Chapter 118: Negotiated Freedom

After Luna's not so subtle jab, Lisa tried to explain that she had not had time to hang out with Luna because her family had been putting her under pressure, so she was always working. Luna had no way to know if she was telling the truth or not. She had no idea that her friend spent more time in Ian's office than her own.

"So, what's up, why did you ask me here?" Luna asked coldly.

"It's like this, your friend, I think she is into Ian and I don't know how to deal with it." Luna made a face that showed she was unconcerned, but she did not voice it out, because the truth was that she was concerned.

"Lisa, Mina is not interested in him. You know? She told me you would think that."

"How do you know she isn't?" Lisa asked. "Did she tell you that I caught them hugging?" Luna looked up at Lisa for the first time since she arrived.

"You caught them what?"

"She didn't tell you, did she? When I came to pick up your brother for our date, she was hugging him."

With that, Lisa ranted about all the flirtatious things Mina had done throughout the night, starting from the public hug. She told Luna that Mina made no attempt to get to know her. She lied that Mina only responded when Ian spoke to her and that she secretly volunteered to sing, but made it appear as though someone else made the arrangements without her consent.

"You weren't there, she sang a song about…" Lisa looked around and cupped her mouth so she could say her next line secretly. "She sang about giving her body away," Lisa whispered. "Almost every woman in the place was angry with how suggestive the lyrics were." Luna had heard a different version of the same story, and while she could not see Mina doing any of those things, it was not unheard of for a woman who experienced trauma to act out her emotions in a provocative manner. Luna decided to shift gears.

"Lisa, my brother has you. He is not interested in Mina in that way. Right now, she is useful to him. Can you just trust me on that?"

Lisa felt relieved to hear Luna's affirmation. She wanted to ask why Mina had to stay in the Lee mansion but being as though Luna already seemed to be in a bad mood she did not comment further.

"Maybe if I got to know her a little better, I wouldn't feel so insecure," Lisa admitted, and it tugged at Luna's conscience. The story Lisa told was similar to Mina's; it only differed in perspective. She really wanted to believe that the women had misunderstood one another.

"Sure, I'll try to arrange for it. In the meantime, I will ask Mina about why she was hugging my brother." Satisfied Luna took a deep breath.

"Also, extend my apologies to the girl. I may have come off as rude last night, but I was just so jealous." Luna agreed. She could relate to Lisa's feelings of jealousy and she knew that sometimes strong emotions could cause one to act out of character.

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Mina was toweling her hair when someone knocked at the door to what had come to be considered her bedroom. She knew it was not Miss Ruby, because the woman seldom knocked more than once. Afraid that it would be President Lee, Mina hid in the closet. To her surprise a male voice sounded as the door opened.

"Mina, I am coming in. I know you are in here," the voice said. Mina jumped out of the closet and threw something at the person.

"You traitor!" Mina shouted as she threw a wet towel at Zane.

"Mina, it's not what you think. I'm innocent."

"You're innocent? Okay then tell me. Whose idea was it to put me in that room?" Mina stared at Zane angrily.

"We put you in there so we could keep an eye on you without walking into your room," Zane said. Then he told Mina that he had gotten Ian extremely drunk last night. He told her he sent his friend to bed, forgetting that the man preferred to sleep in his study.

"Mina, if I knew he crawled into the bed with you, I would have taken him out of the room," Zane said. Mina was unconvinced. She was about to call Zane out again when President Lee entered.

"Mina, I really didn't remember you were there," President Lee said.

"You are a liar," she shouted. This time picking up a pillow and tossing it at President Lee. He swatted the pillow out of the air and took a few steps toward Mina with his hands in front of his body.

"Okay, I'm a liar then. What would it take to make this up to you?" he said, and Zane echoed him. There was really nothing the men could do, but Mina took advantage of the opportunity.

"I want… I want a little more freedom," she said. "Also, I want free range of your house. I don't want to have to sit in one room all day."

"I can do that, but when you say freedom; Mina you know it's not that simple right now," Ian said with his hands still up in a placating manner.

"Fine, but I want to be able to get a job. I also want to go out whenever I feel like it."

"Sure," President Lee said, "but I will have to come with you."

The pair seemed to have forgotten Zane was in the room and went back and forth until they came to an agreement. Mina would be allowed to go out as she pleased so long as she took a guard with her. President Lee agreed to her working, but only if he considered it safe. As far as free range of the home, he was unaware that she believed she could not already wander around as she pleased. He had not instructed anyone to prevent her from entering any area of the house, but he did recall his sister telling the kitchen staff that Mina was not allowed to help them with meal preparation in the future. In the end, Ian instructed his nan to let everyone know that Mina could do anything he could do. It did not occur to him that this would have repercussions in the future.