Chapter 32: Who Sent You?
Ian woke before the sun. He did not have a headache, but he did not feel well. He was hungry and his body felt weak. He tried to stand, but his legs were numb. He had fallen asleep with his legs hanging off the bed. Ian cursed himself as he remembered the last thing he said to Lisa.
Ian continued to lay on the bed as he pulled off his shirt. He waited to regain the feeling in his limbs and stood up. He walked over to his desk and turned on his laptop. His eyes narrowed when he saw that Mina was not in the bed. He panned through the various cameras, he reluctantly checked the camera in the restroom, and she was not there either.
It was dark in the room, and the camera footage was not great, he pressed his face against the screen looking for where the girl might be hiding. He finally spotted a small figure curled up on the floor in front of the bed. She was tracing circles in the air, but she did not make a sound. She looked so small and frail that Ian felt a little guilty for starving her.
Uneasy about how he felt, Ian stood up and went to shower, and by the time he was finished the sun had risen and light shone into every corner of the house. The image on Mina flashed in his mind. Although the mansion was built to allow for the maximum amount of natural sunlight, Ian knew that there was one room in the house that was still plunged in total darkness.
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Ian made his way to the dining room and his breakfast was already on the table. He could not help but to think of how hungry Mina must be at this moment. Just as Ian was about to open his mouth, a young maid nervously entered the room and handed him a neatly folded newspaper. He studied the girl for a moment. She looked noticeably young, almost too young and he knew she could not have completed university. Someone must have pushed her into working for the Lee family. When the girl left the room, he signaled for one of the older helpers to come closer. He turned and asked the man, 'who is that girl?' The butler lowered his head and explained that a new batch of maids were sent over by Manager Ruby. Ian knew his nan worried about him, but he did not know she was this worried. Somehow, she must have heard that he had been drinking.
Ian opened his paper and began to read, the butler, whom he just spoke to, was about to dismiss himself when Ian called out.
"Have that maid who brought me the paper come to my study. I would like to explain the rules to her, personally." The man was shocked that President Lee summoned a woman to his study. He had always been proper and never acted outside of his authority. Now he was drinking, and while the man could not exactly know what was going to happen. He was not blind. The girl who just entered was quite pretty.
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After breakfast Ian immediately returned to his study. The girl was already obediently standing in the corner, her eyes down cast in fear. She looked up at him once and was immediately taken away by his beauty. The man's dark features were exactly how the other helpers had described him. His gaze was quite mesmerizing, but it was cold and domineering. She had heard stories and resigned to never look at his face properly from the moment she entered this home.
"Who sent you?" Ian asked. The girl was a little scared. Hadn't she been selected by manager Ruby? She kept her gaze downward and answered him.
"manager Ruby sent three new maids over to the Lee mansion. She said that she was worried you did not have enough help. I did not ask why. I simply went where I was told." Ian believed the girl, and he liked that she was instinctively afraid of him. He decided that he would use her to send a message to anyone who was reporting back to his nan about personal matters in his home while she was not around.
"There is a prisoner in this home. Have the kitchen prepare a meal for her. Tell them I just need her to eat to be full enough to stay alive. The food does not have to taste like anything." The girl nodded her head and quickly ran out of the room.
Ian, who was typically suspicious of everyone, did not like the appearance of new people around this time. He trusted his nan, but he needed to make it clear to the newbies that he was just as awful as they had heard. It had been a long time since he had new help, and he wanted to test them thoroughly.
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When Mina awoke, she could tell that no one had entered her room. Her stomach was beginning to gurgle again, so she lethargically walked into the bathroom and drank water from the shower. She did not know how long it had been but if she had to guess, she would say that she had been left alone for three days. Feeling as if she were going to die, Mina sat on the ground facing the door. She started to count again but could barely make it to 500 before her stomach grumbled in pain. She had been hungry before, but this had gone beyond her limit. If she included the day, she was caught by President Lee, her mind told her that she was nearing her fourth day without food. She laid down and used her hands to solve self-made math equations in the air.
Just as she was starting to drift into sleep, light shone in from the door. Although she was weak, Mina did not want them to think that starvation torture was working, so she flashed a smile at the maid then noticed that she was bringing in a tray of food. The maid did not look at Mina and she did not speak. She placed the food on the floor and left. Mina did not pretend to be proud. She crawled over to the bowl and took giant spoons of whatever it was they were feeding her, and only after finishing a mouthful, did she realize it had no taste at all. Mina shrugged and continued to eat.