...
"You seem to know quite a lot about their affairs," Yves King said with a puzzled look, he puffed up his cheeks, seemingly laughing while questioning, "But you and Lena Que seem to get along well. Why didn't you try to dissuade her at the time?"
"How could I persuade her if she didn't want to listen?" Lela Chapman pouted her cherry red lips, complaining with a face full of frustration, "As soon as that man started whispering sweet nothings into her ears, she was completely smitten, her brain all muddled. Who else could have gotten through to her? How come the girls in our class were so easily manipulated by the same man?"