“Mom, Dan, I received an offer from an overseas university. I plan to take it.”

Lucille Shaw’s voice was soft in the silent living room, like a single drop of water rippling across a still pond.

Her mother Victoria exclaimed with joy, "Really? Congratulations! When are you planning to go?"

“In Ten days.”

“Mom, Dan, I received an offer from an overseas university. I plan to take it.”

Lucille Shaw’s voice was soft in the silent living room, like a single drop of water rippling across a still pond.

Her mother Victoria jumped up with joy. "Really? Congratulations! When are you planning to go?"

“Ten days from now.”

That was so soon! Victoria was excited but a little lonely at the same time. “Then I’ll help you pack your things. It’s your first time going abroad, so I couldn’t help but worry.

“That’s why I called a friend from a while back. Her son happens to be in London too, so you can call him if you need anything. Don’t worry about bothering him! Why, we joked that you two could get engaged as kids!

“If you can get along with him, that’d be best. If you can’t, you can just be friends.”

Lucille nodded. “Got it, Mom.”

Her mother was surprised. “You’re okay with that, Lucy? Does that mean… you broke up with your previous boyfriend?”

Lucille fell silent.

Her stepfather Dan Dortman immediately understood. He smacked the table, proclaiming, “He never bothered meeting us, so I knew from the start he wasn’t serious about you. Good riddance, I say! You deserve a better boyfriend.”

“Boyfriend? What boyfriend?” A voice cut through the depressive air in the living room.

The three of them turned around and saw River Dortman coming in. He was dressed in a black shirt and black trousers that showed off his tall lanky figure, highlighting his laidback yet elegant demeanor.

Lucille stiffened before standing up to greet her stepbrother. “River.”

“Hmm.” He gave her a long look and then threw his car keys on the table, heading upstairs to his room.

That night, Victoria cooked up a feast and even opened a bottle of red wine. She raised her glass, smiling at her family as she declared the good news. “Come, let’s celebrate! Lucy’s about to…”

Lucille sensed something wrong and hurriedly interrupted her. “Mom, this wine is a bit bitter. Is it expired?”

Expired? Victoria was surprised. The expiry date said otherwise, but Lucille had already dragged her to the kitchen, saying they would replace the wine as an excuse.

“Mom, don’t tell River that I’m going abroad for now.”

Victoria was confused at first, but when she thought about how her stepson had taken care of her daughter all this while, she realized that he would be reluctant to see Lucille go. In the end, she nodded.

After a half-hearted dinner, Lucille returned to her room. She brushed her teeth and lay in bed, slowly falling asleep.

At midnight, however, someone joined her in bed.

His hot breath blew against her neck, his soft lips plastered onto her skin. The slightly cool dampness of his teeth nibbling her woke Lucille up completely.

She froze and then instinctively shoved him away, protesting roughly, “River, stop that!”

“What’s the matter? You won’t let me touch you anymore because your mom is introducing you to someone?” River’s lips curved in the darkness, but his smile did not reach his eyes. His voice was a lazy drawl. “Are you going to abandon your poor stepbrother after all these years?”

Lucille knew he had misunderstood, but she did not explain. River’s expression turned cold in the silence.

He pulled her into his arms. “Lucille Shaw, I told you. You can’t date anyone else. You’re mine and mine alone!”

She felt his body burning against hers, but she was in no mood to argue with him right now, so she lied. “I’m on my period. I’m not feeling well.”

River’s expression softened at her explanation, but he still could not help but frown. “Didn’t your period just end a few days ago? Fine, I won’t bother you tonight. Let’s sleep early.”

With that, he hugged her tight in his arms. His steady breathing in her ear kept Lucille wide awake.

Nobody knew that her boyfriend was none other than her stepbrother, River Dortman!

When she was twelve, her mother remarried, and she became his new stepsister.

When she was fourteen, they acted like the perfect siblings in the public eye.

When she was eighteen, he discovered her crush diary filled with his name. He lay sprawled on her table, reading the diary over and over again. He grabbed her hand when she tried to snatch it back and brushed a kiss against her blushing cheeks.

When she was twenty, they tasted the forbidden fruit. After that, they got addicted to each other’s taste.

During the day, they were a family. At night, they were secret lovers.

Lucille had always been a good girl. Her relationship with River was the only immoral thing she had done in her life.

She just loved him so much. She even thought she would not mind if they had to keep their relationship a secret for all their lives. They could just elope overseas when the time came.

