Chapter 116: Chapter 116: Operation Forgiveness
Ian thought back to the time when Mina was in the hospital, she seemed to be working hard to move past whatever happened between them. Especially after she found out that they were both drugged. He told Zane what Luna said about Mina blaming herself, but at that time, Ian was so blinded by rage that he wanted to hurt her. He wanted her to suffer for making him feel so dirty.
"You know, at the hospital she was going to jump out of the window, and I stopped her," Ian said. "I stopped her because I believed that, if she were going to die, it should be by my hand and not her own." Ian ran his fingers through his hair and hung his head low. "The funny thing is, I was no longer angry that we were intimate. I was more upset that although I believed Mina was my enemy, I still had strange feelings toward her." Ian pulled his phone out of his pocket and handed it to Zane. "I had been searching for her for weeks before that night. I do not know what I expected to come out of it, but now I don't have any expectations." Zane did not need to watch the video on Ian's phone to know what it was. He had accidentally found out about it while on another task. He told Ian the truth.
"I already knew about that video. I accidentally stumbled across it while investigating those resumes," Zane said. Ian nodded his head; he figured that Zane knew more about Mina than he was letting on.
Seeing the despondent look on his friend's face, Zane poured him a stronger drink. Apologizing would not be appropriate, nor would it do any good.
"So, you and Lisa never?" Ian shook his head then corrected himself.
"Well, we tried recently but I couldn't."
"What do you mean you couldn't?"
"I mean, I pushed against her several times, but I couldn't actually go in."
"I don't understand," Zane said. Frustrated Ian pinched his brow.
"I kept losing it, but it's like, she didn't even notice that nothing was happening. She just kept making noises even when I stopped trying." Zane desperately wanted to laugh at the revelation, but he knew it was not the right time to poke fun at his friend. Right now, he could only silently offer his nonjudgement.
"You know you have to make this right. Right?" Zane said.
"How?" Ian asked.
"That I don't know, but I don't think Lisa is the same as Mina." Zane was trying to hint at something, but Ian did not catch it.
In fact, there were a lot of things Zane hinted to Ian about Lisa, but he either ignored them, or they went over his head, so Zane stopped trying to get in between them. One thing he knew for sure is that Lisa was not who she pretended to be.
"Ian, you say you didn't go all the way with Lisa, but with Mina…" Zane paused for a long time. "Mina will probably never really forgive you, but you can at least try to gain her forgiveness." He did not want to give Ian bad advice, but at the same time he was unwilling to believe that there was no chance that Mina would fall for his friend. Especially since she and Ian had already been together. "We start tomorrow," Zane said, and Ian looked at him confused.
"Start what?"
"Operation gain Mina's forgiveness." The two men drank themselves dumb as they planned for the coming day.
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In the morning, Mina opened her eyes. She was in an unfamiliar environment and she clutched at her body worried that something bad had happened again. She was relieved that she was still dressed. Mina tried to remember what had happened, but the night was like a blur. She had a terrible headache and felt like her mouth was dry.
When Mina rolled her body over, her hand brushed against something warm. Panic struck her as she thought she had spent the night in bed with Zane, but the reality was even worse. It hit her hard when she saw President Lee curled up next to her. Mina's immediate reaction was to scream, and the startled man grabbed her and forced her down on the bed with his hands covering her mouth. Tears rolled down her face as she tried to break free, but she was not strong enough to move.
----
Ian heard a loud shout and when he opened his eyes someone was hovering over him. He grabbed the person and pinned them down, covering their mouth so they could no longer make noise. When his vision cleared, he saw it was Mina and he rapidly released her. The girl scurried out of the bed and the man trailed behind her apologizing along the way.
"Mina, I'm sorry, I didn't know it was you. Stop! Please let me explain." Mina kept running. In her haste she slipped on the stairs and Ian tried to help her up, but she recoiled from him and not wanting to make things worse, he lifted his hands in surrender and backed away. Breathing heavily the girl did not move an inch. With her eyes tightly shut, her whole body trembled in fear.
----
Luna heard a commotion and rushed in the direction of the voices. What she saw was a terrified Mina crouched on the stairs while her brother looked down at the woman. His expression was filled with guilt and Luna's mind told her that Ian had done something to Mina.
"Ian, what are you doing?" Luna shouted as she rushed to Mina's aid. Clinging tightly to Luna, Mina forced herself to stand. Miss Ruby, who was in the sitting room also made an appearance.
"Mina? Are you ok?" the woman said, and Mina released Luna and flung herself at the older woman instead.
"Miss… Nan, he… President Lee… he… he attacked me," Mina said tearfully. Both women who joined the fray glared at him.
"I can explain. I did not know it was her. I was asleep," Ian said. Both women then looked at Mina.
"What were you doing in his room?" Ruby asked and Mina shook her head.
"I don't know, Mr. Zane brought me home last night, and when I woke up, I was in President Lee's bed." Luna rolled her eyes.
"Did you drink last night?" Mina's silence was an admission of guilt and Miss Ruby rubbed Mina's shoulders trying to calm her down.
"I don't know what you kids did yesterday, but all of you ought to know when to stop drinking. Mina you are a young lady, and you drunkenly ended up in a man's bed with no recollection of how you got there." Mina knew Miss Ruby was right so she didn't defend herself.
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone