"Rose, calm down a little. I know you are not happy, but you must also consider Elias's feelings. Now, do not irritate him, and let's go inside. It was time for dinner."
Adrian quickly changed the topic before Elias got irritated and did something irrational to Rose. At least someone knew when to keep their mouth shut.
But as Elias continued to look toward the tower, it was hard not to notice where his mind currently was. Adrian said nothing about Elias's interest, and the topic was dropped.
When the trio entered the room, the adults looked tense and diverted their attention toward the kids. Elias sat beside his grandfather and shot him a concerned look.
Meanwhile, the Chlorance couple embraced their kids and immediately checked whether they had been hurt.
"Elias, did you have fun with these kids? You will have a lot of contact with these kids in the future, and they might even become your subordinates. Does that make you happy?"
Dark Matter's boss asked Elias as he looked at the Chlorance couple. He was daring them to say anything against him.
The couple frowned and looked away immediately. But they did not reply to the older man's comment. The only one who did object was Rose. But her cute words of, 'I am no one's subordinate' were not considered by anyone.
In the end, that was the tensest dinner ever in the Chlorance family house to date.
...
After having such a huge adventure, sleep should have been the first thing on Rachael's mind. And even her eyes were dropping at regular intervals, signifying that she needed to sleep.
But Rachael's mind continued to keep her awake. She jerked open the second she fell asleep, and something annoyed her.
The lingering fear of Elias appearing out of nowhere kept Rachael on her toes, and she quickly got up to walk around. She needed to empty her mind.
The tower looked like a haunted place in the dead of the night. The moonlight gave the dark tower a majestic look and simultaneously made the tower look lonely.
It was dead quiet at night, and Rachael enjoyed the solemn atmosphere. But just as she got used to it all, footsteps brought her back, and Rachael looked up. Her eyes met Emily's startled ones, and the older ones clutched her heart.
The ball of light in Emily's hand was exhausted as soon as her concentration broke, and she immediately yelled out loudly.
"Emily, calm down. It's me."
Rachael replied with a calm voice. Being so quiet helped Emily calm down and consider what was happening.
"A-Ah, it's just you, Rachael? You scared me a lot. I thought a ghost or an outbreak happened in this tower. If such a thing happens, we will die because of the lack of assistance."
Emily explained, and Rachael was sad to know it was the truth. No one would come to help her out if she was ever in trouble.
"A-Anyway, what are you doing out of bed? You are usually in your bed all the time. What is keeping you awake at night?"
Emily asked, and concern shined in her voice. That concern was mainly for herself and not for Rachael's benefit.
Still, having Emily check on her felt good. It made all the tension bleed out of Rachael's body.
"I was awake because something was weighing heavy on my mind. But it no longer matters. I will go to sleep now."
Emily looked at her young charge with suspicious eyes. But since Rachael was already past her and into her room, Emily had no time to ask her anything.
...
Rachael slept late last night but woke up even earlier than usual. Her body ached due to the lack of sleep, but Rachael did not want to fall asleep. If she fell asleep, then it would spell disaster for her.
(She would only miss school for one day, but it mattered to her.)
Emily was just waking up, meaning nothing had yet been prepared for her breakfast. Rachael got ready to cook her food and turned on the flame.
"What are you doing up so early? Did you also cook the breakfast for me? Let me see."
Emily reached out for the breakfast set on the table and ate it. She did not even care if her young charge was hungry or not.
Rachael did feel annoyed, but she had expected this to happen anyway. She was ready with a second serving of food, which she quickly ate and went out. Emily watched her go out with a concerned face.
But as the day dragged on, she forgot all about it and decided to go and do her job.
Meanwhile, Rachael arrived at school and sat in her seat. Then, she realized one essential thing - her teacher's aide.
It's more like she realized the identity of the teacher's aid.
'Out of all the people, why must it be him? Did I commit some kind of mistake for me to be tortured like this?'
