Raising Capital (2)

"Nine hundred and fifty billion is the limit," Joanna held a grudge against William.

"I can do a trillion, it's similar anyways," I rounded the number up.

"I'll be looking forward to it," she smiled.

The plan would start during mealtime. When everyone was nearly finished with their meals, I rose from my seat to dash to Luke's father. Taking advantage of my childlike image, I climbed onto his lap, making him stiffen. He placed his utensils down, scarily lowering his head to study me. I ignored him warning me to return to my seat, and broke major etiquette. Instead, I tightly hugged him, making him freeze.

"Rika just wanted to thank you today since she never had the chance before. She knows how hard you work to provide Luke and Rika with the things they need," I began the script.

"Rika has always wanted to tell you she knows the sacrifices you made for us. She fears for your health sometimes because of it. This is something Luke created to help with fatigue," I pulled out a bottle.

William was always overloaded with work, more so than Joanna. He didn't have anything other than family and work in his life to the point it eventually became his weakness.

It became natural Luke's father had never been appreciated for the work he had done before. I urged him to accept the drink as he remained frozen in his seat. With my persistence, he eventually took a sip, his eyes widening from the impressive effects. This synthesized item took hours for Luke to produce with its hard techniques. The ingredients merging them together were impressive, consuming many herbs and elixirs, some sourced by Micah.

William had to know this bottle was precious, traces of his pale complexion immediately erasing. It was made by the hands of his own son. To increase the impact, I added, "we appreciate everything you have done for us so far. Although we can't help you with your work yet, we wanted to help in other ways."

"I love you father and I want you to stay healthy so we can live together for a long time," my voice wobbled.

My eyes glistened with tears, eventually blinking to have them stream down my face. Slowly raising my face to check his reaction, I was stunned by the results. He was actually silently crying, being touched by my words. How badly did he want to hear those words all this time? I shot Luke a look to join us, to begin saying his lines in the script. But Luke was equally taken aback by the success in the plan so far.

It took him a few minutes to join the hug, immersing himself into the role. Luke appeared as emotional as William, joining the crying party. His voice trembled and nearly broke down, "you look like you're overworking yourself for us lately. We want you to take better care of your health since we'll be sad if you get sick for us. I'm sorry for taking this long to say I love you and to thank you."

When I eventually asked William for a trillion Aris, he gave it to me without any questions. He was more gullible than Lucius with this plan. To make sure he wouldn't get suspicious, Joanna joined the hug and gestured to Alex to join us.

Although it was pitiful, only William didn't know this entire thing was planned.

Once I left the mansion and stepped into the hover car, I stopped the act again. I was never so thankful William was too busy to meet unless it was for mealtime.

"Your father was never appreciated for his work that eventually became his weakness. He was always overloaded with work and he only had family left," I tried to teach them again.

"Look at how easily he fell for our poor act," I added when they were silent.

"And you said we were calculating," Alex looked at me in a new light.

"Your entire family is calculating. How are you so slow? Do I need to point out everything for you? This plan wasn't only successful because of us. There was someone who held a grudge against him and sold him out," I scolded them.

"If you really want his weakness to go away, you should treat him better," I lowered my voice.

"What was your perspective on Belle and Lucius?" Alex noticed the guilt in Luke's eyes.

"More gullible than the rest of the people on that list. Unlike us, they were raised by loving and generous parents. The family card would solve everything," I was a little envious.

"What is my weakness in your eyes?" He seemed to be unaware.

"Your innocence and naivety, the same problems as Luke," I vaguely answered.

"You'll be easily taken advantage of in the future. Pay more attention to how everyone interacts with each other," I looked away.

I didn't want them to see I was giving this advice out of spite. My hands gripped the seat, venting it was unfair. I had to watch them spend time with their families while I was rarely allowed to visit my parents in the third district.

To distract myself, I exchanged the money into more Memors and worked on creating a plan for my next target during the rest of the time inside the hover car. Juliana, who was Joanna's twin, also wanted to be included in the construction of the new mansion. I wasn't surprised when she wanted a beauty spa, similar to a beauty sauna. The only difference between them was one was water based while the other resembled a salon.

