Spring was approaching, so it was inevitably a little chilly. Perhaps because the new year was arriving, the entire City S was immersed in bustling excitement. Despite the cold wind attacking this flourishing city, it did not dampen everyone's spirits.
The evening sky was hazy as it started to drizzle. The lively city seemed to suddenly have a hint of indistinct tranquility to it, too.
A Volkswagen Passat B8 slowly drove out from the underground parking lot of a tall building in City S's northern district. It passed through the long and wide road and made its way straight to the city center.
The streets seemed very bleak at night. Accentuated by the fall of the hazy drizzle, it made the streetlights on both sides seem a little dimmer.
In the driver's seat, Su Yiling was steadily maneuvering the steering wheel with one hand while her other hand was propped up beside the open car window. Frigid wind continuously streamed in through the window, ruffling her shoulder-length hair into a mess.
She wore a shimmering blue gown with a black trench coat over it. Paired with it are a Louis Vuitton purse and black high heels. This is one of the fits that make her look attractive, especially when she's meeting with her boyfriend, Fu Yao, who had called her during the day to remind her of their date. She has her suspicions that he was going to propose to her, especially since she noticed his secret calls that he makes.
City S looks especially beautiful at night.
Su Yiling walked into the penthouse with graceful strides, her cold gaze briefly examining it. Then, finally, her sharp eyes settled on the table where two used champagne glasses were. Hearing some voices in the room, Su Yiling picked up her pace and walked over to the source of the sound.
The bedroom door stood ajar. Just barely. Su Yiling's hand froze on the handle, her breath catching in her throat as familiar voices drifted through the gap.
"Fu Yao..." The voice was breathy and sweet. Sickeningly familiar.
Su Yiling's world tilted. Her cousin's voice. Su Meilin's voice.
Without thinking, she pushed the door open wider. The scene before her was a nightmare painted in cruel reality: tangled limbs on silk sheets, her boyfriend's hands threading through long, straight hair that wasn't hers. The hair that Su Meilin always kept so perfectly neat, parted exactly in the middle.
"Oh!" Su Meilin's gasp pierced the air as she spotted Su Yiling in the doorway. Her big, bright eyes went impossibly wide, the same expression she'd perfected since childhood. The one that made everyone think she was innocent. Pure.
Fu Yao scrambled to cover himself, his face flushing red. "Yiling, I can explain."
But Su Yiling couldn't hear him. The blood rushing in her ears drowned out everything else. Three years. Three years of planning their future together, and this is what it amounted to.
"I'm so sorry," Su Meilin whispered, clutching the sheet to her chest. Tears welled up in those doe eyes, the ones that had fooled everyone for years. "I never meant for this to happen. I tried to resist, but..." She bit her lower lip, the picture of remorse. "I love him too much."
The words hit like physical blows. Su Yiling turned on her heel, her high heels clicking against the marble floor as she walked away. She needed air. She needed to be anywhere but here.
"Yiling, wait!" Su Meilin's voice followed her, accompanied by the rustle of hastily thrown-on clothes.
Su Yiling kept walking, past the champagne glasses, past the roses Fu Yao had probably bought for her cousin instead. The elevator couldn't come fast enough. When it finally arrived, she stepped inside, but Su Meilin's delicate hand caught the door just before it closed.
"Please, let me explain." Su Meilin stepped into the elevator, wearing Fu Yao's white shirt that barely reached her thighs. Her hair was mussed just enough to look artfully disheveled rather than actually messy.
"There's nothing to explain." Su Yiling's voice came out steadier than she felt. "You've made everything perfectly clear."
The elevator descended in tense silence. But as soon as the doors opened to the parking garage, Su Meilin grabbed Su Yiling's arm.
"You don't understand," she said, and something in her tone had shifted. The sweetness was gone, replaced by something sharper. More honest. "I had to do this."
Su Yiling shook her arm free. "Had to?"
Su Meilin's innocent mask was slipping, piece by piece. Her lips curved into something that wasn't quite a smile. "Do you know what it's like, living in your shadow? Perfect Su Yiling with her perfect grades, her perfect face, and her perfect family who loves her unconditionally."
The words came faster now, as if a dam had burst. "Even my own father loves you more than me. My father always talks about how proud he is of his niece and how you look so much like Grandmother. "And grandmother," Su Meilin's voice cracked with genuine emotion for the first time. "She compares me to you constantly." How gentle you are and how you look like a proper socialite.
Su Yiling stared at her cousin, seeing her clearly for perhaps the first time. "So you decided to sleep with my boyfriend?"
"I decided to take something that should have been mine." The confession hung between them like a blade. "Do you think it was an accident that you caught us tonight? That the door was left open just enough?"
The parking garage felt suddenly colder. Su Yiling's breath came out in small white puffs as the full scope of the betrayal settled over her.
"Mother helped me plan this," Su Meilin continued, her voice growing stronger with each word. "She's tired of watching her sister's daughter outshine her own. We've been working on this for months. The secret calls you noticed? That was me, not another woman. Fu Yao thought he was being so clever, planning to propose to you tonight, like I was only good to be kept a secret, just because your father is better than mine."
Su Yiling felt something break inside her chest. Not just her heart, something deeper. Trust, maybe. Or hope.
"Instead, I took what was mine and gave him what you have been denying him since." Su Meilin's smile was razor-sharp now. "I am someone who actually appreciates him. Someone who doesn't take everything for granted the way you do. Someone who will listen to him and not always raising my shoulders high."
The rain had started falling harder, echoing through the concrete structure. Su Yiling turned toward her car, but Su Meilin wasn't finished.
"I'm not sorry," she called out. "I'm finally happy. And for once in my life, I'm not pretending to be smaller than I am just to make you feel better about yourself."
Su Yiling's hand trembled as she pressed the key fob. The Passat's lights flashed once, illuminating both their faces in the dim garage. She looked back at her cousin one last time, really looked at her.
Su Meilin stood there in Fu Yao's oversized shirt, her hair now genuinely disheveled, her makeup smeared. But her eyes... her eyes held a satisfaction that Su Yiling had never seen before. The satisfaction of someone who had finally stopped pretending.
Without another word, Su Yiling got in her car and drove away.