Chapter 197: Loitering

Mina entered the Foxshire Mall and was taken aback by how humongous it was on the inside. She had never entered the place for two reasons. One, it was overpriced and two, it was too far away to visit.

At one point in her life, Mina had wanted to go to Foxshire to find work, but after studying the bus route, she realized that there were no buses that came within two miles of the place, and that was likely designed to keep people who could not afford a car, away.

Looking around at the people inside the mall, Mina found herself grateful that all the clothes Luna purchased for her were from a branded company. Otherwise, she would have been even more out of place among the men and women who shopped in the place.

Mina was aware that Pan was a wealthy nation, and she knew that all the people she was watching carelessly stroll the area were all from well off families. Self-conscious, Mina started to sink into herself, but Lisa linked arms with her, and it caused her to feel uncomfortable instead.

"Don't be intimidated, I know you probably haven't been in a place like this before. To mark the occasion, I will buy you anything you want," Lisa said. There was a smile on her face when she spoke, but it looked more like a sneering grin to Mina.

"No need. I don't plan on purchasing anything," Mina said. Lisa frowned to show her discontent. It was so forced that Mina rolled her eyes.

"Mina, I know we didn't get off on the right foot, but do you have to be so rude?" Lisa asked. She made sure her words were loud enough for Luna, who had not been paying attention before, to hear.

"Mina let's try to move forward and be nice," Luna said, without even asking what happened. Mina stopped herself from rolling her eyes again and nodded.

Lisa took the small jab as a victory, but she quickly reeled in her gloating expression. She pointed to a jewelry store and pulled Mina inside knowing that the girl could not afford a single item.

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Mina awkwardly stood at the door of the jewelry shop as both Luna and Lisa looked around and tried on several items. It did not take long for the mall's security to find Mina's behavior suspicious and a scruffy, oversized man approached her, wearing a loathsome expression.

"No loitering," the security guard said, and Mina began to explain that she was waiting on her friends.

The guard must have found Mina's claim hard to believe because the next thing she knew, she was being roughly pulled away from the jewelry shop.

Luna did not immediately take notice of the confrontation and once she did, she quickly intervened, but the damage had been done. Mina was so thoroughly embarrassed that she could barely contain her tears. She did not cry, but Mina's eyes were so filled with water that if she blinked, the salty liquid would fall.

One of the women inside of the jewelry shop had followed closely behind Luna and she made a show of reprimanding the guard for his treatment of Mina, who she pointed out was a friend of the Lee family.

In reality, the woman was afraid to lose Miss Luna's business. At first, she too had been wary of the strange girl, but when she saw the reaction Luna had to the scene that had unfolded, it told her all that she needed to know. The woman ushered Mina back into the jewelry store and handed her a few tissues to wipe her face. Mina's nose was so red that she looked like she could shoot a commercial for cold medicine.

"Miss…" the woman said.

"Just Mina," Mina replied.

"Mina, I am sorry. I do not know what came over that security officer. Normally, they do not act unless we call them," the woman said.

Mina heard the woman who identified herself as the executive manager, explaining something, but she was too embarrassed to care what she was saying. She just wanted to leave.

"Can we please go?" Mina asked Luna, but it was Lisa who responded.

"Mina, we just got here. I have not even bought anything. Don't be so petty; it was an honest mistake," Lisa said, and Mina glared at her. She knew Lisa was relishing in her discomfort.

"Lisa, I think we should go. That situation would be embarrassing to anyone," Luna said. Sensing she was about to lose out on thousands in commission, the executive manager redirected the conversation.

"Mina, how about we extend an apology to you on behalf of that guard? You can pick from any of these items free of charge," she said as she went behind a counter and pulled out a tray of small earrings.

Lisa rolled her eyes at the scene. She knew that the items shown were among the cheapest in the store. Lisa also knew it was likely the executive's attempt to save face with herself or Luna, whose shopper accounts reflected that they had frequented the shop in their youth.

"It would be a waste, I don't have ear piercings," Mina replied. Her voice had gone stuffy from the strain of keeping her tears at bay. The store manager checked Mina's lobes in apparent disbelief. She wondered out loud what hole Mina crawled out from.

"Is it against your religion?"

"No, my parents just couldn't afford them," Mina said.

Most people would have been too self-conscious to expose that information, but Mina was not ashamed of her upbringing or her family. To her surprise, there was no scorn in the manager's voice when she spoke again.

"Then I will do it for you," she said. A beautiful girl such as yourself will only become more beautiful with earrings," she continued.

"I cannot accept this," Mina replied and while she was unaware, she was earning the manager's favor with every word she spoke.

Not only had Mina respectfully kept her distance knowing that she was not planning to buy anything, but she also did not blame anyone for the incident that occurred and had not insisted upon any form of compensation.

Another person in Mina's shoes would have used their connections to the two powerful women to try and squeeze out as much as they could from the offending party, but Mina was currently rejecting their low value items as too valuable to accept.