Chapter 4 The Influence I Couldn't Escape

To my dismay, my mom shot me a disapproving look. "Sienna, your luggage is already here, so just stay for now, alright? Moving everything back and forth is too much trouble. And it's just you and Annie in the dorm. She's such a nice girl. It'll be good for you to have each other for company."

I froze for a moment.

In the past, my mom would've immediately bought one the moment I said I wanted to move out. It wouldn't have mattered to her if there hadn't already been an apartment near the school.

Yet, she told me no despite already having a place waiting, simply because moving was inconvenient.

"And Sienna, I asked Annie just now, and she only gets 500 a month for living expenses."

My mom didn't even look at my expression as she continued speaking. "I thought about it, and giving you one million all at once is too much. It'll only encourage you to spend recklessly. I'll be giving you 500 as your allowance. I've also canceled your supplementary card."

"Mom, didn't you say the one million was to help me learn how to manage money? Even the allowance I got back in high school was more than 500."

I was utterly flabbergasted.

Even though this time she hadn't handed the money to Annie, it was obvious she was already being influenced. Still, I hadn't taken a single sip of that milkshake, barely even interacted with Annie. So… just what was going on here?

"Sylvan, didn't you say you had a gift for me on the first day of school?"

I could only turn to Sylvan. He'd been downstairs directing the staff moving the luggage and hadn't stayed in the dorm for long. He shouldn't have been affected.

"Don't worry, I didn't forget. Here's your gift."

I finally let out a sigh of relief when I saw the familiar indulgent smile on his face and the set of keys resting in his palm. It looked like he hadn't been affected after all. Maybe my mom hadn't either. Perhaps she'd just changed her mind on a whim after hearing Annie talk.

'Forget it. What matters is that they're okay. Worst case, I'll just get a part-time job and rent a place myself.'

I smiled and reached out to take the keys, but something felt off the moment they landed in my hand.

These weren't the keys to the car he had prepared for me.

They didn't even look like car keys.

"Sylvan, this is…"

"This? Annie mentioned just now that it's more convenient to ride an electric scooter around campus, so I picked up a secondhand one for you. What do you think? Pretty thoughtful of me, right?" he said proudly.

"But Sylvan, you know I don't even know how to ride one."

I couldn't understand it at all. I hadn't even known when Annie had spoken to him. I'd seen that car myself right after I finished the SAT. I knew what I saw. He'd kept it hidden on purpose, saying he wanted to save it for the first day of school.

He had said something about how special occasions should be celebrated.

So how had it turned into a secondhand scooter?

I felt panic rise in my chest upon hearing my mother and Sylvan constantly bringing Annie up. I was terrified they would fall even deeper into this thrall, so deep they wouldn't even care about their own safety anymore.

"Mom, I really don't want to stay in the dorm. Why don't you give me the keys to the apartment, and I'll move everything over by myself, okay?" I grabbed onto her arm anxiously, desperate to get her away from this hellhole as soon as possible.

Alas, my mom shook me off.

"Sienna, just stay here for now. Get along with Annie. I'm sure you two will become good friends. When you have time, you should bring Annie over as well."

Why? Why was this happening?

They had barely even spoken to Annie. Yet, shit had already hit the fan. It didn't matter how much I argued, as I couldn't change my mom's mind. To make matters worse, there were no spare dorm rooms available for me to switch into right now.

In the end, I had no choice but to stay.