Ficorpio
Chapter 1
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First Edition
The bully girl held up a photo of the school heartthrob, looking at me with a scornful sneer:
“You’ve been chasing him for a whole year and still haven’t gotten him? Want to bet I can have him in a month?”
What she didn’t know was that the school heartthrob, Victor, was my stepbrother—and we weren’t related by blood at all.
What she really didn’t know was that he was an obsessive, controlling yandere.
Everyone thought I was chasing Victor because I’d bring him water and a towel when he played basketball, help him get lunch at noon, and walk to and from school with him.
But the truth was, Victor forced me to do all of it. If I showed even the slightest resistance, I’d pay a painful price.
I first met Victor when I was eleven, after my mom remarried his father—the chairman of Mingyuan Group, a well-known real estate developer in Dongming City.
I followed her timidly into the lavishly decorated standalone villa.
The extravagant hall, the dazzling crystal chandelier—everything in the house signaled my new father’s immense wealth.
My new dad welcomed me warmly, affectionately patting my head as he introduced his son to me:
“Nora, from now on we’re family. Victor is a year older than you, so he’s your brother now. If you ever need anything, just ask him.”
I looked over at Victor. He reached out and pinched my cheek, offering a friendly smile:
“Nora is so adorable. I’ll take good care of you from now on, little sister.”
When he smiled, his peach-blossom eyes curved, and he looked utterly sweet and harmless.
But I always felt that behind that smile lurked something else—something that sent chills down my spine.
And as it turned out, my intuition back then wasn’t wrong.
Late at night, I was jolted awake by a suffocating sensation. A lean arm was wrapped around my waist, tightening relentlessly.
Behind me, separated only by a thin blanket, pressed a scorching body. I clawed at the fingers gripping my waist, trying to pry them off as I struggled and cursed:
“Victor, what madness is this now?”
I didn’t need to look back to know who it was. No one else in the world would climb into their sister’s bed in the middle of the night.
The arm around my waist loosened its grip, only to seize my shoulder and flip me over to face him.
The room was dark, no lights on. In the dim haze, his tousled bangs shadowed his eyes, making his emotions unreadable.
“Where did you go after school today?” His voice was cool and penetrating, striking my eardrums like a summons from hell.
Chapter 2
Usually, I walked home with Victor after school—a rule he’d set that I had to obey, or else face his punishment.
Like being choked awake in the middle of the night, as was happening now.
Or being stripped, bound, and hung from the ceiling all night.
These were his usual tactics.
But today after school, Vivian and her gang had locked me in the bathroom. If the cleaning lady hadn’t found me, I might have been stuck there all night.
I didn’t want Victor to know about it, so I made up an excuse:
“My stomach hurt after school, so I went to the restroom. By the time I finished, you’d already left.”
My tone was coquettish, almost as if I were blaming him, with a hint of grievance in my eyes.
Victor believed me. The mist in his eyes cleared as he stroked my cheek:
“It seems I wronged you, Nora. But next time something like this happens, remember to message me.”
“Otherwise…” He paused, thinking.
“I’ll punish you by making you ‘water the flowers’ for a week.”
He caressed my hair, a fond smile curling his lips, but his eyes were full of teasing ambiguity.
When Victor said “water the flowers,” he didn’t mean actual flowers. He meant pouring milk over me—treating me like a flower.
And Victor, as it happened, loved milk more than anything…
Suppressing the urge to vomit, I exchanged a few more words with him before falling asleep.
When I woke up the next morning, I was alone in the room. I opened the door just as Victor was also getting up. Stretching as he emerged from his room, he flashed me a warm, affectionate smile:
“Good morning, little sister.”
If I didn’t know he was a complete madman at heart, I might have actually been fooled by his appearance.
No—I’d already been fooled by him once before, back when I was a child…
After washing up and having breakfast, my mom helped my dad with his coat, reminding the driver to be careful on the road. She then urged Victor and me to hurry up so we wouldn’t be late for school.
Victor had already finished eating and was now leisurely sipping milk from a cup, his eyes fixed on me with a knowing, ambiguous smile.
Of course, that’s how it seemed to me.
In my parents’ eyes, Victor was a dutiful and caring older brother, attentive and protective of me in every way.
When I was thirteen, he’d even gotten a bloody bite on his calf from a vicious dog while protecting me. It took twelve stitches, a month on crutches, and a year off school for him to recover.
Chapter 3
My mom had even privately told me, when no one else was around, that it wouldn’t be a bad idea for me to marry Victor someday.
“Mingyuan Group is a leading enterprise in Dongming city. Your dad only has Victor as his son, so the company and family assets will definitely be passed to him. If you let such a ready-made golden catch slip away, you’ll regret it later.”
My mom earnestly imparted her marriage-for-wealth philosophy to her daughter. I just listened without responding.
Victor and I entered the school gates and were crossing the playground when we ran into Vivian and her lackeys.
When they saw Victor, their faces lit up with shy admiration. Then their eyes flicked to me, and their expressions twisted into sneers and disdain.
Vivian, however, kept watching me as if lost in thought. I ignored them and walked straight into the teaching building.
After math class, one of Vivian’s lackeys summoned me to a blind spot behind the building, out of the surveillance cameras’ view.
Vivian’s bullying had started the week before, triggered when I accidentally spilled garbage on her new shoes while taking out the trash.
“Damn it, you bitch! Do you know how expensive these shoes are? You couldn’t pay for them even if I sold you!”
With that, she shoved me to the ground, stepping on my school uniform skirt with one foot, her tone vicious:
“Since you made the mess, you clean it up.”
The dirt from her shoe sole smeared my skirt. Clutching her foot, I carefully wiped it clean with the fabric.
Afterward, Vivian was pleased with her freshly cleaned shoes and flashed a sweet smile:
“Nora, you’re so capable. You clean shoes so well. How about we come to you for shoe-cleaning from now on?”
She looked down at me from above, her round eyes filled with malice and mockery.
From then on, I often provided “free shoe-cleaning services” for Vivian and her gang.
Sometimes I also served as a free punching bag, errand runner, or emotional dumpster…
She’d stub out crimson cigarette butts on my clothes; shock the skin on the back of my neck with a lighter’s igniter; shake up soda cans and spray them in my face…
I knelt on the ground, my bangs damp and sticky from the sprayed soda, clinging together in the wind.
Vivian stood on a chair in front of me, pulled up a photo on her phone, yanked my ponytail to force me to look up, and sneered mockingly:
“I heard you’ve been chasing him for a year and still haven’t gotten him? Want to bet I can have him in a week?”
The person in the photo was Victor, captured mid-celebration after scoring a goal. His jawline was sharp, his nose bridge high and straight, and with the sunlight washing over him, he looked every bit the flawless, dreamy school heartthrob.
Little did she know that beneath that refined exterior lay the mind of a demon.
“Sure, I’ll be waiting.”
I stared into Vivian’s eyes, a faint, almost imperceptible smile curling at the corner of my lips.