To Covet (GL) - Chapter 2

Yu Hanyang didn’t expect a sixteen-year-old girl to have so much miscellaneous luggage. He reluctantly took off his suit jacket and carried the tape-wrapped cardboard boxes upstairs.

“You can carry the suitcase yourself, so you don’t have to make an extra trip,” he went into the elevator without looking back, and the cardboard box in his hand slammed to the ground.

The originally spacious entryway was soon filled with roughly packed miscellaneous items. The frayed cardboard boxes and colorful woven bags stood out so abruptly against the exquisite decoration of this house, just like me, who suddenly broke in and disrupted the happy life of this family of three.

“They’re not back yet, you can sit wherever you want,” Yu Hanyang handed me a glass of plain water, “We’ll go out for dinner together when Aunt Shi gets off work…” he looked me up and down, “You can choose whatever clothes you want to buy.”

“Where do I live?” I picked at the toothpaste stain on the front of my school uniform with my fingernails and pushed open the half-closed door on the right.

“This is your sister’s room,” he pushed my shoulder and led me to a bedroom next door.

Before leaving, Yu Hanyang promised that the newly bought bed would be delivered tomorrow, and I could ask him for any decorations or furniture I wanted to add. I pretended to be too tired to reply and perfunctorily sent him away.

I locked the door, threw off my sweaty jacket and pants, and fell onto the single bed.

This room was temporarily converted from a study, and it couldn’t compare to Yu Zhouwan’s clean and tidy room. With just a casual turn, the bed board creaked.

I stepped on the chair by the bed to reach the photo frame in the glass interlayer of the bookshelf. They were all photos of Yu Hanyang with well-dressed and pot-bellied leaders, as well as various certificates with fancy titles, all carefully arranged and dust-free.

Just as I was carefully studying what was written in the locked folders, I suddenly heard the beeping sound of the combination lock outside, and then the door was pushed open and closed.

Instead of opening the door directly, I quietly listened to the movement outside.

Yu Hanyang had a habit of dragging his slippers with a clattering sound, but the footsteps outside were very light and running, from far to near, and finally stopped outside the study door.

I was holding my breath, trying to guess whether it was Yu Hanyang’s wife or daughter, when I was startled by the sound of someone outside turning the doorknob to try to open the door.

“Is anyone there?” Realizing the door was locked, the person outside raised their hand and tapped lightly.

I was wearing my grandmother’s black floral shorts, my bare feet standing in an awkward position, my right hand on the doorknob, and I looked at Yu Zhouwan expressionlessly.

It seemed that I, wearing loose home clothes, was the owner of this room, while Yu Zhouwan, standing neatly in front of me in a small suit and plaid skirt, was like a restrained guest.

“Ah, it’s you, I thought you were coming tomorrow,” Yu Zhouwan held a paint box and a drawing board in her hand, the surprise on her face quickly subsided, and she instantly put on a decent smile, “I thought no one was here, I wanted to put the painting tools in, but if that’s the case, I’ll just put them in the bedroom.”

I glanced at the wooden easel in the corner and stood still, not intending to let her in.

But Yu Zhouwan didn’t seem to care, “What do you want to drink, orange juice or milk? Or apple cider vinegar is also fine,” she put her things aside and went to the kitchen to open the refrigerator, “Can you drink ice? If not, you’ll have to wait a moment.”

“Whatever.”

According to the normal procedure, I should have arrived by bus on time tomorrow morning, but driven by some perverse desire to catch them off guard, I was driven to take the bus with my large and small bags before Yu Hanyang came to pick me up.

Yu Zhouwan poured a bowl of warm water and soaked two cans of apple cider vinegar in it for a moment. During the brief wait, she took out a box of sandwiches and heated them, “Dinner will be another two hours, have something to fill your stomach first.”

“Thank you.”

She pulled out the chair opposite and invited me to sit down.

She wasn’t as cold as she was when she was a child. Her social graces were impeccable.

