Yu Yan was laying on the roof of Zhong Ji Yi Ban with her cane next to her - she may have been a master of echolocation but she couldn't always rely on it when in new areas such as a dangerous place like the roof of a building. The roof wasn't designed to be used; it was like an ordinary roof of any other building without any railings. Moss and weeds grew out from the cracks and small and wild flowers could be found here and there.

Yu Yan looked up at the sky, feeling the warmth of the sun. She sighed, feeling tired and bored. She had nothing to do in school, it was a boring place and she hated it. If it wasn't for her complete devotion and loyalty to her father she would have never agreed to go to school. She hated people but she found herself having to interact with them on a daily basis. Well she had to deal with it no matter how many complaints she made. She would have to try and get along with her classmates to get what she wanted. She would somehow have to befriend them but the idea of being a nice and friendly person scared her and shook her bones: there was no way she'd ever try to be like that. Just the thought of acting happy and kind was enough to make her skin crawl. She hated kindness. She despised it. She'd never received it from others so she believed others had no right to receive any kindness from her. And even if she wanted to be nice to someone she couldn't, the act was a lost memory to her and she had no idea how to get along with others.

"Da Dong Ge!!!!" a child whined, "Can you get my ball for me?"
"Okay, wait here Joy!"

When those words had entered her ears, Yu Yan felt a ball whiz past her, bouncing and rolling beside her. She came to the conclusion that Wang Da Dong was playing with some child who had thrown their ball onto the roof. Da Dong was going to come up and retrieve the item. She groaned, rolling her eyes back. She could hear his movements as he scaled the walls and soon he was standing on the roof. She didn't want any unnecessary attention but it looked like she couldn't avoid him now.

"Yu Yan? What are you doing here?" he asked, jogging over to the ball and picking it up, "It's dangerous up here for you."
He eyed her, watching her every movements to try and spot anything suspicious in her actions.

An idea then clicked into her head and she pretended to be asleep, producing soft and light snores. Her eyelids were open but she had no eyes so didn't need to shut them to sleep so she could sleep with her eyes open. She inwardly smiled at her great idea before Da Dong exclaimed, "AGH JIANG YU YAN'S DEAD!!!"
Question marks flew through her mind - what? Did Da Dong just think she was dead because her eyes were open?

He hurried over to her and started slapping her face, truly believing that his classmate had died and her body had been dumped on the roof, "Does the attacker have anything to do with this?" he whispered as she continued to shake her. "XIAO YU! COME QUICKLY! I THINK YU YAN'S DEAD!"
Yu Yan wanted to slap this idiot, this buffoon, this retard. She didn't think he was this stupid, she had totally overestimated him and now she was being shaken like she was some sort of rattle. She was about to break free from her sleeping act when she heard Xiao Yu's footsteps on the roof.

"Da Dong what are you doing?!" he exclaimed, "You can't shake a person like that!" he scolded, hurrying over to his friend.
"But what if she's dead?" Da Dong asked.

Xiao Yu rolled his eyes, exhaling at his friend's lack of common sense. Silently, he took off his blazer off and folded it neatly before placing it gently on the slate. He then placed Yu Yan's head on it, using his blazer as a pillow. Da Dong watched quietly. "She's sleeping, don't disturb her." Xiao Yu whispered to him, "Let's go."

As soon as the two males had left, Jiang Yu Yan shot up into a seating position, erupting into heavy breaths. She slapped her cheeks trying to cool them down, mumbling curses under her breath. She was annoyed at Da Dong for making her feel nauseous from all the vigorous shaking but that wasn't what bothered her at that moment: it was Xiao Yu. He moved her so gently and carefully so that she was lying comfortably on his blazer and he didn't do anything to her, no one had treated her with such care like that.

She looked back to her previous thoughts and decided to make a change to them; she admitted that she was wrong to think that no one had ever shown her kindness because now she had met someone who continued to be soft hearted towards her despite her mean and cold demeanour towards him. Maybe if she was born a different person, she'd like to be friends with him because who she was now didn't see any use in having friends.

