Erica happily bounded towards Luna.

“I’m glad that you’re so easy to find!” She chirped. “The school compound is huge!”

Just as Erica reached the table, she tripped over the leg of a chair and fell towards the tall bookshelf behind Luna.

Luna dove towards Erica and placed herself between Erica and the bookshelf. Her arms wrapped around Erica's head and back. With Erica in her embrace, they crashed heavily into the bookshelf.

Books clattered onto the ground, but they did not feel any pain.

The girls opened their tightly shut eyes, wondering if they had gotten lucky, but found Lucas towering over their hunched bodies.

His hands were pressed against the bookshelf, and they were caught between his arms.

‘No.’ Luna instantly disapproved of the flow of events.

Meanwhile, this scene made Erica's eyes twinkle in admiration.

Luna scooted out of the way, dragging Erica along with her.

"Are you both okay?" Lucas's deep voice reverberated through Erica and Luna in different ways.

Luna nodded curtly. Her eye twitched. ‘Erica's never this clumsy. And what's with his insane reflexes? Did he jump over the table or something?’

Whereas Erica's eyes grew wide in surprise. “Yes-”

However, Erica’s speech ended abruptly due to Luna’s pull on her.

Luna had hurriedly stuffed her things into her bag, then left the library with Erica's hand in hers.

The entire time, Erica kept looking back at Lucas with sparkles in her eyes, even after he returned to his tasks as if he had not been disturbed just seconds ago.

As soon as they exited the library, Erica excitedly asked Luna, "Big sis! Do you know him? It looks like he knows you!"

"No, I don't. We just happen to study at the same table."

"That's even better." Erica stroked her chin with a twinkle in her eye.

Luna frowned. "Why?"

"He's promising. I like him."

"Why? Just because he saved us?"

"Tsk. Of course not! Think about it! Sitting at the same table by luck? Noticing you?"

Luna frowned. "... I'm not getting it."

"He could be the one for you!" Erica half squealed out.

Luna's expression fell flat. "Give up that thought. He didn't notice me before today, before you came along. Don't even think about it. It's impossible."

"Oh, come on..." Erica shook Luna's hand childishly. "You never know..."

"Erica, please...” Luna sighed. “I want you to have nothing to do with him. I don't want to have anything to do with him either."

"But... Why...?" Erica pouted.

"Nothing good will come out of it."

"...You're as pessimistic as ever..." Erica looked down at the ground with teary eyes.

Luna patted her head. "I'm just being realistic. It's safer this way. So, be a good girl, okay?"

Unfortunately, Luna’s attempt at keeping them apart was futile. Erica's fate seemed to be tied to not just Lucas, but also the lead couple.

Several things happened without Luna's knowledge.

Erica came to know Victor better and became one of the girls who pined for him. The thing that set her apart from the common crowd was her especially strong character, above average looks, and intellect. Objectively, she was far more qualified than Rina. The only advantage Rina had was being childhood friends with Victor. So, Erica found it hard to stomach that Victor always showered Rina with more attention and affection than he did with Erica.

In a bid to win Victor's love, she created minor issues for Rina to show how Rina was completely useless on her own. To Erica, the only thing Rina had going for her was her looks, which she used to charm people into helping her, like a seducer.

One day, Erica confronted Lucas because she could no longer tolerate how he was one of those who constantly protected Rina. He was supposed to be different from the others!

"Why're you helping Rina?!" Erica asked exasperatedly. "She's not worth it! And what about my sister? Luna's obviously much better than her! If you can waste your time on such a girl, how about you get to know Luna mor-"

"Who's Luna?" Lucas asked flatly. His expression had not changed either. The look in his eyes made her feel like Lucas was treating her like she was beneath his notice.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

Erica said through gritted teeth, "The girl who was with me last time."

Lucas finally frowned but it was due to an obvious lack of recollection.

So, Erica continued to elaborate with increasingly narrowed eyes. "The falling books? In the library? You helped us. The girl who sits at your table every day?"

When he still showed no sign of recollection, fury filled her heart. "Forget it." She spat out before turning on her heels to storm off. She teared up in her disappointment and hurt.

‘I had high hopes for him! For big sis! I don't want big sis to settle for some small fry just because no one else notices her! She deserves so much better!’ Erica angrily swiped the tears from her eyes.

‘Why does that tramp get all the men for herself and leave none for others?! It's all because of her. All because of her!’

Erica did not inform her family of all that had happened. She wanted to wait until her success was guaranteed so that she could surprise them with good news.

That night, she sat alone in her luxurious bedroom. She bit her nails with hate reflected clearly in her eyes.

‘It's her face. It must be! That sickening gentle and innocent look must have seduced them.’

As she thought about this, a devilish smile slowly spread across her lips.

‘If I ruin that pretty face of hers... I wonder who'd still love her...’

Luna was passing by the room unnoticed when she caught sight of Erica's devious smile.

She frowned at the sight of the uncharacteristic smile. A random word popped up in her mind. ‘Blackening.’

Luna sighed inwardly. ‘What happened...?

Luna continued to stand by the door unnoticed. ‘...It's not safe to leave her like this.’

For the next few days, Luna intentionally asked Erica about school and life, hoping that Erica would let something slip. However, Erica was careful.

