even back when we were dating, she treated me better than my own damn girlfriend. Do you know how sad that is? That I didn't see her because I was blinded by you? I could have had a healthy, loving relationship with a woman who would have treated me right. But you ruined that for me. You never respected me, Veronica, you never loved me," Lumina growled.
"What do you mean by that? I gave you anything and everything you wanted. How dare you say that to me! Half of the things you have now are because of me!" Veronica angrily whispered.
"Everything I have now is from myself or my brother. Anything you gave me was burned seven years ago. I can't believe you can even say that, you took away so much from me! You took away my ability to say no, my autonomy, and you literally fucking tortured me—Do you really think you have any right to say that? You were a goddamn monster, any other person I was with at least treated me with basic human decency—" Lumina was almost yelling but Veronica covered her mouth.
"Do not talk about other people while I'm standing right in front of you, got it?" She asked roughly. Lumina met Veronica's eyes and shut up immediately. There was a glint in the older woman's eyes that Lumina hated, that she was scared of. It made her feel sixteen again. The only way to describe the woman was crazy, "Now, I think you should keep quiet and come with me, Jiali. After all, you know just how many people I know in the royal family. I'm sure the White Lotus would very much appreciate knowing where their little runaway assassin is—"
"Stay away from my brother, Veronica," Lumina warned, "I'll kill you, Veronica, I really will."
Veronica didn't seem bothered by this, continuing on, "—Or perhaps, that little blue birdie of yours. Not that royal brat, the other one. She's operating on a bit less information than the rest of you, isn't she?" She grinned, "Would be a shame if someone managed to…Get her away from you all, wouldn't it?"
Lumina's eyes widened, "What the—How could you possibly know about…" She trailed off as she remembered her recent dreams, "You. You weren't just affiliated with the White Lotus. You were part of it," Horror crept into her voice, "That was what it was about. All those tests on me, all those 'experiments'. You were part of the scientist branch."
"Oh? You must be further along than we initially thought," Veronica murmured, "This will make things interesting. In any case, I'm sure you understand what will happen if you don't come with me. So, stay quiet, Jiali. For your friends' sakes."
Back at the register, Mina and Risále were already panicking. Lumina had been gone for five minutes already, it shouldn't have taken her that long and she would have texted if something happened.
"Where did she go?" Risále asked as Mina pulled out her phone, checking it as she bit her nail.
"Misses?" The two of them turned and Risále swore her jaw dropped at the sight of the young woman in front of them. She had warm, dark skin and sea-blue eyes, with long ginger hair falling down her shoulders and back to her waist.
"I...Uh….Hello," Risále began to say, swallowing slightly. This woman was gorgeous.
Mina couldn't hold back her grin as she smacked Risále on the shoulder, startling her out of her trance. The ginger-haired woman gestured for them to follow her, "I think I know what you're looking for."
Both of them straightened up immediately at this and didn't hesitate to follow her.
Within seconds, Veronica had been fully tackled to the ground by Mina, who had both of her hands around the woman's throat, pinning her to the ground.
"Keep your hands off of her, you bitch," Mina growled, low and animalistic, and as she looked into Veronica's eyes, she saw the flicker of recognition in her eyes.
"You—You're that little brat, the one that she always kept around—" Veronica choked as Mina squeezed her hands tighter.
"You are not qualified to talk to me," Mina cut her off shortly, before pulling her fist back and punching her in the face, "If she said she's not going anywhere with you, then that means she's not going anywhere with you, got it?" She growled, and Veronica finally managed to push Mina off of her as she took off through the back door.
"Are you alright? Did she hurt you?" Mina was in front of her, cupping Lumina's face with her hands, and she didn't hesitate to pull both girls into a hug, and she could feel Risále shaking.
"I'm sorry it took so long—" Risále began, but Lumina simply buried her face in the younger woman's hair.
"It's okay. It's okay, but we need to get home, we need to make sure that no one else is in danger. She mentioned Xander—" Lumina said and Mina pulled away, taking her hands in hers.
"Of course, breathe for me, alright? Let's just check out our things and go," Mina said softly. Risále turned to thank the absolute goddess of a woman that had helped them but to her surprise, the woman was nowhere to be found. Surprisingly, she felt drawn to the woman, like she should have known her. But right now, they had other priorities.
It was later in the day, and Owen and Fenix had let them know that they were going out on a date, so Kaedan and Xander had decided to hang around in the living room to make sure they got back alright. As soon as they saw the two boys on the porch, they relaxed.
"Hey, guys," Both men turned to see Risále standing at the bottom of the steps, "Are they home yet?" She asked worriedly. The two nodded, and she breathed a sigh of relief, "If they weren't home by now, Mina and I were planning to go look for them, but I'm glad that won't have to happen."
"Yeah, don't worry. Mina actually texted them multiple times to make sure they were home before 10:00 and they knew what would happen if they disobeyed," Xander laughed, "Although," His voice turned serious, "After this morning, I wasn't sure if I even wanted them going out. Same with Nia and Leon."
"I think you should talk to Lumina. I'm pretty sure she's really worried because she said it wasn't a huge deal this morning and yet…" Risále said carefully, and Xander sighed, nodding. He got up and leaned down, pressing a kiss to Kaedan's cheek before walking past Risále and heading up the stairs.
He knocked on Lumina's room, "Hey, can I come in?" He asked, and after hearing the quiet, affirmative noise, he pushed the door open. He saw that Lumina was sitting on her bed, on her laptop, "You alright?" He asked gently, sitting on the bed across from her.
"I'm…" Lumina seemed to be contemplating her answer before she let out a huge breath, "No, I don't think I'm okay. It was terrifying, Ge. She was acting as if she'd done nothing to hurt me, like she really thought I would go with her. She really thought she could make me go with her," Lumina said quietly, "And it's scary how she knows exactly how to get me to do what she wants."
"A'Li...What did she say?" Xander asked gently, trying to coax answers out of her, "Did she...She threatened you, didn't she? With us?" He asked, feeling his heart sink, "Oh, A'Li...You didn't say anything, did you?"
"No, but I almost did," Lumina said quickly, "She...She said she had people targeting you. I know that's not new for you, but I was still worried. And then she—I don't know how she knows, but she knows Risále has amnesia and is confused. She threatened to use her as well. I'm honestly glad Mina attacked her the way she did but I just want her to leave me alone. I don't want to be associated with her anymore," She finished.
Xander sighed and put his hand on her shoulder, "Look at me. If you don't want to be associated with her anymore, then you're not. You nothing her. You don't hate her, you don't love her. You nothing her. She tried so hard to hurt you, so show her that all her efforts had no effect on you. You don't care if she is hurt, dead, alive, nothing, okay? You nothing her."
Lumina took a deep breath, "I...Nothing her."
Xander smiled and messed with her hair, "That's it. And we're all going to be careful. Now that I know about the fact that there's a target on my back, I'll be more careful, and we'll just make sure that Risále is never alone. None of us will ever be alone," He said.
Lumina nodded, finally letting out a small smile.
He dropped a kiss on her head, "When you're ready, come join us downstairs, okay? Mina needs some help with dinner tonight."