Success or Failure

The next day, everyone in school heard the news that something big would go down in the hall after school, including the three siblings who just walked through the school gate.

Before they parted ways to head to their individual faculties, Desmond turned to his sisters and ruffled their hair. "You girls stay safe and contact me if anything goes wrong, okay? I'll be here in a jiffy."

Out of concern for Luna, Erica had told Desmond of everything that happened while they were in the car on the way to school.

The two sisters nodded their heads with a smile on their faces. Erica's smile was brighter and more carefree while Luna's was much more reserved.

Straight after class ended, Erica exited her classroom to find Luna outside standing by the wall and reading a book. Nobody paid her any attention. Erica asked her friends to wait then went to Luna.

"Jie? What're you doing here?" Erica asked with a slight tilt to her head.

"I'm taking a break from studying today to hang out with you. Is that not okay?" Luna asked with a slight raise of an eyebrow and small grin.

"Really?!" Erica's eyes brightened. Because of Luna's hardworking nature, they hardly got to spend much time leisurely together. "Hold on, I'll just let my friends know."

After she came bounding back to Luna's side, she informed Luna, "Everyone seems interested in finding out what would be taking place in the hall, even my friends are, so they're all headed there. The entertainment building will probably be pretty empty because of that. Where would you like to go?"

"How about the mini aquarium in the entertainment building? Pretty sure it'll be much better now without all the couples in the school flocking there." There was a little laughter in Luna's voice.

Erica laughed outrightly and agreed with Luna. "Let's go!"

The aquarium was indeed much more peaceful like they thought.

Erica's eyes sparkled as she talked on and on about all the marine animals that the school's aquarium has.

Sadly, they did not get to spend very long together as Lucas made his appearance.

Luna was the first to notice his presence since Erica was still staring into the aquarium and going on about the fishes and corals in the tank. Moreover, this was Luna's real intention. Guessing how Erica was likely the subject of the big show about to go down in the hall, she knew that Lucas would come to get Erica. By staying beside Erica, she would not have to go through the trouble of finding him.

They locked gazes for a good few seconds before Luna greeted him, "Mr Wu."

Erica's head snapped around.

Lucas did not seem surprised that a stranger would know his name. He knew that he was pretty well-known in school in his own way. "Excuse me, but I'm here for your friend."

He then shifted his gaze onto Erica, who now has a scowl on her face, to say, "Miss Lee, your presence is needed in the hall." He did not care if she would listen to him or not since he has a back up plan. He simply decided to be cordial at the start before he got ruthless.

"Excuse me, Mr Wu, but I'm her older sister. Also, I'd like 10 minutes of your time, please."

"I can see you after I'm done with your sister."

"If I wasn't clear enough, that wasn't a question." She then faced Erica again. "Erica, please be patient and wait here for me till I'm done with my talk with him, okay?"

Erica looked worriedly at Luna. She was not keen on heeding Luna's instructions, but Luna knew that, so she patted Erica's head then walked off without waiting for a reply.

Lucas stared at Erica who obediently stood by the tank waiting. Thinking that it might give him more material to slap Erica's face with, he decided to oblige Luna's request for his time.

Luna began walking again when she saw Lucas walk towards her, then led him out of the mini-aquarium.

The moment they exited, Luna got straight to the point. "You're here to get Erica to the hall for some sick humiliation play, aren't you?"

He looked at her, eyes wide with surprise, which quickly turned into a sharp glare. "I have no need for excuses or bribes."

"I'm not here for those. I'm asking to take Erica's place."

His eyes grew a little wider again. She did not flinch at his glare like many others would. In fact, her expression did not change in the slightest. A strange feeling like he had met his match began to sprout within him.

/How have I never noticed someone like her before?/

"Why?"

"She's my sister."

"And you think you're helping her by doing this? You're only spoiling her."

"She's not a bad person. She does not normally act like this. Her hatred and anger this time was beyond the charts so my family forgives her for that. Hate the sin, not the sinner. I know that others would not though, so I'm asking to take her place in her punishment."

He gritted his teeth hard then angrily took one heavy step at a time towards Luna, forcing her to back off until her back was against the wall. He stopped when he was a mere feet away from her.

Before she could react, he bent down to pull up her dark blue skirt enough to reveal a slender but badly scarred thigh. "Her anger caused this. Yet you're willing to let her go without a single punishment?"

Luna looked down at his hand on her bunched up skirt and her exposed scar for a short moment before she calmly and firmly pushed his hand away then brushed her skirt. "Do you have to punish someone for them to realise their mistake and learn from it?"

His attempt at ruffling her feathers failed. He began to recognise Luna as quite the force to reckon with. When someone could stay this level-headed in a conflict, it would be harder for anyone to gain control over them.

"She should still learn to take responsibility for her actions and not push everything onto her sister, don't you think so? So aren't you spoiling her?" He continued to challenge her.

