"Ning Xiaoran, Let's break up."
A drop of rain hit the yellow umbrella, sliding down the rounded slope before it landed on the small puddle. Then, came the others in drizzles, pitter pattering against the concrete ground.
Ji Yunhe tipped her chin downwards, her hollow eyes reflecting the rain-soaked man kneeling before her.
Unlike the ends of her plain white dress, which wasn't even the slightest bit touched by the chill around her, the man was heavily-drenched all over, trembling yet remaining straight and stubborn.
"Why?"
The slender fingers supporting the yellow umbrella tightened. After a long quiet silence, Ning Xiaoran finally choked out a sob.
"Why are you doing this to me?" He raised his chin to reveal a pair of eyes as dark as obsidians, one that was now dead and without any light.
Ji Yunhe reverted her gaze. She casted them anywhere but the man, her voice remaining cold and cutting like blades of ice.
"Do you still not understand? Ning Xiaoran, since the very first start, not even once have I been sincere. I've been using you for my own interest. At this point, do you still not understand?"
"But you're the only one left that I have."
Ji Yunhe's eyebrows furrowed to form a frown. Suddenly, the man lunged forward, entrapping her in his arms. Ji Yunhe's skin crawled as they made contact.
"So what?" She hissed back, pushing him away as if she had just been electrocutted by his touch. Her umbrella fell, rainwater claiming her back in the counts of seconds.
Ji Yunhe lowered her head. Despite the pitch darkness surrounding them, she seemed to have caught the flash of hurt in his eyes. That made her shoulders tremble even more. Something within her seemed to have snapped as her tone turned vicious.
"My brothers are right. Ning Xiaoran, you are just not good enough for me. You will never be."
That was the ultimatum.
Ji Yunhe left, leaving the man alone in the rain, lost and broken.
The path ahead was silent and dim and yet, her stilettos struck each puddle without care, braving through the rain without any ounce of hesitance.
She should have ended this sooner.
Ji Yunhe's pale lips trembled. Her palm-sized face was entirely dotted with rainwater and more so, with something warmer.
She raised a hand to wipe them off, but to no avail. The rain kept on pouring, who was she to tell the weather what to do?
In this vast world filled with uncertainty, nothing is impossible. Anyone can make it big. Even the ignorant croaking frogs in their wells could at least dream. But Ji Yunhe couldn't, for she knew something that the others didn't.
First, their world was nothing but the world of a novel.
Second, every character had a purpose of their own and no one—not even her, can do a thing about it.
And third, she wasn't exactly the Yunhe her brothers and the others knew, loved, and adored.
Ji Yunhe's footsteps paused, before they strode forward with even greater determination.
She was a thief. A liar. A despicable opportunist who couldn't do a single thing right. She, Ji Yunhe, was the worst.
That was why, this was her only redemption.
She looked to her left, her eyes taking in the flashing blue screen forming out of thin air.
It's time to set things right, once and for all.
[Congratulations, Host. The villain's blackening progress has reached 100%. The original storyline has been set.]
***
One Year Ago.