My mind was filled with countless scenarios of a dramatic confrontation, such as how to righteously declare that my mother was Yu Hanyang’s legal wife, or how to mock her for being deceived by Yu Hanyang.

Even if Yang Chun hadn’t written the guardianship in her will, I would still have come. I couldn’t let Yu Hanyang live a comfortable life, forgetting how he treated us mother and daughter.

Yu Zhouwan asked if I wanted to eat anything else. There was a 24-hour convenience store downstairs, and a commercial street outside the community. If I wanted, I could go downstairs with her to buy something.

Just as I was about to find an excuse to refuse, Yu Hanyang suddenly opened the door and came home, followed by a woman who looked and felt exactly like Yu Zhouwan.

“Xiao Ya, this is Keyi, you’ve met before.”

I couldn’t help but feel awkward for Yu Hanyang in this situation. Shi Yunya seemed to feel the same way. Her eyes unconsciously drifted elsewhere, as if after a struggle, they returned to me.

“Keyi, this is your Aunt Shi.”

Yu Zhouwan called out “Mom and Dad,” quickly got up to take Shi Yunya’s coat, bent down to take out her parents’ slippers and put them at their feet.

I mechanically followed suit and called out “Dad” and “Aunt.”

In the few seconds it took to walk from the entryway to the living room, Shi Yunya finally recovered and squeezed out a distant smile, nodding at me.

It had been a long time since anyone had called me “Keyi.” At school, everyone just called each other by their full names, and my grandmother and mother just called me “Nannan.”

I guess even Yu Hanyang himself had forgotten about it, or rather, he didn’t care what I was called.

Ever since he found out that his first love had silently raised their shared daughter, he had been immersed in this feeling of gratitude—including now, he still looked at Shi Yunya, who was trying to start a conversation with me, with guilty eyes.

“Then let’s go to Romi for dinner later,” Shi Yunya suggested, “Their steak and burgers are delicious.”

“Okay, I’ll reserve a table now,” Yu Hanyang nodded without hesitation, “Order whatever you two want to eat.”

“I’m allergic to beef,” I said, putting down the half-finished apple cider vinegar.

Yu Zhouwan looked at Yu Hanyang, then at me, “I’m going back to school tonight, so I won’t go,” she said, “Keyi is about to start school too, I’ll take her around to familiarize her with the area.”

Whether Yu Zhouwan genuinely wanted to help or was just trying to win me over, I was grateful to her for getting the three of them out of an awkward situation. I even felt Shi Yunya take a deep breath of relief as she took Yu Hanyang’s arm and left.

I sneered. Yu Hanyang was still the same, making arrangements based solely on his subjective assumptions, always thinking things would go according to his plans.

He had privately probed my attitude, and I had acted like a little girl longing for fatherly love and a safe haven. He probably asked Shi Yunya’s opinion too, so he naturally assumed we could open our hearts and accept each other over dinner.

I put on my shoes and followed my nominal sister out the door.

Shi Yunya was a rich lady, a returnee from the United States, but I didn’t think she was wise—she was living a smooth life as a single mother with her daughter, but she had to let Yu Hanyang, a useless man, step in and take a share of the pie.

It’s not like she couldn’t live without a man, why bring trouble upon herself?

Just like Yang Chun often said, she wished Yu Hanyang would just drop dead outside.

Yu Zhouwan, on the other hand, knew nothing and didn’t care about her biological father’s previous marriage.

She had lived with Shi Yunya since she was a child, and politeness and elegance seemed to be the hallmarks of her every move, the kind of impeccable good girl.

I pursed my lips and clicked my tongue, feeling a tiny bit of similarity between her fate and mine.

If it weren’t for the messy love triangle of the previous generation, I probably wouldn’t have disliked her so much.

Who would hate someone who is perfect inside and out?

Only I would.

The more she was like this, the less I could look at her directly.

I couldn’t bear to watch a girl who shared half my bl00d enjoying a happy family, while I had to wear mourning clothes for a mother nobody cared about.