I'm Your Sister, Brother Chow

She walked into the bathroom and stood in front of the full-length mirror. She looked at herself in the mirror and carefully undid her dress.

As the dress slipped off, she was only left clad in a black lace cami she had purposely put on for the night.

But now, she was barely paying any attention to the lace on the cami dress.

Celine gently caressed her underbelly with her long, slender fingers. At the tip of her finger was a curved scar that was shaped like a centipede. "Chow, don't forget, you owe me your life," Celine said, clenching her fist by her side. "You can only repay me by making me your wife."

After being tormented by Chow for an entire night, Vivian slept in until noon the following day.

Vivian couldn't help blushing when she thought of how Aunt Blaine would probably react.

She hurriedly got up from bed and went to wash up. But before she could descend the stairs, she suddenly heard a familiar voice coming from downstairs.

"Aunt Blaine, is Vivian not up yet? Didn't Chow invite a teacher to tutor her at home?"

Vivian slowed down in her steps. She gripped the bannister a little tighter without realising it.

It was Celine.

Her voice sounded loud, clear, and amicable, but Vivian knew that she couldn't face her calmly.

...

"Miss Vivian came back a little late last night. The Young Master had already informed Professor Bender that she would be taking a day off for today," Aunt Blaine answered in a calm and polite tone, void of all friendliness.

However, Celine didn't seem to mind. She sighed with a smile. "Chow seems to be really fond of Vivian. And yet he told me many times that he hates her. I knew he was bluffing all along."

Vivian felt her heart trembling again when she heard Celine saying that.

She'd known for a long time that Chow hated her, but when the words tumbled out of Celine's mouth, Vivian could feel the bitterness seeping in.

Aunt Blaine did not reply Celine. Instead, she only nodded slightly at her. "Miss Celine, please wait for a moment. I will go and check on our young mistress."

It was just a simple sentence, but Aunt Blaine had clearly established who was the actual young mistress of the Howard house. She had called one 'miss' by her name whilst calling the other 'our young mistress'.

Celine's eyelid twitched, but she said nothing, only nodding slightly at her. "Thank you, Aunt Blaine."

Vivian quickly stepped out as soon as she heard that Aunt Blaine was coming up for her.

"Sister Celine, what are you doing here?" She tried to smile as naturally as she could, but her face seemed to be extremely stiff.

Celine was still smiling in a natural and graceful manner. "I'm surprised that your eyes aren't puffy after getting up so late in the day," she said with a clear laugh. "It must be nice being so young. I could never compare to you."

"I could never compare to you, seducing other people's men at such a young age," Celine thought. "You were born to be a b*tch."

Of course, Celine would never show what she felt.

Vivian subconsciously touched her face and shot her a hasty smile. "What do you mean, Sister Celine? We're only a few years apart."

"You're still young, Vivian. Some men just prefer younger girls like you. My friend's boyfriend has been seduced by one of those seemingly innocent high-school girls before," Celine said, tutting her lips afterwards.

As if it was a late afterthought, Celine stopped talking and covered her mouth with a shocked expression.

"Oh my, what was I saying in front of a child? Of course you wouldn't know any of this. Don't tell Chow that I said anything of the sort, will you? He'll blame me for tainting you then."

She still had an innocent smile on her lips, as if she really hadn't meant to let the words slip.

But Vivian's face had already long lost its colour since Celine started talking about it.

She showed Celine a small smile and replied in a low voice. "Of course not, Sister Celine. What did you come here for?"

It was barely past noon. Chow wouldn't be home for a couple more hours.

If Celine had been looking for him, she would have just gone straight to his office. She wouldn't have come to his house.

Before Celine could say anything, Aunt Blaine spoke up first.

"Miss Celine said that she wanted to choose a formal gown and wanted you to go with her. But Miss, don't you still have some homework to finish before Professor Bender comes tomorrow? Young Master said that you should focus on your studies. I think it's better that you don't go out today."

When Aunt Blaine said the first few words, Vivian had felt her heart dropping to her stomach.

However, the last two sentences felt like her saviour. She could perhaps still weed her way out of this.

"You're right, I—"

She still had a lot of homework to complete.

Unfortunately, before she could say anything, Celine had grabbed onto Vivian's hand and started swinging it back and forth like a spoilt kid.

"Vivian, you're not going to let me go gown-shopping alone, are you?" she asked coquettishly. "People often go gown-shopping with their friends. If I turn up alone, I'm going to feel embarrassed. You wouldn't want your future sister-in-law to feel embarrassed, would you?"

If Chow had been around, Celine would never have dared to call herself Vivian's future sister-in-law.

But she knew that these were the few words that would hurt Vivian the most.

