STEPMOTHER

The shrill and piercing sound of the alarm going off woke Luo Jingyi up the next day. Bright sunlight seeped through the gaps of the blinds that drape her bedroom windows.

It's been two years since she had the digital clock gifted by Xu Wei and it remained as a decoration.

It hadn't done its proper job because she always got up hours before it beeped. Today, it has served its purpose. With closed eyes, Luo Jingyi reached over to turn it off. She meant to return sleeping but her ringing phone wouldn't let her.

"Hello?" She answered groggily.

"There you are! Thank goodness. I've been calling you for ages. Is everything alright?" her stepmother's voice exclaimed on the other end of the line.

Luo Jingyi had to pull the phone away from her ear because the woman's voice was loud enough to pierce her eardrums. Even without looking at the name, she knew it was her stepmother yet she glanced at the number to confirm her doubt. Wang Hua was indeed calling her on a different number.

'She must have realized you blocked her.'

"Hello? Are you there? Han Jingyi? The woman continued to call out.

"I'm here Aunt." Luo Jingyi sat up and leaned on the headboard after placing a pillow as a cushion. She could almost imagine Wang Hua's contorted face upon hearing how she was addressed.

"How are you? We haven't spoken for a long time?"

"I'm alive." Luo Jingyi replied with underlying meaning. Her eyes appeared to be cold and flat.

"Don't do that again. Disappearing without telling anyone. We searched for you everywhere. Did you know how worried I was? I couldn't even sleep at night. " Wang Hua complained feeling much distressed.

As Wang Hua spoke, Luo Jingyi curled a lock of hair around her finger and toyed with it as she hummed a melody in her head. She didn't want to listen to Wang Hua's guff because she was getting bored with the same lines.

"Are you listening, Jingyi? We miss you a lot. Your father wants to see you and your sister keeps mentioning your name too." Her voice was full of warmth and love. One could mistake that Wang Hua loved Jingyi dearly.

If her stepmother was able to fool the original body, it's different in her case. She can sense 'fakeness' in Wang Hua on the spot.

"Really. They do now?" Luo Jingyi asked innocently and pretended to care.

"Of course!"

A sardonic smile tugged at the corners of her mouth. Luo Jingyi never believed Wang Hua's words because they were obviously nothing but lies.

Han Peng wouldn't even think of Jingyi unless he needed something beneficial for his political dreams. And the half-sister treated the original with repulsiveness.

"Is there a reason for this call Aunt? If none, I still have things to do," she asked straight-away with politeness. If the woman wanted to play the role of a doting stepmother, she would give it to her.

'Let's see how long you are going to keep with that pretense though.' Luo Jingyi thought with a smirk.

"Oh, did I call you at a bad time?"

"Yeah. So it's better to tell me why you called me for rather than beating around the bush."

The woman was taken aback by her statement. It took seconds of quietness before she regained her composure and spoke, "There's nothing really. I just wanted to check on you because we haven't seen you for a long time."

'Wouldn't it be better to say, I want to find out if the people I sent succeeded?' Luo Jingyi replied derisively in her head.

"I'm perfectly fine, Aunt. But did you know that three days ago somebody attempted to kidnap me?"

"What! Really? Are you really alright?" Her over concerned voice wafted to Jingyi's ears.

"I'm left unscathed. Luckily someone helped me." Luo Jingyi said. Suddenly, a handsome man with a lop-sided grin plastered on his face sprung out of her head.

'Urgh! Why am I even thinking of him?'

"Who would dare to do this to Governor Han's daughter?"

"That's exactly what I thought Aunt. I haven't really offended anyone as far as I'm concerned."

"Don't worry dear. I will investigate this and give you a satisfying answer. There's no need for you to report it to the police." The woman promised and put in much effort to convince her.

"I won't Aunt. The election is almost up ahead and a scandal would badly affect my father, right?"

"Yes. At least you're being sensible." Wang Hua swallowed back the bitter tang in her mouth and praised her, masking the hatred she had towards Jingyi because she kept repeating the word "Aunt."

"Of course, Aunt. My mother taught me that."

'Not you.'

This sentence must have hit Wang Hua badly that she almost heard her grinding her teeth but the woman did her utmost ability not to sound obvious.

"I really have to go."

"Okay. I'll call you again later. Take care of yourself." Wang Hua reminded her affectionately but only the dial tone heard her last sentence. Unable to restrain her anger, she threw the object she was holding. The sound of glass shattering upon hitting the wall was heard inside the room.

"How could they fail?" She snapped. All Wang Hua wanted to do at the moment was to wring someone's neck. She spent a lot of money to locate Jingyi. It took years before she found her. Then, she paid people to kill her but it all ended with a failure. She believed them when they assured her. Today, she called Jingyi to make sure because they neglected to report as per their agreement.

"No matter what, Han Jingyi's existence must be erased in this world." She balled her hands into a fist.

Then, Wang Hua grabbed another phone and sent a message.

However, Wang Hua didn't know that all her phones were being monitored. Whatever message she sent was being transmitted to a computer somewhere.

**

Luo Jingyi rested her head on her arm and positioned herself on the bed, facing the window. A satisfied smile was drawn on her lips. She could imagine that the woman would probably be exploding in anger at the moment.

She's well aware of Wang Hua's hatred towards the original but didn't understand why. Due to that, Luo Jingyi didn't want to tear down the other woman's mask yet. However, it didn't mean she couldn't ruffle Wang Hua's feathers.

..

An hour later, Luo Jingyi forcibly roused herself from the lure of the bed because it was almost three in the afternoon. Unknowingly, she fell asleep while contemplating on the matters regarding her step-mother.

She stepped into the bathroom, yawning.

"Weird." she murmured.

It felt like all the fatigue for the past years caught up with her. Making her desire to stay on bed longer.

After showering putting on clean clothes she walked to the kitchen and rummaged through her fridge. She settled with a ham and cheese sandwich because they were the only ones left in her stock.

While she ate, she scanned the headlines on her tablet. A few days ago, the topic was the Chen Family. Now, it's all about an actress who married her rich boyfriend. As she scrolled down, all topics were related to this.

"Nothing's news-worthy." Luo Jingyi turned off her tablet with a sigh.

Suddenly, her doorbell buzzed.