Chapter 255: Audio
Mina did not understand what had possessed her to throw President Lee's phone out the window of his moving car. It was a momentary impulse and she found herself acting before her brain had time to process what she was doing or the possible consequences.
When Mina was a child, she had taken her mother's music box apart to see how it worked. Her mind told her that she would be able to fix it, but the pieces were so small and fragile that she was not able to get it to work again. Mina of course confessed to her parents with an apology, and she was forgiven, but not long after, she dismantled a household appliance because she thought that she could make improvements. Sadly, she could not.
That time, Mina's father went straight into her room, where he proceeded to pull out one of her treasured notebooks. Already nervous that her belongings were in someone else's hands, Mina kindly asked for the notebook to be put back, but her father did not return it.
Instead, her father ripped out all the pages, apologized and returned the tattered item to its place. Mina was devastated, but then her father scooped her up and sat her on his lap before explaining that the word 'sorry' does not always work; some things went beyond an apology. Mina understood her father's lesson clearly, but her heart still ached for the notes she lost.
What Mina did to President Lee's phone was a mirror of what her father had done to her, with a major twist. While Mina's father had secretly replaced her notebook beforehand, and returned her notes once he believed she had learned an important lesson, Mina had actually thrown President Lee's functional device out of the window.
Mina wanted President Lee to know that what he had done could not be rectified with a word, and that everything he continued to do only confounded the issues between them. If he wanted her forgiveness, he would have to start by letting her go, but Mina knew he would never do that.
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Ian was quiet for the remainder of the ride. He did not know why what Mina had done had left such a huge impact on him. He could easily replace his phone, and he could restore his data with the touch of a button, but for Mina, there was no magic reset.
Ian knew that so long as Mina was in the dark about what happened between them, it would be impossible for her to move past it. Although he knew his behavior that night was nothing less than fiendish, he told himself that he would allow Mina to listen to the audio from the hotel room. He believed that if she knew the truth, his apologies would have more of an influence.
As soon as the car pulled onto the Lee mansion property, Mina rolled down the window and opened her door from the outside. Ian did not even bother to stop her. He watched her hurriedly make her way into his home; her open back a teasing reminder of all the things they had shared and all the things they would never share again.
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Mina made her way into the room that was considered hers. She had been hoping that she and Luna would stay friends, as it would make living in a high-class prison cell much more bearable, but alas, hopes are just realistic dreams.
Mina stood in front of the bookshelf in her room, and stroked her neatly stacked notebooks. She had a feeling that they would soon go missing in retaliation. She knew hiding them would do her no good, but she was still tempted to try.
Each book held a secret, and every secret was precious to her. Mina began looking for a good place to hide her belongings when a knock at the door startled her.
Before Mina could answer, President Lee sauntered into her room with a laptop and thumb drive in his hands. He, like her, was still in his formal wear as he approached. Mina was confused, but she waited for the man to speak.
"Mina, I have something I need you to watch," he said. He seemed nervous, anxious almost and Mina found herself worried. Not for herself, but for her family.
"What is it?" Mina asked. She did not bother to hide her own anxiousness.
"It's a recording of…" Ian breathed deeply. "It's a recording of the night in the hotel," he finally said. Mina's face turned pale then grey as she took in the man's words.
"Y-You recorded it?" Mina asked. Her face had yet to regain it color and she was fighting back the urge to run.
"Yes, I recorded it, but…" Ian was cut off. Before he could utter another word, Mina had snatched the drive from his hands and using one of the heels she was wearing, smashed it under her foot repeatedly.
The thumb drive Ian had used to store the file was not heavy duty or reinforced. It was a general drive that he typically used to transfer unimportant documents from one laptop to another. The hard bottoms of Mina's heel made light work of the plastic.
Ian hesitated, he did not know what Mina was going to do and by the time he realized what she was planning it was too late. The small thumb drive had been smashed into pieces and Mina was still grinding it into the floor.
Ian rushed forward and pushed Mina backward, causing the woman to step on her gown and fall on her butt. She did not immediately stand up because her dress prevented her from doing so, but it did not stop her from trying.
"What have you done?" Ian asked. Mina was still struggling to stand as she spoke.
"You are the one who recorded us in that kind of situation and you're asking what I have done?" Mina snarled. She was finally able to make it to her feet and Ian realized what she must have been thinking.
"No, Mina it wasn't like that. It was just audio," Ian said, his eyes never leaving hers.
"Right; and what would I have heard? Did you hire a voice actress to make it seem like I-I gave myself to you? Tell me President Lee, how far did you go?"
Ian was speechless. Mina was absolutely correct. Even though he did not, he did have the power to do what she said, and he was foolish for not having thought his action through before bringing the only existing recording from that night into her room without clearly explaining it first.
President Lee dropped to his knees, scooped up the small pieces of plastic and held them almost reverently, which frightened Mina.
"This was the only proof," Ian mumbled. Mina looked at the sorry figure of President Lee on the ground, and fear engulfed her in hard waves. He was definitely going to punish her.