Chapter 652: The Wrong Answer

𝐌𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝟏𝟖+

Dressed in jeans she had taken from her parents' home, and a sweater she took from her mother, Mina pulled her hair back into a mid-pony, grabbed her things, and darted out of the doors just as President Lee climbed into the backseat of his vehicle.

Mina noticed that the man had not been driving himself around as much, and she attributed it to him leaving work early to pick her up, but he had dispelled that notion, telling her that he was trying to keep a more regular schedule to prevent his staff from feeling overburdened by him. It was the kind of response Mina never thought she would hear from the man, but it was one of the changes that made her feel like a future was possible.

"Okay, what are the rules?" Ian questioned.

"No crying, no getting in your way, and no nightmares," Mina recited. She was rewarded with a sigh, and she felt herself begin to pout.

"I'm adding another rule," Ian said with his hand held up. "No pouting. In fact, maybe you should just stay in the car, and what are you wearing?" Mina looked down at herself and then back up at President Lee. He was wearing what looked like tactical gear, just less tactical…?

"I'm dressed like I would have been when I visited with Doctor Sancho."

"And you think that's going to do what? Mina you are wearing diamond earrings." Mina rolled her eyes and turned away from President Lee. She did not like the way he was speaking to her, but she was not trying to change her appearance to please anyone; she just hoped someone would recognize her. "I'm only being honest," the man continued.

"No, you're being mean because you don't want me to come, and just to let you know your wardrobe doesn't exactly inspire trust."

"What's wrong with my clothes?" Ian asked, lifting his leg to inspect his boot.

"I'm not telling you," Mina quipped, making Ian chuckle as he pulled the still sulking woman closer to him.

"Stop being petty. I'm worried about you, that's all. I don't want you becoming emotionally invested in something that is going to go one of two ways: either you were wrong about the veins-"

"I'm not," Mina interjected.

"Then they WILL be relocated."

----

The car came to a halt and Ian stopped Mina from alighting, going over his rules with her once again. He was not there to do charity work, and the only reason he was personally involved was because Mina insisted on playing a role. Otherwise, Ian would have left the land acquisition up to Lee family lawyers. As it was, he was already doing more than he ever would have done, and that was solely because he had the area surveyed and found that less than thirty people lived on the land, an insignificant amount.

"The first tear, and I mean the first, I will send you back to the car under guard; do you understand?" Mina narrowed her eyes at President Lee, who was talking to her like a child. She had intended to play nice, but since he wanted to see strength from her, she would give it to him.

"I heard you the first ten times." Ian leaned forward and pressed a kiss on Mina's lips, wiping away the scowl she wore and replacing it with a neutral expression.

"Don't make me regret this." Mina's mouth hung open, but before she could speak the man had already exited the vehicle. "What did you find?" he said, walking up to the crew who had gone out ahead of him.

"It's good sir, this whole area is rich in nickel, but there is only a little naturally occurring cobalt. The information you received was good, and the person may have stumbled upon a cobalt fragment, but it was likely an isotope."

"So, the land is useless?" The geologist shook his head vigorously.

"No sir, a nickel refinery in this area would give you the cobalt you need, but the environmental impact is-" Ian cut the man off, looking at Mina, who wore an anxious expression. She looked up at him, clearly annoyed that he had shut the geologist up, but Ian made her repeat his rules before he allowed the man to continue speaking. "The environmental impact would be catastrophic if not sourced responsibly."

"And how do you source responsibly?" Mina asked. The man just stared at her until President Lee made a gesture for him to speak, which irritated Mina.

"If we go with pit mining, tailings collection would be the best thing. It can be used in other construction products and of course, there is always the return on selling recycled materials." Mina's eyes snapped to President Lee, who she could tell was doing a mental calculation of how much loss and profit would go into the project. She too had been doing the calculations, but without an exact figure, she was just making a guess based on how much she believed it should cost. Also her math did not include relocating the people who lived in the area.

"Show me what you found," Ian ordered, and the man handed him a tablet that Mina leaned in to view. She listened to the geologist who said that the mining venture would cover one hundred acres of land, but would likely exhaust after ten years. "Get it done," President Lee ordered, and Mina found herself chasing behind the man, who was purposefully avoiding her gaze.

"President Lee," Mina called, but she received no response, so she scurried in front of the man and held up her arms. "One hundred acres is a lot. There are probably other people living in those areas."

"There are," Ian said, giving Mina a warning look that she completely ignored. He pointed at her, and she crossed her arms over her chest, already feeling emotional.

