She vaguely remembered an autumn from many years ago, in a small villa in Mingzhu City. Jiangg Yao was practicing the piano alone in her bedroom.
Outside, the leaves on the western hills had turned yellow. It was afternoon.
A gust of wind swept by, and countless leaves broke from their branches, drifting lazily through the air like flakes of fire.
She played the piano mechanically, without any emotion, her gaze dull, like a lifeless puppet.
Her sister had gone abroad for school, leaving her all alone to spend a long and sorrowful eighteenth year. It was then that Jiangg Yao felt a profound loneliness, the sting of being abandoned. For the first time, she felt a flicker of resentment toward Jiangg Ning.
Glimpses of the two sisters laughing and playing together flickered in and out of existence in every corner of the villa.
She would think she heard them, and she'd whip her head around, only to see nothing there.
