Chapter 32: Useless Advances

Charlotte folded her arms in midair with an audible huff, her cheeks puffed out in defiance as her legs dangled helplessly beneath her.

"I can’t accept this." She declared loudly, her voice carrying that same indignation and childish frustration that made Mika inwardly groan.

"I absolutely can’t accept this at all!" She added, her tone rising as she wriggled against the knife holding her collar, her pink hair bouncing like a furious halo around her flushed face.

Mika glanced up at her, lips twitching in amusement despite himself. "Here she goes.’

Charlotte turned her sharp gaze back to her mother, her pout deepening. "Fine! I’ll admit it!" She said dramatically, thrusting out her chest like she was confessing to a heinous crime.

"I was the one who was trying to jump on Mika! I was the one being aggressive! He was just lying there like a stiff board, all stoic and boring like usual."

Her words made Mika’s brow twitch slightly, but he didn’t interrupt.

"But Mama..." Charlotte’s voice softened into something almost pitiful now, her lips trembling as she gazed at Yelena with big, watery eyes. "That still doesn’t explain why you stopped me like this. I mean, I was simply trying to put my moves on him."

Her pout returned in full force.

"I mean, wee’re in the prime of our youth! The age where love blooms and hearts beat faster! I love Mika with my whole soul, I was just trying to win him over!"

She tilted her head, staring down at her mother with exaggerated innocence.

"So why, Mama? Why did you have to interrupt me like this?!"

Yelena raised a brow at her daughter’s theatrical speech, her regal face utterly unimpressed. She didn’t say a word.

Charlotte took the lack of response as an invitation to continue, her voice gaining speed and volume as she let her frustrations spill out.

"You’ve seen me trying to win over Mika so many times in the past! You’ve seen how clingy I am with him, I’ll even admit it myself!...You know how much I love him, how much I want him, and how hard I’ve been working to make him mine."

Her eyes sparkled with earnestness as she cried out. "So even though you know all that...even though you know just how crazy I am for Mika...why did you stop me this time, Mama?!"

Yelena exhaled slowly through her nose, her expression softening slightly, though her emerald eyes still held their sharpness.

With an exasperated sigh, she stepped closer to the bed and gazed up at her daughter, her voice calm but laced with that dangerous maternal edge.

"I know, Charlotte." Her tone carried the weight of years, gentle, firm, and impossible to argue with. "I know exactly how much you love Mika."

"I’ve seen it my whole life, from the time you were a tiny child clinging to his arm like a koala, to now as a grown woman still shamelessly throwing yourself at him."

Mika’s lips pressed into a thin line as he tried not to laugh, while Yelena continued, her voice lightening slightly as she tilted her head and raised a hand, ticking off examples.

"Like the time you tried to make him feed you cake because you claimed your ’hands were too delicate’ for holding utensils...and he just walked away."

Mika smirked.

"Or when you pretended to faint in his lap after gym class so he’d ’have to hold you’...and he just stood up and let you fall flat on the floor."

Mika actually chuckled aloud this time.

"And let’s not forget..." Yelena said with a sly smile. "...that summer when you followed him around with sunscreen, insisting his delicate skin would burn under the sun...and he escaped by diving into the lake."

Charlotte’s face flushed beet red, her lips trembling in outrage as she shrieked. "Mamaaa! Stop bringing up ancient history! That doesn’t count anymore!"

But Yelena’s smirk only deepened as she leaned forward slightly, her eyes glinting with teasing superiority.

"I’ve been forced to watch my own daughter throw herself at a boy who clearly doesn’t care for her advances my whole life."

"...So yes, Charlotte, I know exactly how much effort you put into these things."

Her words carried a faint teasing edge, like a mother scolding a child for repeatedly failing at a game she insisted on playing.

"Mama...you’re mocking me?!" She cried out, her voice cracking.

Yelena didn’t answer immediately. Instead, her expression softened as she turned her gaze to Mika, her eyes warm and affectionate in a way that made his throat tighten.

"But I’ll say this too." She murmured gently. "If you ever did manage to succeed, Charlotte...if you ever won Mika’s heart and made him yours..."

She paused, her lips curving into a tender smile as she clasped her hands together in front of her chest.

"I would be more than happy. More than overjoyed to welcome him as my son-in-law. That would be my greatest desire in this world. Someone like Mika..."

