37 Disturbance (1/2)

I immediately placed a barrier around myself layered with octagonal patterns. It solidified like guerilla glass as Charles ended up punching its walls. I smiled in victory as his fists increasingly became bruised with pink, raw skin.

Hooray for unlimited mana! This invisible barrier would last as long as I could keep my concentration up. I smiled again at the struggling Charles as he panted from physical exhaustion. I sliced another piece of my cake and enjoyed the other sweets.

When I finished enjoying my cake, I looked up to see Miliana hiding behind Shelly and Ellen. Charles was now sitting in the table beside us and gave up on penetrating my barrier.

”Rika, we're fine if you leave early today, so you can work on your project since Charles seems very intent on starting it today.” Ellen attempted to mediate the situation.

However, I was going to show Charles that he could not order me the same way he treated Miliana. He needed to know that he could not treat people that way.

”Nah. I'm going to take a nap. I'm full after eating all that cake.” I stood up and waved good-bye.

”Wait-” Charles panted.

I walked towards my dorm room and looked back to see if anyone was behind me. Thankfully, Charles looked like he was still at that café recovering from his broken pride. Unfortunately, I ran into Luke and Alex on my way to my room. I quickly turned around to get to the room with another route.

”Rika!” Luke greeted me.

”Oh, hey Luke.” I groaned.

”What are you doing here? I thought Charles went to go find you.” Luke continued.

”Well, I did meet Charles and now I'm going back to our dorm since we've already discussed what we're going to do” I lied flawlessly.

If everything ended there, my life would be pleasant. But of course, that couldn't happen. Just when I finished my lie, Charles ran towards me around the other corner.

”Rika! Stop right... ther..e” Charles panted.

Well, it was my mistake, I should have run as soon as I ran into Luke and Alex.

”Well, I better get going now. Bye Luke.” I attempted to escape from this situation.

Alex grabbed my wrist to stop me from running away. I glared at him to let go and tried to pull away from his tight grip.

”Alex, you really better let me go,” I warned him.

”Charles, I know how you feel, you can talk to Rika now,” Alex responded to Charles.

Charles started complaining immediately, ”Rika hit me in the head so she could run away from doing the project with me.”

”Wait. Stop distorting things. I only hit you in the head because you whacked my head first.” I refuted back.

Luke started to smile eerily, ”Is it true that you hit Rika first?”

”I only did it because she would not listen to me!” Charles whined.

However, I soon woke up from the loud pacing of heavy footsteps outside my room. What else did Charles want from me now? I opened the door to see Charles' face flushed with anger and embarrassment.

”I apologize I acted too aggressively while I was trying to do the project with you. Would you forgive me?” Charles asked reluctantly while bowing his head.

I wanted to get rid of the loud noise outside my room to continue my nap. Maybe since I was only half-awake, I accidentally slammed the door right back at his face.

”Hey! You're supposed to say I forgive you and let's work on it together now!” Charles yelled loudly in front of my door.

I opened the door again and yelled, ”Quiet! You woke me up during my nap with your loud footsteps! If you want to be forgiven, then do it after five hours from now.”

With great irritation, I slammed the door even louder than the first time. Poor Miliana to have Charles as her partner! I hoped Charles would fix his annoying personality soon.

After slamming the door in front of Charles several times, he never bothered me for the rest of the week.

”Rika! Hey Rika!” Ellen waved her hand in front of my face.

”Rika, you're blanking out again,” Shelly commented while laughing.

”What?” I mumbled back.

Shelly and Ellen exchanged gazes. ”We don't see you with Charles nowadays, isn't the project due soon?” Shelly asked with concern.

”Oh, about that, isn't it due tomorrow morning? Maybe I'll start it today?”

Shelly gasped and Ellen glanced down towards the ground.