Archive of Our Own

The first summer downpour swept through the city, cascading over the ancient mahogany canopies along the street leading to Eastside High School. Shalom furrowed her brows slightly, raising a hand to smooth out the folds of her áo dài where a few raindrops lingered, and hurried down the quiet corridor. At twenty-four, Shalom possessed the fully blossomed beauty of a mature woman, captivating, serene, and exquisitely graceful. Having taught Literature at the school for only two years, her beauty and aura were already enough to turn her desk drawer into a repository for countless love letters, anonymous bouquets of roses, and subtle advances from unmarried male colleagues.

But Shalom paid them no mind. Ever since her parents passed away in a traffic accident ten years ago, her world had shrunk to the size of a single, growing teenage girl. That was Rahu, her biological younger sister by seven years, a once-tiny creature who had now grown by leaps and bounds, carrying a blazing fire of rebellion that caused Shalom no end of headaches.

Shalom paused before the disciplinarian's office, took a deep breath to regain her usual composure, and pushed the door open.

- "Greetings, Mr. Supervisor. Greetings, everyone." - Shalom lowered her voice, politely nodding to the noisy crowd in the room.

All eyes turned to the young teacher. In the corner of the room, Rahu sat with her legs crossed on a rattan chair, her PE uniform disheveled and covered in dirt. Blood trickled from the corner of the girl's mouth, and a long, flushed scratch marred her cheek. Standing opposite her were three tall twelfth-grade boys, their faces equally bruised and battered, accompanied by their red-faced parents who were spitting curses.

The moment she caught sight of the flowing green áo dài of her sister, the gruff, feral glare in Rahu's eyes vanished instantly. She hastily uncrossed her legs, sat up straight, and quickly hid her large, calloused hands behind her back. She kept her head bowed, not daring to meet Shalom's crystal-clear eyes, which were now sharp with quiet anger.

- "Ah, Ms. Shalom, you're here..." - The disciplinarian sighed, pushing up his glasses. - "Look at this. Rahu from class 11A4 got into another fight. This time, she beat up three twelfth-grade students right in the school parking lot. Her grades are lagging, and she's constantly causing trouble. The school is truly in a difficult position..."

Shalom did not rush to defend her sister. She stepped forward, her gaze sweeping over Rahu's wounds. An unmistakable flicker of heartache flashed in the depths of her eyes, only to be immediately suppressed by sternness. She turned to the parents, bowing deeply.

- "I am Rahu's older sister, as well as her legal guardian. I offer my deepest apologies to all of you and to the students. I have failed to discipline her strictly at home. Please allow me to cover all medical and compensation expenses in full."

Shalom's humility, sincerity, and elegant demeanor acted as a bucket of cold water, extinguishing the parents' fiery indignation. They muttered a few words before waving their hands to let the matter drop. Having resolved the mess with the school administration, Shalom turned to look at her younger sister, who was still sitting in dead silence.

- "Stand up. We are going home." - Shalom commanded coldly, emphasizing every syllable.

Rahu quietly stood up, trudging silently behind her sister. Her tall, robust figure towered over Shalom by a full head, yet at this moment, she was strangely timid and obedient.

Reaching the parking lot, Shalom opened the scooter's trunk, took out a helmet, and placed it on Rahu's head, carefully fastening the strap. Her movements were decisive, yet they could not hide the inherent tenderness of their blood bond.

- "This is the third time this month, Rahu."

Shalom sighed, starting the scooter.

- "Are you addicted to fighting? If you don't study properly, what do you plan to do in the future? Do you intend to make me apologize to people for the rest of my life?"

Sitting behind her, Rahu wrapped both arms around her sister's waist. The faint scent of pomelo blossoms from Shalom's long hair drifted into her nose, bringing a familiar, soothing comfort. She rested her chin on her sister's shoulder, greedily taking a deep breath, and spoke in a husky voice laced with an underlying stubbornness:

- "Who told them they could run their mouths with such garbage?"

- "What garbage could possibly justify you breaking someone's nose?" Shalom frowned, glancing through the rearview mirror.

Rahu tightened her embrace slightly, her eyes glued to the pristine white nape of Shalom's neck, and answered distinctly:

- "They were betting on who could get your phone number. And they were discussing... what your waist would feel like to hold."

The scooter swerved slightly. Shalom was momentarily stunned, then let out a long, weary sigh.

- "You started a fight over some ridiculous teasing? Rahu, I am an adult, I know how to protect myself. I'm used to hearing those sweet-talking words, I pay them no mind. Your duty is to study, not to act as my bodyguard."

- "I don't like it!" - Rahu suddenly snapped, her deep, husky voice carrying through the wind. - "No man is allowed to look at you with those eyes! They are trash, they aren't worthy of you! You are mine... I mean, you are my family, and I have to protect you!"

Shalom could only shake her head, dismissing those words as the somewhat extreme overprotectiveness of a teenager going through puberty, one who, lacking parental love, had become overly reliant and clung desperately to her only sister.

Little did she know, hidden beneath that facade of a protective younger sister, a vicious beast lay dormant, chained only by the words family bond.

Dinner passed in silence. After clearing the dishes, Shalom called Rahu out to the living room. Bringing over a first-aid kit, she pulled the girl down onto the sofa and began dabbing rubbing alcohol to wipe away the dried blood at the corner of her lips.

The stinging sensation made Rahu hiss softly.

- "Does it hurt? Why weren't you afraid of the pain when you raised your fists?"

Shalom scolded affectionately, though the movements of her hands gentled. She blew softly on the scratch on her younger sister's cheek, her eyes overflowing with unconditional tenderness.

Rahu sat motionless. The distance between them at this moment was far too close. So close that she could count every one of Shalom's curled eyelashes, could trace the gentle rise and fall of her chest beneath the thin fabric of her homewear. Her natural scent, the faint fragrance of body wash, acted as a stimulant, striking directly at the volatile nervous system of the seventeen-year-old. Deep within Rahu's soul, the darkest, dampest, and most frantic corner was screaming.

She is so beautiful. Rahu thought to herself, her deep, fathomless eyes glued to Shalom's rosy lips. So beautiful that I just want to break her wings, lock her in a dark room where there is no sunlight, no buzzing, flirting colleagues, no schoolboys stealing glances at her with their filthy eyes.

Since when had the admiration and love of a younger sibling mutated? Rahu couldn't remember clearly. All she knew was that every time she saw some man giving Shalom flowers at the school gates, her blood would boil. She hated the polite smiles her sister gave them. She hated how the outside world was always waiting to steal away the sole deity of her life.

Rahu didn't excel in her studies because she didn't want to grow up; she didn't want to step out into society. She only wanted to remain a violent, spoiled child to completely monopolize her sister's attention. She used her fists to sweep away any vermin that dared to approach her. Shalom thought she was just a stubborn younger sister fiercely protecting her family, but in truth, she was a monster harboring a forbidden, incestuous, and utterly selfish love.

She wanted Shalom. Wanted her entirely, body and soul...

- "All done. If you do this again, I'm confiscating the scooter and making you walk to school."

Shalom said, putting away the last piece of gauze and patting Rahu's cheek lightly. Just as Shalom was about to stand up, a large, burning hand gripped her wrist. The force was strong enough to make her flinch.

- "Rahu?" - Shalom frowned, looking at her sister who had her head bowed.

Rahu took a deep breath, veins popping on the back of her hand. She was wrestling with the wild beast in her chest, the entity urging her to pin this sister down on the sofa, strip away all moral boundaries, and confess her filthy desires. But upon looking up and meeting Shalom's clear eyes, eyes full of worry and pure tolerance, Rahu cowardly retreated. It wasn't the time. She couldn't frighten her. If her sister knew that the sibling she had worked so hard to raise harbored such despicable thoughts, she would be disgusted by her.

Rahu loosened her grip, her ferocious gaze instantly softening into a warm puddle. She lunged forward, wrapping both arms tightly around Shalom's waist, burying her face into her stomach and rubbing her short hair against her like a giant, affectionate puppy. Rahu's muffled, sullen voice rang out:

- "Please don't get married… Men are all awful. I'll go to work, I'll make lots of money to take care of you. You can just be a teacher and come home to me. I don't need anyone else, and you shouldn't need anyone else either, okay?"

Shalom paused for a beat, then burst into laughter. The crystal-clear sound echoed through the cozy living room. She reached out to ruffle the oversized girl's messy hair, a wave of sweetness rising in her heart.

- "Childish. If I don't get married, who will take care of me when I'm old? Relying on someone who spends all day drinking tea in the disciplinarian's office like you, I'd probably starve to death."

Rahu tightened her embrace, her voice carrying an ironclad vow, secretly concealing a suffocating desire for possession.

- "I mean it! I will protect you. For the rest of this life, you are only allowed to look at me."

Shalom didn't reply, merely smiling softly, letting her younger sister hold her. She thought it was just the impulsive promise of youth, an endearing reliance born of blood ties.

Eastside High School entered the sweltering early days of May, the cicadas beginning to buzz incessantly in the canopies of the ancient mahogany trees. The tense atmosphere of the exam season didn't seem to affect Rahu in the slightest. To her, school was not a place to absorb knowledge, but a vast territory where she had to bare her claws to guard the sole treasure of her life. Shalom.

As a young, beautiful, and gentle Literature teacher, Shalom naturally became the center of attention in the school. Not only students, but male teachers frequently used work as an excuse to approach her. Shalom always maintained a measured, polite demeanor and kept her distance. But there were those who wore a dignified outer shell while harboring a rotten, dark soul within. That person was Mr. Tyler.

Mr. Tyler was in his fifties, the head of the Math department, a teacher respected by students, and possessed a model family often cited as an example in staff meetings. Everyone thought he was a venerable senior colleague, always dedicated to helping young teachers. But Rahu did not.

Harboring a forbidden love and an insane possessiveness toward her sister, Rahu's senses were as sharp as a wild beast protecting its territory. She had smelled the stench emanating from this older man a long time ago. It was the brazen stares glued to Shalom's waist whenever she turned to write on the blackboard. It was the times he intentionally brushed against her shoulder when passing in the narrow hallways. It was the messages sent in the middle of the night under the guise of "professional exchange", but laced with excessively intrusive remarks about Shalom's private life.

Shalom being gentle and respectful of her elders and superiors, only knew how to evade, pretending not to understand, or giving perfunctory replies just to get it over with. She naively thought that as long as she maintained a proper attitude, people would eventually know to back off. But the concession of an angel only serves to stimulate the bestial nature of a devil.

Friday afternoon. The sky churned with dark clouds, heralding an impending summer thunderstorm about to pour down on the city. Most of the students had gone home; the schoolyard was deserted, leaving only the whistling of the wind through the canopy. Rahu had her backpack slung over one shoulder, perched on the stone bench beneath the old almond tree, her patient eyes fixed on the administration building. Shalom had to stay behind to grade final exams today. Rahu always waited to go home with her sister, without a single exception.

As dusk began to fall and the first raindrops pattered against the brick courtyard, Rahu lost her patience and stood up. She pulled up the collar of her jacket and strode toward the second-floor corridor of the administration block. The corridor lights hadn't been turned on, plunging the space into a murky twilight. As Rahu approached the blind corner leading to the teachers' lounge, a choked, panicked sound caught her ear.

- "Mr... Mr. Tyler, please have some selfrespect! Let me go!"

It was Shalom's voice. That usually crystal-clear voice was now trembling, carrying absolute terror and disgust. The blood in Rahu's veins froze, then instantly boiled, exploding to her brain. She darted around the blind corner like an avenging phantom. The scene before her made Rahu's pupils violently contract. Mr. Tyler had Shalom pinned against the dark corner of the wall. The normally dignified man now revealed his true form as a lecherous predator. One of his hands leaned against the wall to block her escape, while the other brazenly grabbed the flap of Shalom's áo dài. His eyes were clouded with lust as his mouth spilled filthy propositions.

- "Shalom, stop resisting. I've liked you for a long time. Come with me, and I guarantee no one in this department will dare make things difficult for you... There's no one around, be a good girl..."

As he spoke, he dipped his balding head toward Shalom's neck, intending to force a kiss. Shalom squeezed her eyes shut, using her briefcase as a shield over her chest, her hands trembling as she pushed hard against him, but the frail strength of a young woman was no match for a burly man.

Without a scream, without a word of warning, Rahu lunged forward with terrifying speed. She swung her leg, delivering a brutal kick carrying the full, manic strength of someone crazed by love, slamming straight into the ribs of the male teacher.

- "ARGH!!!"

