Esther's eyes blazed with fury as Nancy Li's cruel gaze pierced through her, her expression a twisted mask of malice that seemed to revel in her suffering.
The air was heavy with tension, thick with the weight of years of resentment and hatred that had been building between them.
"You finally decided to come according to your preferences right, don't you have any respect for the municipal."
Nancy Li's words dripped with venom, each syllable laced with a toxic intensity that made Esther's skin crawl.
Her voice was like a rusty gate scraping against concrete, the sound grating against Esther's nerves like fingernails on a chalkboard.
"You're still standing there, staring like a fool?" Nancy Li sneered, her eyes flashing with contempt, her face twisted in a snarl.
"Get back to work, little girl. The dishes won't clean themselves." The words cut deep, and Esther felt a surge of anger and resentment. Esther was just about to leave when she was pushed back by Nancy.
Esther flinched as Nancy Li's hand shot out, her palm connecting with Esther's cheek in a stinging slap that sent her stumbling backward.
"Next time you let me leave before you walk understood."
She fell onto the dewy grass, the cool blades a stark contrast to the burning pain in her palm. As she gazed up at Nancy Li, Esther's eyes welled up with tears of rage and frustration.
"Yes, Aunt," she stammered, her voice barely above a whisper. Nancy Li's smile was a cold, calculated gesture, her eyes glinting with sadistic pleasure as she gazed at Esther's injured palm.
"Scrump," she taunted. "The dishes won't clean themselves." Esther's anger simmered, fueled by the cruelty in Nancy Li's voice.
As Nancy Li turned to leave, Esther caught a glimpse of her own reflection in the woman's eyes – a fragile, vulnerable thing, cowering beneath Nancy Li's cruelty.
The image seared itself into her mind, and Esther's defiance grew. She slowly got to her feet, her palm pulsating with pain as she gazed at Nancy Li's retreating back.
The hatred in her heart was a palpable thing, waiting to boil over. Nancy Li's past was marked by luxury and loss, her family's downfall a raw wound that still lingered.
"I'll make them pay, Father," she whispered to herself, her voice barely audible over the sound of her own heartbeat.
"Every last member of the Morris family will pay dearly for what they did to us." Her hatred was a living, breathing entity that drove her forward, with Esther as her ultimate target.
"You'll never be safe, Esther," Nancy Li whispered to herself, a cold smile spreading across her face.
"Not as long as I'm alive." The words hung in the air, a promise of vengeance that would haunt Esther's life.
The darkness between them was palpable, a destructive force that would continue to consume them both.