Chapter 627: Kindness

Mina left the room and came back with a floor mat that her father typically used when his back pain was too persistent to ignore. She had tried to plead with her mother several times about the sleeping arrangement, but she was told that she was 'trusted.' It only occurred to Mina after she had collected the mat that her mother was still afraid of having her sleep outside of a locked room, so when she went back to where she was told to sleep, she did so wearing a hurt expression.

President Lee had gone into the restroom to change, so Mina slid into her old nightclothes then she made a bed on the floor. She kept sighing, wondering if things would ever change between herself and her parents. However, Mina's somber mood was short lived because as soon as she saw President Lee wearing her father's clothing, she burst into laughter. It was too small, so the man's arms and legs were exposed at the ends, making him look like his clothing had shrank.

"This is funny to you?" The man asked, and Mina held up a finger as she allowed herself to laugh unimpeded. Once again, she drew the attention of her mother, who had come to see why her daughter was hysterically laughing. Anne told Mina that she was being rude, and President Lee took the opportunity to ask the woman if it were possible to sleep with the doors closed, something he knew Mina would not appreciate or like.

"No," Mina answered for her mother, but the woman had already jumped on the man's words and pulled the door shut.

"I did not think she would agree," Ian said, feeling guilty for making Mina sleep in the same room as him. He had expected Ms. Harlow to immediately send her daughter out, not close her in. After a few minutes Mina went to the door, and was not surprised to find it locked, Ian on the other hand was at once filled with dread.

"You are going to have to explain this to me because I'm about a minute away from kicking the door down," he whispered. He had come to realize that sound travelled well in the small home, and he did not want to insult Mina's family, although at the moment, their feelings were the last thing on his mind.

"When I was young, I would do things and have no memory of it. A doctor with the healthy child initiative suggested putting locks outside of my doors to prevent me from acting out at night." Ian's brow furrowed. He knew Mina's parents were lied to, and he wondered what other sorts of weird tactics the couple were convinced to use against her.

"But what if there is a fire?" he asked, still put off by the thought of being locked in a room.

"Ren helped me with that problem." Mina said the name as if it were poison, and Ian regretted asking. She picked up a pen and walked to the window, where she dug out several screws allowing the bars to swing open on its hinges. "You were the one who asked for the door to be closed, I don't understand why you are acting like this now." Ian noticed how Mina was speaking in hushed tones, and he took it that she did not want her parents to overhear them bickering.

"It was a joke, I didn't think she would agree," Ian admitted, but as he thought about it, the home was so poorly insulated that the Harlows' would hear the minute he tried to coax Mina into anything, and probably the minute they started. He watched Mina shake her head with a sigh before settling onto the floor mat. "Why don't we trade places?" Ian suggested, feeling bad that he had a bed while Mina had the floor.

"No need, this mat is my father's. I'm content sleeping on it." When Ian turned off the main light in the room, he noticed that Mina had a small lamp set up by her mat, and when he moved to unplug it, she told him that she wanted to read.

----

Ian tossed and turned on the unforgivingly stiff mattress. He looked over to Mina, who had fallen asleep with a book resting on top of her face and he wondered if she was on a more comfortable surface. When she had been awake, he kept pestering her about noises he heard, movement in the home, and anything that triggered him to think it was suspicious.

Mina was calm the entire time, and after giggling at most of his question, she mockingly told him that the house was haunted. Ian knew it was not, but it put him off that she was teasing him as a coward, so he continued to pester her until she told him that the house was old and needed foundation work. While that should have calmed him, it worried him more, and the woman told him to climb out of the window and sleep in his car if he were that concerned. After that, she tuned him out, and eventually fell asleep.

Climbing out of the bed as quietly as possible, Ian settled onto the floor mat next to Mina, and removed the book from her face with a light chuckle. Her lips were slightly parted, and with the book gone, her body automatically took a deep breath, causing her to turn and face him directly. While it was not as comfortable as he had assumed, the floor was definitely a better place for him to sleep.

Ian stared at Mina's face for a long time before he finally turned off the small lamp and allowed himself to sleep as well.

----

Mina awoke to the smell of her mother cooking breakfast. Since President Lee had gone all out the night before, it was clear that her mother was rewarding the man with a large spread that Mina was excited to dig into. She opened her eyes slowly, adjusting to the light coming in through the window and when her vision cleared, she jumped up abruptly, making the man she had been sleeping next to kick out violently.