Mr. Tyler let out a howl of pain. His heavy body was thrown hard against the wooden door of the teachers' lounge, sending him sprawling onto the cold tiled floor. Before he could comprehend what was happening, his vision still spinning, a tall, dark shadow loomed over him. Rahu surged forward, grabbing the collar of his neatly tucked-in shirt and hauling him up. The face of the eleventh-grade girl at that moment looked like an Asura from hell, radiating a murderous aura that chilled to the bone.

- "You dare touch my sister?!"

Rahu roared, her hoarse, broken voice carrying an oppressive, feral wildness. Her sinewy arm clenched into a fist and smashed directly into the man's face.

Smack! Thud! Crack!

The unforgiving iron fists rained down relentlessly. Blood from the esteemed teacher's nose and mouth splattered onto the floor, staining Rahu's uniform. He thrashed and groaned pitifully, trying to raise his hands to defend himself, but it was utterly hopeless against the manic strength of the wild beast protecting the very religion of her life.

- "Trash! Animal! You used your filthy hands to touch her! I'll kill you! I'll kill you!" 

Rahu screamed in a frenzy, every curse punctuated by a devastating blow.

- "Rahu! Stop! Don't hit him anymore! You'll beat him to death!"

Snapping out of her panic, Shalom rushed over and tightly embraced her sister's raised arm. Tears streamed down her face, her whole body trembling with fear. She was afraid of that man, but in this moment, she was even more afraid that her younger sister would become a murderer. The loud commotion and screams alerted the few teachers still grading papers and the security guard. They came running in a panic, flipping on the corridor lights. The sight before them left everyone paralyzed in shock.

The exemplary department head was slumped on the ground, his face swollen and smeared with blood, groaning as he clutched his head. Meanwhile, the rebellious student Rahu was panting heavily, her resentful eyes bloodshot, looking ready to tear apart anyone who dared step closer to Shalom.

- "Good heavens! What is going on here? Rahu! What do you think you're doing?!" - The disciplinarian rushed in, panicked, trying to intervene.

Rahu sneered, jerking her chin toward the man groaning on the ground, declaring loudly to the crowd:

- "Go ask this animal yourselves! Ask him what depraved thing he was just trying to do to my sister!"

During the struggle, Mr. Tyler's phone had fallen out of his pocket, skidding to a halt right at the disciplinarian's feet. The screen, jolted awake by the impact, lit up. Ironically, he hadn't locked it while in use. Displayed on the screen were not professional documents, but a hidden photo album containing a slew of candid pictures of Shalom, from behind, from hidden corners of the corridor, and even zoomed-in shots of her chest and thighs while she was passionately lecturing. Alongside these were sick, self-delusional monologue messages he had hoarded.

The disciplinarian picked up the phone, his face shifting from panic to deathly pale, then flushing red with anger and disgust. Other teachers gathered around to look, and whispers of gossip and pointing began to murmur through the crowd. The man on the ground had regained some lucidity, seeing his traitorous phone, every drop of blood drained from his face, leaving him to clutch his head in profound humiliation. The rain outside began to pour in sheets, washing away the sweltering heat of the early summer day, but it could not wash away the filth that had just been exposed at this school.

The incident was all too clear, the evidence undeniable. On Monday morning of the following week, an expanded disciplinary council meeting was urgently convened. The true face of the model teacher was unmasked. Under the pressure of irrefutable proof and the outrage of the teaching staff, the school decided to terminate Mr. Tyler immediately. Not stopping there, his stalking and sexual harassment were reported to the authorities. The police arrived to take the case; the man lost all his honor, his career, and his family lay in ruins due to his own despicable actions. However, Rahu's violent actions, despite stemming from the motive of protecting her sister, were still a severe violation of school rules. Beating a teacher into hospitalization was not something that could be easily overlooked with a mere written apology.

The principal's office was quiet. Shalom sat on the sofa, her eyes swollen from crying, her hands tightly clasped together. Rahu stood beside her, her expression still defiant, devoid of the slightest shred of remorse.

- "Ms. Shalom, the school deeply sympathizes with the shock you've experienced, and we acknowledge that Rahu was protecting her sister. But rules are rules, the school's discipline cannot be broken by violence. We are forced to issue a two-week suspension for Rahu, along with a formal disciplinary warning on her record."

The principal sighed, tapping his fingers on the desk.

- "Yes, I understand... I thank the administration for handling this impartially. During her suspension, I will discipline her more strictly."

Shalom bowed her head, her voice small. Rahu glanced at her sister's submissive, enduring demeanor, and her chest twinged with a pang of heartache. She hated that Shalom had to bow her head and apologize for someone else's sins, she hated this society that bound her deity with hollow moral rules. Her only regret was that she hadn't crippled those filthy eyes that day.

A two-week suspension for Rahu was nothing short of a vacation. She didn't care about her academic record; she gave no thought to her future. Her future, her world, had shrunk to the exact size of the woman named Shalom.

That evening, in the small, single-story house tucked deep within an alley, the pale fluorescent light shone down on the living room. The TV hummed with the monotonous drone of the news.

Rahu sat flat on the carpet, her arms bare. Shalom sat on the sofa, diligently using alcohol-soaked cotton to wipe the abrasions on her sister's knuckles, the aftermath of those fiery punches from the other day.

The space was so quiet they could hear each other's breathing.

As Shalom applied the medicine, tears welled up again. A hot tear fell onto the back of Rahu's hand. Rahu frowned, hastily looking up, using her rough thumb to wipe the tear from her sister's cheek. 

- "Why are you crying? Does it hurt? I'm sorry, I scared you, didn't I?"

Shalom shook her head, wrapping her hands around her younger sister's large hand.

- "No, I'm not afraid of you. I love you... Rahu, you have a future, you still have to take the university entrance exams. What if he had fought back that day and you got hurt? What if the school expelled you completely? I would have failed our parents, I haven't been able to guide you properly..."

Shalom's self-blame sliced into Rahu's heart. The jealous, possessive monster in her chest roared once again. She leaned up, wrapping her arms fully around Shalom's slender waist, pulling her sister's head to rest on her shoulder. Rahu whispered. Her hot breath fanned against Shalom's ear, carrying an ultimate sense of indulgence and protection.

- "Don't bring up mom and dad, and don't blame yourself… I told you, my duty is to protect you. Whoever dares to look at you with filthy eyes, whoever dares to touch a single hair on your head, I will tear them apart. Even if I get expelled, even if I go to jail, I don't care."

Shalom shivered slightly at that vow. She wrapped her arms around her sister's back, assuming it was merely the impulsiveness of a child lacking love.

- "Silly, this society has laws. Next time something happens, you have to tell me. No more using your fists on your own, do you hear me?"

Rahu softly uttered an obedient "yes". She nuzzled her head into the crook of Shalom's neck, inhaling deeply the pure scent of pomelo blossoms. Her lips lightly grazed the soft skin of her sister's neck, lingering reluctantly. She closed her eyes, hiding the dark, churning desire in the depths of her gaze.

The May sun beat down on the rusty corrugated iron roofs thrown haphazardly over the small alley, creating a stifling, suffocating heat. The old ceiling fan in the middle of the living room creaked, sluggishly slicing broken shards into the thick air.

Rahu sprawled lazily on the old, patterned tile floor, her legs propped up on a stool, her hands tapping frantically on her phone screen. The dry sounds of killing and gunfire from a survival game blared, mixing with the whirring of the fan. Beside her was a hastily made bowl of instant noodles, now bloated and soggy, the greasy water cold and stagnant. This was the portrait of the suspension days of the incorrigible student from 11A4.

Without Shalom at home, Rahu's world reverted to its true, desolate, and abrasive nature. Shalom was a Literature teacher, the department's teaching schedule and grading final exams dragged her away from the crack of dawn until nightfall. She didn't even bother coming home for lunch because the distance was quite far, opting to eat a quick boxed lunch in the teachers' lounge. Rahu stayed home alone, so lazy she couldn't even be bothered to turn on the gas stove. She existed in a stupor of instant noodles, all-night gaming sessions, or late afternoons strolling out to the alley entrance to hang out with the neighborhood's notorious boys.

She didn't like hanging out with girls. Girls her age, if they weren't constantly chattering about makeup and idols, were casting timid, fearful glances at the scars on her arms. More importantly, no girl in this world could ever catch Rahu's eye, because in her mind, the sole archetype of absolute perfection had already been nailed down by the image of her own sister. So, she would rather join the foul-mouthed boys, puffing on cigarette smoke, occasionally wielding sticks to settle petty street grievances, than sit and listen to pointless gossip. Outwardly, everyone viewed Rahu as a delinquent girl, neither fully masculine nor feminine, a smear of filthy mud clinging to the heel of her flawless, elegant older sister. And ironically, Rahu herself was deeply aware of that filth.

She tossed her phone aside, the screen flashing a bright red "Defeat". She sighed, raising an arm covered in scratches to cover her eyes, blocking out the pale light from the fluorescent bulb. In that artificial darkness, the image of Shalom rushed back in, tearing at her soul with a forbidden, twisted, and utterly desperate love.

Rahu was obsessed with her sister. It wasn't the reliance of an orphan, but the possessive craving of someone in love. A base, sick love, a seed against all natural and moral laws that had sprouted in her flesh and blood from the moment her mind began to comprehend sexuality.

But she kept it hidden. She had to hide it exceptionally well, burying that filthy affection deep in a grave. Because Shalom was a teacher, an intellect, the purest light. If her sister knew that the younger sibling she had raised single-handedly harbored such hideous, incestuous thoughts, wanted to pin her down, wanted to kiss her lips, wanted to do depraved things to her... Shalom would surely shatter. She would be disgusted by her, look at her as the most profane trash in the world, and banish her from her life forever.

That inferiority complex had followed Rahu right up to the podium.

She recalled the days when she was still attending class. Class 11A4 was Shalom's homeroom, and she was also their Literature teacher. While her friends diligently took notes, burying their heads in analyzing every verse of Xuan Quynh or Han Mac Tu, Rahu sat in the back row, her eyes never leaving the woman standing at the podium.

Shalom wore a white silk áo dài, the flaps fluttering gently in the breeze from the ceiling fan. Sunlight pierced through the mahogany canopy, shining through the window onto the tiny dust particles swirling around her, creating a radiant halo. Rahu didn't absorb a single word of literature. Her deep eyes were entirely fixated on her sister's moving, rosy lips, sliding down to the pristine white neck and the slender waist hugged tightly by the silk fabric. Her mind at that moment was flooded with dark questions: If I bit into that neck, what would it taste like? If those two hands of mine squeezed that waist, how would she gasp?

- "Rahu. Stand up and analyze the second stanza for the class."

Shalom's crisp, stern voice was like a bucket of cold water slapped directly into her face, dragging Rahu out of her cloud of lust.

She clumsily stood up, the textbook on her desk open to a blank page, without a single drop of ink for notes. The whole class fell dead silent, all eyes shifting toward the homeroom teacher's unruly younger sister. Rahu stood there, tall and imposing like a tower, yet as mute as a clam, her ears burning red with shame and embarrassment.

How could she analyze love poetry? When the only love she knew was a nameless, unutterable affection that could not be brought to light, a love consisting entirely of toxic possessiveness and internal torment.

Shalom looked at her. No scolding, no yelling. She merely lowered her eyelids and let out a long, heavy sigh.

That sigh was weightless, but it fell into Rahu's heart as heavy as a thousand tons of iron. A sigh of disappointment, of helplessness. It proved to Rahu the cruel reality that the distance between them was a bottomless abyss. Her sister was the lofty sky of intellect, while she was merely a weed taking root in the mud.

Thinking of this, Rahu curled up on the tile floor, biting her lower lip until it bled.

The clock struck six in the evening.

As if an invisible switch had been flipped, Rahu sprang up from the floor. Her lethargy, her gruffness, her reckless apathy instantly evaporated without a trace. She hastily grabbed the broom, swept a quick circle around the living room, tossed the leftover instant noodles into the trash, then dashed into the bathroom, splashing cold water on her face to wake up, and combed her pitch-black hair, tying it up neatly.

Her heart began to race. Her chest heaved with anticipation.

Fifteen minutes later, the familiar sound of the scooter's engine echoed from the alley. Rahu dashed to the door as fast as the wind.

- "You're home!"

Rahu's voice rang out, husky yet clear, carrying an unbelievable obedience and gentleness, completely different from the vulgar cursing when she was with the boys out in the alley.

Shalom turned off the engine and took off her helmet, her face clearly showing the exhaustion of a long day wrestling with students and piles of lesson plans. The moment she saw her sister, the corners of her lips unconsciously curved into a gentle smile.

