Chapter 272: What?

When Dom texted his boss about Mina's request, he was not sure what reaction he was going to receive. He had always heard rumors that President Lee practiced abstinence, was celibate, or he was impotent. You name it, Dom had heard it. However, Dom never believed any of that.

President Lee was rich, powerful, tall, and handsome. According to what he had heard from the female soldiers around him, the only thing the man lacked was kindness, but that was not necessarily a deal breaker for them.

With so many women who were openly interested, and Dom having had to turn away women trying to approach his boss's hotel accommodations wearing nothing but their lingerie; it was hard to imagine that the man was not sticking his hands in the cookie jar every now and then.

Anytime President Lee went to a bar or even a night club with CEO Zane, the men would get so drunk that literally anything was possible. The world of the rich was a secretive one, and if his boss had a few hidden gems in his contact list, Dom would not fault him or be surprised.

----

Dom's phone rang and he could have sworn his device was cursing at him. He did not even get to say anything when President Lee's voice burst through the speakers so loud that Dom did not need to hold the handset to his face.

"What do you mean she wants to be tested? Tested for what?" President Lee asked. Dom was not sure he wanted to answer, but he believed Mina deserved the right to know about her own body.

"Sir, I think it would be best to let Mina do what she feels is necessary. I can't speak on matters I do not know, but I could tell that she was extremely bothered by the thought-" Dom was cut off.

"The thought of what?" President Lee asked angrily. Dom had almost forgotten how terrible his boss could be, but he was instantly reminded.

"Sir, you know Mina well," Dom said in a pacifying tone. "If I do not take her, she will ask someone else she trusts." Ian could not help but to think about Mina asking Cylus or Oric. He angrily ended the call without a response and tried to clear his mind of the question.

----

Zane's laughter filled President Lee's office, causing Ian to throw his phone at the tickled man. He had told Zane what Mina asked of Dom, and the man immediately laughed. Unlike Ian, Zane did not find Mina's request offensive at all.

"Can you blame her?" Zane asked.

"Yes!" Ian shouted. The response only made Zane laugh harder.

"I wonder why she waited so long," Zane said. Ian could not help but to question if Zane was his best friend or Mina's.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Ian asked.

"If I were in her position, I would have done the same as soon as possible. I mean, haven't you?"

"That's different. I got tested because I didn't know who Mina was or where she came from."

"And she doesn't know anything about you at all," Zane retorted. "I wonder what triggered her," he thought out loud.

"James," Ian responded.

"How do you know?" Zane asked.

"I heard it myself," Ian replied absentmindedly.

"They just openly talked about your sex life in front of you?" he asked, but Ian was silent. "They didn't, did they?" He was beginning to work out how Ian had overheard their conversation. "Ian, are you spying on Mina?" Zane asked.

"Not spying; monitoring," Ian replied.

"Bullsh*t Ian," Zane said. "Are there wires in her apartment?" He already knew the answer. "Ian, that's extreme. Mina deserves her privacy, what if someone hacks into the feed?"

"I have a team to make sure that doesn't happen." Zane shook his head.

"I'm going to have the cameras and wires removed," he said. "It's not healthy for either of you." Ian was upset, but he knew his friend was right.

Ever since Mina moved out Ian had been listening into her apartment as if it were a radio series. He already knew she talked to herself when she was bored, and he liked to listen to how her brain worked.

"Fine, but the one that monitors the door stays," Ian said, and Zane agreed.

----

Matthew noticed that Mina had been a little more distracted than usual, and as the day progressed, he had to call her name multiple times before she heard him. When he questioned her about it, she claimed that she had not slept well, but Matthew believed it was something else.

Director Porter had not failed to notice that Mina was picked up from work by one of three people, and he knew the girl did not have enough money to order a car service.

Matthew also knew the men were not from Rouge Entertainment because he had asked his actress specifically, and the woman confirmed that the company allocated employees cars, but not drivers. The actress also told him that even if the company made an exception for Mina, the driver would have remained the same.

Matthew wanted to pry, but his relationship with Mina was not friendly enough to believe she would tell him the truth, and Peter was at another location working on an independent project. He had never cared about his employees' moods before, but he could not have someone he had high hopes for walking around with a depressed expression on her face.

"Director Porter!" A woman shouted, causing both him and Mina to turn to face the shouter. "The rival quit!" the woman said.

"What?" Matthew asked. "Where is she?"

"She didn't come in. She texted me." The woman showed Director Porter her phone and the man had to resist the urge to throw it.

"Blacklist her from all my future productions," he said. The woman nodded before running away. Mathew looked back at Mina, who wore a concerned expression.

"How long will recasting take?" Matthew was happy that Mina knew enough to ask that question.

"Not long, we always pick two or three people for one role, and settle on one in the end," Matthew said.

"Who should I contact?" Mina asked, she already had her boss's phone at the ready.

"There is no rush, we have already lost the day." Mina flipped through the clipboard in her hands and let out an audible sigh.

"That pushes us into our excess funding by 10k," she said scornfully. "Why did the woman quit?" Mina asked.

"She was offered a better role," Director Porter said.

Mina wanted to be angry with her boss's revelation, but she could not blame the woman. She just wished the actress had resigned the day before and not on the day where literally all her scenes were scheduled to be shot.

----

Director Porter called Peter to tell him the setback. The man was just as shocked as everyone else, but he offered a solution that no one thought of.

"Can't Mina fill in?" Peter asked over the phone and Matthew shot his eyes toward the woman who had overheard the question.

"Absolutely not," Mina said without being asked anything.

"Why?"

"Because," Mina quipped. There was no reason. The answer was just no.