Luna considered keeping a close eye on Erica by herself, especially since she was freer now than ever. However, she did not trust herself. She asked Desmond for help and advice, but his strong familial love led him to wholly and blindly place his faith and confidence in Erica.

“I think it’s fine to trust her.” Desmond had said with a big reassuring grin, while tousling her hair. “Wouldn’t she want that?”

Desmond spoiled them both in this way.

So, Luna could only think of hiring a private investigator to report Erica's every move to her.

A few weeks passed by without an incident, but Luna did not let up. She just knew that something was up.

Erica uncharacteristically spent more time studying Chemistry. When asked about it in passing, Erica had told her how she was inspired by Luna to work on her weaknesses, but Luna refused to believe that someone as insignificant as her could serve as an inspiration to anyone, much less to someone who qualified as a main character.

Rina was also very often present wherever Erica hung out with her friends.

‘Is this coincidence? Fate? Or is Erica tailing her?’

Luna was in the library scrolling through her phone, reading yet another report sent by the investigator. ‘She took a transparent liquid out of the Chemistry lab after spending 30 minutes in there?’

Her heart dropped. Although the private investigator would clarify what the liquid was soon, Luna did not wait for it. Her gut knew the answer. Luna took only her phone and rushed to where Erica had always been reported to be at on Fridays.

In a canteen that was almost empty, Rina sat alone at a table. She was waiting for Victor to finish his soccer practice.

Meanwhile, Erica was seated at a table far away from Rina. Although she was chatting happily with her friends, she kept part of her attention on Rina's table. She had to get the timing right. She did not spend all this time observing Rina for nothing.

Erica’s mood was already good from anticipating the deafening scream that would leave Rina's mouth.

It was relatively easy for Erica to control the flow of the conversation in her group. Just as they stood up and prepared to leave the canteen, the soccer boys returned from their practice.

The group of boys crowded around Rina as usual, taking the only chance they could get at getting close to her before Victor returned from his captain's duties. Although there was no love confession because of Victor’s pride and Rina’s reservation, everyone could tell that they liked each other. Before anything was cemented, all interested boys wanted to try their hand at winning Rina’s affection.

One boy, in particular, was always by Rina’s side, and Erica had subtly stoked her friend's interest in that boy. While they walked past the group of boys, Erica teased her friend with a wink, "I'll help you create a chance encounter." She then nudged her friend hard enough to bump into the boy.

The bottle that he was holding onto tilted towards Rina and its content splashed out.

Luna reached just in time to see Erica grinning from ear to ear and raising her arm to push her friend. The entire scheme became clear for her to see. The only thing Luna could do now was to save Rina and prevent the chain of events that would lead to Erica's downfall.

"Erica! There you are!" She called out while running, giving herself a reason to be present in this scene.

Luna “ignorantly” ran through the crowd of boys and “accidentally” knocked into Rina and her chair. The chair fell back hard enough for Rina's body to flip out of the splash zone.

As a result, Luna ended up the one in the splash zone.

"BIG SIS!" Erica’s shrill scream silenced the entire canteen.

Intense pain burned through her entire thigh. She swallowed the yelp that had left her throat and clenched her jaw so hard that it hurt. Her face paled, her breathing turned ragged, and her body broke out in cold sweat.

When Luna saw that there was still some liquid left in the bottle, she pretended to be angry and slapped the bottle out of the boy's hand.

"How dare you be so careless?!" Luna scolded.

She snatched someone else's bottle and emptied its contents on the guy, who stood stunned.

Just as the boy flew into a rage about how unreasonable Luna was being, he got pushed aside by Erica. Her face was full of tears. "Big sis! We need to get you treated right now! I'm so sorry! I'm so sorry!"

The entire melodrama over spilled water completely dumbfounded the boys, including the one who got pushed aside. They looked at the siblings with weird looks while sharing the same thought.

‘What's with them? Is it so dirty to get wet by the water in their bottles?’

Luna leaned heavily on Erica. She smiled kindly but weakly. "It's okay. Let's go. Now, please."

Erica nodded furiously with tears streaming down her face then supported Luna out of the canteen. While Luna tried to walk away as normally as possible, she dragged her feet to further mix the contents on the floor.

Luna looked alright, but Erica knew how much pain Luna had to be in. After all, the acid was modified by Erica herself to cause the highest level of pain possible. The only comfort Erica got from this was knowing that it would only corrode the skin away. She did not make this with the hope that Rina would die.

The girls sat in their family's car with Erica still crying her eyes out and apologising profusely. Her eyes were red and puffy, but she could not stop.

Luna smiled through the pain and patted Erica's head. "You've already done emergency care for my wound. Our family's doctor is also waiting at home. It's alright now."

Erica raised her head and sniffled as she stared at Luna's still pale face. “It’s not alright!”

Luna was clearly still in a lot of pain.

"Rina's still all fine and pretty and you're the one that ended up hurt. I made this to hurt her! Not you! How did you become the one injured?!”

Erica felt so much guilt that Luna could not bear to hide the truth from her. “I had a hunch about what you were planning to do. I knew what I was getting myself into. So, it’s okay.”

Erica’s crying halted in her shock. “Why...? Why did you interfere...?” Tears began to flow again. “Why are you saving Rina too?”