Chapter 117: Chapter 117: Hugging
Miss Ruby was in the middle of scolding Mina about her drinking and Ian nodded his head in agreement. He knew that Mina had not had more than two glasses of wine, but he would keep that to himself. For now, he felt vindicated by his nan's words, but soon enough she turned her fury toward him again.
"…And Ian, you put a drunk woman in your bed and then got so drunk yourself that you forgot she was there. Your nan may be old, but I am not dumb. Had it not been for the fact that I trust you, I too would be questioning if you did it on purpose." Still hugging Mina, Ruby made her way up the stairs. She noticed that the girl was still wearing the same clothing from the day before and there were even a few dirt streaks on her face. She assumed Mina must have fallen at some point. "Let's go get you cleaned up and we will talk about this again later." Luna followed the women, leaving Ian alone on the stairs. Balling up his fist, Ian stomped toward the room where Zane was sleeping. He pushed open the door and the sleeping man shot straight up.
"You!" Ian said in a growl.
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Zane was still asleep when Ian barged in and he had no idea what had gotten the man so angry.
"What did I do?" Zane asked as he rubbed his eyes.
"You put me in bed with Mina, didn't you?" Zane smirked.
"Did it work?" He asked mockingly and Ian threw a punch at him. Zane rolled off the bed laughing.
"You made things worse you idiot!"
"I made things worse? What happened? Oh, no Ian you didn't," Zane joked.
"It's not funny, she screamed so loud it scared me awake and I was about to choke her to death." Only then did Zane stop laughing. He had forgotten that Ian was prone to attacking people who came too close to him when he slept. It was a side effect from when he went through rigorous military training.
"I thought you had outgrown that," Zane said, now serious.
"No," Ian said.
"Let me borrow some clothes, I'll go apologize to Mina myself," Zane said.
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Mina was still sniffling as Luna and her nan drew a bath for her. Luna was rubbing the girl's shoulders and in her heart she knew Zane had something to do with what had happened. As far as she could tell, Ian was not interested in Mina and Mina had made it clear to everyone that she was not interested in Ian nor would she ever be.
"Mina, think clearly what happened when my brother attacked you?" Luna asked. Mina told her exactly what happened and both women in the room realized that Ian had acted on instinct.
The women explained it to Mina, but it did not make her feel any better. She hated President Lee, she really, really hated him. She now remembered that he was the one who carried her inside and so she knew he was the one who put her in that bed.
'Does he think that because I let him carry me it meant he could sleep with me? Am I a toy to him? What about Lisa? How difficult would she make things for me if she found out? President Lee must have enjoyed all the little stunts his woman pulled last night; otherwise why didn't he stop her?' Mina thought.
Luna noticed that Mina was beginning to hyperventilate so in a professional tone, she asked the girl to look at her and they practiced a few breathing exercises.
"Mina, I think you are having a panic attack. Stop thinking so much. Try to calm yourself down, you are safe now," Luna said.
"I don't feel safe," Mina replied, and Miss Ruby cut in.
"Mina, my Ian is not a bad guy, he just has to do bad things sometimes. I don't know what happened between you two in the past, but I can assure you from today, I will protect you." For some reason, Miss Ruby's words rang true to Mina and she was able to focus on breathing.
"Thank you," Mina said. Miss Ruby patted the girls head and left the room. Luna was also about to leave when Mina grabbed her sleeve her.
"I met Miss Lisa," she admitted. "I think I may have made an enemy out of her, but I didn't do anything wrong. I just wanted to tell you before she did," Mina said. Luna asked Mina for details. Coincidentally Lisa had asked Luna to meet her later. If the topic rolled around to Mina, she wanted both sides of the story so she could come to her own conclusion.
Luna was fuming by the time Mina finished speaking, had it not been for the fact that she had not been there to witness it herself, she would have called Lisa out for her petty behavior. She walked to her brother's study where she found Zane dressed in grey loungewear that obviously belonged to Ian. The man never wore anything subtle.
"What happened last night?" Luna demanded and was surprised that the story from both men matched Mina's account.
"Ian, why didn't you say anything? How could you let Mina suffer in that way?" Luna scolded but Zane cut in.
"I think Lisa suffered the most. Every Time she tried to embarrass Mina, she failed. I think she may have even jumpstarted Mina's career," Zane said jokingly. Seeing Luna's confused face, Zane tried to pull up the recorded broadcast of Mina's performance, but it was gone. "It looks like Lisa was one step ahead of us," he said, then he explained the situation to Luna. It was clear that Mina had left some things out of her story. Ian listened quietly, when the time was right, he would tell them that he was the one who had the video removed.
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Lisa waited for Luna at a random cafe she chose. For her it didn't matter where they went, so long as she could vent about Mina, she would be fine. When Luna showed up, she didn't look happy.
"What's wrong?" Lisa asked as a greeting.
"Nothing, what's up? Why did you want to meet?" Knowing that something was off, Lisa decided to tread lightly.
"I met your friend yesterday," she said, "I don't know why we hadn't met earlier." Luna smiled.
"It's because we haven't really hung out with one another in a few years." Lisa apologized. She told Luna that her family was putting her under a lot of pressure within the company and she was always working. Luna had no way to know if she was telling the truth or not. She had no idea that Lisa spent more time in Ian's office than in her own office. It was something the siblings just did not speak about.
"So, what's up, why did you ask me here?" Luna asked coldly.
"It's like this, your friend, I think she is into Ian and I don't know how to deal with it." Luna made a face.
"Lisa, she is not interested in him. She told me you would think that."
"How do you know she isn't? Did she tell you that I caught them hugging?" Luna looked up sharply.
"You caught them what?"
"She didn't tell you, did she? When I came to pick up your brother for our date, she was hugging him in front of everyone."
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone