Honorable Sacrifice - FIYS

Trouble gets into trouble

She was back in that suffocating house. Mei's voice was loud, desperate. "Why did you leave me?" Mei had screamed. "You got to be free, and I stayed behind... I stayed for her."

Tong Yao had tried to answer, to explain that she'd never wanted to leave Mei behind, that she had wanted them both to get out. But the words wouldn't come. Mei's face, distorted with anger and pain, was the only thing she could see.

"I had to be her daughter," Mei's voice cracked, and the hurt in her tone was unmistakable. "She called you his daughter, but I was hers. I had to be perfect, had to be what she wanted. But it was always you, wasn't it? Even when she hated you, it was still you she noticed."

Tong Yao's throat had tightened in the dream, an overwhelming guilt she had no words for. She wanted to scream back, to remind Mei that she hadn't wanted that twisted attention either. That their mother's love—if it could even be called that—had been poisoned from the start

But instead, Mei's face blurred, and the sound of a gunshot shattered the silence.

And then, nothing

Tong Yao jerked awake with a sharp gasp, her heart hammering in her chest as the remnants of the nightmare clung to her. Sweat matted her hair to her forehead, and her body trembled under the weight of emotions she couldn't control. The room was still dark, save for the faint light of early dawn creeping through the curtains.

She rubbed her eyes and swallowed hard, trying to calm herself. But Mei's voice—the screams, the gunshot—echoed in her mind, refusing to fade.

Tong Yao sat up, clutching the blanket, her breaths coming in ragged gasps. The nightmare wasn't just a nightmare. It was a reflection of everything she hadn't dealt with. Everything she had buried deep.

She threw the blanket off and swung her legs over the side of the bed, still trembling.

Mei.

Her twin

Her other half

Tong Mei had always been the perfect one in their mother's eyes, the one who listened, who followed the rules. Mei had been their mother's daughter—quiet, obedient, moulded to fit the image of the woman who had borne them. But Tong Yao? She had been called her father's daughter. Red hair, rebellious, different. A reminder of everything their mother had carved her father for but hated her for it.

Growing up, Tong Yao had hated that label. She had hated being compared to a man who never wanted to be in their lives. But what had hurt most was the way their mother had turned away from her, pouring all of her twisted affection into Mei. And Mei... Mei had clung to that affection, even as it suffocated her.

The complicated feelings churned inside her. She had never wanted their mother's love, but Mei had craved it. Mei had stayed behind because she wanted to be what their mother needed. Tong Yao had tried to take her with her when she left, but Mei had refused. She had wanted to stay, to finish school, to try to please the woman who was never satisfied.

I paid for her tuition, Tong Yao thought bitterly. I paid so Mei could finish school. Mother wouldn't even do that. Girls don't need an education, she'd said. Their job is to bear children, to be wives.

Tong Yao squeezed her eyes shut, fighting back the frustration. Mei hadn't known about the money. She never would. But that hadn't stopped Mei from resenting her for leaving, for finding a way out.

But I didn't abandon her. Tong Yao had left because she had to, but she had never stopped caring for Mei. She had stayed in the background, supporting her sister quietly. Mei, however, had grown bitter, especially when she met Jian Yang—the boy she had liked, the boy who had only talked about Tong Yao .