 

But thinking about making any friends made her frown, she didn't want friends, she didn't need them and they didn't need her. All she needed was her father, she relied and depended on him only, her sole purpose in this life was him.

[Flashback - 12 Years Ago]

A 6 year old Yu Yan sat on the concrete ground as drops of water hammered down on her. She sat lifelessly under the rain, drenched and soaked to the skin but she did not budge.
Why... she thought as tears streamed down her face, what did I do to deserve this?
The cold winds howled and circled her, embracing her tightly making her shiver.

She looked up towards the dull skies clouded with murky pools of smoke. She couldn't see the sky; she couldn't see or sense anything. Her body was numb from the intense cold. The only thing that told her that she was alive and awake were the stone-like drops of water that pelted down on her face. But even then, her ability to sense anything was fading to the point that she could no longer feel anything.

What was the point of living? She had lost her eyes a few years ago and found it extremely difficult to get by. Her parents found her too much of a burden, a waste of space and money - they didn't see any worth in keeping such a thing. A thing. Yes, that was what she was to anyone that knew her. A thing, the thing. They saw her as an ungrateful child, a difficult thing to look after. She was too dependent, too reliant, kept asking for this and that, needed someone by her side all day - she couldn't do anything for herself. And she didn't have the ability to pay them back in any way either, what could a blind person do that was useful to anyone anyway? So they dumped her onto the streets, left her to fend for herself, abandoned her to die alone in the cold - she wasn't their child anyway. No one wanted her, they were just doing what her previous owners had done previously: dump her.

Yu Yan felt helpless, powerless and useless. She had no one and nothing. There was no way she'd survive after this; she didn't have the ability to see so how would she even do anything? She hated her family, her friends, everyone. How could they do this to her? Her 'parents' kept going on about how they had worked hard to raise her, how amazing they were for dealing with a problematic thing, they bragged to everyone so people thought she was the problem but it wasn't like that. It was the exact opposite.

They treated her like trash, barely gave her any food, didn't look out for or help her out at all but she was grateful, Jiang Yu Yan had been grateful that she had these people to call her parents, she had shelter and they did make sure she made it through each day even if she had a poor quality of life. She didn't know what it was like to have a good life because the trauma from the accident that took away her eyes had been so much of a shock that it wiped her memories. The only memories she had was being taken in by a these people.

Yu Yan was scared, the fear she felt when she had found out she could no longer see washed over her and devastating cries erupted from . She screamed as water rushed down her face like waterfalls. She was terrified. She couldn't see or feel or smell, all her senses were numb and she felt like she was trapped in her mind again. She didn't want to be alone, she didn't want to be stuck in this perpetual darkness, she wanted to see the light again and remember what it was like to smile and laugh.

It was at that moment when a large and warm hand planted itself on her little wet head and her hair. The hand caressed her face and a gentle voice spoke to her, "I'm here Yu Yan, don't be afraid."
Yu Yan's screaming died out and she looked up at this stranger, wanting to see him.
"I'm sorry you had to go through all this pain, but I'm here for you and I won't ever let you get hurt again..."

[End of flashback]

Yu Yan looked up at the sky, remembering the events of that day. It brought her back to reality and reinforced her mission in her heart; she couldn't be affected by these mere emotions Xiao Yu had caused her to feel. She couldn't let them cloud her judgement; she was devoted to her father and wouldn't let him down.

She pushed out the warmth and butterflies in her heart and replaced it with a fresh layer of ice. It was going need more for Xiao Yu to reach her heart and touch her. She picked up his blazer when her phone began to chime.

"What can I do for you Father?" she asked, quickly stuffing the blazer into her bag.
"I want you to beware of a Su Jia Li, I want you to avoid any sort of confrontation with her." a male voice answered.
"Su Jia Li?" Yu Yan repeated, "Is there anything wrong, Father?"
"She's your alternate," the voice replied, "I will deal with her. Just make sure you and Zhong Ji Yi Ban don't meet her."

With that, the call was cut off.

Wang Da Dong listened quietly from afar, making sure to stay still so that he would not be detected by Yu Yan. From what she had spoken into the phone, it did not seem suspicious and he breathed a sigh of relief. For now, she was innocent. But for how long?