Miya lay down on the soft bed with a thud, feeling like her head would fall apart. She hated that her back sunk into the soft mattress, and it made her groan out loud in agitation. Becky watched the girl with interest, an amused smile plastered on her face."You still aren"t used to soft beds," she remarked.
Miya held her head in distress.
"It"s horrible, sis!" she complained, suddenly feeling the urge to throw up, "My head is spinning!"
"Well, who asked you to get that drunk?"
"I was upset!"
"Very mature."
"Sis, you really shouldn"t be lecturing me about this."
"I didn"t say I"m any better, but I am technically your elder. So I can."
"Elder! We"re like five years apart!"
"Old enough."
"Sis…"
"What?"
"Why are you so annoying as well? Did you take pointers from Jimmy or something?"
"Jimmy? First name, already. I see progress, punk."
"Sis…!"
Rebecca chuckled, then proceeded towards the common kitchen at Palace Jade. She also warned her Junior Sister to keep lying on the bed and not move a muscle until she returned. It took Becky barely minutes to go to the kitchen and be back in her room, with a prepared gla.s.s of clear, yellow liquid in her hand.
She marched towards the smaller girl, and shoved it under her chin.
"Drink," she said.
Miya immediately made a face.
"This smells awful!" she complained rebelliously. Becky rolled her eyes.
"Not more than you do. Now stop being a brat, and drink up, Miya."
"Sis, this sucks! This is raw egg yolk, isn"t it?"
"Yes, three."
"Argh!" the girl groaned, sitting up as she held her head, "Can"t I have some aspirin instead?"
"Not if you want to survive through the Chairman"s meeting. It happens to be in less than an hour. This works better and faster. Now come on, kid! Drink up!"
Miya mumbled agitatedly again, but took the gla.s.s in both her hands. Then swallowing the tasteless liquid in one go, she was ready to puke out her guts.
"It"s horrible!" she choked.
Becky shrugged, then laughed.
"Wash up, and get ready for the meeting. I"ll be choosing your clothes this time. Lord knows what you"ll wear otherwise."
Miya sulked, but agreed anyhow.
Half an hour later, Becky had forcefully made the girl shower, and then put her into a not-too-large pantsuit. Miya frowned at the sky blue colour of it, that didn"t go with her usual style at all. But it did remind her of Ben"s eyes, so she didn"t give it too much heed and stuck with the suit.
There was a bigger problem at hand, however.
Her head still buzzed. And even after a rather shocking perfume on her – which was totally Becky"s taste, but made her sneeze – Miya still wasn"t sure she smelled right. Rebecca a.s.sured her otherwise, and she could only trust her opinion.
Which she did, anyway.
When Becky gave her a final thumbs up and got ready herself, Miya became instantly nervous. Once left alone in the room, her heart began to pound unnaturally harsher against her chest. Jimmy"s face swam in her mind involuntarily, and an unknown feeling crawled up, all the way from her stomach to her throat.
Her head buzzed, but there wasn"t one thing that she didn"t remember.
Too much…
Last night, they had shared too much.
Her heart thumped, and somehow, she felt uneasy. But there was a feeling of unfamiliar comfort that surged too, one that she couldn"t verse herself with.
What did the future hold?
Becky returned.
She talked about something, that Miya couldn"t concentrate on. She nodded, in between said a typical, "Yes," but her mind raced back to Jimmy again and again.
What did he think of her past?
Had she told him too much?
What about that which he didn"t know?
Could he understand what he did know?
A sharp pain went through her brain again. It was only when Rebecca said "Carver" twice that Miya paid attention to the girl. Her face slowly turned to a frown on hearing her words.
"Becky," Miya shrugged, "Are you afraid to face Carver?���
Rebecca, who was folding her clothes, stiffened. Then sighing, she admitted, "Kind of."
"Why?"
"B-Because of our history… he"s always been one step ahead."
"I met him Becky. I don"t think he is the drug overlord."
"What?!"
Rebecca scowled, and her face filled with horror in a second. What!
Miya sighed again, her head pounding now.
"I told the Chairman, he agrees too. Carver is too weak to own a cartel spread out in three countries. I don"t know more, but my guess is he is simply the face of the cartel. It is being operated by someone else. And on a bigger scale."
"But… why would the cartel be called Rivqah, if not started by Thad?"
"It"s twisted even if it was started by him… but I don"t know. I think Chairman might have the answers."
"Didn"t Jimmy Hunter tell you anything?"
"We… didn"t talk about that."
"I think you were very brave in your dealing with Carver though, Miya. It was admirable. When I watched the clip, I couldn"t help but notice how much you"ve grown. Your sis is proud of you."
Miya would have smiled and said a "Thank You". Only that her mind stopped functioning at exactly one word.
Clip.
What the h.e.l.l?
"Becky… what clip?"
Miya"s heart thudded, but her face turned black. A rather provoking feeling rose in her, and she quietly replayed the events of the night in her head. Jimmy had said he knew about her being picked up by Carver"s men because Ben saw them take her in a car. That was why he had rushed to her aid.
But – had there been something else?
Rebecca frowned in response as well.
"You didn"t know you were wired?" she asked.
Miya"s face turned evil.
Of course she had been wired! How the f*** did she not think of the possibility? This was a rookie mistake!
Venomously, she hissed, "No."
Becky suddenly felt apologetic.
"I think the Chairman did it only to keep an eye on the events. It was a dangerous dealing, Miya. Don"t be mad."
"Why"re you defending him?"
"I"m not!"
"Then I"ll ask him myself."
Miya did her best to pull herself together. But fury gnawed at every inch of her body, and she couldn"t help but bite her lip in anger.
They should have f***ing told her.
If they were going to bug her, she ought to have known.
This was not done.
Angrily, she walked out of the room.