"I would, of course, let her bear the consequences of her actions if she had done this willingly."

Lucas caught onto her implication. His brows creased deeply together. "Are you trying to say that someone forced her?"

"Rather than someone forcing her, I'm questioning whether she truly had any free will in what she did this time. She has always been a good girl. Why would she suddenly become some villain upon entering this school? I'd say that some people's existences are just made to go against each other, no matter how hard they try to avoid or fight it. Isn't it the same for you?"

"What do you mean?" His voice was deep and threatening. This talk about lacking free will and being controlled slightly triggered Lucas.

He did not like being controlled and put at the mercy of others, which was why he worked so hard to enter this school, then even harder to excel. The only person whom he found has interacted with him with a pure heart and mind was Rina. A yearning to protect this purity from being corrupted by the world took root inside him from then on.

"Tell me, when you first met Rina, what did it feel like? Love at first sight? Does that really exist? Why're you doing what you're doing for her? Why're you doing what you're doing now? Are everyone really just slaves to their emotions, or is there something more and bigger than anyone could imagine, that's playing out and controlling all of our actions and decisions?"

She continued on without a break, not giving Lucas a chance to speak.

"You tried hard to let go of your love several times, didn't you? Did it work? Or did you pick the sword back up for her each time? You seem to exist just to love and protect a certain someone. The same goes for Rina and Victor. They don't even need to do anything for drama to follow them. It's as if they exist just to create some school drama for the populace."

"You-"

"Am I wrong?" Luna looked at him dead in the eye, clearly challenging him.

He found himself tongue-tied for the first time in his life. Although it was worded very weirdly, he could not deny a single thing. Ironically, he was the one whose feathers were getting ruffled now. Without her knowing it, she had found his sore spot.

"Suffer in her place like you wished for then." He growled then dragged her away, keeping a firm hold on her wrist.

/Erica, please wait there. Don't come./

The longer time dragged on, the more Erica felt unsettled. She chewed on her bottom lip so much that it started to feel a little raw.

Finally, unable to take the unsettling feeling, she contacted Desmond for help. When it really mattered, he was still the most reliable one and the big brother whom Luna listens to. Right after that, she went out to check on Luna and found that the two could not be found anywhere.

As soon as she remembered Lucas asking her to go to the hall, something told her that Luna would be there and it would not be for a good reason.

She immediately relayed the information to Desmond while making her way to the hall in a rush.

She reached the entrance to the hall in time to see an egg flying towards Luna, who was standing on a makeshift podium that was placed in the middle of the hall.

Luna was already in a slight mess with some flour and rotting vegetables on her.

"Jie Jie!" Erica screamed. In her shock and dismay, she had not noticed Desmond reaching the scene moments after she did.

"What's going on?!" His voice bellowed through the hall at the same time that Erica screamed.

Their voices made the originally rowdy crowd go silent and every single head turned towards them.

"Haven't you heard? She's the one behind all the rumours about Rina and Victor and it's all lies."

"It's freakish how she made it all so believable."

"Join us in the stoning of the insidious witch!"

The crowd very easily exaggerated what had been revealed to them just moments ago. Alas, these people who were equally guilty in the rumour spreading would go off scott-free.

Desmond's eyes and heart burned with rage as he punched the daylights out of the man who called Luna a witch. He was ever ready to jump onto anyone else who intended to throw something at Luna.

Erica also assumed her position by Desmond's side, ready to take anyone on. "Every one of you here are so s-"

"Ge Ge. Erica."

The softest whisper drifted into their ears and attracted their gazes.

Luna had been standing on the makeshift podium numbly, while she listened to Lucas denounce her.

Before long, the familiar feeling of dissociation happened. Everything felt and looked surreal to her. It was like she was looking down on everything from up above. She could see herself on the stage behaving like a perfect exhibition. Lucas's voice was unclear and sounded to her like it was travelling through waterlogged ears.

The crowd's ire was easily raised and she watched them start throwing the rotten and expired food that they were provided with upon entering the hall. Now she simply had to wait this out.

Her dream-like state later broke when she saw Erica and Desmond run through the open doors of the hall.

Understanding that Erica was about to draw the crowd's ire onto herself and take responsibility for the one behind the rumours, she quickly spoke up before her entire plan was ruined.

"Ge Ge. Erica." Everyone's gaze turned back onto her. Now that she got everyone's attention again, she smiled softly and shook her head. "It's okay. I'm just paying for what I did."

Her gentle demeanour irritated the crowd.

"What's with that?! Who are you trying to be?!"

"Is she actually trying to be like Rina?! How sickening!"

"You'll never be like Rina! What a disgusting person!"

More derogatory comments came out of the crowd's mouths.

Luna's eyes went dead once more. How predictable.

