Chapter Seven
Mina was embarrassed. Beyond embarrassed with herself. She couldn’t believe she had a wet dream. And such an intense one at that.
She was scared of sex. And that’s why it surprised her to have come so close to having one with Aaron in her dream.
All he did was kiss you, you wanton, she scolded herself, but she felt no shame. And why should she? She was a grown woman, and human with sexual needs and desires. Every person is born with it to some degree, and so was she. And she had the right to enjoy it, didn’t she?
I don’t even know how to masturbate, she thought in despair. It’s not to say she had never tried before. She had. Countless times. With all she could get her hands on. But it wasn’t of any use. She’d never orgasmed in her life.
Not once.
Maybe Aaron could – oh her, God! No!
She was a mess inside in every way. She was horny, shy, and inexperienced. If she had to subject herself to such torture then she should’ve been a nun instead.
She looked at the time. She’d gotten up way too early according to her schedule. She had an hour to catch some more sleep, but she knew it would be impossible with the dream she had. Also…
She needed to change the sheets. So she heaved a sigh and pushed herself out of bed, ridding herself off of her clothes to take a shower first. There was no way she could let the housekeeper, Tyra, see this when she came in two hours to help around.
The shower was no help apparently because her thoughts ran amok there, too. She felt like smashing her head against the tiled walls repeatedly. She couldn’t get the image out of her head. She didn’t think she could imagine something so hot in the first place. She’d watched porn, but she could never get herself to watch the penetration. Her fear was absolutely irrational…
Well, maybe not. Her past experiences with numerous sexual assaults left her wary and battered to the thought of achieving such comfort and intimacy with anybody at all. But it was weird how willing she was to let Aaron in the way she wanted him to.
She had no problem imagining it, definitely not. But it just seemed impossible for it all to come true with someone, anyone at all. It was all better off in her head.
A few distractions needed to be in order if she was going to make it through the day productively at all. The thoughts lingered deliciously in the crevices of her mind, reaching out to her seductively. But this new design her client needed was due in a month and would need absolute concentration. A one floored villa with traditional Italian accents and modern interior, an indoor pool and waterfall. She liked working on those. Along with the architecture, she also took responsibility for the interior design.
The concept drafts took up space on the bulletin board before her drawing table, coming together in themes that complimented each other. And it wasn’t too long before she was absolutely engrossed in her work. So engrossed that she didn’t notice the time passing by, her housekeeper leaving after finishing her duties, and the familiar breath of someone down her neck.
Aaron watched her work. Her hand was quick and lithe over the papers as they sketched out various designs. And with each unhappy scribble, she’d crumple and throw it away. There was one particularly good one of a staircase he liked. Even Mina paused to study it, hands on the either side of it as she bent over it like a prey. Aaron almost chuckled, but held his breath and watched her carefully. She sighed, shook her head and moved to crumple it. But his hand shot out from behind her and slammed itself onto the drawing.
“This one is good!”
“HOLY SHIT!” Mina screamed, and Aaron swore his eardrums popped. She turned around and her knee came right into his groin. He squeaked in pain, eyes crossing over as his hands held his privates, falling to his knees.
“Oh her… OH HER, GOD!” she screamed even more, “AARON, I AM SO FUCKING SORRY!”
“It’s fine,” he forced through his constricted throat, but, hell, it hurt.
“I mean, if you’d only told me you were-” she stopped short as something dawned onto her, “You broke into her house!”
“Tyra,” Aaron wheezed, and Mina sighed. Tyra must’ve met him at the door as she was leaving and let him.
Mina dropped to her knees beside him and gave a childish ‘hmph’ and started to scold him, “What was wrong with letting me know you were here in a normal way?”
“Are we ever normal?”
“Not really no.”
“I’ll be fine,” he patted her arm with a hand, “give me a minute, okay?”
“Take all the time you need,” she said with a roll of her eyes, “But honestly, why the fuck would you even pull something like that on me? You know I have reflexes.”
“Very impressive ones at that,” he nodded his head appreciatively and Mina battled to contain her smile. Shaking her head, she pinched his nose.
“Ow ow ow!” he cried, “Mina! You’ve probably incapacitated me from having children! Spare her sense of smell, okay?”
“I’m pretty sure you’ve been kicked in the nuts before, too.”
“They’re as bad as period pains.”
“Except that you probably asked for it,” she countered with a raise of her brow.
“Touché.”
Mina only shook her head and lifted herself off from beside him, “Look, I have a quota to fulfill today, so make yourself comfortable. This should take me around an hour until I get her break time.”
“Yes, ma’am,” he sighed and finally rolled onto his knees carefully, “That’s the bathroom, right?”
“Yes, Aaron,” she chuckled, “Please leave the seat down before you leave. And wash your hands.”
“All right, geez, mom,” he rushed into the bathroom, locking it.
Aaron was lounging in the living room scrolling through Mina’s movie list. She had a knack for animated, sci-fi, and horror. And anime.
…and Kpop, too. He leaned forward looking at thumbnails of Korean girls in tiny shorts and skirts, and boys with colorful hair and gentle features. He noticed that they all had a theme to go with each album, and that some bands had similar themes in different ones.