- "Yes, I'm home. Were you good today? Didn't go picking fights anywhere, did you?" Shalom teased, reaching out to smooth her messy hair.

- "I stayed home all day, didn't go anywhere." 

Rahu stepped forward, taking the handbag from her sister's hands and wheeling the scooter into the house. She eagerly ran to fetch a pre-wrung cold towel, handing it to Shalom to wipe her face, then poured a ready-made glass of iced lime water and placed it on the table.

- "Drink some water to refresh yourself. Do you want to eat anything? Let me go buy it."

Shalom held the ice-cold glass of lime water, watching her oversized younger sister bustling about to serve her, and all her fatigue seemed to vanish. Out there, Rahu might be a delinquent student, a thug, a hooligan who caused headaches for many teachers. But at home, under this small roof, she was a devoted, obedient younger sister who took care of her every need. Shalom set the glass down and stood up.

- "No need to buy anything, eating out is expensive and not clean. I bought groceries at the market, let me shower and change, then we'll cook. Did you eat instant noodles instead of rice today? I can tell just by looking at the trash can. You're growing, how can you keep destroying your body like this?"

- "I can only stomach it if you cook..." 

Rahu muttered, scratching her head, her eyes stealthily tracking her sister's every footstep.

Shalom walked toward the bedroom door, intending to reach back and unzip her lotus-pink silk áo dài to change into her loungewear. But due to the sticky sweat from a sweltering summer day, the tiny brass zipper got stuck right in the middle of her back. Shalom reached behind, struggling endlessly but couldn't pull it down, nearly tearing the sheer fabric.

- "Rahu, come in here and help me unzip this, it's stuck." 

Shalom called out to the living room. Rahu's entire body jerked as if struck by electricity. The heart in her chest that had just settled down began to pound frantically like a lottery drum. Her hands involuntarily gripped the hem of her t-shirt, her palms slick with sweat.

- "Y... yes."

She swallowed a dry gulp of saliva and tiptoed into the bedroom.

The narrow bedroom, lit by a dim, warm-orange nightlight, created a cramped, intimate atmosphere. Shalom was standing with her back turned to the door, her arms hanging slightly loose. The thin silk áo dài clung tightly to her body, tracing the exquisite curve of her wasp waist. Her wine-red, slightly silvering hair was swept neatly over one shoulder, exposing her pristine white nape and the brass zipper stuck at a sensitive spot in the middle of her back.

- "Hurry up, it's so hot. I'm covered in sweat, I smell sour." - Shalom urged, her voice carefree and completely unguarded.

To Shalom, it was just a perfectly normal request for help between two blood sisters. But to Rahu, it was torture, a sweet torment laced with deadly temptation.

Rahu held her breath, stepping right behind Shalom. The scent of pomelo blossoms intertwined with the slightly acrid, feminine scent of sweat assaulted her senses, tearing down all defensive barriers. She extended her trembling hands, callous-ridden from wielding sticks in fights. Her two fingers touched the cold metal of the zipper.

In that moment, the back of Rahu's hand accidentally brushed against the silk, feeling the searing warmth radiating from her sister's flesh. A jolt of electricity ran down the wild beast's spine.

Rahu bit down hard on the inside of her cheek to keep herself sane. She didn't dare breathe heavily, afraid her hot, lust-filled breath fanning against her sister's nape would expose everything. Her hands, usually accustomed to violence, were now careful, meticulous, and pathetically trembling. She slowly untangled the stuck fabric, then gently pulled the brass zipper down.

Zzzzt.

The sound of the zipper running down her spine echoed in the quiet space, sounding spine-tinglingly stimulating. The flaps of the áo dài parted, revealing a bare, flawless, milky-white back, along with the slender black bra strap hugging her waist.

Rahu's eyes shot red. She had to use all of her human willpower not to lunge forward, wrap her arms tightly around that bare back, bury her face in it, and kiss and bite it. She craved her sister to the point of madness. Her heart screamed at her to lock this woman up, hide her away, and make her her own exclusive possession.

Cruel rationality reminded her of the word "blood." She was her sister. Blood sisters. A permanent, indelible stain if she dared cross the line.

- "All done…" - Rahu rasped, hurriedly stepping back three paces as swiftly as if she had touched hot coals. She bowed her head, hiding her lust-filled eyes, and quickly turned to leave. - "I... I'm going to pick the vegetables for dinner."

Seeing her sister's clumsy, panicked retreat, like she was being chased by a ghost, Shalom only laughed, thinking the girl had reached puberty and was thus prone to shyness. She slowly slipped out of her áo dài, preparing to grab her clothes and shower. But fate's cruel joke didn't seem to want to stop there. Ten minutes later, as Rahu sat dazed on the porch, holding a mangled bunch of water spinach in her hands, Shalom's voice called out from the bathroom.

- "Rahu! Grab my towel for me, please! I forgot it outside on the clothesline."

Rahu hurriedly ran to the clothesline, pulled down the clean white cotton towel, and brought it inside. She stood outside the slightly ajar bathroom door. The sound of the showerhead spraying inside mixed with the thick, hot steam billowing out through the crack.

- "Here's the towel..." - Rahu called softly, slipping the towel through the crack.

The plastic door opened a bit wider. Shalom reached a hand out to take the towel, the steam enveloping her drenched, pale skin. Suddenly, Shalom pulled the door back and poked her head out. Her soaking wet hair clung to her forehead, and her bare face, flushed pink from the hot steam, looked incredibly alluring.

- "It's so hot, I had to rinse forever to cool down. Are you going to shower now? If so, just come in here and shower together so it's faster, and we'll save water too. I'll help wash your hair later. I've seen you washing it so carelessly these past few days." - Shalom offered casually.

Rahu's brain felt as if someone had tossed a grenade into it. Her face flushed as red as a tomato, the color spreading from her ears all the way down her neck. Shower together? With the girl she harbored depraved fantasies about every night? With the naked body of the sister whose bare back alone had nearly made her lose control?

- "No! No! I... I don't want to shower yet!" 

Rahu jumped, waving her hands frantically, stepping back until her heel caught on the threshold, nearly sending her tumbling backward.

- "Why are you panicking?"

Shalom chuckled, reaching out to grab the hem of her younger sister's t-shirt and giving it a hard pull. Rahu had more than enough strength to break free, but for fear of hurting her sister, she obediently let Shalom drag her into the bathroom.

- "Get in here! You're all grown up and still acting shy with your older sister. Who do you think bathed you when you were little? Hurry up, take off your shirt, you're melting from the heat standing out there."

The bathroom door slammed shut. The lock clicked into place. The cramped space, barely four square meters, was clouded with steam and heavy with the scent of rose body wash. The showerhead hissed down. Shalom had temporarily wrapped a towel around her chest, but the water droplets clinging to her bare shoulders, the peek of her cleavage, and her long, slender legs were completely exposed to Rahu's eyes.

Rahu stood petrified in the corner. Her arms were crossed over her chest, gripping her t-shirt tightly, her whole body as stiff as a board. Her chest heaved violently, her heartbeat so thunderous she feared Shalom might hear it. Her face was so red it looked ready to bleed.

- "Why are you just standing there? Take off your clothes, I'll scrub your back. You've been home all day and you smell sour with sweat."

Shalom's innocent, carefree nature was the most ruthless torture for Rahu. She had absolutely no guard up, because in her eyes, Rahu was just the younger sister born from the same womb. What was there to be shy about between two sisters? Little did she know, this younger sister was looking at her with the eyes of a starving wild beast…

Backed into a corner with no way out, Rahu bit her lip until it bled, trembling as she stripped off her clothes. Her robust, toned body, bearing the distinct muscles of someone who frequently engaged in intense physical activity and fighting, was laid bare. The small scars crisscrossing her wheat-colored skin created a wild beauty, completely contrasting with Shalom's soft femininity.

- "Good heavens, you're a girl, look at your back, it's covered in scars." - Shalom exclaimed in distress upon seeing her sister's back. She reached for the bath sponge soaked in soap suds and stepped closer. - "Turn around."

Rahu obediently turned around, squeezing her eyes shut. The soft sponge carrying soap suds slid down her spine. Along with it were Shalom's warm, soft fingers. Every time Shalom rubbed and massaged Rahu's tense muscles, a high-voltage current shot through the wild beast's nervous system. Shalom's scent, her breath grazing Rahu's ear, the warmth from her chest occasionally brushing lightly against Rahu's back in the cramped space, it all blended into an intoxicating poison.

Rahu's stomach tied in knots. The deepest part of her body transmitted a burning, hollow, and shamefully craving sensation. She was disgusted by her own physiological reaction. She was going into heat for her own biological sister in a cramped suburban bathroom.

- "You... you shower quickly, I can scrub myself!"

Rahu rasped, her voice hoarse and shattered, pressing both hands firmly against the cold tiled wall to keep herself from collapsing.

- "What's wrong? Why is your voice so hoarse? Did you catch a cold?"

Shalom asked worriedly, circling to the front, intending to feel her sister's forehead. The towel wrapped around Shalom had slipped slightly due to her sudden movement, revealing the deep, plunging cleavage of her chest. Rahu's gaze accidentally swept past it, and her pupils instantly contracted violently. She hurriedly squeezed her eyes shut and turned her face away.

- "No! I'm fine! It's just too hot!"

Rahu raised her voice, pushing Shalom's hand away, and frantically grabbed the showerhead, blasting freezing cold water over her head to extinguish the raging flames of lust burning in her mind. Shalom watched her sister's panicked, clumsy demeanor and sighed

- "This girl, you're all grown up but still acting so weird."

The torment of that shared shower felt like it lasted a century. When she put her clothes back on and stepped outside, Rahu felt as if she had just survived a life-or-death torture session. Her whole body was exhausted, drenched in cold sweat, but deep in her eyes burned an unquenchable, greedy fire. Watching Shalom leisurely drying her hair in the living room, Rahu leaned against the bedroom doorframe, quietly observing.

The massive workload at the end of the school year, combined with staying up night after night to grade stacks of final exams, had drained all of Shalom's strength. Any machine pushed beyond its capacity will eventually break down, let alone a woman with such a slender, fragile frame. That evening, Shalom had barely picked up her bowl of rice, not even managing a single bite, when a wave of dizziness hit her. The scene before her eyes spun, and the bowl crashed onto the tile floor. Rahu, who was sitting opposite her picking at her food, jolted in shock, lunging forward to catch her sister's shoulders before Shalom could collapse onto the floor.

Shalom's body was burning like a red-hot coal. Panicked, Rahu scooped her sister up in her arms, carried her into the bedroom, carefully laid her on the bed, and frantically ran to get a thermometer. Thirty-nine and a half degrees celsius. The number on the digital screen made Rahu's insides feel like they were being set on fire. She clumsily searched for fever reducers, placed a warm towel on her sister's forehead, and stayed up the entire night, not daring to shut her eyes for a single second to change the towel and watch over Shalom's labored breathing.

The next morning, the fever showed signs of subsiding, but Shalom was still exhausted, her body devoid of any strength, forcing her to call the school to ask for a few days of sick leave. Seeing her sister lying sick and weak in bed, her usually full, rosy lips now pale and dry, Rahu resolutely tossed her backpack aside.

- "I'm skipping school today. I'm staying home to take care of you.”

 Rahu declared firmly, rolling up her sleeves, intending to go cook porridge. Shalom, who had her eyes squeezed shut, tried to force herself up upon hearing this. Though her voice was weak, it carried an uncompromising strictness:

- "No. Put your clothes on, grab your bag, and go to school right now."

- "But you're sick! With a fever this high, what if something happens while you're home alone? I'm not going anywhere!"

Rahu snapped, her bloodshot eyes red from lack of sleep, looking full of stubbornness. Shalom coughed dryly a few times, frowning at her oversized younger sister.

"Rahu! Your suspension just ended last week. If you skip school without a valid reason now, the school will expel you! I just have a cold and overworked myself a bit, I'll take some medicine, sleep, and be fine. Go to school right now, don't make me angry while I'm sick!"

Rahu stood frozen in the middle of the room, her hands clenched into fists. She looked at her sister, her heart aching terribly, but she didn't dare talk back. Shalom rarely raised her voice, but once she was resolute, Rahu knew that even if the sky fell, it couldn't change her mind. If she deliberately rebelled, Shalom might get angry and her illness would worsen.

- "Fine... I'll go. I'll ask to come home early at noon. Make sure you drink lots of warm water, and if anything happens, call me immediately, do you hear me?"

Rahu conceded, resentfully picking up her backpack and walking out the door with a heavy heart.

