Chapter 633: Good Graces

Mina had been enjoying her day; the distraction president Lee had given her successfully took her mind off the issue of her parents, so when she called them, she did so with less anxiety. Still, just as she had expected, the couple did not have good news for her. Lenard had gotten so angry after she left that he had punched several holes into the walls of their home, and the repairs were costly. Mina had never known her cousin to be violent, so if he had punched the walls, it was likely that he was purposefully trying to cause damage that would force her to pay attention to him.

In the past, it was when Lenard was having a tough time that Mina usually doted on him, not because she liked him romantically, but because she cared about him as one of the few people who was not downright cruel toward her. It was only after he had asked for her hand in marriage that their relationship changed, and thinking back to that time, she was too young to have even been considered as a bride. Lenard was younger than Ren and older than Troy, but it still did not make his attraction toward her any better.

Mina wired her parents the money they would need to make the repairs, and when her mind was settled enough, she called her uncle from a blocked line to enquire about buying the home on behalf of her father. Sadly, Mina's uncle and aunt practiced savagery by nature, so they were not just satisfied with her offering the amount they had already quoted her parents. They also wanted her to secure Linette a date with President Lee, and they wanted her to attend a matchmaking session with her cousin.

Typically, matchmaking was done between strangers, but Mina's uncle insisted that she and Lenard were a perfect fit for one another and he wanted to prove it, telling her that his son had not even dated in the time that he was waiting for an answer from her; something Mina knew was untrue because he had dated many of the girls from her town.

It had made life especially difficult for Mina during that period because every time Lenard slept with and broke up with another girl, he would tell them that it was because he was already engaged to her. Had it not been for the fact that Sadie was still alive, and people were afraid of her; Mina was certain she would have been physically attacked, not just verbally assaulted by the girls.

Mina was able to get her uncle to drop the idea of having her meet anyone with Lenard, but as a condition, he wanted the sale document to say that the property would bounce back to his ownership if something happened to her. Mina knew that her uncle was not as naive as her parents, so he probably guessed that her safety was some sort of issue. She had no problem with the guarantee, but she also wanted the contract to include her parents living in the home free of charge for as long as they were alive.

After getting her uncle's assurance, Mina went to work on the document, her uncle approved it, but signing was held until she could get Linette a night with President Lee. She strode into the man's study, wearing an innocent expression, but she was riddled with guilt. She had, in a way, sold the man to her uncle, and while she knew that he could take care of himself, she would have hated it if anyone had done the same to her.

"How are you feeling today?" Mina asked, sitting in the seat that had now become hers. President Lee had added another chair, and a small table and lamp to the area, and they had often discussed their joint venture over coffee in that spot.

"Just tell me what you want," the man said, not even looking up from the document he was reading.

"How do you know I want something?" Mina asked in mock indignation. She did want something, but she wanted to know what had given her away.

"I'm not going to tell you because you will adjust your behavior to keep me guessing." Mina scowled at the man, but she could not fault him. She too liked to read his behaviors, but the man had changed so much that the mental profile she had built for him was no longer right and she had to start from the beginning.

"Fine, but I want you to know in advance that I am sorry." Ian looked up, staring at Mina in a way that made her laugh, but he saw nothing funny about her comment.

"What did you do?" He asked, putting his pen down so that he did not have the urge to throw it at her if she said something he could not handle.

"I kind of set you up on a date with Linette." President Lee's brow raised in confusion, and she reminded him that Linette was Lenard's cousin.

"Bathroom girl?" the man said in horror. "Mina, why would you do something like that without first asking my permission?"

"I already apologized, and I know it was wrong, but my uncle made it a condition for buying my parents' home from him."

"Call them back and tell them I have a girlfriend," Ian demanded, but Mina shook her head.

"You told them you were single. If I do that now, they will know I am lying. Can't you just do me this one favor? Please?" Mina sang the last word and Ian pulled at his face in annoyance. He would do anything for the woman but going on a date was out of the question, especially when he was completely turned off by the person he had been set up with.

"Can't we push her to Zane?" Ian asked, and a lightbulb went off in Mina's mind. Zane and Linette might have gotten along better, but she doubted that her uncle would go for it.

