Some faces wear masks,
and some hearts, instead of love, are filled with venom.
That mask...that venom.....belonged to gen.
Behind his easy smile and the warmth he had woven into the family, his intentions began to rot the moment his eyes strayed to Wei. Yet before he could act, something else drew his hunger. It was not Wei who caught his gaze first...it was Mevi, Lu's younger sister by only a year.
Mevi was different. Quiet, serene, with a gentleness that made her presence feel like still water. She spoke rarely, and when she did, her words were soft as falling petals. Gen, the moment he saw her, felt something unholy twist inside him. His restraint faltered. And that recklessness...one day.....destroyed everything.
---
It was a quiet night. Lu and Mevi were alone at home.
Jian slipped inside under the pretense of bringing the children sweets. He searched until he found her...by the swimming pool at the back of the house. Mevi sat by the water's edge, her reflection shimmering beneath her. She seemed to be conversing with the surface of the pool, her stillness blending into the hushed night.
The air was too calm. The breeze had stilled. Every sound echoed. So when footsteps approached from behind, she felt them immediately.
Her breath caught.
She turned....only to see her "Uncle gen."
Relief softened her face. She smiled.
But she had mistaken a serpent for a guardian.
Elsewhere, Wei, still a child, chased after every trinket bound in red threads at the market, laughing as though red itself carried some secret joy. She had no idea what horror was unfolding at home.
And horror did unfold.
Gen's mask slipped. He grabbed Mevi, his hand clamping over her mouth. She was still just a child—far too weak to resist. Her muffled cries died in the heavy silence.
Then.....Lu came downstairs.
He froze. His wide eyes caught the sight of Jian holding his sister in a way no uncle ever should.
In a rush of fury, Lu snatched a flower vase and hurled it against gen's skull. The man toppled.
Mevi stumbled free, the terror dawning on her as truth sank in. Both she and Lu now understood what gen's heart had been hiding.
And that knowledge sealed their fates.
Gen's fear wasn't of guilt...it was of being exposed. His reputation, carefully built with smiles and lies, would crumble. Panic twisted into violence.
He lunged again. His hands clamped around Mevi's throat.
"Stop!" Lu cried, beating against gen's arms. But what could a boy do against a grown man?
Mevi's eyes widened, her tiny hands clawing desperately. She bit down hard on gen's skin in her final attempt to live. But it was too late.
Her last breath escaped, and her body went limp, falling like a lifeless doll to the ground.
Lu's scream tore the night.
He shook her. Pleaded. But she did not move.
Gen did not stop. He turned his rage on Lu, hands reaching for the boy's neck. But this time, Lu's fury outweighed his fear. With trembling strength, he shoved Jian back, even grappling his throat in blind rage.
That was when their parents arrived.
Yen rushed in, dragging Lu away. And gen.....shameless, venomous gen.....played his final, most poisonous trick.
He spun his tale with trembling lips and false tears, claiming he had seen Lu strangling his own sister, and had tried to save her...only for Lu to attack him instead.
A snake may promise a hundred times that it will not bite, but its nature cannot change. One day, it must sink its fangs.
That night, gen did.
---
Grief drowned the house.
Mevi's body lay still, Yen wept uncontrollably, and Lu stood hollow, numb, shattered not just by his sister's death but by the betrayal of his own father....who believed gen's lies.
Rage overtook the man. He seized Lu by the arm and dragged him to the door, throwing him out into the night.
Yen tried to follow, but police sirens cut the air. Neighbors had gathered, whispers crawling through the darkness. By midnight, Lu was cast out of his own home, condemned for a crime he never committed, while the true monster walked free.
Starving, abandoned, torn between grief and betrayal, Lu wandered the streets. His sister was gone. His family's faith had been stolen. His name buried under falsehoods.
And it was then...broken and alone.....that he discovered the abandoned carbon factory. In its darkness, he found a companion. In its ruins, he made a home.
---
Flashback ends.