That entire school day felt as long as a century to Rahu. She sat in class, but her mind was up in the clouds. The teachers' lectures sounded like the buzzing of flies, not a single word registered in her ears. Every five minutes, she pulled out her phone to check the time; every ten minutes, she texted Shalom to ask if her fever had gone down, but was met only with silence. She was probably asleep from the medication.

The moment the first strike of the school bell signaling the end of the day rang out, Rahu shot out of the classroom like an arrow cutting through the wind. Her best buddies invited her to play pool at the shop at the end of the alley, but she brushed them off, throwing a curse back at them before pedaling her bicycle recklessly toward home. On the way, she stopped by the small market to buy some minced meat, green onions, and especially a fresh bunch of perilla leaves.

Arriving home, she hastily tossed her bike in the yard and tiptoed into the bedroom. Shalom was still lying with her eyes closed, her breathing steadier, though her forehead was still dotted with sweat. Rahu breathed a sigh of relief, carefully replaced the warm towel on her sister's forehead, and went straight to the kitchen. The rebellious girl who was used to wielding sticks in school fights was now standing there, clumsy but extremely careful, chopping every stalk of green onion and mincing every perilla leaf as finely as possible. She washed the rice, simmered the minced meat porridge, and seasoned it perfectly to taste. The fragrant smell of the cold-relieving perilla porridge drifted through the cramped single-story house.

Rahu scooped the porridge into a porcelain bowl, carefully blew on it to cool it down, and carried it into the room.

- "Sister... wake up and eat some hot porridge, sweating it out will help you recover faster."

She sat on the edge of the bed, her voice so low and gentle that an outsider listening would certainly never recognize her as the delinquent student of class 11A4. Shalom slowly opened her eyes. The smell of the perilla porridge hit her nose, making her empty stomach rumble softly. She struggled to prop herself up. Rahu hastily tucked a soft pillow behind her back for support.

- "Let me feed you."

Without waiting for Shalom's agreement, Rahu scooped a spoonful of porridge, blew on it, and brought it close to her sister's lips. Shalom smiled softly, a pale smile, yet one that dealt invisible, lethal damage to her younger sister's heart. She opened her mouth to accept the spoonful of porridge from Rahu's hand.

- "The porridge is very good… My little sister is truly all grown up, knowing how to cook porridge and take care of the sick."

That praise made the tips of Rahu's ears burn red. She bowed her head, scooping the next spoonful, hiding her violently trembling eyes. Seeing Shalom sick and fragile like a withering flower bud, the protective instinct in Rahu's veins surged stronger than ever. But intertwined with that familial affection was an extreme possessiveness. She liked the feeling of her sister being weak; she liked the feeling of her having to completely rely on her, needing her to take care of her every meal and her sleep like this.

Evening. After forcing Shalom to finish her second dose of medicine, Rahu cleared the dishes and took a shower. A while later, clutching her familiar bolster, she pushed open the door to her sister's room and brazenly climbed onto the spacious double bed. Shalom, who was dozing off, startled awake when she felt the mattress dip beside her.

- "Rahu? What are you doing? Go back to your room and sleep."

Shalom frowned, her voice slightly hoarse.

- "I'm sleeping here. I have to watch over you tonight."

Rahu replied firmly, arranging her pillows and pulling the blanket up to her chest.

- "There's no need. I took my medicine, the fever will break tonight. If you lie next to me like this, you might catch it. You have to go to school tomorrow, go back to your room and get a good night's sleep." - Shalom said, reaching out to push her younger sister away.

Rahu was faster. She swatted her sister's hand away, pulled the blanket completely over her own large frame, and muttered stubbornly:

- "If I catch it, I catch it. I'm as healthy as an ox, your viruses can't bite me. If you kick me out, I'll sleep on the floor right next to your bed."

Knowing that once her younger sister was stubborn, words were useless, Shalom sighed helplessly and scooted closer to the wall to make more room for her.

- "Suit yourself. If you wake up sick tomorrow, don't come crying to me to ask for sick leave."

The bedroom lights went out. Only the pale glow from the streetlamp filtering through the window crack remained. In the middle of the night, the fever reducers didn't seem to completely suppress the severe illness. First came the burning fever. Shalom's body temperature skyrocketed, her forehead dotted with sweat. She tossed and turned with difficulty, kicking off the blanket covering her due to the heat.

How could Rahu, lying beside her, possibly sleep? Her senses were as sharp as a hound's. Seeing her sister burning up, she hastily sat up and used a damp towel to wipe the sweat from her forehead and neck. Rahu's body was naturally hot, the heat she radiated was always like a tin furnace. Seeing her sister so hot, she tried to scoot away a bit, only daring to use one hand to lightly pat the thin, sweating back.

Just a few hours later, the fever reversed its course. A deep chill from within her marrow set in. Shalom began to tremble. She curled up into a tiny ball on the bed, her teeth chattering uncontrollably, her mouth unconsciously groaning from the cold.

Rahu panicked. She hastily pulled the thickest blanket over her sister, adding her own thin blanket as well. But Shalom still shivered violently. Without overthinking, Rahu lifted the covers and slipped inside.

Rahu's large, toned body, burning like a flame, immediately enveloped Shalom. She extended her sturdy arms, tightly embracing her sister's shivering frame and pulling her straight into her chest. In her delirium, Shalom felt a massive warm source of heat surround her. Her survival instinct made her like someone freezing to death finding a bonfire; she turned and unconsciously burrowed deep into Rahu's chest, her frail arms wrapping tightly around her younger sister's firm waist.

Her sister's body pressed tightly against hers without a single gap. The faint scent of pomelo blossoms mixed with the smell of sick sweat, but to Rahu's sense of smell, it was more seductive and lethal than any aphrodisiac. Her sister's soft breasts pressed firmly against her chest, her hot breath fanning Rahu's neck. Every cell in the body of a maturing wild beast screamed frantically, craving to conquer, to intertwine.

Rahu bit her lower lip to shreds to maintain her sanity. She had to tense all her muscles, continuously chanting a mantra in her head. She is sick. She is your biological sister. You cannot act out of line.

She used her last shred of self-respect to suppress the flames of lust, merely holding her tight embrace, using her own body heat to keep Shalom warm through the chills. Her rough hand gently stroked down her sister's spine, steady and comforting.

Within that suffocating warmth and an embrace as sturdy as iron walls, Shalom's shivering gradually subsided. The delirium gave way to an indescribable peace.

Half-awake and half-asleep, Shalom buried her face deep into Rahu's chest. In the darkness, she heard the loud, strong heartbeat of the person holding her. Distant memories suddenly rushed back like a slow-motion film.

Ten years ago, on a night of torrential rain and storm, the tragic news of a car accident arrived, snatching away the lives of both her parents. Shalom was only fourteen then, dressed in an oversized funeral robe, her head wrapped in a white mourning cloth. She knelt before the altar, her eyes dry because she had already wept too much. Rahu was just a seven-year-old child at the time, thin and tiny. She was in a state of absolute panic, her face smeared with tears, clutching Shalom’s legs and howling for their mother.

That night was also bitingly cold, enough to pierce the skin. Shalom had gathered her little sister into her arms, using her own frail frame to envelop her, whispering comfort continuously: "Don't be afraid, my good Rahu. Mom and dad are gone, but I am here. I will protect you, I will raise you."

Time passed with a cruelty and speed no one could have anticipated.

Only yesterday, Rahu was a tiny lump of dough nuzzling into her chest, sobbing uncontrollably. And now, the girl had grown a full head taller than her. The arms that were once so small they could barely wrap around her waist had become sturdy and muscular, more than capable of cradling her entire being. Those shoulders were so broad and solid that Shalom felt an absolute sense of safety. The child she had devoted herself to protecting for the past ten years was now using her own body and love to shield her in return.

A warm tear rolled from Shalom’s half-closed eyelid, falling onto the fabric of Rahu’s t-shirt.

- "Rahu... You... you have truly grown up..."

Hearing her sister’s sleepy murmur, Rahu’s heart melted. She lowered her head, burying her face into the crook of Shalom’s pristine white neck, where the pulse beat with a weak, rhythmic cadence. The familiar scent flooded her nose, shattering all barriers of reason. Rahu wrapped her arms tighter, pulling Shalom’s body just a fraction closer, like a dragon coiled around its one-of-a-kind treasure in the world.

There was no need for restraint, no need for the daylight disguise. In the darkness, Rahu allowed herself to be honest with the twisted affection gnawing at her soul. Rahu’s dry lips brushed against the soft skin of Shalom’s neck. She didn't bite or violate; she merely left a feather-light kiss that carried the weight of a blood-drenched oath.

- "Yes, I have grown up..."

Rahu whispered in return. The deep, heavy voice resonated in the pitch-black night, bewitching and filled with a fanatical, insane devotion.

The lingering fever that had lasted two days finally chose to release Shalom, leaving her with a feeling of being feverish, sore, and soft, like someone just recovering from a major illness. The glaring May sunlight pierced through the gaps in the curtains, casting dappled light onto the old patterned tiles of the single-story house.

Shalom gathered her long hair up, revealing her pristine, sweat-beaded nape. After taking her last dose of cold medicine, she checked the wall clock. Nine o'clock in the morning. By now, Rahu was likely sitting in class. Recalling the rebellious, sulking look on her big sister-like younger sister's face that morning, Shalom’s lips unconsciously curved into a gentle smile. Since she had fallen ill, the delinquent girl had suddenly transformed into a completely different person, obedient, gentle, carefully feeding her spoonfuls of porridge, and even stubbornly crawling into the blankets at night to hug her tightly, using the heat of her own body to soothe her through the bouts of chills.

The feeling of being cared for by the child she had devoted herself to raising now grown and capable of sheltering her back, filled Shalom’s heart with a warm sense of kinship. She rolled up her sleeves, deciding to take advantage of this free time to sweep and tidy the house that had been neglected for the past few days. Shalom cleaned the table, changed the water in the flower vase, and carefully lit incense on their parents' altar. Looking at the portraits of her parents, she silently prayed, asking them to bless Rahu, that she might shed her unruly nature and soon succeed in life.

Finished with the living room, Shalom pushed the door open and stepped into Rahu’s private room. As soon as the door opened, she had to raise a hand to rub her temples, letting out a long, weary sigh. The room, less than ten square meters, was no different from a battlefield that had just been ravaged. Clean and dirty clothes were tossed messily on the bed, a skateboard and basketball lay scattered under the desk; a pile of comic books mixed with textbooks sprawled across the floor. The atmosphere in the room carried the wild, careless breath of a rebellious child.

- "You're a girl, yet you're this messy…"

 Shalom muttered in a scolding, affectionate tone, setting to work to clean up the aftermath.

She patiently picked up every t-shirt to toss into the laundry basket, smoothed out the crumpled textbooks, and stacked the comic books neatly on the shelf. As she bent down to pull the large teddy bear bolster on the bed to fold the blankets, Shalom’s hand accidentally brushed against a hard object hidden under the mattress.

She frowned, reached under the mattress, and pulled the object out.

It was a Thang Long cigarette pack, crumpled, with a few cigarettes remaining, accompanied by a matte black torch lighter.

Shalom’s gentle face immediately darkened. Her elegant brows knit into a tight line. A flame of anger erupted in her chest. This girl! Fighting, skipping school, and causing trouble at school wasn't enough, now she was picking up bad habits, daring to hide cigarettes and smoke at home. Shalom gripped the pack of cigarettes tightly, telling herself that when Rahu returned from school at noon, she would make her kneel and demand an explanation. She could no longer tolerate this hooligan behavior for another day.

Shalom angrily tossed the cigarettes and lighter onto the desk. She bent down to finish clearing the clothes in the corner of the wardrobe when another strange object caught her attention. Hidden beneath the stack of winter clothes at the very bottom of the drawer was an old tin box, the kind usually used for cookies during Lunar New Year. The box was locked with a small but extremely sturdy brass padlock. The keys were lying forgotten under the wardrobe, likely dropped by Rahu in her rush to get to school that morning without her ever realizing it.

The curiosity of a sister, coupled with the suspicion that had risen after discovering the cigarette pack, urged Shalom to pick up the key ring. She told herself she had to check if this incorrigible younger sister was hiding other forbidden items in the house.

Click.

The lock turned easily, and the tin lid popped open. Inside were no switchblades, no marijuana, nor were there sappy teenage love letters as Shalom had imagined. Inside the tin box, lined with a layer of red velvet with extreme care, were dozens of vibrant, glossy photographs, laminated flat and preserved like priceless treasures.

Shalom froze. She slowly knelt on the floor, reaching out to pick up the stack of photos. Her heart suddenly skipped a beat, a surge of indescribable, chaotic emotion rising in her chest.

