Chapter 655: Hormones

𝐌𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝟏𝟖+

Mina was awakened by a call that came in so early it frightened her. She jumped out of bed, thinking that it was an emergency. She read the display, wincing at the brightness of her phone, and hoping that Cylus had a good reason for waking her when she had been enjoying sleeping beside President Lee, who had been cuddling her without expectation. She had told herself that she was going to give them a week before she left, and Cylus was already disrupting day one.

"What's wrong?" Mina said into the phone; it was too early for it to be anything less than important.

"I'm ten minutes away, hurry up and get dressed, Olivia is in labor." Mina ended the call and rushed into her closet with President Lee close behind her.

"What happened? Talk to me," the man said. His voice was still deep and husky, as he too had been woken by the call.

"Olivia is having her baby," Mina said, no longer needing to keep her friend's condition a secret.

"The one who just got married? She was pregnant?" Mina nodded, and Ian grabbed her shoulders to stop her from darting around him. "You know this is dangerous, right?"

"Please president Lee. I won't stay long, and I know Dom will be there."

"Why would Dom be there? Mina, do you know how suspicious this sounds?"

"I don't have time to explain, but can you just trust me?" Mina pressed a kiss on President Lee's cheek and rushed to do her morning routine. She was out of the doors before Ian could even say goodbye, and when he saw her climb into Cylus Rue's car, he felt himself worried that the man was reemerging as competition.

----

Mina glared at Peter as he gently placed the small infant in her arms. Sure, he was the father, but he had stolen her right to be the first one to hold the baby. Olivia, while tired, managed to chuckle at the awkwardness of the interaction between her husband and friend, so Mina shot her a look that she hoped conveyed that it was no laughing matter.

"Stop being petty and hurry up. We all want to hold him." Mina looked back at Mills, who was hovering over her shoulders to get a good look at little Oliver, who was affectionately known as Ollie. He was adorable, and the way that he sucked on his bottom lip made Mina smile.

"I think he is hungry," she said, and Peter quickly stood to take the baby from her. She almost recoiled from the man, but she understood her limits.

"He is nursed," Peter added, and Mina nodded, understanding that for him to be fed meant he had to go back to his mother. Everyone sighed exasperatedly as Peter kicked them all out of the room, intending to give his wife privacy.

"Just so you know, I'm the one who's been helping your wife shave," Mills said. Peter's face took on a mortified expression that made Mina and everyone within earshot giggle. Most of them knew that Olivia had to stop going for her spa treatments, and Mills was the only one of them who was brave enough to step up and fill the role when it became too difficult for the woman to tend to herself.

"Babe, what is she talking about?" They heard Peter ask as he walked back into the room, and Cylus found himself shaking his head at Mills before sinking into a chair, clearly overwhelmed.

"I can't thank you ladies enough," he said, standing to pull both Mina and Mills into an emotional hug. "She really regards you as family." Mina felt bad for Cylus, who was still feeling the sting of his own betrayal.

"Hey, I've got to go, but thank you for coming to get me." Mina started to leave, but she ran into Madam and President Rue on the way.

"Mina!" The woman shouted, pulling her into a hug that felt motherly. "Thank you so much for everything you did for Olivia. I swear, I didn't know." The woman shot a glare at her husband, who cleared his throat before speaking.

"Just tell me how much I owe you and I'll write a check." Mina narrowed her eyes at the man, feeling an intense sense of dislike for him that stemmed from the possibility that she may be the 'stillborn' daughter of his wife.

"There's no need. If you want to make yourself feel better, donate to Free." Mina strode past the couple, but Madam Rue followed her.

"Mina, stop. I want to talk to you." Without a genuine reason to ignore the woman, Mina halted in her steps, turning to face Madam Rue, who she could not help but to see her resemblance to.

"I don't want your money."

"I know, I just want to check in on you." Mina furrowed her brows, and Madam Rue took a step closer.

"Olivia and I have spoken. I want you to know that if anything changes; our doors will be open." Unable to deal with the fact that the woman had just hit upon a nerve, Mina became mute until Madam Rue walked away. She had not considered that life might go back to where it came from. She had assumed that she and President Lee would resume a normal working relationship, but the more she thought about it, the more unrealistic that seemed.

Wiping her face, Mina bolted out of the hospital, but instead of calling someone to get her like she promised, she sat on a nearby bench and tried to figure out when she had given her heart to President Lee. She told herself that she would be fine, she told herself that she would be able to walk away, but the thought of not even being able to see the man was enough to make her heart ache.

"Are you okay?"