"Please President Lee. It's just one date." Ian stood up, and Mina did the same, she did not know why, but she felt the need to run, so she did.

Sadly, President Lee had changed the layout of the decoration in his home, so there was no longer a clear shot from the stairs to the front doors. She was caught before she could even make it to the foyer, and while she would have been terrified in the past, she just felt guilty as the man spun her to face him.

"In the future, do not use me to further anything along with your uncle. I don't care if you open a line of credit using my name, but this is crossing a line." Mina snorted, unable to hold back her laughter. She knew the man was serious, and the fact that he had told her that she could do what he had broken up with Miss Lisa for doing was evidence enough that he sincerely disliked the idea of going out on a date with Linette.

"Are you going to go?" She asked in a whisper, and the man groaned loudly. He let go of her shoulders and walked into his sitting room, where he took two drinks in rapid succession.

"I don't even want to be alone with that woman."

----

Zane sat across from Mina who explained the situation she had gotten his friend into. He could not believe the level of civility he was seeing between the pair, and the fact that Ian had agreed to go on a date to further the woman's plan to buy her family home was shocking. Zane had known Ian for nearly half of his life, and in that time, he had only agreed to two dates arranged by his father. The first was when he was eighteen and his sexuality was in doubt, and the second was only recently with a woman who had gotten engaged mere weeks after Ian called things off with her.

For Ian to have set aside his principles of not being set up with a person he was not physically drawn to on his own, meant that Mina's hold over the man had increased. She was now able to get him to ignore who he had always been, and while at first worrying, Zane could also see those changes eventually working to his friend's benefit.

At the office, Ian was no longer as feared by his employees, and he had developed a habit of leaving his office door open for those who wanted to report something odd or troubling to him directly. In the past, Zane had been the approachable one, but now there was balance in the office that had not been there before. As a result, Ian felt less need to micromanage his employees because as he got to know them, he trusted in their competence, especially when they flagged something that could have seriously hurt the company's image.

"I just want to make sure I'm hearing right," Zane said. "You, Mina, set him, Ian, up on a date with your cousin's cousin, who, at your family home, which is poorly insulated, invited him, Ian, into the restroom with her and you, Ian, agreed?" Mina's face went red, and she looked down before answering.

"Well, when you say it like that it sounds horrible."

"Mina it is horrible. Think about me setting you up with Carl Mercer." Mina's eyes went wide, and Zane nodded at her as she took in how uncomfortable a situation she had put Ian in.

"Sorry President Lee. I really didn't put too much thought into my actions, but I will renegotiate with my uncle." Mina looked at Zane pleadingly, and the man gasped as he took in what she was asking with her eyes.

"That is not going to work on me," he said, turning his body away from Mina, but he was unable to fully block her out of his field of vision. "I cannot believe I am actually considering doing this for you."

----

Zane sat across from Linette, who as Mina had said, was not as horrible as he thought she would be. She was clearly disappointed that Ian had not arrived, but she was not completely annoyed by the situation, and politely entertained him in his friend's place. The restaurant she had chosen was not over the top, in fact it was quite muted, and she told him that she picked the place because they made the best stuffed chicken, not because of its pricing.

The pair did not have anything in common, but conversation flowed freely. For the first time on a 'date,' Zane found himself listing out all the dissimilarities between himself and another individual, and both parties found it fun.

"So, President Lee has gotten back with his ex?" the woman suddenly asked, and Zane nodded, uncomfortable with the lie because it involved Lisa, and uncomfortable that he was being made to lie in the first place. Ian had enough power to just force Mina's uncle into selling, but the man was playing things safe to keep himself in the woman's good graces, something Zane could not exactly fault him for.

"Nothing has been made public, but they are rekindling. Mina did not know when she arranged the date, so I came instead."

"It's fine," Linette said, twirling her wine in her glass. "My uncle has been trying to marry me off for a while now. Nothing shocks me anymore."

"What's stopping you from getting married?" Zane asked, and the woman smirked.

"I am illegitimate." Zane raised a brow at the woman who had spoken the words casually.

"But you know who your father is?"

"No one has told me, but I've figured it out on my own."

"It's your uncle, isn't it?" Linette raised her glass to Zane.

"Correct," she replied.