"This isn't fair," Mina said as she climbed into President Lee's car, and they were driven to the nearest settlement.

The people who lived in the area looked fearful, and many of them pulled their children into their homes, sensing the danger in the situation. It had been a long time since Mina last visited, but she could remember many of the structures that were still standing, although some of them had been expanded. President Lee got out of the car and Mina followed, he asked for someone in charge, and was pointed to an older man who studied them curiously.

"We don't want any trouble," the old man said, and Mina's heart lurched at the comment. She sucked back her tears and followed President Lee in silence.

"There will be no trouble if we can settle this issue diplomatically. I own the land you have settled on; I want to embark on a project. I'm willing to relocate everyone here, as well as anyone else we find." The old man narrowed his eyes, then settled them on Mina before breaking into a smile.

"Do you remember me?" Mina asked. She had been careful not to speak out of turn, but the look on the old man's face told her that he recognized her.

"Of course I do. You showed us how to make a battery." Mina smiled, and Ian sighed heavily. He knew there was no way she was going to remain unfazed by what he planned to do.

Negotiations went back and forth between Ian and the people who lived on the land, and he was surprised by how calm they were. Many of them spoke directly to Mina as if she were in charge, and truthfully, Ian himself could not tell if he were the one buying the land, or she was. By the end of the evening, Ian had been committed to twenty completely solar powered homes in a gated area, food to last through the winter and fertilizer to prepare the soil for the summer. He would also be responsible for building a water tower in the area, and for its maintenance for up to fifteen years.

When Mina was done 'negotiating,' Ian was sure that the woman was working against him, and when they got back inside of his car, she wore a satisfied expression. She had even gotten him to commit to a small school where basic reading and writing could be taught. It was more than he had wanted to do, or expected to do, and while it was within his budget, it was unnecessary stress he did not want or need.

"Mina, whose side are you on?" Ian found himself asking, and the woman looked at him incredulously.

"Theirs, of course," she said, wearing a look that told him he should have guessed the answer, and Ian responded by pressing the woman into the back seat of the car. He covered her neck and face with kisses that made her giggle in the sweetest way, but her smile was soon replaced by shock when Ian unbuttoned and removed her jeans in one swift motion. "What are you doing?" She questioned, but the man ignored her, pushing her back down into the leather seats with the weight of his body.

"That was the wrong answer." The man tugged at her legs, flattening most of her body into the seat as he lined his middle up with hers.

Mina was terrified, not of President Lee, but by the fact that there was someone driving, and she was certain the man could hear her. She kept whispering that she was scared, but President Lee kept asking her to relax, which was impossible. She did not want the driver to lower the partition and catch them. It would be mortifying to her, but President Lee was adamant, and once he had sheathed his manhood, she knew it was happening.

Doing it in the car was cramped and mostly uncomfortable, but President Lee still managed to bring her pleasure, helping her to stifle her cries by covering her mouth with deep kisses. It felt different in the car, not in the sense that it did not feel good, but they were only undressed from the waist down, and it felt less intimate to Mina. She was glad when the man was done, and she could not even look at him as they adjusted their clothing.

"Why do you look so embarrassed?" Mina felt the man inch closer, then he pulled her into his chest and kissed the side of her face, but she kept her eyes fixed out of the window. "Talk to me or we'll do it again." Mina gasped as she scooted away, and President Lee laughed at her reaction. "Mina, please talk to me."

"How are you not embarrassed?" she questioned exasperatedly, finally breaking her stoic expression to show genuine disbelief.

"Why would I be? We are adults and we are enjoying one another. There is nothing wrong with that." Mina felt her heart pang with President Lee's words. His description of their relationship was not what she expected, but she could not tell if she was reading too much into it.

"I just wasn't prepared," she said.

"Neither was I." Ian pinched Mina's chin and stole a rough kiss. "But the next time you work against me, I'll make sure he can feel the car shaking." Mina pushed the man away, but he held her tightly, burying his face into her neck as she screamed with tickled laughter.

President Lee poked at her sides, sending pleasant tingles through her body that made it hard for her to compose herself, but just as being tickled started to hurt, the man's phone rang. Mina peered at the screen, catching a glimpse of the caller ID which dulled her mood and his.

"Is it wrong to ignore my own sister?" He asked, and Mina chuckled, pushing him to answer the call, which he did.

"You bought a forest?!" Luna questioned, making Mina snort loudly. "Who's with you?"