I bit the inside of my cheek as I thought of a plausible excuse. It was amazing how the brain stopped functioning when needed it the most.
'She thinks you're practically dumb. Any excuse you give her would be plausible.' My inner voice rang in my head.
Oh yeah. I thought sheepishly and chuckled internally. She was still waiting for my reply, so I had to think faster. Uhhh… What to say? What to say?
"Food!" I blinked at the sound of my voice. That was the best thing j could come up with?
"Huh?" Her brow furrowed in confusion.
Huh?
"Uhh… I-I was h-hungry, so I- so I… The-the bag was for fruits." This time, not all the stutters were intentional. I pulled more of my hair down my face.
"Oh, oh okay" she nodded in understanding.
My brow quirked. It worked!
"Then, should we go in now?" She asked, and I nodded stiffly.
Instinctively, I began walking towards the back entrance.
"Wutao?" I stumbled to a stop. What now? "Not getting fruits anymore?".
Oh right! I forgot.
"Uhh y-y-yes" I turned on my heels, walking towards her figure.
Her arms softly came around my back when I reached her, and slowly, she guided me toward the main entrance of the house.
The interior of the estate was modern themed, unlike the traditional style exterior.
Luckily, the rest of the estate was asleep, save for a few security staff walking around.
We got to came to an intersection of the paths to the various wings of the estate and I let out a relieved breath. We were finally going to part ways.
"B-bye Jie." I muttered, quickly making my way toward the basement, which was on the same wing as the main kitchen.
I felt her still following me as I walked. Why was she following me? I didn't ask. Instead, I just continued walking.
We finally reached the entrance of the kitchen. I rolled my eyes in annoyance as I stared longingly at he path to the basement.
Guess I'm go to the kitchen after all.
Like the rest of the estate, the kitchen was empty. I walked straight towards the bowl of fruits on the island, shoving any fruit my hand touched into my bag.
Then opened one of the the cupboards, reaching for a bag of chips. Until she spoke.
"Sometimes, when I watch you doing you own thing in your own world you don't look so helpless—" I froze, bag of chips mid air.
Just then, I let the bag slip from my hand. Then when it fell to the floor, jumped back in shock , letting out a loud yelp.
I turned to my sister wide eyed. Face dripping with fear. Body trembling. I even picked my finger nails for added effect.
It worked!
She rushed towards me. "Wutao! It's fine, It's fine. Here," She bent down, picking up the bag of chips I had just dropped.
I received it with shaky hands.
"I-I-I wanna go t-to my room"
"You wanna go to your room?" She asked calmly, and I nodded.
"Okay, okay. Let's go. Slowly okay?…" My lips quirked up in a smirk.
Once we got to my room, I gave her a small wave before entering and locking it behind me. I let out a long sigh.
That was exhausting.
My room was nothing fancy. Right next to the door was a single bed with a single pillow. There was a wardrobe, a desk, and one tiny window at the top of my bed.
I took off my shoes, putting them on one beside the other two pairs already on my single shoe rack.
Going to my wardrobe, I picked out a new set of clothes; a pair of black shorts and a shirt. My skin still felt gritty from crawling out the hole.
I went into the bathroom for a quick shower, then changed into my new outfit.
When I was done, I sent a quick goodnight text to Xueya and her dad. Then went to read through a few texts I had from Miss Jia Li.
17:09: Okay Baby Boy, take your time to heal. But every extra day you rest is money bleeding out of my account.
22:41: Mr. Zhen Long asked for you again today. He refused a substitute. I'm going to go bankrupt before you get back.
22:42: Just one week Ren. Not a second more.
I rolled my eyes and chucked the phone beside my pillow, getting up to make sure my door was securely locked.
FLASHBACK. (2016)
The lock of my door shook for a bit, then the door burst open. In poured my two brothers jaws twitching, nose flaring, eyes scanning .
I stood in front of my bathroom door, hair wet and confused by their sudden intrusion.
Without as much as a single word of explanation, Yan charged at me. Before I realized what was happening, his fist came flying into my jaw and I toppled onto the floor.
I saw it too late. Not that I could've done anything about it otherwise.
I was fourteen, and they had just turned seventeen. I dropped to the tiled floor of my room with a splat, the towel around my waist coming loose.
"Its your fault" Ze snarled, kicking me in the side. I curled from the pain that shot through my body. My eyes stung with tears, but I bit my tongue to keep from crying out.
What did I do now? I took in a deep breaths to steady my voice. I had to ask.
"G-Gao, wha-what—" Before the could even leave my mouth, another hot slap landed on my cheek, and this time, I couldn't hold back the tears.
Ze knelt on the floor, grabbing me by the neck—since I wasn't wearing any shirt whose collar he could hold— as he barked his frustration.
"We can't have our birthday party in the estate because of you. Because dad doesn't want anyone to see your stupid face." He shook my body with every word he said. For a moment, I thought I misheard.
"B-but how—" I was about to ask how that was my fault, but Yan cut me off again. I guess that was a good thing, because my question would've definitely riled them up even more.
"We've already invited friends. Oh my god we're going to become a laughing stock" His hand went through his hair in frustration, as if he wasn't actually spouting nonsense.
"Thats what you want huh? huh?! You piece of filth!"