A Love That Transcends Mere Romance

Shortly after Lucas left, Nina received a video.

It was sent by Melody.

Nina hesitated but finally opened it.

As soon as she played it, Melody's sugary voice came through the phone: "Waaah, Daddy is so mean! Daddy pushed his poor babe onto someone else. I was almost forced..."

"You have the nerve to complain?" Lucas smacked Melody's peach-like bottom and scolded her with a laugh. "If you hadn't insisted on dressing up as a princess, none of this trouble would have happened today."

"But I missed you," Melody said in a flirtatious voice. "Doesn't Daddy miss his little kitty too?"

"Cut it out!" Lucas said coldly. "If you ever show yourself to Nina again, I won't let you off so easily!"

"Ah... Daddy… don't let me off... I love it when Daddy treats me roughly..."

Then came scenes too explicit to watch.

Nina couldn't bear to look anymore and closed the video.

But Melody apparently wasn't satisfied with that. She sent many more videos, each containing explicit content.

[Hmph, Nina, you seem quite pleased with yourself today. Do you think Lucas really loves you that much? That he'd even have his good friend try to take me just to prove his innocence to you? Are you feeling smug inside?]

[But do you know that this 'perfect husband' of yours actually tangles with me every day? Every time he works late, he's doing me. Every meeting he attends is held on top of me. Even on his business trips, he takes me along.]

[Haha, watch the videos. In his office, in his Mercedes... even on planes and cruise ships, we've done it everywhere. Does he desire you this deeply? Let me guess, he probably hasn't touched you, his plain old wife, for ages?]

...

Reading these provocative messages, Nina slowly closed her eyes.

In her mind, a voice that wasn't hers suddenly spoke, "Nina, why are you such a pushover? I didn't give up my life to save you just so you could live so pathetically."

"Send the videos to Lucas, or post them online. See if that tramp still acts so smug."

"Expose them! Destroy them! Don't make me look down on you!"

How nice, Nina smiled. She was hearing her "sister's" voice again.

Her sister wasn't like her. She was weak and helpless, but her sister was brave. When their father beat their mother, she would only hide in the closet and cry, but her sister would rush out to protect their mother.

Then her sister and mother would be beaten bloody by their father. Only she, hiding in the closet, would be spared from the beatings.

"Waaah, Mom, Nancy, are you in pain?"

"Waaah, I'm sorry. I'm so useless. I'm such a coward..."

How she hated her cowardly, weak self.

But why had she become the only survivor of that deliberate fire?

It wasn't fair. Her mother was so kind, so gentle. Her sister was so brave, so strong. They should have been the ones to survive.

And weak, cowardly Nina should have died in that fire.

Perhaps because she could never accept being the sole survivor, after leaving the hospital, Nina began hearing a voice in her head.

It was her sister's voice.

Her dead sister had come back to life in another form, inside her body.

Doctors called it schizophrenia.

But that wasn't it. That wasn't true. This was her sister's voice—she recognized it. Her sister couldn't bear to leave her alone to face this huge, strange world, so she had stayed. Her soul had been reborn inside Nina's body. They shared one form and would never be separated again.