Professional Pride vs Desire

• Her competence as social secretary is her identity
• Takes pride in managing complex relationships smoothly
• Getting emotionally involved would threaten that identity
• This creates more interesting internal conflict than just denial
• Enjoys being the one who controls access
• Gets satisfaction from orchestrating meetings/denying access
• Secret thrill from controlling these interactions while claiming disinterest
• Being MC's lover would mean losing that power
• This makes her resistance more about maintaining control than fear
• a power broker who prefers indirect influence
• Takes pride in curating MC's "collection" while pretending it's just duty