Mrs. Hua Valentine had just stepped into her office when she noticed a familiar figure standing outside the door. A cigarette dangled between his fingers, its ashes carelessly falling into the potted plant she had placed there to brighten the otherwise gloomy air.
Upon seeing her brother's face, Valentine's lips curled slightly, not in amusement, but in something closer to resigned familiarity. She rarely allowed emotion to touch her features, a habit she had long perfected to shield those she loved from their mother's madness. It was a habit that never failed to irritate her younger brother, the golden child of their family.
"There you are!" Mr. Hua IngRan called out, clapping his hands together in exaggerated applause.