Rachael had to be an evil person in her past life. Otherwise, how could one explain her phenomenal lousy luck? Anything that could go wrong in her life usually went wrong.
Even now, she was looking at one face she least expected to see in her classroom. And the worst part? Elias did not even look sorry.
Elias entered the room at the same time Suzie did, and Suzie's eyes were instantly drawn toward Elias.
Rachael did her best to ignore Suzie's eyes. But the younger was adamant in getting Rachael to look at her.
Once the class officially started, Suzie could not contain herself and turned toward Rachael.
"Hey, why did you throw that insect into my bag yesterday? You could have killed me off. Just for the record, I did not tell anyone about what you did."
Suzie complained and threatened Rachael at the same time. It was cute how she thought she could make Rachael submit to her like this.
"You can't blame me for what happened yesterday. You made the wish to become special to our teacher, dear teacher, and for them to pay special attention to you. I just helped you out with it."
Rachael explained with the uttermost patience she had. But Suzie continued looking suspicious of Rachael until Elias decided to sit with Rachael again.
He did not sit at her desk but at Suzie's. He even gave Suzie a charming smile, which made the other girl melt.
"My dear, would you mind giving me some space so I can spend some time in your delightful company?"
Elias asked Suzie, and she would have agreed to give him a kidney had he asked her to. As expected, Suzie did not hesitate to hurry over and allow Elias to sit down.
The teen shot Rachael a superior look before he took his seat.
"Uhm, I don't think I got to thank you for the help you provided me with yesterday. Once again, thank you for your help."
Suzie bowed as low as she could. Her eyes looked to be worshipping Elias and his help. Her adoration so blinded Suzie that she did not even notice Elias not paying attention to her.
Instead, the teenager turned toward Rachael and gave her a beaming grin.
"Of course, I had to help you out. After all, my dear *friend* here would get into much trouble if anything happened to you, death Suzie."
Elias's voice was sugary sweet, which made Suzie melt. She looked at Elias as if he hung the moon and stars.
Rachael had no interest in the pair and their flirting, but she still felt irritated seeing it happening before her. These feelings were irrational and burdensome for Rachael. She did not know what she was feeling right now, which was bothersome.
Thankfully, Rachel did not have to struggle with her blooming feelings for long. The teacher entered the room and handed a pop quiz to the class.
To be nine and to handle the burden of exams was a sad reality of today's time. Most children were not ready to take something like this, and they panicked.
But unlike most normal students, Rachael was ready for this test. She had studied a lot, and she also had a sharp mind.
"Uhm, can you help Suzie out? Suzie doesn't know many answers to these questions and wants to score full marks."
At first, Rachael shivered when she heard these sugary sweet words. The shiver forced her to look up, only to realize she was not the one Suzie was talking to.
She was so used to helping others out that Rachael automatically looked up when anyone called for help.
Elias was looking back at her with a smirk on his face. That smirk did not bode well for her, and Rachael did her best to ignore the pair before her.
If Suzie's fake voice had not irritated Rachael enough, Elias's knowing smirk would have made her heart boil.
"Hmm, I will help you out for sure. You asked this big brother for help, so I will ensure you score full marks. Now, if someone else wants to ask me to help, then I am always available."
Elias made it evident that he wanted Rachael to ask him for help. That made Rachael's desire to ask for help die down.
Besides, she would not cheat on a test that did not even make up for the end percentage of her grade. None of these marks would matter once they enter higher levels of education.
Throughout the test, Elias continued to help Suzie out. But to maintain fairness, he did Suzie some answers wrong and encouraged her to figure out when he was lying to her.
'I must not raise my hand and inform the teacher what is happening. Even if they are both cheating, it does not matter. It has nothing to do with me.'
Rachael repeated this mantra in her mind throughout the test. As she returned the examination to her teacher, she realized she had made too many stupid mistakes because she had been distracted.
It was too late to change things, so Rachael had to hand in the test with a frown.