"By the way, we're targeting your father next. I recently received more information about his weaknesses. Their schedule should be free next Saturday, around the evening, someone helped me to make it that way," I continued to focus on Alex.

"Let me send a message," Alex decided to check.

Alex's eyes went wide when the exact time was free.

Juliana had purposely provided that space so she could pass me her design plan while she planned to send Luke and Alex to the tutors. Like Joanna, she didn't trust her son. This was the perfect timing to repeat, "your family is extremely calculating. Look at how one of them is helping us by selling your father out. Do you think I could have made those arrangements on my own?"

"How many people are helping us?" Alex was in disbelief.

"Let's just say your family was never a loving one in the first place," I wasn't going to reveal anything.

"By the way, one of them advised me to ask for around nine hundred billion Aris. But with my plan, we can ask for a bit more," I received a message from Alex's mother.

After making the plans, I looked up, almost sighing to see Alex and Luke watching me with exhaustion. Sadly, it seemed these children were hopeless, needing my guidance for nearly everything.

It was no wonder why both Joanna and Juliana gave up on their sons. And unexpectedly, Luke was more pure than Alex, struggling to have his illusions broken.

"It's too bad a trillion only amounts to this much," I struggled to reduce the costs.

"The budget is a trillion Aris in total?" Oili peeked at my design plan.

"The most recent funds I received was a trillion Aris. It excludes everything I spent so far," I continued to make more alterations.

"What?" Ethan spun to me.

"I know, it's too pitiful," I was filled with regret.

"It's a large sum of money," Cillian disagreed.

"It's small compared to what I need," I couldn't reveal the fairies to them.

"Your family is seriously giving her this much money for a waterpark?" Ethan turned to Luke and Alex.

"We need to finish the project," Alex coldly answered him.

"How does a waterpark cost this much?" Delia murmured.

By having workers who demanded more money than a small business. They were extremely expensive, more than the imported materials.

"Is it your business?" I was annoyed.

"I don't ask you about how you use your money, do I?" I thought.

The chatter in the room stopped, and my hands covered my mouth in response. It was too late for me to take them back. I wasn't supposed to say them out loud.

My heart clenched as I watched Delia's face flush red. When I reached out my arm, she got up and opened the door, running out with her head down.

"Delia was just trying to help," Sienna got up.

"We can only take much when you seem so spoiled sometimes," she seemed disappointed.

Spoiled? I took in a deep breath as my hands squeezed into fists. She knew- both Delia and Sienna knew this wasn't the life I wanted, and she thought I was spoiled this entire time.

I blinked several times and let out a laugh. She could run after Delia all she wanted, and we would never be friends again. Afterall, I didn't exactly say anything wrong.

I lifted an eyebrow and tilted my head back. "Do you guys think of me that way too?"

Silence. No one was agreeing or denying anything. I smirked, then faced Oili, "do you?"

Oili suddenly froze and then turned his face away. And eventually, as the pressure in the air seemed to increase, he hesitantly answered, "it's not so much of spoiled, but something else- ."

"Then what is it?" My voice turned icier.

"To be honest, it sounds a little like bragging," he quickly murmured.

Bragging? Seriously? That almost meant the same thing! I laughed, and my hand slapped the floor several times. It was seriously so funny.

"What do I brag about?" I rolled my eyes.

"What is there for me to brag about," I raised my voice.

"You do- ."

"My looks? You mean how I look like a fancy and pretty doll that learnt a bit of manners of stuff like that?" I screamed.

"I mean…," he timidly turned to Ethan for help.

Ethan sighed and tapped Oili's shoulder to show his pity. He then turned to me and raised his voice to get his point to everyone in the room.

"He means how you talk about how you don't have any money lately when you're obviously richer than all us in this room."

"That's not my money- ."

"Of course it's not. It's from the Roselia family and all their relatives to build your grand waterpark," he glanced at Luke.

My hands unconsciously trembled as Luke ignored him, pretending nothing was out of ordinary in front of him. Instead, he focused on the fraction work, handing over more papers to Alex to pass the odd moments of silence.