However, all her delusions shattered when she overheard his conversation with his friends half a month ago.

It had been raining heavily that day. She ran to bring him an umbrella, only to hear his friends’ voices through the door of the private room.

“River, what are you going to do with your stepmother’s daughter? Didn’t you say you were just playing with her? Why are you still together?”

“Yeah, didn’t you seduce her as revenge, to get back at her mother for marrying your dad? Don’t tell me you changed your mind?”

Revenge? He got with her not because he liked her, but because he wanted revenge!

All the blood drained from Lucille’s face. Her brain was blank, and her body shook. Even so, she stubbornly stayed at the door, waiting for his reply.

The next second, she heard his cold and cruel voice loud and clear.

“Isn’t it more fun to break her heart once she’s well and properly invested in me? I have to take my time.”

His friends burst out laughing, while her blood froze in her veins.

So he never loved her. He got with her, called her his girlfriend, and made love to her every night as revenge, as punishment to her mother for stealing his mother’s place!

Her mother was happy in this family. Lucille could not let anyone else know about this.

In the end, all she could think of was to run away. From this family, from him. That was why she applied to a university overseas.

Now, there were only ten days left until she could slip away in secret.

Lucille glanced at the countdown on her phone and pulled River’s arm away from her waist. Within minutes, he hugged her again. Every time she pushed him away, he would instinctively hold her back.

Eventually, she finally ran out of patience. She grabbed a pillow and put it between their bodies.

This time, he finally stopped. She finally had her peace.

She knew that their relationship would soon come to an end.

She would no longer belong to him. She would stop being his personal toy.

The alarm woke Lucille up at eight in the morning. When she opened her eyes, he was gone.

They needed to keep their relationship a secret from their parents, so they had made a promise long ago. River would sneak into her room at midnight every night and leave by five in the morning. They had slept like that for five whole years now.

Soon, though, they would be nothing more than siblings. He would not have to sneak around anymore.

Lucille got changed and headed downstairs. There was a woman she did not recognize sitting on the couch.

Victoria waved at her daughter excitedly and introduced her. “Come here, Lucy. This is your brother’s girlfriend. Bring her a glass of water, would you?”

Sophia Song stood up on cue, offering her a handshake and a smile. “You must be River’s little sister! It’s nice to meet you. Although I’ve never seen you before, your brother has told me a lot about you.”

Lucille paused and glanced at River, but she did not ask anything. She simply turned and went to the kitchen to get Sophia a glass of water.

After she filled the glass, she was about to bring it to the living room when River came into the kitchen. He hugged her waist and leaned in to kiss her.

Lucille hurriedly tilted her head away to evade him. “What are you doing? Your girlfriend's outside.”

River raised a brow and pecked her lips. “Are you angry?

“I forgot to tell you, she's just my childhood friend. She left the country ages ago and just came back a few days back. My old man's rushing me to get married, so I asked her to play along with me lest he gets any funny ideas.

“You know better than anyone who my real girlfriend is, right?”

Lucille just listened to him without a word or expression. Finally, she nodded nonchalantly.

River was surprised to see her so calm. He thought he would have to spend ages reassuring her.

After all, the last time a girl gave him a love letter, she stumbled across it and cried until her eyes swelled up.

She would not even tell him why when he found out she had been crying. He had to trick her into telling the truth.

As it turned out, she believed that their relationship was taboo, and she would never be able to stand by his side as his official girlfriend. That was why she never dared to confront him or throw a tantrum. All she could do was hide under the covers and take her anger out on a pillow.

The same scenario was unfolding again, but this time she was unusually calm. River could not help but be suspicious.

He wanted to ask her why, but Lucille did not give him the chance. She simply picked up the glass and left the kitchen.

Once breakfast was ready, everyone took their seats around the dining table. Sophia was invited to sit next to River.

The two of them happily chatted about their childhood, acting completely in love.

Sophia had picked up some habits overseas and now liked her egg yolks runny. When River heard that, he gave her his fried egg.

She immediately blushed and gave him her half-eaten yolk.

River instinctively glanced at Lucille. Her head was buried in her cereal, as though she had not noticed a thing.

When she lifted her head to grab a napkin, he bit into the egg Sophia had given him. Lucille happened to see him, then she put her spoon down and left the table without a word.

She seemed to be heading toward the door, so Sophia hurriedly called out to her. “Are you heading out, Lucy? River and I are going on a date, too. Could you wait a while, then we can go out together?”