Sure enough, Vivian's hand trembled all of a sudden as she lowered her head quietly. "I..."

"Alright, alright, I won't take no for an answer," Celine said. "We can grab lunch together first before going dress-shopping. You could try on a few outfits too! You're eighteen now. You'll soon need to attend functions and events, and you'll need dresses for that. Who knows, you might even find yourself a handsome bachelor some day."

Celine was still smiling happily, but the look in her eyes showed that she was scheming something.

Vivian didn't notice her eyes, however, since she kept her head hung low.

She was still trying to think of a way to reject Celine's invitation, but she didn't know how.

She had always been like this, never being able to hold her own ground and letting other people tell her what to do.

"I guess it's alright."

Aunt Blaine tried cutting in right after Vivian finished speaking. "Miss-"

"Well, Aunt Blaine, Vivian has already said she'll come out with me. Don't stop her anymore. What's the worst that I can do, eat her?"

Celine raised her eyebrow and smirked. She grabbed Vivian's hand and headed for the door. "Let's go. I went to a French restaurant with Chow the other day and the food was really good. I've always wanted to bring you there ever since."

Vivian felt her heart sinking when Celine kept talking about her relationship with Chow.

But she quickly suppressed the sadness she felt.

Vivian forced herself to smile and turned to Aunt Blaine. "Don't worry, Aunt Blaine, I can finish my homework when I come back later. Since Sister Celine purposely came for me, I can't back her down now." Aunt Blaine looked at Celine with deep concern.

Even if this woman had always concealed herself well in front of them, Aunt Blaine was someone who had stayed with the Howard family for nearly half her life and had seen all sorts of people trying to get close with ulterior motives, especially since they were a rich and powerful family. Of course, it wasn't hard to see right through Celine's thoughts.

There could be nothing good coming from Celine wanting to go out with Vivian like this.

However, since Vivian had already agreed to go, there was nothing she could do in her power to stop them.

Aunt Blaine could only nod her head helplessly. "Alright, Miss, then please come back earlier. I'll have dinner waiting for you." Vivian nodded meekly. "Sister Celine, please wait for a while," she said. "I'll change into something else more presentable."

She was just wearing comfortable loungewear now. She couldn't possibly leave the house looking like this.

Celine relaxed after learning that Vivian was indeed preparing to go out with her. She didn't mind waiting a little while longer. She nodded and let go of Vivian's hand. "Okay, I'll wait for you. Hurry."

Vivian smiled at her and left with a quiet sigh, heading for the stairs.

The two people behind her stared at her silhouette for a long while with two drastically different thoughts.

...

Aunt Blaine gradually turned her eyes away from Vivian and looked at Celine, who was standing just beside her.

Celine still had a smile on her lips, but the smile made her feel extremely uneasy.

Miss Vivian was too naive and innocent to face someone like Celine alone.

She was most probably going to lose to this woman at some point.

Celine was indeed behaving like the Howard family's future spouse. The boutique she insisted on visiting was on a whole other level of extravagant.

It was extremely grand and exquisitely decorated.

Even if Vivian had been living in a luxurious place like the Howard Mansion for a while, she was still in awe of this beautifully-decorated boutique.

"What do you think? Vivian, this boutique should still be fine, right?" Celine said smugly, seeing the amazement in Vivian's eyes.

Vivian nodded quickly after a short pause. "Yes, the place is very beautiful. It's just like a palace."

"Miss, you really have good taste," someone suddenly said. "Our boutique is indeed of royal status and we are extremely selective with our customers, only serving distinguished guests like Miss Celine here. To be honest, if you weren't Miss Celine's friend, we would have needed to register you because it's your first time. But since you're her friend, you must also come from a very powerful family. May I know which family are you from? Miss Celine, why don't you introduce us?"

If the flirty, feminine voice had come from a female attendant, it would have been extremely attractive. However, when Vivian saw that it had come from a thickly made-up male attendant in feminine clothes, she could feel the goosebumps crawling on her skin.

Celine turned to look at Vivian and a conflicted expression immediately appeared on her face. She turned to the man and pretended to scold him. "Leslie, How dare you say things like that? Are you looking down on people without a good family background?"

Indeed, Vivian's family background was rather complicated and not very pleasant to hear.

Nonetheless, it was just a small comment that could have been easily overlooked, if only Celine hadn't reacted to it like that.

After reprimanding the attendant, she turned to look at Vivian with an apologetic look on her face. "Don't hold it against him, Vivian. He's the one with no taste."

Back when the Howard family was forced to take Vivian in because of the late Dylan Howard's last will and testament, the whole city had been in an uproar. Rumours had spread everywhere like wildfire.