Every single photo in the box... was of her.

There was not a single landscape photo, no pictures of friends, no family photos, only the image of Shalom. Every moment, every milestone in her older sister’s life had been carefully recorded by her younger sister and stored in the most secret place.

Shalom’s eyes misted over as she flipped through them one by one. This was a photo of her wearing a pristine white áo dài, holding a bouquet of purple crape myrtle at her 12th-grade graduation. At that time, their parents had just passed away, her face still carrying a trace of sorrow, but her gaze was incredibly firm. This one... this one was from when she was a freshman at the University of Education, cycling along a tree-lined road. The angle was slightly off, it looked like a candid shot taken from quite a distance.

Then there were photos of her standing on the podium defending her graduation thesis, a radiant smile on her lips as she held her bright red Bachelor’s degree. Photos from her time as a Master’s student, nights burning the midnight oil over piles of documents. And the photo of her on the first day she started work at Eastside High School, wearing a pink áo dài, standing at the podium.

Some photos were of the two sisters together, but the images of others, sometimes even Rahu herself, were cropped out, leaving only Shalom’s face and figure, wrapped carefully in plastic. The anger from the cigarette incident had completely vanished, replaced by a choked-up surge of emotion. Shalom reached up to cover her mouth, tears welling in her eyes. This child... her dry, abrasive younger sister, who always seemed like a porcupine bristling with quills against the whole world, yet behind her back, she had been meticulous, cherishing and preserving every fragment of her sister’s youth so deeply. She had made her the center of her universe.

Rahu... I never realized you loved me this much. Shalom thought to herself, a sense of guilt rising for having wrongly blamed her sister's indifference. She wasn't good at expressing herself with words, but her actions contained an immense familial love, an absolute adoration for the person who had taken the place of their parents to raise her. The fever still lingered in her body, making Shalom’s head feel slightly lightheaded. The intense emotion made her hands tremble. As she went to put the photos back in the tin box, one photo slipped through her fingers.

The photo fluttered onto the patterned tile, face down.

Shalom bent down slightly, intending to reach out and pick it up. But the moment her eyes touched the back of the laminated photo, her hand stopped in mid-air. Her body suddenly stiffened, as if splashed with a bucket of ice-cold water in the heat of a summer noon. The back of the white photo was not empty. Right in the middle, written in blue ballpoint pen, sharp, decisive, and pressed deep into the photographic paper was the unmistakable handwriting of Rahu.

I Love You.

Three short words. Not "I care for you", not "My big sister". The pronoun and context of those three words stood isolated in the void, stabbing straight into Shalom’s retinas, carrying a layer of meaning that made her stomach suddenly knot.

It’s just... sisterly love, right? Children sometimes don't express things accurately. Shalom tried to reassure herself, swallowing a salty gulp of saliva. Yet, the intuition of a mature woman, added to the invisible defense mechanisms screaming in her brain, urged her to do something she would regret for the rest of her life. Shalom’s trembling hand reached for the next photo. The photo was of her wearing an áo dài on the day of her thesis defense. She flipped it over.

"Your lips are so beautiful when you smile. I just want to bite those lips, to swallow that smile into my belly. This smile is only allowed to be reserved for me."

Shalom’s breathing stalled. Her eyes opened as wide as they could go, her pupils violently contracting. She hurriedly threw that photo down, frantically flipping the backs of the other photos. A photo of her cycling on the university road:

"You are so fragile. I want to lock you away. I want to hide you. You are mine."

A photo of her bending over to grade papers at home, secretly taken by Rahu from behind:

"The scent of pomelo blossoms on your nape drives me crazy. Every night lying in the room next to yours, I imagine the scene of pinning you down onto this table. I want to tear that silk shirt to shreds. I want you to have to cry and beg beneath me. Sister, I love you. Love you to the point where I want to go crazy."

A photo of her changing clothes, secretly taken through the slightly ajar door, low quality but enough to see a portion of her bare back:

"Your flesh is mine. Everything is mine. Whoever dares to touch you, I will kill them. Whoever..."

Photo after photo slipped from Shalom’s hands, fluttering around her like dead leaves falling from a rotting tree.

The air in the room was suddenly sucked dry. Shalom gasped for air; a suffocating sensation hit her as if an invisible hand were clutching her throat. She staggered and fell onto the tiles, frantically covering her ears as if those filthy, insane words were roaring in her head.

No. It can't be.

This was not the admiration of sisterly love. This was not the protection of blood ties. Those words "want to bite," "want to swallow," "want to pin you down,” ... These were the words of a fanatic, a deviant harboring the darkest, most incestuous possessive desire.

Shalom was stunned. The sky that had been clear in her mind shattered into a thousand pieces. The fever seemed to return, burning her soul, making her slender body tremble violently.

She remembered everything. She remembered the look in Rahu’s eyes when she looked at her, a look she had always assumed was reliance, now remembered, she saw it was filled with greed and craving. She remembered the times the girl picked fights and shed blood with boys just because they dared to make fun of her. She remembered the horrific brawl with Mr. Tyler, the way the girl had roared like a wild beast protecting a lover, not a relative.

When she had suffered from the fever, the child she had protected since she was little had crawled into the blankets, holding her tightly. Her burning, solid body was pressed against her back. Her arms squeezed her waist. She had thought it was an embrace of sisterly warmth, but in reality, that younger sister was holding her with twisted thoughts, suppressing the filthy carnal desire boiling in every blood vessel. The light kiss on her neck last night was not the sorrow of kinship, but the maddening restraint of someone spying on their own sister's body!

Shalom clutched her head, her stomach churning with a violent wave of nausea. She bowed her face to her knees. Why? Why does the younger sister she had cherished, nurtured, and raised in place of her parents harbor such animalistic thoughts? Where had she gone wrong? Had she spoiled her too much? Or had her own unconditional love personally watered the seeds of an incestuous flower blooming right under this roof?

Confusion and fear mixed with a profound self-loathing rose to the extreme. Shalom couldn't believe that beneath the unruly but devoted appearance of her younger sister, a monster lay hidden, craving her own biological sister day and night. The image of Rahu in Shalom’s eyes was no longer a pitiable child, but a massive shadow, a dark cage gradually closing in, waiting to swallow her into a sick inescapable love.

Shalom sat motionless on the tiled floor, surrounded by scattered photographs that, face-down, revealed glimpses of fanatic, diseased scribblings. Unlike the reaction one might expect from a woman facing such a horrifying shock, Shalom did not weep. The tears that had welled in her eyes were quickly dried by an unseen force within her mind. Her initial panic and disgust passed in a heartbeat, replaced by a state of extreme, profound stillness.

When confronted with events spiraling beyond her control, her mind automatically activated a freezing mechanism. Her heart seemed to stop, her nerves went numb, transforming her back into a heartless entity, governed by absolute, icy logic. She gathered the shards of her perception and reassembled them with a logic as sharp as a scalpel.

Before Shalom could rise from the wreckage, a silent, murderous aura surged from behind. There were no footsteps, no creak of the door. Only a massive shadow slowly obscuring the faint light reflecting on the floor.

Rahu had been standing there for some time.

She had skipped class early, walking home with a heart eager to see if her sister’s fever had broken. But peering through the cracked door, she had seen it all. She saw the tin box pried open, saw Shalom reading the vile lines she had hidden in the deepest abyss of her heart. The moment her monstrous secret was exposed, the mask of the obedient sister shattered. Instead of panic or flight, Rahu found herself strangely calm. The slow-burning fuse within her had finally reached its end. From this second on, she no longer needed to act.

Rahu stepped slowly into the room. Her eyes, usually ablaze with fire, were now a pitch-black void, devoid of even a flicker of light. Her face was flat, cold, and as dangerous as a beast that had locked onto its prey. She leaned forward, reaching out a large, callous-covered hand to touch Shalom’s frail shoulder.

The cold touch, laden with an invisible pressure, made Shalom jump and spin around. She was met with the dark, soulless face of her sister. There was no apology, no awkwardness of one caught red-handed. Rahu stood tall, looking down, the aura of someone physically superior suffocating Shalom. Yet, Shalom did not flinch. The gentle, disciplined literature teacher had completely vanished, replaced by a woman whose eyes were as sharp as razor blades—as calm and chilling as winter ice.

She stood up slowly, brushing her knees. She ignored the cigarettes and lighter entirely; those were mere trifles of juvenile delinquency, not worth her attention now. Shalom bent over and picked up the stack of photos. Her movements were agonizingly slow, a composure so extreme it was suffocating.

- "Home early?"

Shalom spoke. Her voice did not tremble, nor did it crack; the tone was flat, devoid of any joy, sorrow, or rage.

Rahu remained as still as a statue, her pitch-black gaze locked onto every movement of her sister, offering no reply.

Slap!

Without warning, Shalom swung her hand, throwing the stiff, laminated photos directly into Rahu’s face. The edges grazed Rahu’s cheek, leaving a faint scratch, and then scattered across the floor like dead leaves.

- "Explain yourself." - Shalom said, crossing her arms. Her tone was razor-sharp, carrying absolute lethal intent. - "What is wrong with your mind, Rahu?"

Each word was enunciated slowly, embedding itself into Rahu’s eardrums. Shalom looked at the oversized girl before her as if appraising an alien organism, not her own blood. Shalom stepped half a pace forward, forcing Rahu to face her. 

- "Do you think I’m illiterate? Or were you planning to call this a puberty prank? Stalking, candid photos, writing depraved, filthy filth about your own sister's body? Fantasizing about pinning me to this table? Fantasizing about tearing my clothes? Obsessed with wanting to own me? Rahu, what is inside that skull of yours, a human brain or the instincts of a beast?"

Despite the icy, piercing words, each like a thousand poisoned needles piercing her soul, Rahu maintained a deathly silence. Her face darkened, her jaw clenching so hard the muscles bulged, yet she uttered not a single word of defense.

She was listening. She absorbed every ounce of Shalom’s contempt and ruthless logic. This emotionless response, devoid of tears or screams, was a thousand times more painful and stimulating to her than any outburst. Shalom was too perfect, too arrogant. Even when confronted with the deepest obscenity, she maintained a dignity that could not be tainted. Shalom twitched her lips, a sarcastic, soulless smile appearing on her pale face.

- "Silence? Or are you proud of this twisted affection? I raised you since our parents died, I gave you a proper education, only for me to receive this, a perverted stalker right in my own home."

She reached out, jabbing her index finger hard into Rahu’s firm chest, a rhythmic, oppressive gesture.

- "Wake up, Rahu. Open your eyes and look clearly. I am your biological sister! We came from the same womb, the blood in your veins is my blood. Only a moral degenerate who has utterly abandoned their humanity could allow this grotesque incestuous thought to take root."

Moral degenerate...

Incestuous...

Those two phrases acted like a nuclear bomb thrown directly into the black hole festering in Rahu’s mind. The fake silence was torn asunder. The final disguise was ground into dust. Rahu’s pupils contracted violently. A murderous aura exploded, blowing away all barriers of reason.

The moment Shalom finished speaking, before she could pull her hand back, a dark shadow loomed over her. Like a bolt of lightning, Rahu lunged. She spoke no word, offered no argument or explanation. Action was the only response for a predator cornered.

Rahu’s massive, burning hands firm as iron pliers gripped Shalom’s waist. Given the physical disparity between a high school student accustomed to street fighting and a literature teacher who spent her life with chalk, Shalom had no hope of resistance. She was lifted into the air and hurled onto the messy single bed in the corner.

- "Ugh!"

As her back hit the mattress, Shalom groaned from the impact. Yet her eyes remained wide, glaring with cold, boiling indignation at the person pinning her down. Rahu mounted Shalom, a knee wedged between her legs to lock off any path of retreat. She reached out, grabbing her sister's tiny wrists and brutally pinning them above her head. Her chest heaved, her hot breath carrying the scent of sweat and rain fanning directly onto Shalom’s refined face.

Without a second of hesitation, Rahu plunged her head down, devouring the lips of the sister she had craved for infinite lifetimes. It was not a kiss. It was an invasion, the tearing of a beast desperately proving its own existence.

Rahu’s lips were rough, crushing Shalom’s. Her sharp teeth bit into her sister’s lower lip with such force that fresh blood instantly welled up, the metallic tang spreading in both their mouths. She attacked with madness, her searing tongue forced Shalom’s clenched jaw open, ravaging and claiming every corner, every breath.

