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“Are you confusing her with someone else, Cole?”

“Impossible. I even remember the girl was a journalist. You’re Mina Olind, right? It’s the only name Loxton specifically warned me about, so it stuck in my mind. What can I do? No one defies the king.”

Prisne turned her question-filled face to me, but I almost burst out laughing. Fuck, this is so annoying. I covered my mouth to suppress the laughter, feeling my temples throbbing. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d been this angry.

“How funny…”

Silvia, who was silent for minutes, startled. Too bad, I wanted to stay positive and cheerful by her side, but right now my mind was elsewhere. I couldn’t think straight, already forgot the world around me. My head spun, sinking deeper and deeper into oblivion. Prisne and Cole were arguing, but the sounds seemed to be coming from the bottom of the ocean.

What does this mean, Remi? Do you hate me that much? Is my name on the blacklist at other bars I’ve never even heard of? Why did you do this?

My powerful imagination, which usually found an answer for everything, seemed to have stopped at that moment. After all these years later, this unexpected connection prevented all my functions from working properly. I wanted to go out into the open air; all this chaos was suffocating.

Suffocation… My memories about that feeling wasn’t very sweet.

“You can’t kick my friend out of here, Cole!” When the voices finally reached my ears, I blinked slowly. “We’re not leaving here just because a damn Loxton ordered us to!”

“Okay, then I’ll call security, or maybe Reila…”

“Pris.” I cut in calmly. “I’ll wait outside.”

“Mina, you don’t have to—”

“It’s okay, Pris. Be careful.”

My friend gave a reluctant nod. Keeping my face bright, I turned to Silvia. “Don’t miss me too much, okay?”

I burst outside, my pace frantic, my legs shaking. I pressed my back against the building, then fumbled a cigarette from my coat pocket in a hurry. The biting cold hit my face, but it did little to steady me. My fingers shook as I held the lighter, my chest heavy with every breath. Even though I was alone now, I was no different from a hunted animal. Cornered and exposed. I forced myself to calm down, but my heart refused to take orders from my mind.

The only name Loxton specifically warned about.

As I tried to process this truth, I felt sick to my stomach, just like the last time.

That first time I’d seen him on the 12-Hour Bureau’s big screen. The bureau, where I held my second job, was a secret organization built years ago. It was established for one purpose: to have selected agents handle criminal cases that artificial intelligences couldn’t solve. I’d met Prisne there. An officer like her and journalist like me could end up working side by side, which usually made me feel more relaxed here than at the news agency.

But that day, seeing his face on the screen didn’t make me feel relaxed at all.

I almost choked on my coffee. Because of this exaggerated reaction, I was bombarded with questions about how I knew Raymond Loxton.

I squeaked between coughs, “Nowhere! I don’t know him, no way!” but the panic in my voice was so obvious. The annoyed expressions of everyone said the same thing.

“She can never lie.” Prisne nodded with a kind of pride. The bureau’s android robot came in front of me and scanned me from head to toe. I stood trembling in fear, as if the robot was reading my soul.

“The lie sensors are beeping!” Someone shouted gleefully from the other side. Eyes returned to me again for an explanation. I wished I could faint right there.

“I mean, well…” What was I supposed to say? There were no appropriate words to explain our relationship. “He was… my childhood friend.”

The first one to show me heaven.

“Friend? Loxton heir was your childhood friend?”

With that sentence, I was sure the blood stopped flowing in my veins. Everything I wanted to run away from, every memory I feared, filled my mind. I felt vulnerable, as though I’d revealed my biggest sin. The suspicious gazes took on a completely different color as the android robot’s lie sensors did not light up this time. Curiosity was in those eyes now.

The Loxtons, who had the courage to build the first advanced dome on Mars almost hundred years ago, were the planet’s most prestigious family. And quite simply, its rightful owners. However, I didn’t know much about them when I was a child. The first moment I heard this surname was simply a disaster. I remembered how my whole world, the one I’d given everything to, was crumbling. Even at that moment, I could recognize the excitement in people’s eyes, but I was incapable of understanding it. I never felt excited about it. The only feeling this surname evoked in me was anger.

Deception. Pain. Maybe disappointment.

“Alright, enough guys!” Prisne had dispersed the crowd of people around me in a maternalistic manner. “You don’t have to say anything. But remember Mina, if you know something connected to the research, you have to share it with us.”