He recalled Paige having a phase. Well, not really a phase, it had become more of her personality and she still liked it. She’d been nuts for them ever since she was sixteen, her room splattered with posters of people very familiar to the ones he was seeing right now. She travelled to Seoul, South Korea whenever she got the chance for a break, and occasionally to Tokyo, Japan. Like Mina, Paige was obsessed with Korean and Japanese media, technology, language, and art. If he recalled correctly, Mina and Paige were exchanging words of secrecy in either language. Sometimes he wished he knew as many languages but as much as he appreciated them, he didn’t hold the interest and stamina to study them.
Mina, on the other hand was staring at her window, trying to decide her next move. There was a man in all black suspended before her window, a gun behind it poised to aim right at her head.
She knew she was fast, but she did not want to risk creating a commotion and inviting Aaron to the scene. He wouldn’t be able to engage in combat.
She didn’t think she had much time on her hands, but she recognized the fact that he really wasn’t going to shoot her. He would’ve done so already if it was his intent. She knew this was just a threat for now. So she moved, flipping her table over and ducking. The bullet pierced through the glass and against the table, the bullet bouncing against it. Now she knew the gun wasn’t as dangerous as she would’ve expected it to be.
She rolled under the window and prayed Aaron heard nothing. But she knew it would be impossible, with the way the man kicked away the glass to unlock the window and slide the frame away to the side.
He jumped inside and Mina jumped straight for his feet, tackling him and managing her way onto his stomach, punching him out cold.
Meanwhile, Aaron had her Beats over his ears as he tested out Mina’s Kpop collection, dancing a little. He seemed to like it a lot. His phone, though, buzzed away on the couch. And he was completely unaware.
Mina got hold of his gun and checked the bullets. It was full, save for an empty slot. She had to make sure whoever this man was there weren’t more of him breaking in from elsewhere. She had to make sure nothing happened to Aaron. Running out of her room and jamming the lock, she rushed to the living room where she saw Aaron indulged in her music, deaf, dumb, and blind to all that was happening this whole time. She almost shot herself out of frustration, but she was glad because it kept him from coming into her room.
She went over to him and dragged the headphones from over his ears.
“Hey! Why’d you do that?” he demanded.
“There’s a break in!”
“What?” he blinked at her dumbly, but her eyes widened at the scene behind him.
“Get down!” she cried pushing him to duck and aiming her gun at the intruder coming in through the balcony, shooting him in the leg and shoulder. He fell with a painful groan and Mina wasted no time in dragging Aaron to the guest bathroom. She pushed him and followed, locking it behind them, not daring to turn the lights on. Her phone buzzed, silent from her work timings. She declined the incoming call from Aaron’s secretary and texted him instead.
Break in
Hiding in bathroom
Her phone buzzed back in no time, Help is 10 seconds away.
“Praise the lord,” she whispered. She felt Aaron’s breath and knew he was about to speak. Her hand flew to cover his lips, the other hand placing a finer over her own, signaling him to stay quiet. Aaron nodded.
5, she thought, 4, 3, 2, 1.
There was a loud crash and a person yelling orders. A few gunshots and screams.
“NOBODY MOVE!” A voice of authority roared through the apartment. Sounded female.
“ALL WEAPONS ON THE GROUND, NOW!”
“HANDS BEHIND YOUR HEAD!”
Mina wondered how anyone could have so much power in their voice. Her thoughts were cut through with a gentle knock on the door.
“Mister McCarthy?” his secretary’s familiar voice came through. Mina released a breath of relief and unlocked the door, opening it to reveal Gale standing in his usual office attire. His face was neutral but they could tell he had been extremely worried. His eyes grew light at the sight of them unharmed, and he escorted them to the security force.
“They’re all right,” he announced.
Mina had expected the place to have become an absolute mess, but it wasn’t really. It was a clean and smooth job, with only bloodstains and broken glass on the carpet to worry about.
“Could any of you explain what happened?” a black woman approached them and Mina recognized the voice that was yelling relating to her. No wonder it was powerful.
“I can,” Mina stated and the woman, Rhonda, suggested they take the conversation elsewhere in a safer area.
Gale picked up Aaron’s phone and dusted it off, coming forward to hand it to him and following him down the hallway alongside.
“Why didn’t you pick up your phone, Sir?”
“Don’t ask,” Aaron grumbled, absolutely embarrassed by the helpless role he played in the whole incident. He had no clue whether to walk faster and catch up to Mina, or slower and fall behind with the armed security he had prepared for such incidents. He couldn’t bring himself to face either of them. He hadn’t felt so humiliated in his life.
They stepped out of the building and into a familiar black truck where the guards usually come in to the scene. The lights turned on and guard took positions outside and closed the doors.
“Tell me all that you can remember, okay?” Rhonda said almost gently. Mina nodded and went on to explain what had happened. She’d put up a visibly strong front, but in seclusion she was very nervous, and quite shaken from the ordeal. Rhonda eyed Aaron as the pieces fell together in both of their heads. This was Tyler’s doing. And he’d definitely managed to get a little more help this time.