Remembering the time he choked her, Mina held back her cry and pressed herself against the nearby wall until the man's sleepy eyes landed on her form.

"Did I hurt you?" He asked groggily.

"Not this time."

"I'm sorry, I went to bed a little anxious."

"So, you slept next to me?" Mina questioned, not understanding how or why the man ended up cuddled next to her on her father's floor mat.

"Your mattress is rough. I do not know how you ever slept on that thing. I shifted down to the floor because you looked more comfortable, and there aren't many places I could have laid." Ian pointed around the room, but Mina did not need him to show her. She knew that for a man of his height, where she had been laying was the best spot for him.

"Then you should have slept with your head facing the opposite way," she replied, feeling bad that her mind had gone sinister when it appeared the man was not trying to be lewd.

"I thought about it, but I was afraid to kick you in the face."

"Fair point," Mina responded, suddenly feeling the urge to rub her nose with the thought of having it broken because she brushed against him, and he acted in a half-sleepy panic. A knock resounded at Mina's door before it opened, and her father poked his head inside the room.

"I thought I heard you two speaking," he said, pushing the door open as a way to usher them out.

"Should I change?" Ian asked, not entirely sure he felt comfortable walking out of the room in the poorly fitted pajama he had been given.

"If it makes you feel more comfortable. Anne and I don't get dressed until noon, and my boss cancelled me for the day, so there is no where I have to be."

"Daddy, I would really love it if you could quit working. The money I send should be enough to cover any monthly expenses you and mommy have. I'm not sure why-" Mina paused, taking in her father's expression as he quietly pulled out a chair at the kitchen table and sat. "Please don't tell me you lent it out."

"Mina, what have I always taught you?" the man questioned sternly.

"It's harder for a person to ask for help than it is to give it. If you see a person in need, lend them your hand and your kindness will always follow you." Mina recited the mantra her father had drilled into her since young with a slight whimper in her voice.

Ian took in the interaction and could finally understand why Mina was so dedicated to people who she barely even knew. She had been brainwashed into thinking it was the right thing, and while it may be true for some individuals, it was not true for everyone, and when Mina tried to tell her father that he had helped his boss enough, the man reminded her that he still has a job despite the fact that he often has to skip or miss work because of his back.

Ian desperately wanted to tell the man that what he was describing was not his kindness being returned, but he was simply kept around as a source of income at his daughter's expense. He wondered if Mr. Harlow knew how hard Mina worked for their sake, but part of him believed that he would not care.

It was clear that Mina's parents expected her to work hard, they had gotten used to doing it themselves, and it was normal for them. He thought back to the first conversation that he had listened in on between the trio. Mina was asked not to work too hard, but that did not bar her from overworking, and every 'I love you' that followed was initiated by Mina herself, not her parents.

Mina did not stay seated at the table for long, Ian could tell that she wanted to cry, but she was working extremely hard to suppress her emotions. It made Ian think back to when Mina had been offended by the questions he had chosen to ask her during the lie detector test. She had displayed true agitated anger before she took a deep breath and pulled it back in as if it had never existed.

When Mina returned to the table, she did so helping her mother serve the breakfast that Ian's stomach literally called out to, making him embarrassed. His eyes glanced toward Mina, who would usually comment on the noises his stomach made, but there was nothing but coldness in her eyes. She had checked out from the present, and it made Ian worry about her mental state. She would often do that when they first met, but she had not in a long time, and he wondered if visiting her parents was bad for her.

As her parents spoke to her, Mina replied in single word answers, flashing fake smiles that Ian only knew were fake because he had seen the real ones. They were nearly through with the meal when Anne Harlow set down her utensils and asked her daughter if she were having an 'episode.' Mina denied it emphatically, almost as if she were afraid to admit that she was unhappy.

Ian had badly wanted to enjoy Ms. Harlow's cooking, which was not as good as Mina's but a close second. Unfortunately, he became distracted by what was unfolding before him. Mr. Harlow was also pulled away from his meal, studying his daughter's face in a way that Ian once again could not read. Sometimes he would see true affection in her parent's eyes, and other times he would see something else.