“It’s you?” Ollie’s hand was still on the doorknob. His heart throbbed anxiously, but he soon relaxed when he noticed that no one else was at home. He stepped onto the porch and slowly took off his shoes before taking out another pair of adorable slippers from the shoe cabinet to change into.
Miles stared daggers at Ollie. Not only did this boy sleep in his house and answered his calls, but he was also wearing his shoes?
“You! Get out!” Miles puffed his cheeks and pointed angrily at the door. His crystal-clear eyes were filled with rage that exploded like a volcanic eruption.
This was the boy who took his place with his mother the night before!
“I suppose you don’t know who I am just yet,” muttered Ollie. He paused and ignored Miles’ furious reaction to set his school bag aside before extending his hand toward Miles. “Hello, my name is Ollie Mason.”
His composure was a distinct contrast with Miles’s anger.
‘Ollie? Isn’t that the young Master Grandpa Albert was referring to? So Grandpa Albert mistook me for this boy, and my mom thought that Ollie was me?’
“You!” Miles felt that he should be angry, but he simply placed his hands on his waist when Ollie reached his hand over and said. “You probably have a great time pretending to be me, but I’ve been suffering, thanks to you!” he growled. “That adult of a demon in your house locked me up! I hate him!”
Ollie straightened his back stiffly and said, “That’s my father, and I won’t allow you to talk about him like that.”
“You say that he’s your father, but he locks you up over the smallest things! What kind of father does that?” Miles retorted like an angry little kitty out of sympathy for Ollie. “That guy is even worse than that old trash whom I’m supposed to call my dad.”
At the very least, Jamie had never punished him physically.
Ollie’s body stiffened as he pursed his lips, and disappointment filled his eyes.
Miles noticed the sorrow in Ollie’s expression and felt somewhat irritated and guilty, as though he was bullying Ollie. “Whatever, I’m very forgiving, so I won’t be mad at you. You’re a man, so stop feeling sorry for yourself…” Miles shook Ollie’s hand before he had the chance to withdraw as a friendly greeting.
Ollie’s dark eyes shone and he did not move away from Miles’ touch.
“Exchanging identities will be our secret. You can’t tell anyone else.”
Miles did not want his mother to know that there was another replica of him in this world either and thus agreed. “Deal, I promise! Now that I’m back, you should hurry and get back to Mason Estate.”
“Can’t you stay there for a while longer? There’s a lot of fun stuff in Mason Estate. Grandpa Albert can give you anything you want.” Ollie did not want to return to Mason Estate that soon. He wanted to spend another weekend with Catelyn so that she could take him to a theme park.
“No way! I’ve already lent you my mother for a day. Besides…” Miles pouted with his chin up before he continued proudly, “It took me a lot of work to escape out of Mason Estate!”
“Escape?” Ollie scowled at him.
“Of course.” Miles puffed his chest and lifted an eyebrow as though he had accomplished something incredible. “Big Demon locked me in and wouldn’t let me go out, so I pretended to get sick and escape while we were on our way to the hospital. How’s that? I’m smart, aren’t I?”
The process of escaping the hospital was both tense and exciting, but luckily for Miles, he had an innocent-looking face.
Alarmed, Ollie blurted hastily, “if you run off like that, Father will be looking all over the city for you!”
“For you, you mean. What do I have to do with that? He doesn’t know me.” Miles shrugged casually; it was just the truth, after all.
The windows in the apartment were not shut completely, and following the breeze that came in, they started to hear the siren of police cars from around the area, hinting as to what would happen shortly after.
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