Chapter 562 - Melting into Spring (11)

When I explained everything to Miliana through a call, she was surprised to know Charles' weakness. I wondered if it was because they never went to a haunted house together before. While Alex slept in Charles' bedroom for the past week, he couldn't find anything. Although I felt a little guilty for going a bit over the line, he deserved it. And Charles was sharing the room with Luke anyways, not giving me the chance to slip the doll into his blanket anymore.

"You are officially my new best friend," Miliana radiantly smiled.

"Since we're returning to school soon, you should start purchasing your own dolls while you have the chance," I let her know.

"I'll make sure that everyone in school will carry them around," Miliana ended the call.

I couldn't wait to see Charles' expression once we returned to school. He made sure to maintain a certain distance away from me since I was always holding onto Kristie. Luke knocked on my bedroom door, wondering why I wasn't coming to the dining table for dinner. My conversation with Miliana lasted for hours since she was catching me up to all the latest news happening in school. It was interesting to know how everyone in the club room was doing.

"I was planning to come soon," I stepped out of my bed.

I quickly ran into the dining room before Luke could nag me for not keeping the time. Seeing where Charles sat, I took the seat beside him. My usual seat was beside Luke, on the other side. Luke gestured to me to sit in my usual seat where all the plates he picked were placed for me. I shook my head as I grabbed Charles' arm. Although it was unfortunate that I forgot to take Kristie with me, he couldn't look at my face since I resembled her.

"I want to sit here for today," I was about to order the plates I wanted.

"Repeat the dining rules Rika," Luke began to warn me.

"It's just for today," I wondered why he couldn't let me go.

"You already made all of us wait for you since you were late," he was giving me a chance to switch spots.

"Charles comes late sometimes," I pointed out.

"Kristie was disappointed every time," I turned to Charles.

"Go back to your seat," Charles elbowed me.

Since I had pestered Charles enough, I returned to my usual seat before Luke could threaten to take Kristie away. In the middle of eating my salad, I came up with a great idea. There was one scene in the movie that I had really liked. But I couldn't re-enact it unless Charles began to sleep on his own again. I plastered a mocking smile on my face, "how old are you? Two? You can't even sleep alone."

"Do you really need Luke to sleep with you every night?" I provoked him further.

"Who's the child here? You're the one who always cries and begs us to end the study sessions sooner," Charles fought back.

"I can sleep alone at night. Only babies can't sleep alone because they need their parents. You're worse than a child," I smirked.

"I can sleep alone at night!" Charles landed in my trap.

"When?" I teased him.

"Starting from tonight!" He proudly stated.

I silently cheered inside my heart while I pretended that I didn't notice how both Alex and Luke considered us to be the same. Their impression of Charles drastically changed since he started to live together with us inside the mansion. They realized how easy he was to manipulate since he got caught up in his emotions easily. Whenever Charles and I got into a fight together, Luke stopped the fights by poking his pride while he endlessly lectured me afterwards.

After Charles couldn't sleep alone, they didn't consider him as their equals anymore. He was equally under their set rules as much as I was. Luke didn't hesitate to pile loads of work from his fraction onto him. Charles was surprised from Luke's change in attitude, not remaining extremely polite anymore. He began to get scared of Luke, who always threatened him that he would have to sleep alone if he didn't listen to everything he demanded.

However, Charles couldn't win against Luke. Everything that Luke demanded from him would benefit him in the end. When Alex joined to support Luke, Charles began to look at me for help, momentarily forgetting about Kristie. My revenge was almost complete. I placed Kristie inside his room again in the middle of the night. Like I had expected, he loudly screamed to wake all of us. I slapped my cheeks to make my face appear flushed before I began to stomp to his bedroom.

"How could you steal Kristie from me? Were you this jealous?" I slammed his bedroom door open.

"The doll is haunted!" Charles pointed at Kristie.

"It's just a doll. What can Kristie do?" I yelled.

"Seriously?" Alex watched us.

"You know how I carry her around all the time. You take her away from me as soon as I separate from her?" I raised my voice.

"The doll moved on its own!" Charles' voice wobbled.

"We should get rid of that doll," he was in the process of chanting.

"You did everything on purpose to get rid of Kristie!" I gasped.

"Give Kristie to me," Luke coldly gestured to Charles.