Chapter 15: Getting To Know You

Mina knew she was considered pretty, but she had an eccentric personality that was a little too much for most people to handle. She was good at making friends but when it came to getting a boyfriend, she was at a total loss. Most of the time she would just say the first thing that came to mind and the guy would laugh, then disappear.

The type of men she was attracted to either found her weird or funny, but they almost always lost interest in her after getting to know her, and those who stuck around were the ones she was not interested in at all.

Aside from her eccentricities, Mina had a problem with controlling the way she spoke. She was not headstrong, but sometimes, she said things that made her appear catty or petty. She did not know why, but people always accused her of being sarcastic or rude whenever she stated a fact they did not want to hear.

When Mina was younger, she isolated herself and stayed away from other children. She felt she was different from them and wanted to disassociate from them, but in the end, she only alienated herself. She lost herself in library books and often accompanied her father to the factory where he worked so she could have a proper adult conversation. She only returned to being a sweet little girl at the end of the day.

When Mina was alone with her family, she was light and springy but when she was outside, she was cold and gloomy. It was not that she was doing it on purpose, it was just that she was only happy at home.

It took many years of coercion, but Mina's older sister was able to bring her true personality out in the open. When people saw that she could laugh, play, and smile like everyone else, things immediately changed. Boys started to like her, and teachers started to nurture her.

Mina was wise enough to realize that she had been arrogant, and the only person she hurt was herself. She vowed that for the sake of her family, she would always remain their happy girl. However, that did not mean that she was not a weird person. She would often lock herself in her room for days doing research on one thing or another. She had always loved numbers and with time, she became extremely interested in finance and began to save her money to buy stock under her father's name.

Although Mina loved her family, she did not like their living conditions. She hoped that she could invest her savings in stock to get them out of poverty, but one calamity after another drained her savings and she was never able to invest. She eventually gave up on trying to save and put her all into her studies, in which she was successful.

Mina secured a full scholarship to a prominent school and set out on her journey. By that time, her sister was gone, and she was the only one who her parents could lean on, and it motivated her through her first semester.

In college people clamored around Mina like she was some sort of rare specimen. She was favored by her professors and many people knew she was a working student. She really did not have much use for the money she earned, so she saved it for her future. However, just one year into her degree, she was asked to skip ten questions on an important final. If she knew then what she knew now she would have just skipped the questions.

When the student ranking was announced Mina ranked number one. Everyone congratulated her but her professors seemed gloomy. Later, she was informed that she no longer qualified for a full scholarship and had to move out of the school dorm. Mina rolled with the punches and with her friends' help, she used her savings to find a small apartment. She had never really questioned the school about their decision, and she did not want to be expelled, so she worked hard to cover her remaining expenses.

It was not until Mina's final year of school that she found out about Miss Maggie. She had respected the girl greatly and had no clue she was in a silent war with her. She even greeted her sweetly whenever she saw her. She did not know that Miss Maggie saw that as being antagonized by her enemy.

After graduating Mina found out that Miss Maggie's fiancé had called off their engagement, because he did not want to marry the second-best girl. Mina felt terrible, but when she went to apologize the damage had already been done. Miss Maggie accused her of being jealous, she accused her of wanting her fiancé, and she accused her of sleeping with professors to cover her tuition.

It was only then that Mina understood that every obstacle she had run into over the last four years was probably set up by Miss Maggie. It must have tortured the woman to have her perceived enemy beat her at every turn and, so she made sure that Mina could only become just another face in the crowd.

Now, in the darkest part of her life, Mina was alone only thinking about how happy Miss Maggie would be if she knew how far she had fallen.

As if being tortured by her own thoughts, Mina could not help but to realize that she was all alone in the world, but still, she did not feel like crying. The truth is that she was no longer sad, but she was livid. Her mind seemed to want to remind her of all the dumb things she had done in the past, but the current situation was by far the worst.

Mina had gotten herself in a lot of trouble over the years, but she was almost always able to talk her way out of it. She took full advantage of the fact that she looked incredibly young and had no problems using her family's misfortune to soften the hearts around her.