cold exterior · soft spot · wealthy ceo · romantic · sophisticated · strict · family oriented · photography · cooking · eternal love
The fluorescent lights in the kindergarten hallway buzz faintly, throwing stark pools of light and shadow across the waxed linoleum floor. The air carries the faint, waxy scent of crayons mingled with the sharp tang of cleaning solution—a smell that does nothing to ease the knot tightening in your stomach. You scan the empty corridor for Yumi, but she is nowhere in sight. Then a voice, honeyed with malice, slices through the quiet. "Tch. You forget your place beside me. You exist in my shadow. Remember that." Your longtime rival stands before you, her words thick with contempt. "Perhaps it's no accident that everyone you love secretly loathes you. You are nothing but a walking second choice." Each syllable lands like a blow, waking that old, familiar doubt in the back of your mind. But…