Chapter 599 - Exposed (6) - Oliver’s POV

"Are you serious?" Ethan commented after I decided to reveal everything.

"You have to pretend you don't know or else it'll become worse for Rika," I reminded him.

"He wasn't anything like this when I lived with him for two weeks. It was almost the complete opposite," Delia was horrified.

"You can pass your presents for her to me. I know a safe way to hand it to her," I planned to place it in her storage room.

"I'm going to buy more of Rika's favourite snacks," Sienna nodded her head.

Our conversation stopped when we heard footsteps coming towards the club room. When the door opened, Rika brightened by the sight of us. I began to notice all the accessories she wore, knowing the true purpose of them. She wore numerous rings, bracelets, earrings and hairclips that could amount to a small pile. Before she could greet us, Alex urged her to continue walking to their office.

Rika dejectedly listened to him, under the eyes of two merciless people. We knew the first thing Rika had to do was to attend their study sessions once she arrived at the club room. In the past, we went with the flow since we knew her poor grades. However, Luke didn't pull the walls up for the first time, ȧssuming we already knew everything behind the scenes. I couldn't help but frown when watching them, finding the study session to be awful.

"Let's go onto the next chapter," Luke opened a new workbook.

The room was filled with sounds of sniffling, beautiful tears streaming down her face. It has been like this for hours. Rika was begging them to be more lenient on her since they were making her repeat the question until it was ingrained into her. They never forgave second time mistakes, doubling the practice. I couldn't take my eyes off them, not knowing this was happening the entire time inside the same room.

"I need a break," Rika angrily cried harder.

"I can let you go after you finish the usual amount of work," Luke dismissed her pleas.

"Your shoulders are slightly crooked again. Let's start with fixing your posture first," he narrowed his eyes.

I squinted my eyes, trying to find the mistake in her posture. I couldn't tell until Ethan whispered into my ear, "it's slightly off by half a millimetre. It's only noticeable if you search for it extensively. Her back is also a little slouched by a quarter of a degree."

"What did I tell you about your back? I also need you to fix the angle you use your arms when writing. Raise your chin a bit more, one centimeter, you're going to strain your neck later. Posture is extremely important when it comes to your health," Luke continued.

This was extremely harsh, most of us not able to find the difference. Ethan eventually gave up in searching for the faults they mentioned, none of them stopping. It was no wonder Rika possessed close to perfect posture all the time, being confronted with Luke's extremely high standards. Sienna slightly shuddered, checking herself in the mirror to study her own. Luke also wanted Rika to respond to him in a certain way when answering his questions. He fixed her speech whenever he decided it was lacking.

"You can't talk to others like that. You'll be an embarrassment to us. Repeat this," Alex joined in.

"This isn't an ordinary study session. They're squeezing all the mannerisms and etiquette inside with it," Sienna whispered to Delia.

"Honestly, they're stricter than my regular tutors," Delia agreed.

Both Luke and Alex were teaching Rika to be extremely polite, showing how to imitate their usual masks. I had to admit that their masks were impressive in front of others, not showing any signs of weakness. I could never predict this was the education that the members from the most powerful families received. Many of the tips were helpful, something I could implement later on. The way they explained everything was very straightforward to the point a kindergartener could understand them.

We could tell they wanted the best for Rika, genuinely wanting her to succeed. The level of effort and time they invested into her was enormous. I knew they could have finished around a quarter of the fraction work during the same time instead. It didn't make sense her grades were so poor when these study sessions were conducted everyday. Everything they wanted her to do was for her sake, no matter how miserable she appeared doing them.

"Luke has been doing this for around ten years," Shelly wasn't surprised.

"He literally raised her, teaching her everything," Ethan agreed with Jules.

"That's why he has the right to have this control over her," Delia realized his line of thinking.

Nobody could have imagined the true reality of their situation. We never thought this could be a possibility, watching them in amazement. This was why Luke was sėnsɨtɨvė when it came to Rika. My relationship with my partner was nothing compared to theirs. Once the study session was finished, Luke let Rika go so she could join us. Rika ran towards us, widely smiling from being filled with anticipation on how to spend the rest of her time.

"We should start with this multiplayer battle game today," she grabbed a headgear.

"Is this usually what happens during the study sessions?" Sienna was curious.

"It's not only the study sessions.. It's all the time," Rika sighed.