"Fine," Mina replied, looking up at Dom wearing a half smile that she knew would not fool him.

"Want to talk about the thing that's making you feel fine?" Mina chuckled.

"Do you ever look back and wonder where everything went wrong?"

"Never," Dom said. "I look at everything as a new experience to learn from."

"You're lying," Mina replied, and Dom shrugged.

"Can you blame me?" Mina shook her head and Dom stood, extending a hand to her. "Let's get you back so you can make it to work on time."

----

Mina was so distracted at work that she wondered if she should just leave. Between her conflicting emotions toward President Lee, and Mills sending multiple photos of Ollie, she could not concentrate on her duties, and neither could director Porter, who was constantly checking his phone for updates from Jay. By the time they realized 'prissy woman number one' was not around, it was too late to start looking for a stand-in, so Mina quickly changed into the costume, glad that she had memorized the script.

With the crisis averted, filming resumed, but it was moving so sluggishly that director Porter allowed everyone to go home for the weekend. It was clear that no one would get any work done and he saw no reason to hold everyone up. Even with the time off, thanks to Mina, they were ahead of schedule and would likely remain ahead if they continued to move at their previous pace.

"You look amazing." Mina looked up from her clipboard to see Zane smiling down at her. She had stayed in costume in case she would need to reshoot any scene she was in.

"Back again?"

"I was in the area." Mina looked around the practically vacant film site, and back at Zane. She did not mean to let her mood show, but he had noticed it anyway. "Is something bothering you?" He asked, and she looked down at her feet. "Need me to help distract you from it?" Mina smiled, she needed a distraction, but before she could respond, her phone buzzed.

"Sorry," Mina said. "Looks like I still have work to do."

"Then, meet me at work later. I want to talk to you about something." Mina stiffened and stared at the man.

"You can't say things like that to me. I will think the worst all day. Just tell me now." Zane chuckled, forgetting that Mina was prone to panic attacks. It had been a long time since he witnessed her having one, so he set her mind at ease.

"Be my date to Adir's ascension dinner." Mina's brow furrowed; she had not been told anything about an ascension dinner.

"Sure," she finally said.

----

Mina walked into the Lee building still in costume. Zane wanted to take her to dinner and being that what she was wearing was appropriate for a meal, she did not see a need to change. She started to walk toward the elevators of the building, but a security guard stopped her, and told her President Lee needed to see her. Nodding, Mina went to the man's office first, and when she walked in, he abruptly stood.

"Where are you going?" Ian asked.

"Zane invited me to dinner."

"And you're going like that?"

"Is it bad? It's a costume from work," Mina admitted. She started to explain why she was wearing it but became distracted by President Lee's suddenly cleared off desk.

The man stood before her and lifted her in his arms, sitting her on his desk before kissing her back flat onto the surface. The man ripped open her blouse, making her eyes go wide before he lifted her skirt to reveal her sensitive area.

"President Lee, someone might catch us."

"No one is walking into this office," Ian said. Mina was about to bring up protection, but the man already had one in his hand, and she shut her eyes as he dropped his pants enough to free himself of restriction. "Relax," he coaxed. Mina tried to relax, but she was nervous, and when President Lee rammed himself into her, she was unable to contain the sound she made.

"Someone will hear me," she said, hoping that the man would leave her, but his response was 'let them hear.'

Being with President Lee always felt good, so it was not long before Mina was biting her lips trying hard to muffle her own sounds. The man was moving the way she liked, entering her body exactly the way he knew brought her to her peak, and she could feel the now familiar buildup of her climax. She arched her back off the desk, working hard to suppress the sounds she knew would leave her lips.

Suddenly, Willow's words about location came to her mind, and Mina felt her pleasure dull. President Lee must have noticed because he picked up the pace, trying to get her back to the place she had come from, but Mina pulled her body up as much as she could, hugging the man as she spoke into his neck.

"Please not here," she whispered.

"Does it not feel good?" Ian questioned, he knew she was enjoying herself, and while he knew it was petty, he wanted to wear her out so she could not go anywhere with Zane. He continued to enter her, making her gasp and moan, until she cupped his face and forced him to look at her. There were tears in her eyes and Ian felt himself go soft.

"Please Ian." The man stilled, she had called his name, but the moment was clouded by her tears. "Take me to your bed," she pleaded, and Ian obliged. He held the woman to his body, placing gentle kisses on her chin and lips as she clutched at his arms tightly. Ian did not know what was wrong with Mina, they had done it on the desk in his study not long ago, and she liked it, so he assumed she was having a hormone related mood swing.