"Sister, hurry. The dressmaker has arrived." Yu-Hua, Bai-Hua's twin sister, anxiously danced around Bai-Hua, who walked slowly with her cane in front of her.
She wore glasses, which made her feel more comfortable since she could not see.
But her senses were heightened to make up for her sight loss.
She had an air of elegance around her, with her long, wavy hair cascading gently on her shoulders. She always moved quietly and slowly with her expression and complexion that were as soft as a delicate Porcelain antique.
Whereas Yu-Hua had a rather innocent and childish demeanour. They were twins and had similar looks, but they were so vastly different.
"It's not like the dressmaker will leave if we're a minute late." Bai-Hua said. "Your excitement is getting the best of you."
"I can't help it. I'm just so excited." Yu-Hua cooed, and Bai-Hua smiled softly.
She was excited for a dress they would likely be wearing a year from now.
They were twins, yet she seemed to be the gullible one. Yes, it was probably because she had lived her life with endless affection and everything presented to her on a silver platter.
Unlike her... Bai-Hua had received nothing but scorn and mockery from the rest of the family.
She was just happy for her twin sister, who at least pretended to be kind to her. She knew what they said and did behind her back.
She was just glad that she, Yu-Hua, the privileged and lucky daughter, did not scorn her to her face.
"Hold on, we're at the stairs." Bai-Hua said as she tapped her cane twice on the floor, and Yu-Hua looked at her with a curious gaze.
"I still don't get it, sister. How are you always able to tell when we get to the stairs?" She asked.
"It's because the floor before the stairs gives off a rather hollow feeling when I tap my cane on it." She said. "That's how I know."
She slowly reached for the railing, prepared to use that as a means to walk down slowly.
She had been blind from birth.
Contrary to how affectionate her parents were towards her after she had been born, her life had been difficult and depressing.
She was neglected, bullied, and scorned by everyone who laid eyes on her.
There had been no one to reach out to help her, so she did everything on her own. There were times the maids intentionally kicked her cane away to make fun of her helpless and pathetic self as she squirmed.
And there were also times they intentionally set their foot in the way to trip her over. There was a hot water incident as well. And because of that, Bai-Hua got a huge burn scar on her leg.
'I realized this when I had clocked five, the names of the people around me, as well as the actions all sounded familiar.' She thought, slowly taking a step at a time.
She could no longer hear Yu-Hua's shatter and wondered if she had decided to go ahead because she could not hear anything.
'This world is a novel,' she thought. 'It's the last novel Yu-Sheng read to me. And I... Have become the unlucky star shadowing the Lycan's Lucky bride, who is Yu-Hua.'
She was destined to live a tragic life and die one year from now, on the day of her birthday. That was the day the vampires would come and demand marriage from her family.
And on that very night... She would die after getting all her blood sucked out for her and her flesh eaten by wild vampires.
She clutched her cane hard and pursed her lips as the thought ate at her heart.
She never once attempted to change her fate in this world or wished for a happy ending because in her past life, the more she tried to fight it, the harder it mocked her for her pathetic attempts.
She could still remember the nights she gnashed her teeth, digging her nails in the bed as she endured chemotherapy that ate at her cells because it was the wrong treatment for her unknown condition.
They decided to try it since they had no other options, but it was wrong, and she, who insisted on it, suffered greatly for it.
Anyway, she was healthy in this life. Aside from her eyes, there was nothing wrong with her.
"Tch," she suddenly heard something behind her. It sounded like it came from Yu-Hua, but she could not feel her presence. "This is annoying."
And just like that, before Bai-Hua could understand who those words were from because they sounded so distant from her, two hands pushed her back.
Her world flashed white in that instant as the cane slipped from her hand and her body was forcefully pushed forward, sending her down the stairs.
'I thought I was used to this kind of setting.' Bai-Hua thought. 'I know I won't die yet because of the plot, but... This will hurt a lot.'
Her head bled as her body squirmed on the floor, slightly twitching. She couldn't see anything, as usual, but she could feel her blood splattered and her heartbeat falling out of rhythm.
'I feel numb,' She thought.
