Charlie smiled without saying a word. He thought to himself, 'That is because I am not able to find a way to open your heart and leave an imperishable trace in it.'
The next day after Silent Sorrow had been killed twice by Obsession, Elsa was still sleeping when her cellphone rang loudly.
"Elsa, pick up the phone already! "
Anna said. With her eyes still shut, she grabbed a cushion beside her and threw it at Elsa. The cushion hit her in the face. Elsa tried her best to open her sleepy eyes reluctantly. Answering the phone, she mumbled in a drowsy voice, "Who is this? It's too early! Why are you interrupting my sleep? "
Last night, she had gone to bed only when the power was finally cut in the dormitory. She had dreams all night. In her dreams, Charlie was playing tricks on her at times, and at other times, he was pampering her. Her mind was in a mess.
"Elsa, my dear sister-in-law." Evelyn's sweet voice came through from the other end of the phone. Her voice was pleasant to the ear. "Have you gotten up? "
Elsa was still sleepy, but she sat up abruptly as soon as she heard Evelyn call her "sister-in-law". Reflexively, she looked out the window. The soft morning light sprinkled onto the window glass, irritating her drowsy eyes.
Evelyn continued to speak. However, Elsa was tired and absent-minded. She didn't hear a word Evelyn said, except her last sentence.
"Charlie said that he will come upstairs to look for you if you don't come down in the next three minutes. "
Elsa shook awake immediately.
"What? Wait a minute! I just woke up! Are you kidding me? I can't be ready in three minutes!"
"Elsa, half a minute has already passed," Evelyn chuckled. "We are just outside your dormitory building. You have two minutes and fifteen seconds left." She hung up without waiting for Elsa's reply.
Elsa dashed to the window and lifted the curtain. The twins were standing under the locust tree in front of the dormitory building. Charlie was wearing a white casual shirt and blue jeans, while Evelyn was in a loose suspender jeans and a fitting t-shirt. Both of them waved their hands to her and grinned at her.
Elsa then remembered that last night Charlie had told her that the members of Madness Is Good would be having a party today since none of them had classes to attend. She jerked awake completely. She rushed to clean herself up. She did not care about her sleeping roommates. As she moved around noisily, the three girls, who were half asleep, complained and asked her to keep it down.
Although she got ready as quickly as possible, it still took her fifteen minutes. Looking at her watch, Evelyn said complacently, "Just as I said, it didn't take her more than twenty minutes to come down. You owe me one thousand dollars bet money." She smirked at Charlie, who was standing by her side. She seemed quite pleased with herself.
The corners of Elsa's mouth began twitching awkwardly, not because of Evelyn's laughter, but because of the gloomy expression in Charlie's eyes. "I—I don't really care if your family is rich or not!" she blurted out. As soon as her words were out, she had an impulse to bite her own tongue.
Charlie didn't reply. He turned around and walked towards her slowly while gazing at her. His handsome face was covered in a gloomy haze. Since their childhood, she had never bothered to find out anything about him. Even though they had been together for a few days, she had never thought of collecting any information about him. Charlie felt that he was not being paid enough attention.
"I— Don't come near..." Elsa said weakly, peeping at Charlie every now and then. Her cheeks were like two red balloons now. "I... You... I was just curious... Stop! Don't come too close!"
Charlie stopped in front of Elsa. He grabbed her hands that were waving wildly in front of him and gritted his teeth. He said, "Elsa, I—"
"Elsa!"
a low, deep voice called suddenly, interrupting Charlie. The three of them looked to the direction of the voice. It was Allen. He looked at Charlie in disdain and then walked towards Elsa.
*
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