Seduced By My Omega Stepsister - Chapter 20

Every inch of her skin bore the invisible imprint of Fu Zhou.

Deep within the shaded canopy lay the old street, full of twists and turns. It was only upon truly stepping into the shadows that one realized they had crossed a threshold between two worlds segmented by the city. On one side, the prosperous, clean cafes and fast-food joints, on the other, the old alleyways of childhood memory.

The uneven ground was scattered with ancient, broken roof tiles. Hidden beneath a few of them were sprouts of new green life clinging to a place where the sun never reached.

Fu Zhou walked fast. The two behind her were nearly jogging, their footsteps creating a rhythmic creak-crunch as they stepped over the old bricks.

Up ahead was a dead end. She stopped. A pale, slender hand rested on her shoulder, and the sound of warm, hurried breathing brushed against her ear.

Fu Zhou turned her head to see Zhou Heyu leaning on her, panting heavily.

“As expected of a top-tier Alpha… you aren’t even fully developed, and yet you run so fast.”

“What did you hear that made you bolt like that?” Zhang Meng asked, her eyes briefly flicking toward Zhou Heyu’s hand on Fu Zhou’s shoulder before shifting to Fu Zhou’s face a few seconds later.

“Nothing. I just felt like Chu Xiyu and her father were having a good talk. I’m not… I’m not her real family.”

A hot gust of wind swirled the dust on the ground. Zhang Meng squinted, momentarily losing sight of the expression on Fu Zhou’s face.

“It would be a disaster if you were her real family. Forget about ‘liking’ her that would be a forbidden ‘German Orthopedic’ [incest] nightmare,” Zhou Heyu joked, finally catching her breath. She removed her hand from Fu Zhou’s shoulder and leaned half-weight against Zhang Meng.

“But…”

But, she just felt unwilling. They were supposed to be closer than this.

“Mhm, I understand.” After a few seconds of silence, Zhang Meng spoke with a look of realization.

“Fu Zhou, it’s not that you want to be her ‘real’ relative. You’re just curious about the seventeen years of her life you missed, and you’re dissatisfied with your current relationship.”

“These things take time. Think about it, if you were actual sisters, in a few years, you might end up with a ‘brother-in-law.’ Even if you participated in every stage of her life, would you be satisfied with that?”

Under the peeling corners of the wall, Fu Zhou’s thick, long eyelashes trembled slightly. A moment later, they lowered, casting a small shadow over her eyelids.

“I wouldn’t be satisfied.”

What brother-in-law?

She didn’t need a brother-in-law.

A top-tier Omega should be paired with a top-tier Alpha. She and Chu Xiyu were the perfect match.

Fine then. Thanks to Fu Li for setting the stage.

As soon as she finished speaking, another pale shadow at the corner of the wall paused slightly. Then, without hesitation, the shadow turned and walked in the opposite direction.

When Fu Zhou arrived home, Chu Xiyu was leaning against the living room sofa, flipping through a book of study notes. Another stack of books sat on the coffee table in front of her.

The warm lamp glowed around her, making her look as if she had been painted into the scene with gentle brushstrokes. She turned her head suddenly, her cool eyes rippling with emotion.

“You’re back? The auntie [housekeeper] finished making dinner.” Fu Zhou gave a dull nod. She didn’t immediately cling to her like usual. Instead, she put her school uniform in the laundry room and sat down at the dining table by herself.

The dishes on the table hadn’t been touched.

Chu Xiyu circled around Fu Zhou’s back and took a seat on the other side of the table.

“You didn’t eat first?” Fu Zhou took a large scoop of white rice, stuffing her mouth full before she started reaching for the side dishes.

“I was waiting to eat with you,” Chu Xiyu said unhurriedly. The person beside her, who had been focused on shoveling rice, froze. Her dark eyes dimmed.

But she was young, after all, her joys and sorrows were written clearly on her face. She stared at the rice in her bowl, paralyzed.

A piece of braised Coca-Cola chicken wing, glowing with a reddish glaze, was placed into her bowl. She didn’t look up, but her peripheral vision was filled with Chu Xiyu’s worried expression.

“What’s wrong? Not to your taste?” Even the food Fu Zhou cooked herself was eaten entirely, let alone the professional cooking of the housekeeper.

Fu Zhou shook her head. She didn’t speak, and Chu Xiyu didn’t press her. The meal was finished in silence.

The nameless temper of a teenager comes and goes quickly. Not thirty minutes after dinner, the person who had been moping was clinging to her again.

“Chu Xiyu, why are you still reading these boring books on a break? Don’t you have any other hobbies?”

“What kind of hobbies? Going out to inspect the ‘civilian conditions’ of the neighborhood?” Chu Xiyu’s voice carried a hint of a smile. She finally put the book down, her peach-blossom eyes curving upward, reflecting a tiny image of Fu Zhou in her pupils.

“Come here, I’ll take you to the third floor.” Fu Zhou’s eyes crinkled. She naturally took Chu Xiyu’s hand and led her upstairs.

Chu Xiyu looked down at where their wrists met, feeling the slight tremor in the other girl’s hand.

Chu Xiyu’s life was monotonous. She didn’t have the leisure to meet puppies after school, nor the time to find entertainment during holidays.

