"Where am I?" he muttered, lifting his head slowly. The world around him felt sterile, too clean, too quiet.
He scanned the space with a dull ache pounding behind his eyes. White walls. White ceiling. No windows just vent high on the walls for air. Cameras blinked silently from the corners, always watching their every move.
The room was oddly domestic for a prison, two neatly made beds sat against opposite walls. A sitting area with a small couch and table. A door that likely led to the bathroom. But the exit, the only real door, was locked tight. Heavy and reinforced.
He tried to move, but his muscles felt stiff. The drugs hadn't fully worn off.
A soft groan caught his attention.
"Song Yaya?" He was surprised to see her there. She stirred awake groaning painfully.
"Son, are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere?" She crawled over to his side but he crawled away from her.
"Don't you dare get any closer to me!" He coldly yelled at her; he didn't stop checking the place and what they were doing there.
"Son? Don't be like that? I haven't done anything wrong! This must be Lu Zi Zhen and Lu Wan Ruyi's fault!" She tried to explain but Lu Ting Zhou didn't want to listen to any of her explanations.
"So what? And don't call me son! You don't deserve to! And this happened the moment you showed up, did you kidnap me?" He turned around and coldly glared at her before gazing away.
"No! I couldn't do something like that, this could be your brother's work! Look at how Lu Wan Ruyi and Lu Zi Zhen beat me up! These bruises were caused by them, and I believe they are the ones behind all these... It's their scheme to get rid of us!" Song Yaya crawled again trying to close the space in between the two of them.
"Stop it! Don't you try to frame the two of them! They don't have anything to do with this! This must be your plot! If I had capabilities, I wouldn't have someone like you as a mother... Never!"
Song Yaya froze mid-crawl, her fingers trembling as they clutched at the cold floor. Her lips parted, but no sound came out. For the first time in a long while, she looked small and helpless.
Her eyes shimmered with unshed tears, not just from pain, but from something deeper. Shame and rejection.
Yes, she might have abandoned them but still, she was their mother.
"Zhou'er..." she whispered looking at him with those pitiful gentle eyes.
If she could emotionally get connected to Lu Ting Zhou, then it would be easier to handle his other twin brother.
Lu Ting Zhou clenched his jaw tightly glaring at her, that name and that tone she was using. Like she still had the right to use it.
"Don't call me that," he said, standing slowly with a wince. "You lost the right to a long time ago. Whatever bond we had... you destroyed it. Don't come running into our lives, the last night I need is dealing with a woman like you!"
"Zhou'er, I'm your mother," she snapped suddenly, her voice cracking. "I love you, son! Don't look at me like I was a stranger!"
Lu Ting Zhou's eyes darkened, his breath sharp and uneven. For a long moment, silence filled the room—heavy, and suffocating.
Then he slightly scoffed, his voice low and bitter. "Stranger?" he echoed. "Yes, you are a stranger in our lives. One that just happens to share my blood and nothing more!"
Song Yaya flinched. She hadn't thought their hatred ran so deep.