Mina sat in the lobby of the Lawson building alone. A mental hurricane was brewing in her head. Her brain was the eye of the storm and it was turbulent and chaotic. In tears, she had given Chief O'Law the cell phone, hoping desperately they'd be able to find Divine in time.
But it wasn't just the life of Blind's grandmother that troubled her. Blind had accompanied Chief O'Law to extract information from the phone and had not said two words to Mina after asking if she was okay.
Why he was quiet truly tormented her: He now knew she had kept a dire secret from him-- The identity of his grandmother's kidnapper. Instead, she had gone on to defend him in court and put up a lying front about it. Did he know she only did it to keep Divine safe? She dug her heel into her calf to punish herself for not speaking up.
Beside the ficus plants, the lobby's windows were filled with the thickest walls of fog she had ever seen. The weather captured her mood perfectly. She was lost in an eternal fog with no hope of escaping.
To make matters worse, she heard the clicking of another pair of heels, and looking down at the checkered floor, she saw they were emerald--the color of her adversary.
"Have you come to gloat?" Mina asked, refusing to look Ashley in the eye.
Ashley answered her question with another question. "Is this the first time you've lost a case, undergrad?"
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"Yeahhh..." Mina groaned. "And I've managed to lose everything. The case, my reputation and even possibly my boyfriend."
"Well..." Ashley said, her gloved finger to her mouth. "You know what I do when I flunk a test? And yes it has happened before. My reputation as an intellectual wiz-kid isn't as flawless as you'd think."
"You mean," Mina said, finally looking up at her rival. "You weren't always a perfect know-it-all?"
Ashley wrinkled her catlike nose. "Yeesh...undergrad. I'm just trying to be Miss Humble Pie here and you make it very hard."
"Sorry," Mina said, "I'm an army veteran of our insult wars by now. But what do you do when you flunk a test?"
Ashley's bright green eyes sparkled. "I study even harder until I know every fact by heart! You just learned a lesson in the school of hard law. Sometimes a defense attorney defends an actual jerkface!"
For the first time in hours, there was a small smile on Mina's face. "Wowie zowie..." she cooed in amazement. "You're right for once. I totally defended a major jerkasaurus rex!"
Ashley put her hands on her hips. "Undergrad," she said, her orange mane swaying as she shook her head. "I'm always right! I'm glad you got something out of my lecture. Especially since I totally schooled you right now."
Mina held her hands together and smiled. "Thank you. May our next schooling session be in my favor..."
"Hmph..." Ashley said, tilting her head like she didn't hear Mina talk.
She was feeling slightly better. Maybe not a hundred percent due to her utmost concern for Divine's well being, but morally, she felt a lot better for defending a bad man in court. The logical perfection of her rival prosecutor had proven to instill some sense into her. And now, she could focus on praying for Divine's safe return.