Jiana is new.
After getting adopted by one of the country's wealthiest couples, she is steeped into high society full of people who have everything. As she struggles to shake that feeling of being completely out of depth with her new environment, Ji...
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SCHOOL WAS CANCELLED the next week.
According to the report, there were intravenous injection holes all over Mei's arms and a potassium chloride syringe in her pocket with her fingerprints on it. This, along with what she'd said to Genevieve months before, seemed to solidify the cops' conclusion: she'd killed herself.
Nina thought it was bullshit.
After returning home Saturday night, Nina had entered her room and locked herself inside. There she stayed throughout the entirety of the next day, and although there were multiple knocks on her door from her parents and friends and her phone was nearly overheating from all the calls and messages she was receiving, Nina ignored them.
Nina had known, deep down. Though her family continued to hope, she'd known, somehow, that Mei was gone. It was a feeling she couldn't explain, one that'd begun to burn in her chest recently. She'd seen the yacht club diver return from the river with her sister's body slung over his back, and something in Nina had snapped.
On Saturday, Nina was numb. She'd felt like she was watching a movie, looking from the outside in, watching someone else watch her sister's dead body. People who'd been looking for her reaction got none. Nina had felt like she turned to stone.
On Sunday, Nina cried. The tears weren't there, and suddenly they were. They wouldn't stop. They were loud and they hurt. She cried unceasingly until her pillow grew soggy and her head grew heavy and then she passed out, exhausted.
On Monday, after leaving the funeral service, Nina made a promise. Despite everything, she knew her sister. So Nina also knew that Meijin wouldn't have killed herself. She'd been entirely too stubborn for that.
There was foul play afoot, and Nina promised herself that she would find out what it was.
Even if it killed her, too.
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On Monday their families trickled into the funeral home to attend the service. After offering their condolences to Nina and her family and joining them for food and somber socializing, the group of friends agreed to head to Jake's place. None of them wanted to be alone right then.
Later, in Jake's house, the boys were playing a game on the console, but it was quiet.
Riki and Jay sat on Jiana's either side on the couch. The news about Meijin was upsetting, but they were also worried about Jiana. After the body was found, her drowning incident had been forgotten. But they noticed the way she periodically touched her head, wincing with pain.
"You okay?" Riki asked.
Jiana turned empty eyes on him, then shook her head. A lollipop rested between her lips as unsteady fingers pulled out her phone. I knew her.
