Chapter 3

I was lying there in a daze for goodness knows how long when I looked up and saw Autumn in the room. I don’t have a good relationship with either of my siblings, but Autumn is more of a neutral type and for some reason, I want to sympathize with her. However, a pang of guilt engulfs my heart instead, and I refuse to face her, instead of turning towards the wall.

Autumn lays down beside me on the bed, coaxing me and attempting to speak to me. As she comes closer, I realise I am still ***** under the sheets and pull the blanket around me more tightly. She stares at me with a strange look in her eyes.

“Winter, how did you ever become so provocative? As far as I recall, you never slept in the nude.”

“You don’t understand me,” I utter painfully. I feel bitter about how she had robbed my prince from me, resenting my family in my heart. Yet, she has always acted as an angel and expected Han and everyone else to pity her for her weak heart. This weakness of hers, made me hate her even more.

“Yes, I don’t,” Autumn states, “but it doesn’t mean I can’t care about you. No matter what, I am your elder sister. You are my responsibility.”

It is the first-ever time she has ever said that to me, and it makes me wonder why she is suddenly saying all these things. I know my hatred for her stems from my jealousy for her being our mother’s favourite and her taking Han from me, even though it is Han himself who was weak enough to agree. But if not for her acting pitiful, would Han have agreed?

“Why are you here?” I question, glaring at her with a spiteful look. “Are you here to boast that you’re the eldest, so you’re Mother’s favourite, and now you have stolen Lu Han away?”

Immediately, Autumn looks as if I had just stabbed an ice spear through her. She turns pale and appears to be in shock.

“It’s… it’s Lu Han who wants me to care about you,” she admits. The shocked expression never leaves her face. “He said, as an elder brother, he has failed his duty and led to you cooping up yourself in your room and keeping yourself from us for years.”

I am speechless. All these years, Han was the one who had accompanied me and appeared to fathom me because he used to be that way when he was young. If anything, we were birds of a feather. But he seemed to change suddenly. He became so unpredictable. 

First, he is asking me to forget him and the next moment, he wants to have sex with me. I no longer know what’s on his mind. The seventeen-year-old shy boy who gave his first kiss to me and lay with me on the grass to watch the stars is no longer present. Right now, the man who appeared suddenly in my bedroom asking for a secret relationship is deeply confusing to me right now.

I muster all my strength and face Autumn. To everyone, my sister is like a dying patient where everyone treats her as she is a porcelain doll. To me, she has stolen everything from me. She has destroyed my future with Han, leaving me with nothing.

I am furious. My fingertips ignite with a red flame almost suddenly. It’s the biggest flame I have ever seen. While my family members believe I don’t have powers, I know my magic manifests when I am very, very agitated. 

The good girl in me is gone. I shout barbarically, “You could have all the men you wanted in Tuyi, but why? Why Han? I loved Han since I was young, but now, you...You robbed him from me! I hate you! I hate you forever!”

Autumn looks aghast as the sleeves of her dress kindle with the small fire I have just created. She blows on them frantically to put them out while trying to defend herself.

“Little sister, I swear… I didn’t know! But please, little sister, please, please, please let me have Han. Just consider it as my plea to you.”

She falls to her knees, imploring me with her sad pathetic voice. 

I ignore her. By now, at her twenty-two years of life, she must be quite the expert already. I continue to point at her with my fingers.

“No, anything else I can give up to you, but not Han! I’ve loved him for longer than you could have ever liked him! If you insist on having him, I will enter into fair competition with you to claim him as my husband!”

At that juncture, I was flaring up so savagely that I was forgetting about her condition. She fell to the floor limply, clutching her heart.

“I need to marry Han… if I don’t before I reach twenty-two…. I will die…. young,” she gasps, struggling for oxygen. I focus my mind amply to deplete the flame on my fingertips, then wrap my blanket hurriedly around my nakedness before pulling my sister up with all my strength. 

“Sister, don’t die! I’m sorry I said those things to you,” I pat her back in a panic. “Wake up!”

Fortunately, she is still breathing. I loosen her clothes so she can take a few deep breaths, holding her hand attentively. I forget that she is my love rival and my mother’s favourite. Because I wouldn’t ever forgive myself if her weak heart acted up or if she died on the spot, I had to cast aside my selfish thoughts of owning Lu Han for now. It was a matter of life and death. 

I pull on my robe quickly and returned with some water, which I fed to her instantly. Elder Brother did not live with us, and none of our parents was at home. The servants had all gone out with our parents, leaving an empty house.

After a few minutes, the redness returned to her cheeks. She thanked me profusely, although I could say, I am not happy to give her what she wants. I leave the room without a word, not sure what to think.

………………………………………………………………

The lake deep in the woods is my typical hangout. I sit by myself, tossing stones into the lake one by one and watching the water ripple. One by one, the memories of Lu Han and I playing kite and throwing stones by the lake resurface in my mind. I clench my fists, holding back the tears from falling from my eyes.

After some hours, Lu Han appears. I had least expected his presence, ignoring him as I toss stone after stone into the water endlessly.

“How long are you going to ignore me like this?” he faces me, staring into my eyes intensely. Without asking, he lifts up the bottom of my dress and fondles my thigh.

 “I heard you were the cause of your sister almost collapsing today,” he suddenly declares, touching me even more intimately. “I told you, we are supposed to have a secret relationship. I won’t allow you to continue this stupidity, Winter Yang.”

His eyes spark devilishly as turns towards me, making my heart race with his aggression. I throw my arms around him, sobbing uncontrollably.

“You manned up,” I mumble amidst my tears. “I’ve been waiting for this moment for such a long time.”

As if responding to what I just said, he launches his lips upon mine and kisses me predatorily. 

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