Shalom’s eyes widened. There was no panic or tears of the victimized. That ice-cold gaze was merely filled with freezing apathy, hatred, and absolute fury. She writhed. Her slender body twisted beneath Rahu’s weight, her legs kicking erratically, her head shaking relentlessly to avoid the tyrannical kiss.

- "Let... ugh... let go!" - Shalom cursed through gritted teeth, her voice fragmented by the assault on her mouth.

She would rather bite her own tongue off than submit. Shalom bit down hard on Rahu’s invasive tongue. Blood flowed more freely. But Rahu seemed not to know pain. In fact, the taste of her sister’s blood and her cold, prickly resistance only drove her to a frenzied ecstasy. She did not release; instead, she pressed the kiss deeper, using her body weight to crush Shalom’s struggle. One of her hands left Shalom’s wrists to snake into her long hair, gripping her nape and forcing her face to tilt upward to endure the ravaging. Rahu growled in her throat, eyes squeezed shut, greedily savoring the carnal collision she had longed for. Keep scolding me. You call me a degenerate, an incestuous animal? Yes! I am that monster!

The kiss dragged on in the darkness, suffocating and airless. The room was filled only with the wet sounds of lust, Rahu’s heavy panting, and the frantic friction of fabric as Shalom resisted without pause.

Shalom lay beneath Rahu, her wrists inflamed and red. Despite her lips being bitten to the point of swelling and bleeding, despite her air supply dwindling, she stared wide-eyed, coldly fixed on the ceiling. Her mind detached from the body being oppressed, guarding the arrogance of a master, refusing to shed a single humiliated tear before the wild beast unleashing its instincts.

Her frozen-ice eyes stared at the ceiling, her extreme rationality frantically searching for a gap in the beast pinning her down. Taking advantage of the moment Rahu was caught up in the assault and loosened the restraint on her lower body to shift her weight onto her shoulders, Shalom gathered the last remnants of strength left from her fever. She bent her knees and delivered a sharp, accurate kick to Rahu’s ribs.

- "Hnn!"

Struck unexpectedly in a weak spot, Rahu groaned, her pressure slackening slightly. Anticipating just that, Shalom used both hands to shove against the firm chest and decisively hurled Rahu aside. The beast staggered and rolled onto the empty mattress. Shalom sprang up like a coiled spring. Her long hair was disheveled, her silk homewear rumpled and skewed. She panted, her chest heaving violently, a bright red streak of blood trailing from her swollen lips.

Before Rahu could steady herself to sit up, Shalom swung her hand.

Slap!

A fiery strike, carrying all the fury, disgust, and authority of an older sister, slammed into Rahu’s tanned cheek. The force was so great that Rahu’s face jerked to the side, five red fingers imprinted clearly on her skin. The jarring sound tore through the silence of the house, reverberating against the four walls.

- "Animal!"

Shalom hissed through gritted teeth. The mask of composure and apathy finally showed cracks. Her cold eyes now burned with a fire of absolute loathing. She pointed a finger at the sister she had raised with her own hands, changing her address in the most ruthless, heartless manner possible. Shalom shouted, her slender frame trembling with agitation.

- "You’re insane! You’ve gone completely insane, Rahu! How dare you touch me with that filthy, distorted mindset? Who taught you such twisted, wretched morals?! I raised you for fifteen years, fed and schooled you, just for you to turn into this piece of garbage? I would rather you had died under a bridge that day than bring an incestuous monster back into my home!"

Each accusation felt like thousands of razor-sharp blades flaying the soul. Yet, before Shalom’s soaring rage, Rahu only slowly turned her face back. She did not reach out to touch her cheek, nor did she show any sign of remorse. Her dark, murky eyes stared fixedly at the blood trickling from Shalom’s lips. The corners of her mouth slowly hitched upward into a warped, insane, and reckless smile.

- "Look at that shameless attitude..." - Shalom panted, retreating a step, her gaze overflowing with utter loathing. She gritted her teeth, delivering the death sentence upon their blood relationship.

-"From this moment on, you and I are through. I have no younger sister who possesses the mind of an animal like you. Get out of my house! I disown you!"

Disown.

To Shalom, that word was the most painful severance, the heaviest punishment for one who had shattered moral order. Yet, falling into the eardrums of a madman like Rahu, those two words carried an entirely different meaning.

No longer sisters? Perfect. That damned blood-tie shackle that had imprisoned her for over a decade was finally shattered. If they were no longer sisters, she could rightfully become a woman, a stalker, a beast tearing at its prey without needing the excuse of kinship.

Seeing the insane smile on Rahu’s lips widening, a chill shot straight up Shalom’s spine. Her composure and logic began to falter before the pure, death-defying wildness of the person opposite her. She realized that scolding or appealing to morals was like playing a lute to a cow, Rahu was beyond redemption.

Without a second’s hesitation, Shalom spun around, her bare feet trampling the scattered photos on the floor, intending to flee to the living room to find help. But she had severely underestimated the reflexes of someone used to street brawling. Just as she turned, before she could reach the door, a powerful, storm-like force lunged from behind. Rahu pounced like a leopard, her sinewy, iron-like arms wrapping around Shalom’s slender waist. The sheer momentum was so great they both staggered; Rahu used the leverage to jerk Shalom backward, pinning her slender back firmly against her broad, burning-hot chest.

- "Ah! Let go! What do you think you’re doing?!"

Shalom struggled violently. Her hands clawed and tore at the arms locked around her waist. Her nails dug into Rahu’s flesh until she drew blood, but the monster behind seemed immune to pain. She stood firm as a fortress, imprisoning Shalom in a stifling embrace with no escape.

- "Disowned? Perfect..."

Rahu’s husky voice rang out right against Shalom’s ear, carrying a cold, diseased aura that made Shalom’s entire body break into goosebumps.

- "You don’t want to be my sister anymore... Then from now on, be my woman. No more blood ties... You are just my object now."

- "Shut your mouth! You animal... Let me go!" 

Shalom panicked, twisting her body, but Rahu’s arms only tightened further, as if trying to embed her into her very bones. Rahu buried her face into the nape of Shalom’s neck. Her nose greedily inhaled the pure pomelo blossom scent emanating from her hair and skin. Her hot, intermittent breath, carrying the manic pulse of desire, fanned directly onto the sensitive skin behind Shalom’s neck. Rahu whispered the most twisted, darkest vows of love into her sister’s ear.

- "Where do you intend to run? For the rest of your life, even if you go to the ends of the earth, I will find you and tie you back… You are mine... mine alone. No other man out there is allowed to touch you... Not a single one..."

While one hand remained locked around Shalom’s waist, Rahu’s other hand began to move. She did not use force to tear the clothes as before, but her large, callous-covered fingers slowly traced their way up to Shalom’s chest.

Rahu’s fingers expertly grabbed the flap of her sister's thin silk shirt.

Click.

The first button was undone.

Shalom’s eyes widened. A horrifying electric shock surged through her brain. The composure, coldness, and authority of a big sister and a teacher collapsed completely, replaced by genuine panic.

- "Don't... Rahu! Stop this instant! Touch me and you are destroying yourself!"

Shalom’s voice began to break, trembling uncontrollably. She poured her strength into pushing that wanton hand away, but her power compared to an Endura was nothing more than a mantis trying to block a carriage.

Click.

The second button popped.

Rahu’s rough hand slid inside the cool silk, directly touching the pristine, smooth flesh of Shalom’s collarbone. The temperature difference between her younger sister’s burning hand and her own skin, frozen in terror, created an extreme stimulation. Rahu stroked and caressed slowly, possessively. Every time her finger brushed past, it left a searing friction, burning away every last layer of Shalom’s modest exterior.

- "Scared?"

Rahu chuckled, the rumble vibrating through her chest, transmitted directly through the thin fabric into Shalom’s back. She bit lightly onto her sister’s blushing earlobe, her wet tongue licking the sensitive edge.

- "You were scolding me so fluently just a moment ago? Where did your arrogance go? Why are you shivering like a fledgling bird now?"

- "Stop... I beg you..."

Physiological tears began to well up in Shalom’s eyes. Her last line of defense, her humanity was crushed before this stark reality. The person pawing at her, torturing her with her hot breath and filthy, lecherous words, was not a strange man, but the very little sister she had cradled since birth. The ripped-to-shreds concept of morality made Shalom’s stomach churn with the urge to vomit.

But that weak plea only acted as oil on the fire of lust raging within Rahu’s heart.

She ignored the panic, ignored Shalom’s tears. Her hand continued to slide deeper, undoing the third button, slipping past the thin bra to impudently grasp the softness of its mistress. Her hot breath fanned frantically against her neck, blending with the desperate sobbing echoing in the small room. The light of the new day seemed permanently trapped outside the window, leaving the darkness of incest, possession, and torment to swallow the lives of two people who had once been flesh and blood.

Shalom’s back was pressed against Rahu’s broad, heaving chest, which burned like a furnace. The contact of their skin, once a source of comfort, now brought no warmth of kinship, only a shivering, repulsive dread that crawled down the young teacher's spine. Rahu’s large, rough hands, calloused from years of fighting, had breached the thin silk of her shirt. They moved brutally over Shalom’s goosebump-riddled skin, before brazenly cupping a breast that was heaving in sheer terror.

- "Ah... No! Let go!"

Shalom sobbed, a pathetic sound as physiological tears welled in her eyes. She twisted her body in a frenzy, her arms weak from recent illness flailing, scratching and pounding against her younger sister’s offending arm. But in her despair, Rahu’s limb remained hard as cold iron, a relentless pincer that wouldn't budge. It locked around her waist, trapping her in total helplessness. The harder Shalom struggled, the tighter that corrupt hand squeezed, kneading the most sensitive part of the woman with a raw, merciless sense of possession.

- "Be a good girl... Stop resisting..."

Rahu’s voice was hoarse and broken, right against Shalom’s ear. At the same moment, the beast’s dry, searing lips pressed against the pristine nape of her sister’s neck. Rahu kissed and bit with madness. Her fangs teased the delicate skin, leaving glaring, crimson marks, the predator’s brand of ownership upon prey trapped in its snare.

- "You’re insane... Rahu, wake up! I am your biological sister!"

Shalom wept, her teeth sinking into her lower lip until it bled, trying to stifle the humiliating moans escaping her throat. The disgust and panic rising to her brain made her limbs turn to jelly; she could only lean into the very person violating her to keep from collapsing to the floor. However, that tear-drenched plea didn't reach Rahu’s ears. Instead, the words "biological sister" acted like a razor-sharp blade slicing into the darkest part of her soul, triggering the monster within to explode.

- "Yes! You are my biological sister! You are the damned title that has stood in my way for over a decade!"

Rahu growled, her rapid, burning breath fanning Shalom’s neck. Her hand on Shalom's chest brushed over the sensitive tip, feeling the violent tremors radiating from her sister's frame. Rahu squeezed her eyes shut, greedily filling her lungs with the scent of pomelo blossoms, a pure aroma now defiled by her own carnal lust. Dark despicable confessions, buried in the grave of her heart for years, now burst forth like a flood. Rahu whispered, her voice heavy with sorrow and an ultimate, festering resentment.

- "Do you know, Shalom… From the day I gained consciousness, from the year I hit puberty... seeing you don that student áo dài for university, my world had already turned upside down."

Rahu remembered those old days. She remembered the graceful gait, the gentle smile, and the radiant intellect that emanated from Shalom. The older she got, the more beautiful she became. A dazzling blinding beauty. But that beauty became a slow-acting poison, torturing the soul of the younger sister who carried the blood of rebellion.

- "When you went out, men stared at you with hunger. They gave you flowers, gifts, spoke garbage flirting. Every time I saw you smile at them, I wanted to grab a club and smash every one of their heads in!" 

Rahu’s grip tightened unconsciously, drawing a choked cry from Shalom. 

- "I hate them! I hate how the outside world wants to steal you from me! You are mine! You are my entire world, do you understand?!"

Shalom shook her head frantically, her vision blurred by tears. She didn't want to hear it. She didn't want to accept this horrifying truth. The excessive care and protection she had mistaken for deep sisterly love turned out to be the cage of someone with a pathological need for possession. But Rahu would not release her. She wanted to strip away every shred of her own facade, forcing her sister to look directly at the monster she had raised.

- "Do you remember the stormy nights? The nights I’d run into your room clutching my pillow, saying I was afraid of ghosts, of thunder... You pitied me, held me in your arms, coaxed me to sleep."

Rahu laughed. A dry, bitter, and mocking chuckle echoed in the cramped space.

- "Afraid of ghosts? A teenage girl who could smash heads with an iron pipe in the alley without blinking, afraid of ghosts? You were so foolish... You were so naive, Shalom."

