Chapter 145: Overdue

Zane watched Mina's face morph from happy to terrified in just a few seconds. Unlike Ian, he was slow to react as his attention was drawn by the same exact change in expression from his mother. Before Zane realized it, Ian had already made his way toward the panicked Mina and her reaction was volatile. She tripped over his mother's knitting box and hit her head on the small lamp table. There was a loud noise, but Zane saw it was Mina's elbow that took most of the blow. He was sure that she was exaggerating in an attempt to cover for the true cause of her injury, and it further irritated him. He could not even bring himself to react to the situation.

"Let's take her to a hospital. That looks bad," Meagan said.

Mrs. Meagan helped Mina stand and made her sit on the couch. She did not know what had triggered Mina, but for herself, the appearance of an unexpected person could completely shut her down. She assumed Mina was experiencing a variation of the same problem.

"Mina, let someone take you to a doctor," the woman said. "I didn't realize how hard you fell," she continued.

Mina made eye contact with Zane who made no move to help her get out of the trouble she had just caused herself. She knew he wanted to tell Ian the truth about how she had gotten hurt, so he would not help her with the lie. Seeing that Zane was not going to share a single word of concern, Mina spoke for herself.

"It doesn't hurt," she said. Ian was still kneeling while looking up at the girl's face. Mina shifted her eyes in every direction except his.

"You can tell me if you are hurt," Ian said, and Mrs. Meagan chimed in.

"Are you sure you aren't in pain?" Mina assured them that she was fine. She wondered what the back of her head looked like to garner such a reaction, so she excused herself to the restroom. She wanted to try and use the mirrors to see it and the seemingly ever-present butler agreed to help and led the way.

----

Ian hated himself for not thinking before he acted. He knew that he was, in most cases, the trigger for Mina's panic attacks, but the fear that he would lose her to someone else, overcame logic. He really wanted to keep her by his side, and he wanted her to trust him the way she trusted others, but his actions only cause her to be hurt, yet again.

----

Ian and Meagan worriedly waited for Mina to return. They both adjusted the furniture in the area and pushed the end table back to prevent such incidents from happening in the future. When they were done, Ian realized that it was the first time Zane's mother had spoken to him in nearly a year. She had refused to see him anytime he tried to visit her in the past. His friend who was a 'momma's boy,' did not force her and always made excuses. Ian wondered what kind of magic Mina had to make the old woman treat her as if she had known the girl forever. Moreover, the girl's injury caused her to push aside the perceived dislike she had for him.

Ian decided that he would make use of the opportunity. He wanted to give her a long overdue apology. When he instructed his staff to release the information about Zane's father, he had not expected it to have dated back to when his friend was just a baby. Ian cleared his throat and spoke.

"Mrs. Mom, I feel like I haven't seen you in forever. I have been wanting to talk to you. Do you think I can say a few things just between us right now?" Meagan was taken aback. After everything her ex-husband had done, had tried to do, and was still doing; the young man before her still affectionately addressed her the way she had instructed him all those years ago. Zane figured now was as good a time as any and left the room. "I want to apologize for not coming to you first back then. I didn't know things would get so ugly," Ian said.

Meagan was shocked into silence. She had not been angry with the young man; she was just too embarrassed to face him.

"You've misunderstood this old woman," she said. "I just needed some time to adjust to the changes. I knew my relationship was doomed from the beginning. It's not him I am sad about," she said, and by 'him' she meant Zane's father. "What bothers me is all the people that I lost in the process. My biggest fear was that you would lump my Zane and that man together. I didn't want to damage your friendship." Mrs. Meagan could no longer find her words. Zane had told her she was wrong about Ian several times, but she thought her son was just lying to make her feel better. She had always thought of Ian as a nice boy, but he was so ruthless back then, that she was afraid he would turn his aggression toward her next. Now, she just felt confused by him.

Ian furrowed his brow. He had already known that the woman was shunned by her family and friends. It was the reason Zane bought a house for her using his own earnings and the reason why he refused to touch any of his father's money. Ian gently patted the woman's shoulder not wanting to push her too much, but the truth was that he did miss her. She had been an especially important person in his youth. She was as warm as his nan, and had always treated him like a teenage boy, not like the future head of the Lee household.

"Now that you know I don't hate you and I know that you don't hate me, can I come visit again?" Meagan nodded. If she had not known firsthand, she would have never believed that the charismatic young president Lee was capable of anything other than a kind smile.