"Oh no, Sister. What happened?" Yu-Hua's anxious voice rang over the halls. She crouched down to help her sister, but she couldn't even bring herself to touch her. "How come you fell?"
Bai-Hua couldn't think of anything anymore. Despite the worry in her sister's voice, she was certain that she had been the one who pushed her.
Who else would do such a thing behind her back? It was too obvious.
But what Bai-Hua couldn't understand was why Yu-Hua had pushed her. She was a blind, pathetic girl who had nothing compared to her, so why go so far?
Despite the pain, Bai-Hua wasn't falling unconscious, and they couldn't even tell if she was awake or not because her eyes didn't work and she wasn't speaking either.
"What happened here?" She heard her father's voice. He was one who never glanced twice at her. He was a rather handsome man with a goatee and a few wrinkles around his forehead.
The wrinkles increased after he laid eyes on Bai-Hua's body.
"Father, Bai-Hua fell down the stairs." Yu-Hua cried to her father, throwing herself on him. "I'm so scared."
"She fell down the stairs?" Her father looked at Bai-Hua's body on the floor, and his heart shook for a moment.
Everyone was simply standing and staring, not even bothering to get a doctor or help her up.
"This is why she should just stay in her room." Her father said, clicking his tongue. "Why does she always create problems for everyone? As if her bad luck rubbing off on my business wasn't enough, now she wants to die on these very grounds."
His words were harsh. They were cruel, but Bai-Hua was used to it.
She did not expect warmth from his man because it was clear that whatever warmth he had for her had turned cold the day his wife died.
Yes, her mother had died, and everyone blamed her because that day she was the reason her mother left the house.
3-year-old Bai-Hua had caught a cold, and her mother had asked what she wanted to eat because her appetite was thin.
At that time, Bai-Hua simply craved the strawberry cake her mother always got for her on her way back from work, so her mother decided to get it.
On her way back, there was an accident and she died.
It was from that day that she was branded an unlucky child.
"What's going on here?" She heard her first brother's voice, and as soon as he saw Bai-Hua's body on the floor, accompanied by blood, he stepped back in shock. "What..? What happened?"
"Brother, she fell down the stairs," Yu-Hua explained one more time, showing a pitiful and scared expression on her face.
Her first brother's name was Xiao Lei-Feng. He was tall and handsome with a chiselled chin and pale complexion, always having a mature expression on his face. He was strict but never strict to Yu-Hua since he adored her.
He was the dream guy of so many girls, but he was still strangely single at the age of 23.
"Then why is everyone standing there? Hurry up and call a doctor." Her second brother appeared. "She'll die if she stays like that. Quick. Call a doctor." The maids hurried to go get the doctor.
Her second brother's name was Xiao Wei-Jian. He was two years younger than Lei-Feng and looked less mature. He played with Yu-Hua often and was practically her favourite in the household.
"Brother?" Yu-Hua looked at her brother, confused as to why he was acting so urgent about this matter.
"There's no way she can die. She still has to pay for taking our mother away from us." Wei-Jian said, and Bai-Hua, who never expected anything from them, wished she could just fall unconscious already.
She did not want to listen to any of this any longer.
By the time she woke up, her body would be aching, and there would be no one by her side. She was sure of it.
So, from there, she fell unconscious. But as soon as she did, Lei-Feng said,
"I don't think that's right anymore."
"What do you mean?" Wei-Jian asked.
"I was thinking a lot recently, but is there any real reason why we have hated Bai-Hua for so long?" He asked, and they all looked at him, puzzled.
What was he getting at?
"It's because she took our mother from us. It's because of her we no longer have a mother." Wei-Jian defended rashly, but Lei-Feng looked at him, shook his head, and asked,
"If the one who had been sick at that time was Yu-Hua, and mother had gone out to get the strawberry cake for her. Would we have hated Yu-Hua the same way?"
Yu-Hua was struck with disbelief. Why was her brother suddenly acting like this? Why was he saying such things?
"Think about the answer and then ask yourself," he looked towards his father, who was spectating with no words said. "Father, did little Bai-Hua do anything wrong?"