IngRan tapped his fingers impatiently on the edge of the desk, his gaze fixed on his sister, knowing all too well the weight of the tension in the air. Valentine, as always, remained unreadable, her face a perfect mask of indifference. But he knew better than anyone that behind that calm exterior lay a simring storm, one that had been brewing for years.
"You know, Valentine," he began with a sly smile, "I’ve been thinking about how to get your cooperation. It took so ti, but last night, my wife ca up with the perfect idea."
Valentine raised an eyebrow, a soft chuckle escaping her lips. "Oh? I’m intrigued. What could possibly compel to help you after all this ti?"
He leaned forward slightly, the faintest glimr of satisfaction in his eyes. "In exchange for your success, I’ll share sothing with you, a secret about mother that even you don’t know."
Valentine’s lips curled into a faint, amused smile. "And what secret is this?" she asked, her voice soft but with an edge of curiosity.
IngRan’s smile faltered for just a mont, irritation flashing across his face before he recovered. "You think you know everything, don’t you? But I was raised differently than you. Mother always favored ... treated better. And because of that, she told things she would never tell you." He took a step closer, savoring the mont. "In fact, I heard sothing about your birth and also about why she’s always preferred a son over a daughter."
Valentine’s eyes narrowed, the calm deanor slipping for a fraction of a second. Her fists clenched involuntarily, but she held herself together, the cold, controlled fury beneath the surface unmistakable.
"Go on," she said, her voice a dangerous calm, belying the anger that simred within. "What is it you think you know which I do not?"
IngRan’s smirk widened as he took another step forward, enjoying the subtle shift in her deanor. "Of course there are a lot of things that I do know that you don’t sister. Sothing even better," he teased. "I found out sothing about the daughter you left behind. The one you abandoned. Surely you want to know what mother’s been hiding about her, don’t you?"
The na of her daughter was like a blade in Valentine’s heart. The fury that she had worked so hard to keep buried threatened to break free, but she carefully masked it with a thin, cold smile, the look of contempt barely noticeable. Her response, however, was anything but indifferent.
"So, you’re offering this... in exchange for my help?" She gave him the briefest of smiles, one that oozed disdain. "You really think I’d help you, after all you’ve done?"
IngRan’s grin widened at the sight of her reluctant reaction, the eagerness in his eyes clear. "You will, Valentine. You will help ."
The unspoken challenge hung between them, thick with the promise of things to co. And as he waited for her to respond, Valentine’s mind raced, her thoughts already calculating, weighing her options. She would not let him have the upper hand not without sothing more in return.
She sighed, "I will help you."
"Make sure you win sister," IngRan said with a wider smile before he stepped forward and whispered sothing which caused Valentine’s eyes to shook under her eyelids, her gasp was subtle but IngRan was certain this was the first ti he had ever seen his sister so surprised to the point that her lips trembled ever so slightly.
anwhile, AiLin who had just finished her script sat down breathless. YanLan had rushed to give her the pack of ice while she stared at the scene which had turned into sunset in a school set up. Looking at it reminded her of the ti she had been with Li ZiChen back in their middle school, sitting beside each other and the silent between them which felt so ethereal.
What happened after that...?
She rembered that she leaned on his shoulders, listening to the sound of him flipping the pages of the book and she teased him for being a good delinquent who would still read books and study when he was always so eager to do sothing bad.
He teased her back and when she knew it, she was only a breadth away from his lips and saw his brown eyes so moved and so gentle, that the air was swaying her, pushing her closer to push her lips to his.
Then they... no, they didn’t kiss. She rembered that she was too shy and backed away but now she did wish she had taken the chance, perhaps after that day they would go out and start dating. Maybe they would have gone into the sa school, it would be hard but maybe after school they could have t each other?
Even if the tis during her high school was dark, if it was with him...
She could have endured it.
"AiLin!" FangMin jumped to sit beside her. AiLin saw her who urgently shoved a sandwich to her hands. "Aren’t you hungry? You haven’t eaten anything at all! Even if you are on a diet, you should eat a bit because it would ruin your complexion. Plus n don’t like won who are too thin."
AiLin looked at the sandwich before placing it back to her hands. With so many eyes watching, if she push her coldly as soone who had just entered this industry, she would be seen as a junior who doesn’t know her place and would turn cold to the kindness of their senior.
It was sothing she could allow to happen.
So she smiled softly, "Sorry, FangMin, you should eat it instead I have a bento box."
"Lunch box?"
"Mhm, soone special made it for ," She then reached out her hand to YanLan who had given her the pink lunch bag. Just by a glance, anyone could tell that it was a brand nad lunch bag that was rare for people to use. But what’s more intriguing was the small letter that was placed inside the lunch box. "I have to eat it well since the other person had made it with their heart."
"Oh?"
FangMin who saw her zipping open the bag and now looking at the letter quickly reached out her hand and stole the card from her bag before she could touch it with her fingertips.
AiLin’s eyes widened in surprise as FangMin’s hand darted forward, snatching the letter from her bag before she could grasp it. This left her fingers to hover in the air, caught in the unexpected motion, and for a brief second, the smile she had so widely on her cheeks faltered.
FangMin held the letter up to her face, inspecting it with feigned curiosity . "A letter?" she said with a soft chuckle between her lips. Her demure way of talking wasn’t seen as anything akin to bullying but one could tell imdiately what FangMin was trying to do and InRan seed to have noticed it first.
"Is this from the person who made this lunch box? AiLin I’m curious! Can I read it?"
She had yelled it so loudly that even the staffs whose hobbies were to gossip had began to gather around her, eyeing the letter and curiously holding their phones on their hands. It wasn’t a good look if soone like her, a new actress suddenly rose into such an important role was already in a relationship. This would hurt her career almost at an instant.
AiLin took a breath, re-adjusting her posture with grace as her smile returned, albeit a touch more controlled. "You’re always so quick to pry into other people’s affairs, FangMin," she replied smoothly, her voice soft yet tinged with a hint of playful challenge. "Is the letter pique your interest so much?"
FangMin raised an eyebrow, but didn’t relinquish the letter. "Yes, it does. I’m very curious about who has taken such care to send you sothing. Perhaps they have got secrets of their own. But you know AiLin, if it’s from a man... that would be very... worriso. I’m just looking out for you."
AiLin’s lips quirked, but there was a sharper edge to her gaze. "If you’re so curious, then why don’t you open it?" she teased, watching him with quiet amusent. "I don’t really hide secrets, unlike so, I hate to keep lies around my tongues and present it as if it’s the truth so you can open it and see for yourself."
FangMin’s smirk didn’t falter. She held the letter up to the light, examining the fine paper and the neat handwriting that was clearly not mass produced. "I’m not interested in the contents," she said, her voice slightly lowered into a whisper, "but the person behind it. Who is it AiLin? I doubt it’s your mother?"
AiLin chuckled, "If you’re so curious, open it, no read it aloud-" AiLin urged, "Why? hesitating now?"
She could see at once how FangMin’s hands on the letter hesitates. Even though she was so curious at first now seeing AiLin’s confidence made her wonder if this letter was really from the man who had dropped her this morning. But also to be made a lunch box by that man who seed wealthy... everything made her curious and jealous.
She wanted to have what AiLin was having, this love and care, and this attention.
She needed to see it for herself.
She needed to know.
"Well if you allow ," she brimd, "I’ll read it aloud."
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