Hearing this, Shalom’s pupils widened to their limit. A freezing cold surged from the soles of her feet to the crown of her head. She remembered those nights. Her big sister-like younger sister had nestled into her chest, arms locked around her waist. Shalom had thought she was seeking family warmth, but the truth...

- "I wasn't afraid of ghosts… I just used that as an excuse to climb into your bed legitimately. To smell your scent. To hold you. Those nights when you slept soundly, you never knew I stayed awake all night just to watch you. My hands wanted to touch you, to stroke your skin, to kiss your lips... I had to bite my own hands to restrain that bestial urge, just because of this cursed sister title!"

- "Shut up... I beg you, stop..."

Shalom sobbed. Her moral worldview had completely collapsed. It turned out the seeds of her torment had been sown right beside her for years without her knowing. The small house that had been her warmest sanctuary had now become a demon's lair, harboring a foul, incestuous love.

Rahu turned Shalom around. Her arms, like iron vises, pinned the slender woman against the wall. The pale light from the window illuminated her angular face, the sharp scar, and her bloodshot, vein-mapped eyes. She looked straight into her sister’s tear-filled, terrified gaze. Rahu grated out each word, decisive and resolute, like a life sentence that could not be appealed. 

- "I love you… I love you to the point of insanity. This isn't the affection of a younger sister for an older sister. I want you to be my woman. I want to pin you down, I want you to bear... well, no, we can't have children, but I want you to belong entirely to me, body and soul!"

- "You're a sick freak! Sick!" 

Shalom shrieked, swinging her hand to slap her sister again. This time, Rahu was prepared. She easily caught Shalom’s weak wrist, pinning it firmly against the wall above her head.

- "Yes! I am a freak!"

Rahu did not deny it. Instead, she claimed it with pride. The smile on her lips became even more warped and miserable.

- "Do you know the most ironic thing? I like women! I hadn't even found a way to tell you that secret before you exposed an even bigger one yourself, that your younger sister harbors incestuous desires for her own biological sister."

Shalom was stunned. Secrets piled upon secrets. The shock followed shock, leaving her mind a blank slate. Everything was happening too fast, too brutally, far exceeding the endurance of a woman who taught children.

- "I... I will call the police... I will tell everyone your true face..." - Shalom whispered a threat, but her words trembled, carrying no weight against someone who had completely lost their mind.

Rahu was not afraid. With her free hand, she brutally tore the remaining buttons from Shalom’s blouse, completely exposing the black lace lingerie that contrasted sharply against her snowy skin. She gazed at her sister’s body with a gaze of obsessed, greedy madness, her rough hand intentionally, maliciously caressing from the waist up to the sensitive chest.

- "Call them then…"

 Rahu challenged, biting Shalom's earlobe and fanning her burning breath into her ear. 

- "Go ahead and call the police. Tell the whole world that the elegant, exemplary teacher Shalom of Eastside High School was raped by her own sister. Do you think public opinion will spare you? How will they look at you? Can you endure the tongues of the world?"

Shalom squeezed her eyes shut, tears streaming down. She knew Rahu was right. In this prejudiced society, a catastrophe like incest even as a victim would destroy her entire reputation, her career, and her life. This beast had calculated every step, she held the ultimate leverage. Her pride and the self-respect of an educator.

- "I prepared myself for this a long time ago. When I wrote those words behind that photo, I knew the truth would be exposed one day. I knew that when you found out, you would hate me to your very marrow. You would loathe me, disown me, treat me like garbage."

Rahu’s hand slid down, slipping past Shalom’s waistband. The forbidden touch made Shalom jump, her entire body stiffened like a string about to snap, her sobbing intensifying. Rahu smiled, the blood-smeared smile of someone ready to fall into the eighteen layers of hell.

- "But that doesn't matter. You hate me already. You already see me as an animal. If goodness cannot win your love, then I will use violence to bind you. I would rather you hate me your whole life, hate me until you close your eyes in death, than to watch you fall into someone else's arms."

Extreme fear overwhelmed Shalom. Rahu’s arms were like cold steel, imprisoning her in an inescapable circle. Those callous-covered fingers continued to graze her most sensitive areas, carrying a raw and merciless desire for possession.

The rough hands calloused from two years of wielding iron bars, tightened around Shalom's waist like cold iron calipers. They felt every tremor of the slender body convulsing beneath her palm, the familiar scent of pomelo blossoms now mingled with the smell of cold sweat born of terror, causing the beast in her chest to roar in frenzy.

- "You... are mine."

Her voice was hoarse and broken, carrying over a decade of suppression. Rahu lifted Shalom’s body as if she were a cotton doll. Shalom could only let out a single, broken shriek of horror, her hands clawing madly at Rahu’s shoulders, her nails sinking deep to leave thin, long trails of blood on the tanned skin. But Rahu felt no pain. She felt only a trembling ecstasy.

In one long stride, she placed her sister onto the messy single bed in the corner. The mattress sank under the weight of their bodies. Rahu immediately used her knees to pin Shalom’s hips on either side, one massive hand capturing both of her sister’s frail wrists, pinning them above her head into the rumpled sheets. Shalom struggled like a small animal cornered, her body twisting, tears streaming out incessantly.

- "Rahu! Let go! You... you let me go right now! I beg you... don't... don't do this!!!"

Shalom’s voice broke in heavy sobs, trembling to the point of incoherence. She pulled her wrists, trying to struggle, but the strength gap was too immense. Rahu only squeezed slightly, and her sister's wrists turned red, throbbing with numbness. Her eyes were blood-red, veined with blood, looking down at her sister's pale, tear-streaked face with a fixation so insane it was pathological.

- "Why are you crying..."

Rahu leaned down, her burning breath fanning Shalom’s cheek, her lips brushing against her trembling skin. She didn't wait for Shalom to answer. Rahu’s free hand brutally grabbed the rumpled silk shirt and gave it a decisive yank. Rip! Rip! Rip! The last buttons flew across the bed. The thin black lace bra was yanked down in a violent motion, exposing two milky-white smooth mounds heaving with panic and terror. Shalom screamed desperately, kicking her legs wildly to strike at Rahu’s stomach.

- "Don't... don't undress me! Rahu! You are my little sister... you can't... stop it!!!"

Rahu only sneered, a warped smile full of madness. She leaned down immediately, her burning lips pressing tightly onto her sister’s left breast, suckling strongly, greedily, as if she wanted to suck Shalom’s soul into herself. Her tongue wrapped around the rosy nipple, licking loudly, then biting down lightly, hard enough to leave a glaring red tooth mark on the white skin.

- "Ahhh!!! It hurts... it hurts so much... Rahu... let go... let go right now!!!"

Shalom shrieked in pain, tears flowing like rain, her body jolting in fits. She tried to raise her knee to strike Rahu hard, but the monster only tightened her grip, forcing her to lie still beneath her. Rahu switched to the other breast, the wet, sucking sounds echoing hideously in the cramped room. Her teeth bit harder, lengthening the red streaks on the skin, then licking like a wild animal licking the wounds of its prey.

- "You taste so good... your skin is so soft... I've dreamed of this scene for so many years..."

She muttered, her voice raspy with desire, kissing and biting all the way along Shalom’s chest, down to the flat stomach that was contracting in terror. Her lips brushed past the navel, her tongue licking a burning circle, then biting the skin again, causing Shalom to shriek a long, broken sound.

- "No!!! Don't... Rahu... I beg you... I am your biological sister... you can't do this to me..."

Shalom’s tears fell onto the sheets, soaking Rahu’s temples. She cried until her voice went hoarse, her body trembling as if about to shatter. But Rahu only tightened her grip on her wrists, her knees still locking her hips so she had no chance to struggle. She yanked the last of the thin silk pants and underwear down to her ankles in one decisive motion, completely exposing her older sister’s naked, milky-white body before her eyes.

Rahu raised her head, her eyes flashing with undisguised, frenzied obsession. She stared at Shalom’s flawless body, the body she had craved for more than a decade.

- "You are so beautiful... so beautiful that I want to swallow you whole..."

She whispered, leaning down to kiss along Shalom’s pristine inner thighs, her lips and tongue gliding over the smooth skin, biting lightly one by one to leave clearly visible red teeth marks. Shalom sobbed, her legs twitching hopelessly, trying to close them but blocked by Rahu’s knees.

- "You are mine... mine alone... even if you hate me, even if you cry until your voice breaks, even if you call me an incestuous animal... I won't let go... I've waited too long... every night I only thought about kissing you, suckling you, biting you like this..."

She kissed all over Shalom’s body, from neck to chest, from chest to stomach, then back up to suckle at her breasts without pause. Her mouth was wet, tooth marks imprinted everywhere on her white skin, now red and bruised from the biting. Shalom cried until she was exhausted, her body gradually softening, only able to sob in desperate, ultimate despair.

- "Rahu... please... don't... I love you... don't hurt me anymore... I beg you..."

Without a redundant word, Rahu slipped her free hand downward, slipping through Shalom’s pristine, trembling flesh. Her rough fingers touched Shalom’s warm, soft womanhood. She stroked slowly, rubbing gently along the smooth flesh, clearly feeling the hot lubricating fluid leaking out despite how miserably Shalom was sobbing.

Shalom could only moan and cry. Her voice broke into endless sobs, her body jolting under Rahu’s pressure. Tears flowed like rain, but she no longer had the strength to scream. Only painful, humiliated moans escaped from her hoarse throat. Rahu leaned down close to her face, her silver-red eyes staring fixedly at Shalom’s pale, tear-filled face. Her lips curled into a warped, insane smile.

- "Does it feel good?" - Her voice whispered, asking while her middle finger rubbed lightly against the clitoris, which was slowly stiffening under the fluid. - "Tell me... does it feel good?"

Shalom shook her head frantically, her messy long hair splayed on the pillow. Her eyes streaming, she bit her lower lip until it bled, trying to close her legs, but Rahu’s knees held them fast. Rahu growled in her throat, a hoarse sound like a beast being provoked. Her fingers increased their pace, rubbing harder, mercilessly teasing her sister's clitoris.

- "Your cunt is already soaking wet, yet you still deny it?"

She sneered, her voice filled with contempt and excitement.

- "Look... your fluids are all over my hand. It doesn't matter how much you hate me… your body is lying to you. It craves me... it's soaking wet for me..."

Shalom could only sob, her body shivering. She shook her head continuously, but the moans from her throat grew weaker and more broken. Rahu didn't give her a chance to breathe. She used her massive, muscular hands to force Shalom’s snowy thighs wide apart, fixing her in a fully open position before her. Her sister now lay there, naked, helpless, her rosy, wet womanhood fully exposed under the dim yellow light of the room.

Her fingers continued to rub her clitoris, faster, harder, rubbing in circles without pause. The fluid increased, wet, sticky sounds echoing hideously in the narrow space. Every time her finger brushed past, Shalom moaned a long, tear-filled sound, but her body betrayed her cruelly, the clitoris stiffened more and more, twitching beneath Rahu’s hand. ahu whispered, her deep voice full of possession.

- "See... your cunt is trembling... It feels good because of me. No matter how much your mouth denies it, it’s useless. I know everything... I’ve known you for a long time..."

She toyed with her sister's clitoris a while longer, her fingers sometimes rubbing hard, sometimes stroking gently, driving Shalom closer to exhaustion. Her cries blended with incoherent moans, her slender body convulsing under the pressure of the beast.

Then Rahu crawled lower. Her massive hands reached behind, cradling Shalom’s snowy buttocks, lifting her hips slightly. Her face plunged directly between her spread thighs, her nose inhaling deeply the intoxicating, feminine scent radiating from Shalom’s wet womanhood.

- "You... smell so good..." 

She growled, then didn't hesitate, her burning tongue shot out, licking a long path from bottom to top along the leaking slit.

- "Ahhh!!! No... don't lick... Rahu!!!"

Shalom screamed desperately, her body jolting as if shocked by electricity. But Rahu only squeezed her buttocks tighter, pressing her face into her womanhood. Her tongue licked greedily, wrapping around the clitoris, suckling hard until Shalom moaned a long, rain-streamed cry. She suckled her entire slit, her tongue delving deep inside, licking clean every drop of hot fluid, then returning to tease the clitoris with the tip of her tongue.

Loud, wet sucking sounds echoed in the small room. Rahu licked and suckled like a starving beast, without pause. Her hands squeezed her sister’s buttocks hard, her nails digging slightly into the flesh to hold her firm so Shalom couldn't close her legs. Every time her tongue swept past the clitoris, every time she suckled hard, Shalom moaned desperately, her cries blending with unstoppable sounds.