Lucille was about to say no when her stepfather interrupted. “It's raining outside, so why don't you let River drop you off? Otherwise, your mother and I will worry.”

Lucille could not say no to Dan, so she had no choice but to wait in the garage.

She was heading to the embassy to handle her student visa. At this rate, River would find out about her plan to leave.

No matter how she pored over it, she could not think of a way to delay the inevitable. Whatever, then. Let him find out. Either way, she had already bought her tickets, so there was nothing he could do to stop her.

After a while, Sophia and River finally joined her in the car. They took their own sweet time.

Strangely, Sophia jumped into the backseat and even tried to start a conversation with Lucille. However, Lucille was not in the mood to talk, so she just hummed and hawed in response.

The rain started to abate as the car drove on. Sophia leaned in and whispered into Lucille's ear.

“I know you don't like me, and I know you and River are more than just siblings. Still, there's no way the two of you can get married, and River isn't completely opposed to being with me.

“I bet I can steal him from you whenever I want. Wanna wager on it?”

Lucille jolted slightly and turned to glance sideways at Sophia. Sophia smirked at her and then set an alarm on her phone.

A minute later, the alarm rang on the dot. Sophia pretended to pick up a call and then forced out a few tears, looking at the driver’s seat tearfully. “River, the butler said my puppy fell sick. I’m so worried! Could you send me home first?”

River stopped by the roadside and frowned at the rain pouring outside. When he turned around and saw Sophia’s teary face, however, he hesitated for a few seconds before finally addressing Lucille.

“I’ll send Lucille home first. Her house is in the other direction, so why don’t you get down and take a cab to your destination?”

Sophia did not give her time to say no, hurriedly offering her an umbrella.

Lucille looked at River and then Sophia. Finally, she got out of the car without a word.

There were some holes in the umbrella. The rain leaked through and drenched her immediately.

The bad weather meant there were no cabs on the streets, either. She had no choice but to run with her bag over her head. She ran in the rain for half an hour before she finally reached the embassy.

There were still no cabs after she got her visa. Lucille walked an hour home, the rain beating on her the entire time.

She knew she had a fever once she got home. Her body hurt all over, and she practically passed out on her bed.

She had a few strange nightmares as she broke out in a cold sweat. It felt like a monster was chasing her the entire time.

When she desperately opened her eyes, she saw that River was the monster.

He held her in his arms, feeding her the medicine sip by sip. His tone was gentle and pained. “Drink the medicine, okay? You’ll get better in an instant.”

Lucille could not tell if this was a dream or reality. She instinctively swallowed the medicine and drifted back to sleep.

When she next woke up, her fever had broken. She looked next to her, but there was no one there except for a phone vibrating on her bedside table.

She unlocked the phone and saw it was River’s friends spamming their group chat.

[You should win Best Actor, bro. I heard you turned down a project worth millions just to go home and take care of your little sister.]

[I feel like River’s fallen for real! He ran twenty red lights to rush home when he heard she had a fever. Has he actually fallen in love with her?]

[Agreed, I don’t think that anxiety was an act.]

River replied, [Me, fall in love with her? Over my dead body. I’m just doing this to make her even more devoted to me. That way, won’t her heart be shattered once she finds out the truth.]

Every word shook Lucille’s heart. She thought, ‘Over my dead body? Is that what you say to me after five years of dating? River, you’re heartless.’

All the strength drained from her body. Her hand fell limp by her side.

The next second, her bedroom door opened. Walking in with a basin of warm water, River stiffened and then quickly grabbed his phone back.

His usually lazy drawl was a touch nervous. “What did you see?”

Lucille lowered her head to hide her reddened eyes. Her voice was hoarse. “Why? Is there something I’m not supposed to see?”

She did not understand. He knew she was already irresistibly in love with her. Why did he continue the charade? Was there any need to prolong this act?

He was still on edge, worried she would discover the truth. Wasn’t he tired after pretending all this time?

Enough! He had achieved his goal! Her heart was already broken!

River did not know what she was thinking. He just assumed she was in a bad mood because she was sick, so he hugged her soothingly. “Of course not. I’m just preparing a surprise for you. Since you’re upset, I’ll tell you what it is right now!

“I found out a place that we can get married without any hindrance. Lucy, why don’t we move there and get married? I’m already making the arrangements.”

They had been discussing a future like this for countless nights. Hearing him say it now, however, Lucille no longer felt any trace of emotion. Her heart was dead and still.

She knew that they would no longer have a future.

Ten days from now, she would be gone from his life… and he from hers.