"You said you'll answer my questions to gain my trust, yes?" Nancy asked, failing to ignore or avoid Samuel as they were seated on the plane, ready to head back to the US.
"Yes. However, I do not think I can answer any question righ-"
"Who is Bradley?" Nancy asked before clearing her throat.
For some reason, she was scared to even know the answer. The name alone sent shivers down her spine.
"You do not know General Bradley?" Samuel asked as he raised an eyebrow. "He is the current highest-ranking military officer of the US."
"The General?" Nancy asked in confusion.
Why would Sebastian ask Samuel about a General?
Nancy didn't want to ask Samuel about this.
Nancy recalled that Sebastian was a biochemistry researcher and a doctor in the military. That figured out why he knew General Bradley.
Roth was also associated with the military, and Samuel seemingly had been related to the military as well. But it still didn't justify why they would have something to do with the highest-ranking official.
"Everybody has their dilemmas." She recalled Sebastian mentioning it, now that she was stuck in a dilemma. She wasn't sure whether or not she wanted to trust Samuel.
Samuel lightly turned over to her side.
"What is troubling you besides failing to have faith in me?" Samuel asked diligently.
"Everything you say and you do is somehow related to Sebastian. Believe it or not." Nancy directly confronted him.
"I shall look into it on your behalf, so worry not." Samuel accepted the confrontation.
Of course, he did.
Seemingly, Samuel was a good person in any manner, and Nancy felt as if she could lean on him as a person. But as she dwelled deeper into his past, more and more suspicions seemed to arise.
A sudden thought clicked in Nancy's mind. She could recall the time when Sebastian had her in his lab. She had seen a picture of a boy.
Allegedly, someone Sebastian cherished.
Nancy raised her eyes to look at Samuel for comparison.
He had dark eyes, dark hair, formal clothing, and a neat hairstyle. At first, she suspected David because the picture was a black and white film. But analyzing further, she assumed she could be wrong as Samuel fit the category.
Would it be fine to confront Samuel about it?
"Samuel." She called him to gain his attention now that all her facts and figures were set and believed by her sufficiently.
"Yes, Nancy." He replied as swiftly as ever.
"I think… Sebastian…" Nancy hesitated.
Was it fine to say that to a possible accomplice?
"I am listening," Samuel muttered.
Nancy shook her head. Maybe it was better to keep it to herself for the time being. Samuel needed to gain more of her trust to be let in on what she had been thinking.
If Samuel was biologically related to Sebastian, she wondered what kind of childhood he would have had.
Since it was just a hunch, she figured it would be too soon to declare them closely related.
"Am I to be left in anticipation?" Samuel asked.
"Yeah. Fuck it."
Samuel nodded. He was continuously bashed by Nancy for several reasons, so it was strange to see how polite he was despite all of that.
"Why did the General's name trigger you?" Nancy asked. "You should tell me what triggers you so I can avoid it."
She made her question sound like a concern so he may feel comfortable answering it. But his reaction…
Samuel chuckled lightly.
"It is highly appreciated that you are concerned about this matter." Samuel had a light smile, and it seemed fake. It irked Nancy. "However," He added anticipation to his words as well. "Almost everything and everyone triggers me in one way or another. There is no way you can avoid this. I apologize for the inconvenience due to my mental health issues. I shall ask for a prescription so it may not trouble you during work hours."
"Why didn't you take medicines to begin with?" Nancy asked. "Then we could've gotten Sebastian arrested."
"We could not have gotten Sebastian arrested under any circumstances in a foreign country where he has more connections than us. Perhaps if we had met him in the US, things would have been different for both parties. Therefore, he was reluctant to visit us in a public place in the US rather than Russia." Samuel explained. "As for medicines, I had been convicted for drug abuse not long ago. Therefore, I refused to resort to drugs. However, for medicinal purposes, I shall ask for a light dose. Mental health medicines usually get the best of us. Therefore, I preferred to avoid it. To be fair, the drugs did not work either. They deteriorated my health further."
"Damn," Nancy muttered. "If that's the case, then you don't have to get meds if you don't want to." She added as she wasn't going to see him much anyway.
"Is that acceptable for you? I appreciate your thoughtfulness."
Why did he seem so innocent about everything?
Nancy hated that she was having second thoughts about him. She had always thought that she wasn't the one to fall for words. But his words were on another level of sweetness.
She liked to see him talk as much as she hated it. At this point, she didn't know what she wanted.
"Why don't you ever justify yourself? I bash you and tell you that I don't trust you, and you just nod." Nancy threw another question at him to see if he could change her mind about him being an accomplice.
"I do not know how to justify myself." Samuel was honest, and Nancy knew that. Yet she doubted. "I can only tell you that I am unrelated to Sebastian in any way. However, my words never seem to satisfy you. There is no other way that I can prove myself to you. Unless, you suggest one."
"Great. Then tell me everything about yourself. From childhood to now!" Nancy suggested.
"How will that prove anything? I do not understand." Samuel objected.
Nancy scoffed.
"It's because you're so Goddamn secretive that I can't trust you."
"I am certainly not secretive," Samuel said in his defense. "Your questioning is wrong. I cannot just disclose my childhood to you, my employer, as I have my rights as an-"
"Okay, shut the fuck up." Nancy cut his words because they were absolutely right. "If you can't talk, then listen."
She eyed him down from head to toe.
The tension between them made the air thick for everyone else seated on the plane as well.
"Don't you fucking touch a single hair on my head or look at me at all until you have the balls to talk about yourself. You wanna ace your fucking job? Then talk."
Uh oh.