- "Ugh... hmm... no... it feels good... that's not right..."

She suckled even more fiercely, her tongue wrapping around the clitoris, rubbing constantly. Shalom’s fluid increased, soaking Rahu’s mouth. She looked up a little, her mouth wet, gazing at her sister with blood-red obsessed eyes. She supported her sister's buttocks to lift them higher, letting her tongue delve deeper inside, sweeping every corner. Shalom could only sob, her body trembling, legs twitching hopelessly in Rahu’s arms. Her moans grew weaker, broken, but her body betrayed her continuously, the clitoris twitched hard under Rahu’s tongue, her fluids pouring out more than ever before.

Her mouth sucked the clitoris hard, her tongue licked the length of the slit, then plunged deep inside again. She wanted to etch her sense of taste into her sister's flavor, with every centimeter of flesh she had craved for years. Seventeen years living beside her, every night she only dreamed of this scene, to be between her thighs, to lick her cunt, to hear her cry and beg in despair.

- "You are mine... your cunt is mine too..."

Shalom cried until she was exhausted, her voice reduced to broken moans. Her body trembled violently under Rahu’s mouth, tears falling incessantly, but she no longer had the strength to resist. Only ultimate humiliation remained, and spasms of pleasure that could not be controlled spread through her entire body. Rahu continued. Her tongue rubbed the clitoris incessantly, her mouth suckled hard, her hands squeezed her sister’s buttocks tight. The small room was submerged in Shalom’s sobbing, Rahu’s frenzied panting, and the hideous, wet sound of licking and suckling.

She wanted more. She wanted to delve deep into her sister, wanted to claim every inch of rosy flesh trembling with humiliation and horror. Her large hands supporting Shalom’s snowy buttocks, lifting her hips higher, Rahu raised her face slightly. Her lips were wet, sticky with her sister’s fluids, her blood-red silver eyes flashing with ultimate possession.

- "Sister... I want to go inside you..."

Her voice was husky, almost a growl. Without waiting for Shalom to react, Rahu slid her large, rough, calloused middle finger slowly but decisively into her sister’s soaking wet slit.

- "Ah...!!! It hurts... it hurts so much... Rahu... pull it out... pull your hand out right now!!!"

Shalom shrieked desperately, her body jolting like she’d been electrocuted. She tried to close her legs, but Rahu’s knees locked them firm. Tears flowed like rain, her voice broken in sobs. Rahu’s finger had only pushed in a short way when it stopped. Something thin, elastic, but firm blocked the finger's path, a fragile hymen still intact.

Rahu stiffened. She realized it immediately.

Her sister was still a virgin.

A shock of frenzied pleasure spread through her body. She had imagined this scene thousands of times, but never dared to hope her sister, the elegant disciplined woman who always kept her distance from every man was still intact like that. No guy had ever touched her. No guy had ever seen, touched, or violated her. She was still pure, still obedient, still entirely her own from start to finish.

- "Sister..."

Rahu whispered, her voice trembling with emotion and excitement. She pulled her finger out slightly, then pushed gently to touch that fragile membrane again, as if afraid of shattering the most precious treasure on earth.

- "You never fooled around with any guy... You kept yourself... pure for me... You're so good... so good..."

Shalom sobbed, her body trembling violently. She shook her head, her voice breaking in despair:

- "It hurts... Rahu... pull it out... it hurts so much..."

But Rahu didn't listen. She leaned down, kissing her sister's flat, contracting stomach, then looked straight into Shalom’s tear-filled eyes. Her voice was deep, carrying a blood-drenched oath and suffocating possession:

- "I will be the one who takes your virginity. No one else is allowed to touch you. You will be my woman. Only mine. From today on, you are no longer the elegant teacher Shalom..."

Before Shalom could open her mouth to refuse, before she could scream one more time, Rahu acted. She thrust her middle finger deeper, powerfully and mercilessly. The fragile hymen was torn apart in one decisive thrust.

- "AHHHH!!! It hurts... it hurts so much...!!! Rahu... Stop!!!"

Shalom shrieked desperately, her cries blending with the painful moans tearing her heart apart. Her body jolted so hard she nearly flew off the bed, her legs twitching frantically but kept locked by Rahu. Virgin blood mixed with hot lubricating fluid, coating Rahu’s finger. A sharp pain radiated from her womanhood to her brain, making Shalom gasp, tears flowing like a spring, her mouth only able to repeat incoherent whimpers in her sobbing.

Rahu did not pull out. Instead, she pushed her finger deeper, through the torn membrane, plunging straight into her sister's cunt, hot, tight, and trembling violently. She stopped for a second to feel, to savor the purity she had just shattered. Then she began to thrust. Thrust hard. Thrust deep. Her rough finger hooked upward, rubbing against the inner wall of flesh mercilessly, both painful and exquisitely pleasurable.

- "You're so tight... your cunt is clutching my finger..."

Rahu growled in ecstasy, her eyes blood-red with lust. She pulled her finger out slightly, then thrust hard back in, deeper this time, hooking her finger to rub against the sensitive spot inside. The wet, messy sound of virgin blood mingled with lubricating fluid echoed hideously. Shalom could only cry and moan, her slender body convulsing under the beast's pressure.

- "Ugh... hmm... it hurts... no... Rahu... I can't take it... pull it out... pull it out... it hurts like hell..."

Rahu sneered, a smile of obsessed madness. She increased the pace, thrusting and hooking continuously, her finger moving violently in and out of her sister's cunt, both destroying the last layer of purity and stimulating the sensitive spots deep inside. Bright red virgin blood coated her palm, only exciting her further.

- "Why are you crying... I am making you my woman. You should be thanking me. I have only dreamed of this day... dreamed of putting my hand into your cunt... dreamed of taking your virginity... dreamed of hearing you cry because of me..."

She leaned down, her mouth still suckling her sister's clitoris while her finger continued to thrust without pause. Her tongue licked greedily, her finger hooked hard, rubbing continuously against the hot wall of flesh that was contracting from pain and humiliation. Shalom was exhausted, her cries reduced to broken moans, her body trembling, her hands still pinned above her head, unable to resist.

- "Rahu... I... I hate you... hate you... ugh... hmm... it hurts... it feels good... no... I don't know... stop..."

Shalom bit her lower lip until it bled, trying to shake her head, but her body betrayed her cruelly. A strange, burning pleasure spread from deep inside, making her lower abdomen contract. Her initial moans of pain gradually blended into trembling, sweet, uncontrollable sounds. She still tried to resist, her hands still twitching weakly, but occasionally, when Rahu’s finger hooked the right spot, she instinctively arched her back, a long, delirious moan escaping her mouth

- "Ugh... hmm... ahhh... Rahu..."

She hated herself. Hated how her body betrayed her, hated the pleasure that was softening her, but she couldn't stop. In that moment, when Rahu hooked deep and rubbed hard once more, Shalom instinctively brought her hands, which had been loosely pinned around Rahu’s neck, hugging her younger sister tight. Her nails dug into Rahu’s back, not to push her away, but to cling to the source of the pleasure driving her insane.

- "Rahu... you... ugh... don't... but... it feels good... I... I..."

She sobbed, tears falling onto Rahu’s shoulder, but her legs wrapped around her younger sister’s hips, her hips swaying slightly to the rhythm of her fingers.

- "I love you... I love you... You are my everything... I love you so much... Does it feel good? Tell me..."

Shalom didn't cry anymore. She only knew how to moan in ecstasy, hugging Rahu tight, her body convulsing in fits. Pleasure peaked, her lower abdomen contracting violently, her legs locking around her younger sister’s hips.

- "Rahu... you... ugh... hmm... I... I can't take it anymore... ahhhh..."

The rebellious younger sister growled, thrusting her finger hard one last time, rubbing the clitoris with her thumb while her finger thrust deep inside.

Shalom arched her back violently, her entire body convulsing strongly. A long broken trembling sweet moan escaped her throat. Below, her cunt contracted frantically, damp with fluids, spraying in a hot stream, coating Rahu’s hand and soaking the sheets. She reached a powerful climax, her body trembling without stop, her hands clutching Rahu as if afraid that letting go would send her falling into an abyss.

- "AHHHH!!! Rahu... I... I feel good... ugh... hmm..."

Rahu didn't withdraw her hand immediately. She slowly hooked gently inside her sister's convulsing cunt, savoring the last drops of lubricating fluid pouring out. Shalom lay motionless, her body softened, panting for breath. Tears still rolled down her cheeks, but now it was a confusion of pleasure and humiliation. She hugged Rahu tight, no longer having the strength to push her away or curse. Only small broken moans echoed in the cramped room. Rahu leaned down, kissing her sister's lips lightly, then deeper, greedily. She pulled her finger out slowly, sticky with fluids and virgin blood, bringing it to her mouth to lick off with satisfaction.

- "You taste so good... From now on... don't reject me again, do you hear me, my love...?"

Shalom squeezed her eyes shut, tears falling silently. Her body was still shivering from the aftershocks of pleasure, but in her heart was a despairing abyss. Rahu hugged her sister tight, stroking her messy long hair, whispering incessantly.

- "I love you... I love you... Don't cry... I will take care of you for the rest of your life… "

The storm of lust and violence had passed, leaving behind a landscape of desolate ruin.

On the rumpled mattress, Shalom lay on her side, her back to Rahu. A thin blanket was pulled up to her shoulders, concealing a body mapped with the bruised, violet imprints of tyrannical aggression. She was not asleep. How could she close her eyes when her entire worldview, her very sense of morality and ethics, had just been crushed by the hands of her own flesh and blood? Her eyes, swollen and hollow, stared unblinkingly at the yellowed wall. Tears no longer surged in torrents as they had during her resistance. Instead, they simply welled up and spilled from the corners of her eyes, falling onto the pillow, drop by drop, cold and utterly hopeless.

Rahu lay pressed against her sister’s back. Her chest rose and fell with heavy, ragged breaths. The cruel beast of the afternoon had vanished, replaced by a hollow shell consumed by regret and dread. As the bloodlust receded, cold reason returned, slapping Rahu with the freezing reality. She had just violated her own sister.

She propped herself up on one arm, watching the frail shoulder that trembled with Shalom's fractured breathing. A bitter blockage tightened in Rahu's throat, feeling as though thousands of needles were piercing her larynx. Her trembling hand reached out, hesitating, before carefully wrapping around Shalom’s waist, drawing that ice-cold body into her embrace.

Shalom did not struggle, nor did she curse, nor did she push her away. Her strength exhausted, her spirit deadened, she remained motionless like a silent, wooden statue. This unnatural obedience was an invisible blade piercing Rahu’s heart. She would have preferred it if Shalom had turned to strike her, to claw at her, to curse her as a depraved animal as she had before, anything was better than this death-like stillness as she endured Rahu’s touch.

- "I’m sorry... Sister, I’m sorry..."

Rahu buried her face in Shalom’s disheveled hair, her voice rasping and broken, mingling with soft, stifled sobs. She repeated those three meaningless words again and again, her arms tightening ever so slightly, as if to transmit some of her own warmth to the woman shivering from the aftershocks. Her large, calloused hands moved clumsily, stroking Shalom’s shoulder, awkwardly trying to soothe the agony she herself had inflicted.

But what value did apologies hold now? Everything was laid bare. The darkest, deepest secret hidden beneath the tin box had been exposed. She had used the most depraved of actions to tear their sisterly bond into a thousand pieces. There was no longer any chance for redemption or excuse. Rahu knew all too well that a woman who valued morality, intellect, and self-respect as deeply as Shalom did would never forgive such a heinous crime. Her twisted affections had crossed the limits of what any human could bear.

Now, lying there holding her sister’s broken body in the gloomy twilight, Rahu waited only for the verdict. She waited for the moment Shalom would muster her last breath, turn to point a finger at her, and utter the final, unforgiving sentence: "Get out of my house."

Rahu had already mapped out the scenario for herself. She would not beg, nor would she lash out or use violence to force her sister again. She had satisfied the selfish malice within herself; she had dragged her deity down into the filthy mud. Now, the time had come to pay the price. When that command to leave was spoken, she would obediently rise, gather a few ragged clothes, walk out that door, and disappear from Shalom’s life forever. She would wander society as a drifting vagabond, a homeless drifter, if only to restore peace and purity to the sister she loved more than life itself.

Shalom continued to cry, silent, bitter tears flowing without end. Rahu held her close, not daring to loosen her grip, yet not daring to hold her too tightly, only able to stupidly use her own body to shield her. Two bodies pressed together, sharing the same blood, yet separated by the darkest abyss of sin, waiting in silence for the final moment of severance.