Chapter 586: Inclusive

Not wanting to be a distraction, Mina quickly explained her visit and took a seat. She was not expecting a few of the women seated near her to pester her with questions about her education and business experience. The women had chosen to draw or paint, and just by looking, Mina could see that many of them had fallen in line because there was no other choice.

"Would any of you prefer something more technical?" More than one woman looked down, obviously ashamed that they had been discovered so soon. "What did you have in mind?"

"For me, organizing is calming. Maybe we could get professional training and we can sell our services?"

"You want to do manual labor?" Mina asked, and another woman interjected.

"I know it's difficult to understand, but sometimes being tired because you have completed a goal rather than because you are depressed feels…" The woman trailed off and Mina completed the sentence.

"Freeing." Mina knew the feeling well. It felt good to be valued and even better to be rewarded for it.

"What about real-world work commitments?"

"Many of us are unemployed. There is a social welfare program that helps women with children under five." Mina was familiar with it. Her own parents had once been enrolled, it provided living and food assistance for those who could not afford it.

"Have any of you brought this up to Miss Meagan?" Mina suddenly felt like the organization was going about things based on assumptions and she wondered if they needed to change their platform completely.

"That would be rude." Mina laughed, but not in a mocking fashion; she was just shocked.

"This is an inclusive space. Miss Meagan is no one's ex-husband." Some of the women laughed, but others flinched, still too sensitive to joke about the subject.

"How do we approach her? It is not like we can just say, 'I don't want to.' Do you know how happy my son has been since we started coming here? I don't want to be forced out."

"Forced out? That is not how this place works. If anything, you just made me realize that we need to expand. This shouldn't be a safe place for just divorced women; we also need to include women who were promised the world but got a baby and a stigma."

"Does that happen?" Mina did not want to out Olivia, so she used Willow as an example instead.

"A friend of mine was once in love with a man who was not exclusively hers. He had gotten his other girlfriend pregnant and to keep my friend by his side, he paid for fake paternity results." Many of the women shook their heads in shock and pity.

"I- I never thought of that." The woman speaking folded her hands in her lap and let her shoulders slump. "I always assumed that women who were pregnant before marriage were-" The woman cut herself off and her eyes met Mina's in fear. "Oh goodness, you aren't…?" Mina's smile faltered, she was not but she could have been.

If President Lee had not allowed her to be given a contraceptive, anything was possible. Mina could, right now, be carrying a child that she would have felt too guilty to get rid of.

"It can happen to anyone. All it takes is one mistake." The woman who had been the most vocal bit at her lip, almost as if she were struggling to come to terms with a reality she had not considered. "Just remember that the standard you are using to judge is also being used against you." Mina smiled at the woman before standing.

She walked over to where Miss Meagan was speaking to a woman who had her infant so tightly held to her body that Mina intuitively knew that she had already had a scare or had been threatened.

"Mina, would you mind taking Tracy and her son to my office? I will be there in a minute." Mina nodded but she could tell that Miss Meagan was asking her to do more than escort the girl. Once inside the office Mina locked the door.

"How long have you been divorced?" She asked.

"I was never married." The woman must have been expecting Mina to judge her, so she started to explain. "He told me that he was going to marry me, but his parents refused to allow it. Now they want to take my baby from me."

Mina's eyes rested on the child that could not have been more than a month old. She made a gesture which indicated to the woman that she wanted to hold the child, but as expected the woman declined. President Lee's words about not everyone being innocent started to ring in her mind and she found herself second guessing the woman.

"What do you want?" The woman flinched and held her son tighter, something Mina did not think was possible.

"I don't want anything. Either he marries me, or he forgets about seeing his son." A frown creased on Mina's face.

"We cannot help you force someone's hand in marriage, but even if we could, why would you want to marry someone who doesn't want you?" Mina made no attempt to hide that she was suspicious of the woman who broke down crying.

"Because all of this is his fault. He told me that if I were pregnant, his parents wouldn't say no." The woman started to rock her sleeping child as if she were comforting him, but she was the one who clearly needed comforting. "Now we have nothing and nowhere to go. My former classmate Tara sent me here. She said you had a place where women like me could stay. I just need somewhere safe. I can cook and clean."

"And who will stay with your son?" Mina questioned, still mildly suspicious. The woman did not answer in words. She pulled a giant scarf out of her bag and tied her baby to her chest. "And if he walks in tomorrow with a wedding ring, will you say yes?" Mina did not want to put the woman through a third degree, but she wanted to know if the woman needed help or something else.

"Yes, I will. For my son, I will do anything. I left school to keep him, and I will not give him up."

"Do you love 'him' or are you just holding onto him because you are angry?" The woman froze, before tears started to spill from her eyes.

"I don't know, but every time I look at him, I know that he is the only thing that matters right now." Mina had all she needed and shortly after she was able to get the woman to calm down, Miss Meagan entered.

The women quickly recapped the girl's story and Miss Meagan did the unthinkable; she asked Mina to call the man's family. Mina was completely caught off guard, but she did as asked, and before she knew what was happening a 'family mediation' session had been scheduled for the same night.

"This may not yield the result you are looking for," Miss Meagan said to Tracy. "If it is truly his parents who are unaccepting of you because you come from a lower station, you will find out tonight."

Just as Miss Meagan had said the truth was revealed, and this time it was favorable. Some people were so consumed by money that they could not see anything else, but as soon as the grandparents of Tracy's child looked at the fake contract Miss Meagan had Mina create, their entire mood shifted.

They were from glaring at the woman and child to apologizing, saying that they were not sure if she was after their son for money. Conveniently the actual father of the child was silent. He simply stared at Tracy who had a vice grip on her son that Mina could not understand.

"Tracy must complete her education, but you are making it impossible. She is terrified that one of you may take him away."

"I haven't seen my son since the day he was born Tracy," the mute father finally spoke.

"I gave you every opportunity to see him, you chose your parents instead."