Chapter 65

"I vaguely remember, you're referring to Teacher Reuben right? Why do you bring him up?" Amy asked with curiosity. In Amy's impression, Teacher Reuben was a greasy middle-aged man who would always ask questions to the attractive girls during class and never hesitated to tease his female students. By any means, Amy didn't harbor any favorable impression towards him. Luckily, Teacher Reuben ended up leaving school to recover from an illness during their senior year of high school, much to the delight of Amy who found him quite the eyesore. "There's no particular reason, I was merely curious where Teacher Reuben went eventually?" Melissa decided not to share her concerns with Amy for now, especially since Nancy had already developed animosity towards Amy. She wanted to execute her plan by herself, instead of imposing on Amy any further. "I'm not sure. I heard he started his own private tutoring classes for physics in his neighborhood, but I don't know the specifics." Amy replied casually. She naturally had a deep loathing towards Teacher Reuben, considering him beneath her. "Okay, Amy, is your new security door working fine?" Melissa, afraid of further probing from Amy, quickly changed the subject. "It works great. Thank you for setting up the fingerprint access for me. I was quite out of sorts last night." Amy conveyed her gratitude to Melissa without any hesitation. She had heard the saying 'Drinking invites trouble', and now Amy firmly believed in it. Melissa gave an embarrassed giggle "Actually, I wasn’t entirely myself last night either. The fingerprint setup was actually done by Peter." The line went quiet for two seconds, followed by a placid response from Amy. "In that case, please thank him for me." "Alright, don’t worry about it. Bye Amy." Melissa hung up after Amy bid her farewell too. Despite not extracting any valuable information from their conversation, at least she had a general direction. Beginning from now, Melissa's first priority was to find the home address of teacher Reuben and then look for the private tutoring class he was running nearby. Due to lack of sleep the previous night, Melissa decided to take a short nap. By the time she woke up, it was almost time for her and the children’s agreed homecoming time. "Alvin! Alvina! Time to go home!" Melissa, who was tidying up a jumble of bags containing clothes, called out towards the fence. "Alright, mom, give us another minute!" Alvin threw the last seven balls under his feet into the aiming point and with the quickness of a rocket, ran to the shoe rack, put on his shoes and came out. Alvin opened the entertainment area door, took one of the smaller parcels from his mother which contained the hoodie and overalls he had chosen himself. "Alvina, hurry up, otherwise Mom and I will leave without you!" Alvin clearly understood Alvina’s weakness, pretending to hold Melissa's hand and leave. "Hmph! Naughty brother, wait for me!" Alvina crawled out of the ball pit, quickly found her shoes and put them on, and swiftly trot over to their side. Sure enough, when they got home, it was already five o'clock. Grandma Julia was watching TV in the living room. As soon as Alvin and Alvina entered the door, they ran to their great-grandmother. They circled around her, repeating everything they ate and played today. "Grandma, I bought you a piece of clothing, do you want to try it on to see if it fits?" Melissa also headed straight to the living room, placing all the bags containing clothes on the sofa. She pulled out a beige thin woolen sweater from one bag and handed it to Grandma Julia, just as a delicate yet sharp voice came from the dining area. "Oh, Melissa, you sure know how to curry favor with Grandma!" Nancy descended the stairs, leisurely sitting on a sofa across from Grandma Julia. She took the sweater from her grandmother and pretended to give it a look. "This type of design can be easily found anywhere, grandmother's clothes are all custom-made, perhaps you didn't know that?" Melissa responded with composure and patience "Grandma, this is a classic design I specially picked, it can match anything. I think it would look great with a woolen skirt." Grandma Julia took the thin woolen sweater and touched it, the quality was indeed not inferior to her custom-made clothes. "I quite like this fabric. I have been worrying about not having something suitable to go with my wool skirt." She walked over to a mirror, took off her jacket, and put on the new thin woolen sweater that Melissa had bought for her. With a smile on her face, she said. "The size is just right, thank you Melissa," "We're all family here, no need for formalities, Grandma." Melissa responded with a gentle tone. Nancy looked at Bei Melissa from the corner of her eye, picked up a pistachio from the coffee table, and peeled it open with force. Melissa had only been in the Clarkson family for a few days, yet she's already favored? Wouldn't she be on cloud 9 in the future? "Melissa, come with me. I have something to discuss with you." Nancy stood up from the sofa and slowly walked up the stairs. Watching Nancy ascend the stairs, Melissa instructed the kids "You all stay here and keep your great-grandmother company for a while, mommy is going upstairs to have a talk with your auntie." Upon hearing this, Alvin quickly leaned in and whispered in Melissa's ear. "Mommy, be careful with that bad woman. Call for me if you need me." "Thanks, my precious Alvin!" Melissa wrapped her arms around Alvin's neck and gave him a gentle kiss on his smooth forehead, then braced herself and boldly ascended the stairs. When Melissa reached the third floor, her heart pounds seemed to echo inside her head. Perhaps she had ascended too swiftly, so she reminded herself to be alert for sudden attacks. She slowed her pace, making sure each step she took was firm. Her ears were keenly attuned to any minor sounds in her surroundings, then she heard a 'creak' of a door behind her. "Melissa, where're you going? This way to my room." Nancy stopped Melissa from behind. She left the door wide open, leaning against the frame waiting for Melissa to walk in. When Melissa brushed past Nancy, she flashed a dismissive smirk. Melissa walked into the room with an unperturbed expression, noticing the old photographs of Nancy's childhood of both her and Nancy's collection of display artifacts. Melissa regretted not walking around the castle more earlier so that she might have stumbled upon a diary of Nancy if there was any. "So, what will it take for you to leave this mansion?" After closing the door, Nancy directly walked to her desk, sitting on it. She crossed her arms, an arrogant and disgusted expression written all over her face. As if she hadn't heard Nancy, Melissa leisurely moved about the room. She sat on the edge of Nancy's bed, bouncing a few times, and laughed. "This bed of yours is quite comfortable." Nancy stared at Melissa, with anger seething inside her, absolutely disgusted by her. She was playing dumb and ignoring what she said. "So, are you staying here tonight? Did you and Liam separate?" Melissa mimicked an innocent looking face and feigned concern while asking her. Melissa intended to annoy her to death.