Chapter 2 - Are you a beast

Chapter 2 - Are you a beast

With her father's encouragement, she obediently drank the entire bowl. Not only did she get to eat drumsticks, but she also got to drink soup that was thick and full of ingredients, unlike the usual watery taste.

Why was this year's birthday more special than any of her other birthdays? Was it because she got first place in her class and third in her entire grade?

No, her father never cared about her grades. If possible, he would have her work instead of studying. It was only her late grandfather that insist she studies that she could continue going to school.

Did her father finally willing to accept her?

Even if she knew better than to be hopeful, she was just like any other kid that want recognition and affection from their parents.

Hmm? Why is her hand getting tired?

She was doing her best to hold on, but her increasingly weakening hands gave the drumstick the opportunity to escape from her fingers. Much to her horror, the dropped drumstick collided with her rice bowl. She could only helplessly watch as her rice bowl slipped from the table and fell to the ground, her body unable to react. Luckily, her bowl was made from clay, so it did not break from the fall that easily.

Oh no, her father would definitely be angry that she wasted food and dirtied the floor!

Her mind was telling her body to pick up the fallen bowl, but strangely, her body completely refused to respond.

"It started?" Her father put down his bowl and walked out of the kitchen, not at all angry at her mistake.

"D…ad…?" Lin Jiayi was shocked that her words slurred like a fool. With her heart blocked by fear, she could only wait for her father to return, her ears picking up sounds of doors locking, windows closing and curtains moving.

Her puzzled eyes followed her father's figure when he came back into the kitchen, this time closing the kitchen windows and doing something at the stove with a knife that she could not see from her current spot.

The sixteen-year-old Lin Jiayi was not yet exposed to many things and was not yet realize how severe the situation was getting. Currently, she was just wondering how to tell her father that her body feels so heavy that even speaking was difficult to do.

Lin Ge Shuai placed a small photo frame of his wife on the table, including the small incense burner he lit two times a day for his wife. Caressing the picture affectionately, he softly said, "Today is Yaoyao's death day. Soon, we will reunite again."

The table full of food before her mother's portrait resembled offerings to the dead.

Lin Jiayi's body was not working, but her nose was working just fine. She was sure that what she smells was gas! She wanted to tell her father that the gas was leaking, but all she could muster were weird, unintelligible slurs.

But that got her father's attention. However, the previously peaceful gaze when he looked at his daughter was back to the disgust that Lin Jiayi was familiar with.

Lin Ge Shuai took out an old lighter with a delicate design from his pocket. "I really don't want to bring you along, but you need to apologize to Yaoyao. Today is the day you come, so it's the right day to send you back."

Lin Jiayi's happiness from the birthday treatment was no longer there as more and more strangeness of her father formed an unpleasant picture in her mind. The sudden heaviness on her body, the window closing, the smell of gas and the lighter… Lin Jiayi finally realized she was in danger from her own biological father.

'See? This is what happens when you keep on ignoring the signs. How can father be this nice to his wife's murderer?'

Lin Jiayi usually did not heed the negative thoughts that pops up randomly, but this time, she was completely defenceless towards it. Her eyes quickly submerged with tears from the harsh feeling of her heart breaking into a thousand pieces that even an elephant glue would be difficult to mend. Her hope that she could get her father to love her vanished as she finally understood it was impossible.

Her grandparents and little aunt always told her that her mother's death was never her fault, but her father never shared the same belief. The much younger Lin Jiayi believed that everything could be forgiven with an apology and she really apologized to her father.

And that was the first and only time her father hit her. Her angry father stormed out of their house after slapping her face and only returned the next day, completely ignoring her swollen face. She learned never to mention it again, but that issue festered the longer it was left alone.

Almost every day she saw her sour-faced father, and almost every day her tired mind was filled with what was she supposed to do to make her father happy again.

Turns out, it was for her to die.

No matter how bad things were, Lin Jiayi never wished to die, and not so in her current situation either. But she was not given a chance to choose. Her father drugged her to prevent her from escaping, but she resented that he did not choose to knock her out so that she did not know anything.

Should she be grateful instead that he did not feed her poison and spare her from the pain she heard from people that had consumed poison?

'Why would he? He wants me to know how much he hated me. To die knowing who kill us.'

Her gradual sinking into the darkness over her looming death was interrupted by the knock on the door.

"Elder brother, Jiayi!" Her little aunt, Lin Meili's voice pierced into the gloomy atmosphere. "Why do you lock the door, ah?"

Lin Ge Shuai, who was enjoying his last meal, frowned at the unexpected interruption. He had told his younger sister that he wanted a nice meal with his daughter alone and she had agreed.

So why is she here?!

Through teary eyes, Lin Jiayi watched her father storming out of the kitchen. She could not see his expression, but it should not be good. She wanted to scream for help, but not even a gasp could be mustered.

How long will it take for the medicine to lose its effects?

"I'm just going to wish her a happy birthday and pass her the gift. You are not even allowing that?" Li Meili asked incredulously at her elder brother guarding the door as if she was the thief.

"You could do that tomorrow. I told you beforehand that I don't want my time with my daughter interrupted."

"That's why I'm not joining your dinner. What, can't even spare me five minutes? Tomorrow is no longer her birthday. How is that lucky?"

Lin Meili wondered what sort of medicine her elder brother had taken. When Lin Ge Shuai suddenly announced that he would be celebrating his daughter's birthday, she promptly checked if a meteor was falling from the sky.

Not to demean her brother, but his performance over the past sixteen years had not hit the requirement line of a parent at all! But for the sake of her niece, she gave Lin Ge Shuai the benefit of doubt.

"Why did you close all the windows and curtains?" Lin Meili was familiar with Lin Ge Shuai's way of saving money. He would open all windows for air regardless of mosquitoes instead of turning on the fan.

"That's for Jiayi's surprise present. Just come back tomorrow! I'm still cooking!"

"No wonder I smell gas… quickly go then! I will come by before Jiayi's bedtime."

Lin Ge Shuai definitely have no problem with that. By then, everything should have already settled down. "Okay."

A loud crash coming from the kitchen send Lin Ge Shuai's heart soaring upwards again. As he feared, that noise stopped Lin Meili's tracks. He could no longer pretend that the noise was just his daughter's clumsiness when there were more sounds of things falling echoed from the kitchen's direction.

Lin Meili pushed her stunned brother aside and rushed in. To be able to create so much ruckus, something big must have happened! She started coughing as soon as the thick gas entered her nostril. No matter how much cooking was going on, it was impossible to emit this amount of gas.

The image of closed windows that added to the thick smell of gas immediately had her face twisted into fury. She still had some reservations as she hurried to the kitchen, but to her despair, she found her niece on the floor!

Lin Meili does not know what happened to Lin Jiayi, but she knew that whatever was done to her niece was her elder brother's doing!

"Lin Ge Shuai! Are you a beast?!"