Ding. Ding. Ding. It struck midnight.
In an instant, Yana opened her eyes. She has heard something. It came from below. It was so faint it could've been a mistake for the wind that howled against the windows but Yana was sure the sound was something different.
As if someone in the house was sneaking around, their footsteps leaving behind an ominous drop of atmosphere whenever they touched the ground.
Putting on a jacket, Yana left her room. The orphanage was dark and only the moonshine from outside provided a bit of light to see the outline of the place in front of her.
Standing at the staircase, Yana heard a faint noise from downstairs. She was now sure that there was someone sneaking around. And Yana could already guess who it was.
Dim light flickered from the gap under the door. Yana always had the habit to lock the door to the office since that was what the director had been doing. So when Yana went to sleep, she would always make sure that at least the office was locked since it contained some viable information.
And the key. The key was always with Yana. So how did that person get in? Hovering in front of the door for a bit, Yana heard the clattering sounds in the office. Sometimes they got louder and sometimes they'd quieten down.
It went on for a few seconds before Yana lightly pressed down the door handle and cautiously opened the door. Since the building was old the door made a creaking sound that however went unnoticed by the busybody inside the office.
Surprisingly only the desk lamp was on. Yana observed while she stepped into the room. Long fingers trembled slightly as they hustled over papers on the desk and fiddled with a pen.
The white shimmering hair constantly fell over a flushed pale face, jittering with anxiety and nervousness. For someone who was trying to pull something off, Carol sure looked fearful as if she had a scythe held on her neck that could rip her throat apart any seconds.
Her movements looked mechanic, even controlled and her breathing was hectic. These kinds of actions and behaviour reminded Yana of herself as Roy forced her to undergo several trials with her life on the line.
Although Yana was sure that Roy wouldn't let her die but if Yana received a wound or even a few it didn't matter to Roy. What he wanted was for Yana to become as close to perfect as possible. In the beginning, Yana was also rigid and tense when she had to follow through orders she didn't want to do, especially when it went against her morals. But now Yana wasn't bound by these naïve feelings anymore.
That was why Yana felt a bit of empathy towards Carol's current state even though she was pitiful as it was obvious that whatever Carol was doing, it wasn't out of her own accord.
Yana's fingers moved to the light switch and-
"Carol, what are you doing?"
Jolted by the surprise, Carol flinched and the pen fell out of her fingers rolling on the ground. Shock lingered on her face as silence overtook the room. Carol's wide eyes followed Yana's movements and she pressed her lips together.
Small beads of sweat evaporated in the air and were instantly frozen by Yana who picked up the pen and walked towards Carol. Each step weighed down Carol's heart as if rocks tore into her body wanting to mush her onto the ground.
"I…I," Carol didn't know what to say and backed off but hit the window.
None of her hateful glares or disdain was directed at Yana anymore, now it was simply replaced with fear and panic. It showed that Carol herself knew what she was doing. Even if it was something small, it could trigger a massive boulder to roll down the mountain and destroy an entire village.
The fear in Carol's eyes was slowly reduced by the realisation that Yana almost arrived at the table. Quickly, Carol darted to snatch the paper but Yana was one step faster.
She quickly scanned it and her lips mockingly curved up, "I see. You were trying to fake my signature."
Carol opened her mouth but nothing came out. She was found out, there was no use, especially now that Yana read the content of the document.
"Hmm," Yana tilted her head, "I knew that they wouldn't sit still but for them to actually try to pull this off… It's ridiculous isn't it, Carol?"
Yana smiled at Carol as if Carol just saved her life. This irritating smile only made Carol more uneasy. If Carol could convey her feelings on the spot, Yana would know that Carol has never liked her. That cheerful, pretty girl, the director and everyone liked when she first came to work, could never fool Carol.
There was something off about Yana but Carol could never figure out what it was because even though Carol didn't want to admit it, Yana was perfectly normal. She was kind, diligent and hardworking yet also carefree and charming. There was nothing to hate about Yana but Carol still couldn't let go of the feeling that Yana was dangerous.
Yana looked harmless but Carol's intuition told her to be wary, but no matter what, Carol couldn't find any faults on Yana. She thought she was overthinking, exaggerating and thus wanted to try to get along with Yana. In the end, Carol interacted with Yana like everyone else. Lukewarm, keeping her distance but definitely not hostile.
So, Carol slowly forgot about her initial guards against Yana until Carol was proven right. She knew why that innocent Yana was so dangerous in her eyes because Yana ultimately did bring doom to Carol. Her worst nightmare, Yana brought it all forth!
To top it off, out of everyone, these damned managers had to target her to use as their puppet. All because of Yana's arrogance, her dumb actions and her halo of being favoured so much. Carol was right, and she knew what she really felt towards Yana.
It was hatred. Because of Yana, all this misfortune befell her and the orphanage. If only Yana didn't decide to meddle in affairs she had no idea about, then none of this would happen.
A normal caretaker with no clue about business or whatever wanted to take lead over experienced seniors? Wasn't that just too ridiculous? Yana should know that her actions were incredibly stupid, naïve and reckless.
This wasn't how the world worked. The even worse thing that Carol hated was that bloody halo around Yana that helped her get through everything magically even though Yana didn't deserve it.
Carol grit her teeth and once again, hatred clouded her eyes. Carol was still trembling but this time it wasn't because of fear or panic but because of this pure anger Carol felt towards Yana. How could a person without any qualifications be so arrogant and pretend to be so high and mighty?