It was a relief. I didn't want Luke to be taking part in this conversation. I didn't know, no I did know. I always knew, but I didn't want him or anyone else to confirm it.

My face went pale from Ethan's next words, "you always complain about it, but you know."

"You wouldn't be here without the Roselia family," he sternly looked at me.

"You wouldn't be studying here without the Roselia family. You wouldn't be wearing our uniform and all those fancy accessories on you, the heck- you wouldn't be able to even talk to us in your original position."

It was true. It was true, but I never intended it to happen. He was talking like it was easy, but it was definitely not easy. I squeezed my hand near my chest, "but it's by force- ."

"Force?" Ethan lifted his eyebrow.

"We all know your parents gave you to the Roselia family- ."

Oili shot a warning at him, and wrote something on his leg to stop Ethan. Getting the hint, Ethan seemed disappointed and started to look at the window.

To my surprise, Oili awkwardly smiled like he was making a compromise. He tried to soften his smile when he turned to me, "he meant we know your parents sent you here to get a better education by what you told us."

"Even though you don't like it, you're still richer than all of us," he cautiously added.

"So they, no we can get jealous of that." His ear flushed red.

Another moment of silence passed. Until Ethan ruffled his head in frustration. He loudly whispered, "why did you have to cushion it that way?"

"Because you know- ."

"He's right. She deserves to know how she gets to live this way," Alex turned his chair around.

"It's true that she's spoiled," he sighed.

But still, they weren't me. They could never understand. I never wanted those things. My hands began to hover near my ears, tempted to cover them. I wanted to protect myself, I needed someone to make it all stop.

"You should stop, she's shivering," Oili sounded concerned.

"Why stop? You should finish what you started," Alex seemed disappointed.

"It's because he won't let me," Ethan sadly agreed.

It was all noise. It wasn't my fault. I was forced to accept everything. But why was I feeling hope

when Luke stopped working on fraction work? My heart skipped a beat as he turned his chair to join Alex. He seemed tired as usual, almost annoyed to have to even bother with something like this. Maybe, he could refute them, he knew best what my situation was.

"Could you please do this outside?" He politely smiled.

"Rika won't be able to study in that condition," he stared at me.

What? That was all he had to say? I looked at Cillian, my last beacon of hope, pressuring him to answer since he had been watching us this entire time. However, it was like he was waiting for this chance, the chance I had given him to finally join the conversation.

It was once he opened his mouth, I noticed he displayed clear offense on his face, clasping his hand so tight that something would burst inside. He agreed, "you make us seem so poor."

"Like we're not on the same level as you…"

And that was it. I didn't need to hear anything more from my supposed friends. My only friend was Shelly and she wasn't even inside the room since she was busy with fraction meetings.

I wiped my angry tears filling my eyes and pushed myself up to walk out of the room.

Once I reached the door, I slammed the door by punching the small screen on the wall. It was my turn to run away from everything behind me now.

Because it was my mistake. They were never my friends. It was only me this entire time. They were using me to get closer to Luke, like everyone else who politely greeted me out of nowhere.

I continued to run until I escaped to my new storage room, my only safe haven. My dorm room was the last option I had, more of a last resort than escaping from the school grounds. And here, I began to binge eat all my snacks, something I have been previously saving.

Maybe I would sleep here for the next few days. I could also deactivate my marble, my hand already muted all the chats. Those messages were useless anyways.

I laid down on the couch, deciding to skip the planned schedule for today. I didn't care about the consequences. I only rose when Jules entered the room, and sat on the arm of my sofa, "Luke is frantically searching for you. He's doing this with Alex and some of your friends who volunteered to help."

"I'm not going back. I'm leaving the school soon," I couldn't forgive them.

"How are you going to leave? They already contacted the teachers to close all the teleportation gates."

"I know a way. I can escape to the fairy world," I wouldn't be lost between dimensions anymore.

"Micah, help me. Just let me visit your office for a few hours. I promise I won't distract you," I tried to summon him.

Micah appeared in front of me, sighing when looking at the empty bags of snacks on the table. He then crossed his arms, "why should I do this for you?"