Page 174 of Everdoll

Hearing her whiny tone made my skin crawl with goosebumps. Oh, her mocking tone, her confidence… Nothing can replace the real one, truly.

Damn it, Mina was truly standing right in front of me, talking to me as if nothing had ever happened. She was smiling at me. Hell, she was even teasing me.

“I could never match you.” I muttered. “And what happened to that toy?”

“Did you sell it to someone? After we broke up?”

There was no bitterness in her voice, but the Mina I used to know would have been furious about this.

“Sebastian didn’t want the design to go to waste. Since you forgot it even existed, I gave it to him. When I was seventeen.”

Her mouth formed an ‘o’. I could tell she hadn’t seen that coming.

“Why didn’t you ever tell me?”

“You didn’t ask. Like I said, you’d forgotten. So I didn’t push it.”

“How could I forget that butterfly? I thought it was special to us!” Her voice rose, then she instantly pressed her lips together. “Wasn’t it?”

I needed to remain silent, I knew, but I couldn’t help myself. “It was. But we forgot.”

“And you sold the rights to it?”

“I thought it might help people. You said back when we were kids that it was fine. Don’t you remember?”

She shook her head. “It might do more harm than good. It’s turned into a bugging device now. The butterfly became a spy.”

I gave a soft chuckle. “But you forced that fate on it. You used to say so when we were little. Number one spy.”

Her eyes snapped up to meet mine, a flush spreading across her cheeks. I took a deep breath. The more I dwelled on the past, the tighter my chest squeezed, making my nose sting.

I wondered if Mina felt that way too.

“You remember it.”

I shrugged. “What were you going to do with it?”

“I was just curious. I thought maybe I’d buy one for myself.” She strode toward me, tilting her head and locking her eyes onto mine. “Do you know where they sell them?”

“In a tiny shop on Crescent Street.”

“Oh, Crescent bar! The place you banned me from.”

My brows furrowed. I’d completely forgotten about that. A year ago, I’d spotted Mina around there, her body temperature unnaturally high. She had either been taking sleeping pills, or… having sex with someone. Well, I had no other logical conclusion, and had to do something about that.

“Right,” I muttered casually. “Not that it matters anymore. They’ll let you in if you want.”

“I’m not interested. I just want to buy a butterfly. Take me to that shop.”

I leaned forward slightly to make sure I’d heard her right. Her brown eyes were insistent and unwavering.

“Ask anyone around there and they’ll show you the way.”

“I want you to take me, though.”

“Why would I do that?”

“Because I saved your life, and you owe me.”