Chapter 134: Mental Anguish

With president Lee having revealed his jest, Mina felt confident about tasting a bite of her own food. She was delighted when the flavor was just as she expected it to be. She missed her parents terribly, and the mixture that she put together today, was inspired by her mother. No matter how little money they had, her mom was always able to pull together a decent meal for her family and, as the designated 'kitchen helper,' Mina learned a lot from her. Mina scanned the faces at the table and locked eyes with Zane.

"Why did you say you were single again?" He joked and Mina gave him a cheeky smile.

"I may not be single for much longer," she quipped.

Mina was startled by the sound of President Lee choking. Not knowing what she should do, she questioned him.

"Are you allergic to anything?" she asked, as she handed him a glass of water. Zane was tickled pink on the opposite side of Mina.

"He is fine, I think you shocked all of us with your declaration," Zane said. Luna was also put off.

"Mina do you have someone in mind?" she asked.

"I was only joking," Mina said.

"Are you sure you aren't interested in Cylus?" Luna teased.

It was not in their original plan, but if Mina were interested in CEO Rue, it would not be such a bad thing. Luna had a different opinion of the man after his actions this morning and his gentlemanly behavior last night.

----

President Lee was enjoying the meal Mina prepared. It reminded him of the rare occasions when his nan cooked for them. He could tell it was not as carefully put together as something the house chefs would make, but he could also tell that Mina took her time in its preparation. He was in the middle of swallowing another bite when Mina declared that she may not be single for long. The sudden revelation shocked him into choking, and the look of enjoyment on Zane's face left him unable to properly catch his breath. When Luna asked about Cylus he had only just composed himself and he turned to Mina expectantly.

"He is not my type," Mina admitted. Both women exchanged a look. Being open was a part of their plan.

"Why not?" Zane asked, "He obviously likes you."

"If I'm lucky enough to get into a relationship, I don't want to have to worry about other women." Luna nodded vigorously. Mina's response was perfect, hopefully it would get her brother thinking about how Lisa must feel about his current living arrangement.

The group sat at the table and exchanged conversation about various topics. All of them in some way alluding to Mina's independence and her desire to 'move on'.

Aware that the women were leading the conversation in a specific direction that he did not like, President Lee changed the subject.

"Mina, I just realized that I don't know much about you," he said.

"Tell me about Wayvair." Mina secretly rolled her eyes.

"There is not much to say. I worked hard. I graduated." The man took another drink of his water.

"If that was all, how did you manage to make an enemy?" Taking a deep breath, Mina steadied her emotions. She really felt antagonized by the question, but Luna was giving her a look that said, 'don't lose it.'

"Miss Maggie had a conditional engagement," Mina said.

"What was the condition?" President Lee probed.

"She had to graduate at the top of our class. She did not," Mina said dryly. Zane listened to Mina's side of the story and thought of something.

"Mina, if you graduated at the top of your class, why isn't your commencement speech for that year listed on the Wayvair website?" Zane asked.

"They offered me $10,000 cash to let her take the spot. They also shuttled my family to Scal, so they could watch the ceremony. I did give a speech; it just isn't on the website." Mina thought the conversation would end there, but President Lee started it up again. He wasn't satisfied with the details regarding her relationship with Miss Maggie. He wanted to know everything about everyone she knew in Wayvair, especially Paul.

"Paul was nice to me back then. He genuinely wanted to be my friend, but his parents begged him to stay away from me after receiving pressure from the Arden family. He eventually gave in," Mina said.

"Did he want to marry you?" Luna asked.

"I don't think so, but if he had asked, I wouldn't have said no," Mina admitted.

"Did you like him?" Zane asked. "I don't know. I just felt that he would respect me as a person. He was different from the other men in our school. He was not very bright, but he was sweet."

----

Ian had heard enough about Paul. He now found himself jealous of another person, but he also felt like he got a good reading on Mina. The girl was dutiful to a fault, and her dedication toward her family caused several problems for her. Mina found qualities like respect and kindness to be more important than wealth or status. She was not a very prideful person, but she would not tolerate being looked down upon, and lastly, she lacked basic commonsense. It was evident to everyone except her, that Paul's family only got involved in their 'friendship' because their son probably told them he wanted to marry her.

Combining the new facts with the information he already knew about Mina; Ian felt like he had a good overall impression of who she was as a person, and he planned to use all of it to his benefit. He thought that Mina was in the middle of another mood swing and he wanted to use the opportunity to make her see that he was not a bad person. He could tell by her body language that she was struggling to be nice to him, but he did not know that her sitting and talking to him about her life, as if he were truly her friend, was mental torture for her. Mina attempted to change the subject again.

"This was a little heavy for lunch," she said, expecting her comment to make everyone shift to a new topic, but that did not happen. For the next hour she was peppered with questions and they only stopped when Mr. Zane reminded President Lee that they had a meeting. When the men left, Luna gave Mina a double thumbs up.

"I think it's working," she whispered, but Mina couldn't celebrate. She felt exhausted.