The rain poured endlessly, accompanied by the rumble of thunder as the rain water splashing all around. The tires of a luxury black car screeched against the wet pavement, the sharp sound piercing through the storm.
Hiraya gripped the armrest tightly, her knuckles white as as she glared at the woman besides her.
"Stella, slow down! This isn't a good joke!" Hiraya said, her voice trembling with barely suppressed anger.
Stella's fingers tightened on the steering wheel, ther delicate fingers pale againts the dark leather. Her lips twisted into bitter smile as her eyes revealed the turmoil within her, wild, angry, unrelenting.
"A joke?" - Stella's voice oozed with venom as she glanced sideways at her older sister.
"You think I am joking? No!"
Hiraya's heart sank.
"I don't know what's gotten into you, but this isnt the time or place to talk. Pull over, and we'll…" - Hiraya said carefully, trying to keep her tone calm despite the growing panic in her chest.
"SHUT UP!" Stella's voice cracked, cutting through the words of Hiraya. Her foot pressed harder on the gas pedal, proppeling the car forward as the headlights pierced through the darkness.
Hiraya's breath hitched. "Have you lost your mind?"
Stella laughed. "Lost my mind? Oh no, Jie. For the first time, I see everything clearly."
The car swerved suddenly, and Hiraya gripped the door for support, her heart pounding wildly.
"Stop the car! Stella, stop!"
"Why should I?" Stella sneered.
"Why should I stop when no one ever stops for me? Not you, not Father, not Mother, not Brother. None of you care! All they ever see is you, the perfect role model daughter, the brilliant scholar, the untouchable goddess of the Zhao Family!" Stela's voice trembled with a mix of fury and anguish.
"What are you talking about?" Hiraya's voice rose, panic creeping into her words. "Your are family too! Mother, father, and…."
"Don't you dare!" Stella hissed, her eyes narrowing dangerously.
"Don't you dare say that they care about me. They only pretended to. Every single time, they side with you. They turn a blind eye your flaws while I'm yearning for their love and attention!"
Hiraya stared at her younger sister, stunned by her words. "That's not true."
"Not true?" Stella let out a bitter laugh.
"Do you have any idea know how many times I tried to tell them how you've always overshadowed me? No matter what I did, you were always there, one step ahead of me, making me look like nothing. But they wouldn't listen. They never listened." - Stella said as her hands trembled on the wheel.
"Do you know what Mother said to me the last time we argued?"
Hiraya suddenly felt uneasy hearing those words. She didn't want to hear it.
"She told me to stop being jealous of you." - Stella spat, her voice tinged with bitterness.
"She told me to stop being petty. Petty? Me? Do you have any idea what that felt like? What its like to always be comapred to you?
Hiraya shook her head, her voice low. "You don't have to compare yourself to me. You're amazing in you own way. Stella…"
"Stop it!" Stella screamed, slamming her hands against the steering wheel.
"Stop pretending to care! You're just like them, always acting so perfect. But your not perfect, Jie! And neitheir is our family. Do you want to know why Mother's lying in the hospital bed right now? In coma?"
The question sent a chill to Hiraya's heart, as unsettling thought began to take root in her mind.
"What do you mean?"
"I'm saying that I pushed her." - Stella said with a crazy smile
"You.. What?" Hiraya ask in disbelief
"She was scolding me again." Stella contiue, her voice became calm, as if she were describing something trivial.
"Calling me selfish, vain. Always comparing me to you. I couldn't take it anymore so I shoved her. She fell, hit her head, and started bleeding. Ans you know what I did?"
Hiraya eyes widen with horror and shock.
"I waited..." Stella said, almost like a whisper.
"I waited before calling for help. Long enough for it to be too late. And then I lied. I told our family that she slipped. And of course, they believe me. After all, I am Stella, her daughter, so how could I hurt her, right?"
"Your lying right? You didn't.. you couldn't…" Hiraya couldn't help but stammered, shaking her head in disbelief. There is no way it's the truth right? She is still their mother!
"Believe whatever you want, but the fact wont change. She is in coma right now because of me. And honestly, I don't regret doing it."
"Why are you telling me this now?" Hiraya asked, her mind reeling with countless posibilities.
"Because I am done pretending." Stella said cruelly.
"I'm done playing the role of the sweet, innocent sister. If I cant have the life I want, then neither will you."
Hiraya's breaths came in shallow gaps as she tried to process her sister's confession. Those words echoed in her mind.
"Your just trying to scare me, right stella? This is just some sick game. There is no way you could do that."
"A game? Oh ~ Jie, you don't get it do you? This was never a game to me. This was my life. My whole damn miserbale life, being second to you, being ignored, being invisible." - Stella laugh maniacally
The headlights caught the curved of the mountain road ahead, illuminating the rain soaked asphalt before plunging into darkness again. Stella's grip on the wheel tghtened, her knuckles turned white as she pressed down harder on the accelerator.
"Hiraya, You don't know what its like to have everyone look at you and see someone else. To be told, 'Your beautiful, really but why can't you become more like you sister?' over and over again. Even our parents!" - Stella voice cracked as she said the last part
"That is not true. They love you, Stella. They always have that's why…"
"No!" Stella shouted cut the words of Hiraya.
"They tolerated me. That's not the same. Don't you dare tell me they loved me when they were always too busy praising you to notice me!"
The car suddenly swerved dangerously close to the edge, and Hiraya reached out instinctively, clutching the dashboard. Her heart raced as the cliff side loomed ahead, shrouded in mist and rain.
"Stella, Stop this. Please." Hiraya pleaded, her voice breaking. "If your angry, we can talk. We'll fix this. But you have to stop the car now!"
"Fix this? You think you can fix this? After eveything I've done, after everything you've taken from me?"
"Stella, I've never tried taking anything from you and I didn't know why you felt this way."
"Of course you didn't, because you've never had to struggle. You've never had to fight for attention or beg to be noticed. Eveything just came to you, like it was your birthright."
The car hit the pothole, jolting them both forward. Hiraya gritted her teeth, her fingers digging into the armrest.
"Stella, you're the one who really don't understand. You think my life is easy? That I didn't have to work hard for eveything I've achieved?"
"Oh spare me the speech about hard work." Stella snapped. "You fucking have the Scholar system! Without it, you'd be nothing!"
Hiraya's eyes widened. How did Stella know she it? But right now, it doesn't matter. "The Scholar system didn't male me who I am. I am the one who worked hard, the one who built eveything from scratch. You think the system handed ,e success on a silver platter? Your wrong."
"LIAR!" Stella shout reverberated inside the car as she slammed her hands againts the wheel.
"Your nothing without the system!"
The edge of the road is dangerously close now and Hiraya could see the sharp drop beyond the flimsy guardrail. Her pulse quickened as she realiazed that Stella really had no intention of stopping.
"If you wont stop, we'll both die!"
"Maybe that's for the best. Maybe this is the only way to end this." - The car veered sharply toward the edge as Hiraya tried to unbuckle her seatbelt.
"Stella, your gonna regret this!"
"Ha! Regret? No!" - Stella's twisted smile was the last thing that Hiraya saw before the car broke through the guardrail.