Larger Than Life, Bigger Than Us

Looking at the growing red stain on her dress then at the smirking face of the woman, Lily understood clearly it was deliberate. If it had truly been an accident, she would have let it go. But she was being bullied here. Why though? She didn't remember offending anyone. This was rather strange.

"What a lack of manners. Let me return the same question to you and add: have your parents never taught you to apologize when you make a mistake?"

Lily's reply was calm and icy. Anyone in her position would have flipped a table, but she wanted to know where this hostility was coming from. The woman in front of her wasn't in any of the file provided by SongJae, so she wasn't a friend, acquaintance or rival. The file was pretty exhaustive but there was one gap. For about 2 years in her teenage years, it seemed Ran had disappeared. No information was provided on where she was, what she did, who she met. It was a complete mystery. Was the woman in front of her from that period? Or was she part of Lily's past?

The woman smirked had disappeared from her face now. Her expression was black with a repressed anger.

"Ran Sheng, don't you recognize who I am? Do you think you could escape? Haven't I promised that you would regret being born or my name wasn't Minh Trinh!"

As she was talking to Lily, she had approached her step by step. Suddenly, she jerked herself back on the floor, started sobbing and apologizing.

"ahhhhhh.....Ran, I know I had stained your dress, and you are angry. I am really but really sorry about this, it was an accident. Please, forgive me! Please do not be angry with me!"

Fake tears were streaming down her face. Her pity act had attracted people and made them misunderstanding the situation.

"How ruthless! It's just a stain, was there a need to push the girl down!"

"Poor girl! Being reprimanded this way for an accident! What a black-hearted young girl!"

Lily had not said a word yet. She was finding the situation rather interesting. She had never experienced that kind of situation before.

Before she actually could say or do anything, an extremely handsome man had appeared. In his hand was a wet navy handkerchief with golden DG embroidery on it. He quickly gave Lily the handkerchief, a tint of anxiousness in his eyes, while whispering "Ran, I am really sorry...". The young man did look familiar but she couldn't recall who he was.

"Minh, stop causing trouble!" The young man addressed the woman that was still laying on the ground, "You tripped on her and then fell on your own. I've seen it all! Apologize to Ran.".

The woman had stopped crying and her face was now whiter than white. She looked pitifully at the young man "But..but.. Dai...".

Dai helped her standing up. By the way Dai looked at Minh, Minh knew she had to apologize. Knowing the young man, he would torture her if she was to disobey his words. Against her will, Minh apologized to Ran.

Lily was really puzzled by the whole situation.

"Darling! What had happened to you? Why is your dress stained?"