"You're here."
Yan Qing Shan greeted her murderer who entered the hospital room. Her back was turned at the door but she knew, by the sound of the footsteps approaching, who it was. Qing Shan coldly glanced at the woman who sat at the visitor's chair.
"Seems like you were expecting me? How surprising."
The woman answered. Her tone laced with ridicule.
Qing Shan turned her back to her and faced the window, a sneer on her lips.
"I knew you were coming. You're here to finish me off. After all, you didn't expect for the poison to be intercepted. You've been waiting for this for a long time now, stepmother. Or should I say, aunt Ming Hua."
Qing Shan replied in her usual cold, detached voice. Yes. Her usual voice. The voice which had pushed everyone away. The voice which had her father and brother to worry for her leading to their loss. The voice which had intrigued the devil who imprisoned her. The voice that had now driven her to death.
No. Wrong. It wasn't her voice. It was her, herself. Her passivity. Her detachment to all things. That is what led her to this point.
"Oh? So you knew? I see that you're not that stupid after all." was the reply Ming Hua gave her.
Aunt Ming Hua was her mother's twin sister. Qing Shan's mother, Ming Yue, died in a vehicular accident when she was five. Her father, whose world was her mother, was devastated. Zhao Ming Hua, who was secretly in love with her brother-in-law took it as an opportunity to get close to him. With their identical looks and temperament, it was inevitable that her father succumbed to her. But she knew. Yan Qing Shan knew that it was only in looks that Zhao Ming Hua was identical to Zhao Ming Yue. Where her mother was sweet, kind, and gentle; Ming Hua was malicious, envious, and harsh. Her sweet temperament was merely an act to bait her father with. This was a fact that she had confirmed when she was seven. A fact that was magnified even more when her half sister, Yan Xiaoyi was born. At that time, she wanted to tell her father. But she saw that he was happy with her. Qing Shan couldn't bear to shatter the smile her father had regained. So she kept it from everyone. But the image of a harmonious family that they had projected made her heart grow cold. Even when she had tried to bridge the distance and get close to them, she couldn't even take a step closer.
Qing Shan tilted her head to face the woman who has her mother's face but was twisted with hate towards her. Her own blood related aunt. She smiled ruefully.
"I knew. I have known since the start that you have been trying to put me out of commission. Not just that. I also knew you were behind my brother's divorce. I knew that you plan to trick father into giving the entire company to Xiaoyi. I'm going to die. And you have made sure that my brother is too out of it to properly function and interfere with your plans. You can't kill him because he's the only son but as for me, you're very much free. In the end, you just wanted everything mother has. It's a pity though, you'll never be Zhao Ming Yue. You'll never surpass her even if you take everything that is meant to be hers."
She matter-of-factly said. A trace of astonishment flashed within Ming Hua's eyes but was instantly replaced with fuming rage.
"Bitch! So what if you knew? You didn't do anything about it anyway. You're useless. You're just a coward, Yan Qing Shan. But thanks to that, everything will be my Xiaoyi's. Even your husband. I may not surpass Ming Yue but she's dead. The same goes for you. Both of you lost."
Zhao Ming Hua laughed at her mockingly. She stared at the woman with her usual detached look. As if what she was saying did not involve her. But deep within her heart was a raging turmoil. Her heart constricted painfully at those words. Regret was pouring through every vein in her body. Even more so when the woman in the visitor's chair brought out a little bottle.