Her eyes grew fond, and she glanced at Mika with pride.

"Someone like him could take care of my stupid, love-struck daughter. He could ground her and protect her from her own recklessness."

Mika’s cheeks flushed slightly as he turned his head away, scratching his neck awkwardly. ’If only she knew the ’plans’ I actually have.’

But then Yelena’s expression shifted in an instant as she fixed her gaze on Charlotte again. Her smile faded, replaced by a stern, commanding look that made even Mika straighten instinctively.

"But not here." Her voice cut through the air like a blade. "You can do whatever you want, at school, in a park, wherever else you think love blooms."

She stepped forward, her presence filling the room with the weight of her authority.

"But not in the hospital. Not when Mika is sitting injured and weak on a hospital bed."

"...How in the world did you even think straddling him in this state was acceptable?"

Her tone sharpened like steel.

"Do you even know why his body is weak right now? Do you understand what could’ve happened to him? And yet you—"

Charlotte froze, her playful demeanor crumbling as guilt flickered in her eyes. She turned her head away, lips trembling as she found herself unable to respond and Mika saw his chance.

A grin tugged at the corners of his lips as he slowly raised a trembling hand and pointed an accusatory finger straight at Charlotte, who still floated helplessly in the air.

"See?! See, Yelena? That’s exactly what I’ve been trying to tell her all along!" Mika’s voice cracked withanguish, and he clutched at his chest dramatically like his heart might give out at any second.

"Your daughter, your sweet, innocent daughter, didn’t care at all about my condition!"

He gasped loudly, letting his shoulders sag as though he barely had the strength to speak.

"I tried...oh, heavens, I tried to push her away! But I’m just so...so sickly and feeble right now. I was sweating buckets, my body wracked with weakness...I didn’t even have the energy to resist her shameless advances!"

Mika’s eyes darted toward Yelena, who stood stock-still, her gaze locked on him. He pressed on anyway, his voice rising with fake indignation.

"She didn’t care that I was trembling, that my poor heart was barely holding on! She just pounced on me like a wild beast in heat, her eyes blazing with lust—"

"Mika!!" Charlotte shrieked, her face turning an even deeper shade of crimson.

But Mika ignored her, placing a hand over his forehead now like he was about to faint.

"I was powerless! I simply had to accept her vile, corrupting touch..." He said dramatically, his voice breaking in all the right places.

And then he pointed at her again, leaning slightly forward, his grey eyes wide with exaggerated horror.

"Yelena! You have to scold her! She needs to learn her lesson! Your daughter...your precious little girl...was trying to ravage me while I was too weak to fight back!"

"Mika!! Stop making it sound like I was a predator!!" Charlotte howled, kicking her feet in the air as her fists flailed wildly. "You weren’t that weak!! And you weren’t that innocent either!!"

But Mika wasn’t done yet. He sniffled loudly, clutching at his chest once again as he gave Yelena his best pitiful-puppy eyes.

"Yelena...I’m begging you as a man barely clinging to life...please scold her harder! Teach her that a hospital is no place for...for such evil!"

He ended his little speech with a slight cough for added effect, forcing his shoulders to shake ever so slightly as if the memory of Charlotte’s straddling was too much for his fragile state.

"Mika, you, ! You...! You can’t twist the story like that!!"

Charlotte was fuming in midair, her face beet red as she sputtered incomprehensibly, while Mika grinned to himself, fully expecting Yelena to turn her fury back on her daughter and give her a scolding so fiery that it would echo through the hospital halls.

But instead...

A chill ran down his spine as suddenly Yelena’s gaze turned on him.

Her lips curved into a smile, not the warm, maternal smile that made him feel safe, but a slow, terrifying smile that didn’t reach her eyes. And her gaze was sharp, cold as she took a single step forward.

"...Oh, Mika." She said softly, her voice lilting like silk, but carrying an undertone that made every hair on his neck stand on end.

"Do you really think you’re in any position...to ask me to scold her when you’re the one who’s in most trouble here?"

Mika froze, his grin faltering.

"W-What?"

He stammered, his hand dropping from his chest, not expecting her attention would turn from Charlotte to him...

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Until then, both the title and description will be updated to meet their guidelines and in hopes of getting a contract.