At the back of the crowd, her siblings no longer picked a fight with anyone. Luna rarely smiled like that. Her action clearly conveyed her intentions to them and her unspoken plea to cooperate with her.

Lucas stood on the other end of the hall with his brows deeply furrowed. /Like Rina? Are they blind? She's so different. Is she actually... Bored?/

He unknowingly compared his current impression of Luna to Rina's weak image. Rina had been unable to take the nasty rumours and spiraled down into acute depression. Yet here Luna was, taking everything head on, with that dead expression on her face.

What he saw next stunned him further but also puzzled him equally.

Despite understanding Luna's intentions, Desmond and Erica refused to let her take the fall alone. They pushed their way through the crowd, went up onto the podium, and wrapped Luna's body between them. Since they were both taller than her, they effectively shielded her from most of the thrown food.

Their warm embrace brought Luna back to reality. Her eyes teared up and her lips quivered while she brought her hands up to grip onto their arms tightly. "You're both so silly… You didn't have to come up…"

"You're the silly one." Erica and Desmond said in unison.

/After everything I did, I still couldn't protect Erica by myself. Instead, the both of them came up to protect me…/ 

She felt a wealth of emotions gush through her in this one moment. The tears that built up in her eyes now streamed down her face. It was as if a dam broke. An awkward smile spread across her lips.

/My precious family.../

"Thank you…" Her soft voice croaked out. For all your love...

Her siblings hugged her tighter in response.

Now that the scene on the podium had suddenly and unexpectedly changed to look so blissful and loving, more and more people in the crowd hesitated. Seeing that there was not much left to throw anyway, the crowd lost interest and trickled out of the hall.

Lucas balled his hands into fists and stared hard at Luna before leaving as well.

Once the three siblings reached home, they headed straight for the bathrooms. It was lucky for them that they had three bathrooms available. No one needed to wait for someone else to be done first.

Luna was the first to come out since she only took a shower, unlike the other two who were likely soaking in a warm bath to soothe themselves. Because of that, she caught her parents trying to sneak into the kitchen.

"Father. Mother. Welcome back, you're home early today. What're the both of you doing?"

Her father coughed lightly before speaking, "We were just about to get something for tea time. Don't mind us."

"Would you like me to fix something for you?"

"No, no. Luna dear, just go rest in your room." Her father shooed her away while her mother nodded in agreement.

"... Okay..." Even though it was obvious that they were up to something, Luna decided to not disturb them.

"Luna baby! You aren't resting again!" Her mother exclaimed from behind her.

"It's just some light reading." Luna was being honest.

Her mother looked a little reproachful but ended up sighing then breaking into a helpless smile. "Forget that, I came here to call you and Erica down. Come!"

Luna obediently followed her mother to get Erica.

On their way down, they met Desmond whom their father had been in charge of getting. They also caught whiffs of a tantalising smell.

A mouth watering spread on the large circle marble table greeted the siblings and the smell now hit them in waves, alerting them to their hunger.

"All of you have had it rough today." Their father said with empathy.

"Come, eat and lift your spirits so that you can put up a good fight!" Their mother encouraged them. "Especially the two of you." She rubbed Erica's and Luna's heads.

Their parents were no dummies and they have their ways of getting information. One of their major sources was definitely their chauffeur who had driven the three of them home in the mess that they were.

Although parents could not interfere with matters taking place in the school, nobody said that they could not cheer their children on from the sidelines.

Luna sat at her usual spot at the table then blankly stared at the bowl of food in front of her.

"Luna baby, is something wrong?" Her mother asked worriedly.

"Hm? No, I was just thinking how wonderful all of you are." Luna broke into her rare heartfelt smile that shone radiantly, making everyone's hearts melt.

"Awww, you're just as wonderful, my baby! Eat, eat!"

Erica and Desmond nodded along eagerly while her father smiled proudly at her.

After their early dinner, Erica held onto Luna's hand before she went into her room.

"Luna… If anyone comes to find trouble with you at school, can you please call Ge Ge or me?" She was afraid that Luna would experience more hardship now that people saw her as the one behind the rumours and schemes.

"Don't worry about me. Because it's me, everything will blow over easily and I'll soon be overlooked as usual. I won't be able to say the same if you had been the one though."

The way Luna said it with such confidence thoroughly confused Erica. The odd things that Luna said were increasing overtime and it was starting to worry her. "Jie Jie... Why're you so sure?"

"That's not important. More importantly, Erica, every time you feel a compelling need to be rid of Victor or Rina or the both of them, can you promise me to first question yourself if that is really really what you want? Or is it just something that's triggering you to feel like you need them gone or else? They're different in an important way."

Erica looked even more confused and her mouth hung agape. /Of course it's something that I want./

"Erica? Please?"

Despite not understanding Luna's choice of words, Erica gave a tight-lipped smile and nodded to humour her. All she understood from that was how Luna wished for her to no longer bother with Victor and Rina.