Soon enough, Newt had finished the grocery shopping, and was walking down the path back to Minerva's house. As he was walking, Sheela was hiding in some nearby bushes. She was holding a sniper rifle in her hands, and had it trained on Newt's bag of groceries.
"This time I will succeed." Sheela said, lining her sight up with the grocery bag. "The mink only provided my brother with enough money for this one trip. If I destroy the bag and its contents, then the mink will... will... Oh, who am I kidding?!" Sheela shouted, lowering the sniper rifle and sagging her shoulders in defeat. "Every one of my plans to try and discredit Newt in the mink's eyes has either failed, or improved his image! Who is to say the same won't happen here!?" She let out a sigh. "Why am I even continuing with this plan? It clearly isn't working. Besides, it seems that my brother is buried too deep in the mink's heart."
At that moment, a thought hit her like a ton of bricks.
"My brother is buried in the mink's heart. OF COURSE!" She shouted, her expression lighting up with a huge smile. "That is why my plans haven't been working. I have been going about this all wrong. The mink and my brother are clearly falling in love. That is why she is so forgiving of the blunders I have been putting him through." Her face then stretched into an evil smirk. "However, if Newt were to break her heart, all of that would be lost. She would not wish to have anything to do with my brother ever again."
She then looked back at Newt, who was wandering down the path none the wiser. "Well, brother." She said. "Looks like the mink will see where your heart really lies." And with that, she disappeared from the branch, slunk down the tree, and snuck off, ready to put her plan into action.
Newt could see Minerva's house in the distance. A smile was on his face as he walked down the path towards it, thinking about how Minerva would react when she saw the prize he won at the supermarket. He imagined Minerva just going nuts at the prospect of going to Paris and attending a fashion show and shopping spree there. It would most certainly make up for getting Chanel instead of Guerlian Meteorites Perles facial powder like Minerva asked for.
His thoughts drifted to Minerva in general. When she first invited him into her home, he thought it was the worst thing that could ever happen to him. This was the mink he had tried and tried and tried to catch and failed repeatedly at. This was the mink who got him kicked out of his home. Then when she offered him a home, she made him into what was basically her slave, make him cook her meals and clean her house. Surely, his life seemed to have reached its lowest point.
However, some days later, Newt found that he was actually doing less work around the house. He found Minerva was actually having conversations with him. She gave him lemonade when he was working in her garden, she was complementing him, he even found both of them could be rather open with each other about their feelings.
Their feelings.
Newt could not deny he felt something for Minerva. Oh sure, he went gaga every time she flirted with him back when he was trying to bring her pelt back to his master, but back then it was only a physical attraction. In the time he had spent in Minerva's home, his attraction to her had fluctuated. At first, when she worked him hard, his attraction was gone, seeing her for a cold, heartless, shallow woman who didn't really care for him at all. However, as time went on, and the two of them spent more time in each others' company, Newt's attraction slowly began to come back, only in a much different way than it was before. This time, Newt saw a rather different side of Minerva, one that he preferred to all the others. He could see Minerva's more compassionate side. The side that, on some level, appreciated all that he did for her, the side that wanted him to be happy in her home, the side that saw him as more than just her servant. Newt smiled at this. He found this side of Minerva preferable, and hoped he could see more of it. Maybe, in due time, he would.
As he walked down the path, he was unaware that Sheela was still watching him, a malicious expression on her face as she begun to set her plan into motion.
"Look at him." She said to herself. "So content. Thinking of the mink he has found himself so infatuated with, no doubt." Her eyes narrowed. "Well, soon those thoughts will only bring his heart pain." She brought out a note, looking at it. "With this love letter, "written" by my brother," she said to herself "I will bring the relationship between the mink and him to a bitter end." She then began scanning the area. "Now I just need to find someone to give this to." Sheela looked around, trying to find a female she could give the letter to. Soon enough, she found the perfect one.