She was busy, busy studying, busy building an undisturbed utopia within her own world. Because of this, she wasn’t curious enough about the outside world.

That included this house she had lived in for a month, and the third floor she had never stepped foot on.

What opened before her was a ceiling designed like a starry sky and a massive screen. Two bookshelves stood next to the screen that occupied an entire wall, filled with various game consoles and discs.

“Do you like playing games, or watching movies?” Fu Zhou smiled. She had decorated this place herself; she knew every mechanism and every disc like the back of her hand.

“If you don’t like either, do you want to go look at the stars in a bit?” Fu Zhou pressed a button on the wall. An entire section of the wall folded back, revealing two astronomical telescopes set up in a small, hidden room of a few dozen square meters, aimed at a window specifically designed for stargazing.

Chu Xiyu knew nothing about games or how to use those discs.

She pursed her lips, her gentle gaze finally landing on the screen.

“Let’s watch a movie,” she said.

Fu Zhou blinked and rummaged through the bookshelf for a while before pulling out a disc that looked like it hadn’t been touched in a long time. She scanned it into the system, moved a two persons sofa over, grabbed two pillows, and sat down.

Chu Xiyu assumed one of the pillows was for her, but it wasn’t. Fu Zhou held both. Before the film started, the younger girl snapped her fingers, and all the lights extinguished.

“Chu Xiyu, do you like holding something when you watch movies?” the youth’s voice asked, sounding slightly troubled.

“I like holding two… but I only have two. So… you can hold me.”

The movie began at that moment, the flickering light casting shadows across the youth’s profile.

Chu Xiyu parted her lips, her voice cool yet carrying a soft tone, falling into Fu Zhou’s ear.

“Okay.”

In the next second, a soft body smelling of roses sank into her embrace. The girl’s breathing felt damp against the side of Fu Zhou’s neck.

Fu Zhou’s breathing suddenly became very heavy.

Chu Xiyu seemed entirely unaware.

Even though…

Even though this was a film Fu Zhou had specifically chosen one about the forbidden love between sisters. Even though the screen displayed countless moments of ambiguity, flirtation, and restraint.

Fu Zhou’s heart slowly lost its rhythm amidst the on-screen noise. She became so afraid of gain and loss.

Was this normal?

Her sister was in her arms, watching a movie about forbidden love that she had carefully selected, and then…

Fu Zhou looked down at Chu Xiyu’s serious eyes.

She really seemed to be just watching the movie.

The film wasn’t long, only an hour and a half. At the very end, the two sisters having endured secular prejudice and a bleak family life, sat on the edge of a rooftop.

The younger sister bit open a bottle of alcohol, took a sip, and smashed it on the ground. A shard bounced up and cut a small trail of blood on her finger. Before long, drops of blood trickled down her hand.

She looked at the woman sitting in the wind and, for the first time, smiled wantonly. She reached out her hand to her “sister” in name.

Let’s escape.

Right now, let’s flee this world full of prejudice and narrow-mindedness.

The credits rolled abruptly, an OE [Open Ending] style conclusion.

After the screen went dark, the only light left in the room was the faint, warm glow of an emergency light.

Chu Xiyu sat in Fu Zhou’s arms, motionless for a long time.

“Chu Xiyu?” Fu Zhou called out softly.

“Do you think… in the end, did the older sister go with her younger sister?”

“I don’t know.”

This film was from the last century. Neither the director, the producer, the actors, nor the screenwriter had ever given a response to any questions about the ending.

Perhaps they left together because they loved each other.

Perhaps they lived forever under the judgmental eyes of the world, because that was an era that devoured people whole.

“If you were that older sister, would you have gone with the younger one?” In the faint light, Fu Zhou saw Chu Xiyu’s thick, long eyelashes trembling as if struggling with something.

“I would.”

Finally, the firm voice fell from her lips.

She really would.

If someone were willing to take her out of that gray world, to run toward her regardless of everything, she would definitely follow.

But there wasn’t. Everything in this world, love and being loved was built on a foundation of interest.

Just like her father, who had once been so dismissive of her, but dressed himself up like a human being and came to the school acting concerned just because he wanted to get information about her mother.

Just like her mother, who hadn’t really wanted to bring her along until she learned that Fu Li’s family had a child, a few months younger than Chu Xiyu who was about to differentiate into an Alpha.

Chu Xiyu’s eyes were dark and unreadable. She looked into Fu Zhou’s eyes, which couldn’t hide their complex emotions, and suddenly threw herself entirely into the younger girl’s embrace.

She stayed there until her tears soaked Fu Zhou’s short-sleeved shirt, until the young Alpha awkwardly and frantically hugged her back, telling her it was just a story.

She suddenly remembered the night before she was to meet Fu Zhou.

Chu Wen had shoved a photo into her hand. The youth in the photo was smiling brightly even the sunlight seemed to favor her.

Chu Wen said:

“This is Fu Zhou. She’s the child of the Fu Li family. She’s an Alpha. She is your future sister.”

It seemed as though nothing had been said, yet everything had been explained.

So…

Her very existence here, every inch of her skin, was engraved with the name Fu Zhou.

She was Fu Zhou’s seventeenth birthday gift.