Chapter 2

"Korn!"

That heavy, decisive click of heels brought the beating of Korn’s heart to a dead stop. The already tense atmosphere in the cafe instantly turned to ice. Standing in the kitchen doorway was Karan—Korn’s older sister and the true owner of Blue Hour Cafe. She stood tall and elegant, her grey blazer pairing effortlessly with a face as impassive as a block of ice. Her razor-sharp gaze locked straight onto her younger brother, whose body was still soaked with the murky dishwater.

Korn slowly loosened his grip on Rinlada’s wrist. His jaw remained clenched and his breath came in ragged gasps, but a flash of stubborn defiance burned deep in his eyes as he faced his sister. In the outside world, Korn was an arrogant boy feared by everyone at school, but before Karan—the only family member who still cared about him—he knew all his power instantly evaporated.

"What on earth do you think you're doing here, Korn?" Karan's voice broke the cafe's silence, flat yet dripping with uncompromising pressure. "Causing trouble at your own workplace, bullying my employee, and making a complete fool of yourself in front of others? Didn't school teach you the first thing about being a human being?"

Soft whispers began to ripple through the group of customers watching the scene unfold. Rinlada, her wrist still aching from the tight grip, stepped back two paces. She bent down, rubbing her reddened wrist while fighting to steady her ragged breathing.

Korn used the back of his hand to wipe away the filthy tea stain on his forehead, letting out a mocking scoff as he glared at his sister with a rebellious look. "Go ask your precious little troublemaker of a waitress! She started it!" he snapped, shooting a venomous glance at Rinlada.

"Don't twist the truth, Korn!" Karan raised her voice slightly, refusing to fall for her brother's tricks. She stepped forward to wedge herself right between them, casting a fleeting look of apology toward Rinlada before turning back to glare at Korn. "Rinlada works ten hours a day just to make a living, yet you come here day after day just to make her life miserable! That's it. Get out of this shop right now, and don't let me catch you showing your face here for the entire week!"

Korn froze in his tracks. Being kicked out of the shop by his sister in front of a crowd felt like a sharp slap to his pride. "You're kicking me out because of this broke little brat?!" he asked, his voice trembling with disbelief and fury.

"I'm kicking you out because you crossed the line!" Karan cut him off with a ruthless, final tone. "Go, Korn. Now."

Seeing the unyielding look in Karan's eyes, Korn was forced to grind his teeth together in silence. He threw Rinlada one last look soaked in pure malice—a promise of the devastating disaster yet to come—before turning on his heel, snatching up his backpack, and storming out of the cafe in a blind rage.

*Jingle!* The little bell above the front door chimed, bidding farewell to the retreating youth.

Karan let out a long sigh, pressing her fingers against her temples as a throbbing headache set in, then turned to Rinlada. "Rinlada, I am so sorry about my brother. Why don't you take a ten-minute break in the back?" Karan said softly. Rinlada nodded slowly, pressing her lips tightly together before hurrying toward the back room to hide the tears born of bitter humiliation.

The sun had completely dipped below the horizon, leaving behind only the shimmering, blinking lights of Bangkok's nightscape. In a quiet, luxurious residential neighborhood, a black sports car sat parked in the wide garage of a two-story mansion.

Korn stepped into the house through the side door. The atmosphere inside was dead silent, freezing, and hollow—devoid of the scent of home-cooked meals, devoid of warm family laughter. All that greeted him were the dark hallways and his own reflection stretching across the polished marble walls. The mansion spanned hundreds of square meters, yet to Korn, it felt like the most suffocating prison cell imaginable.

He tossed his school bag onto an expensive sofa in the living room with total indifference, then stumbled toward the kitchen to grab a glass of ice-cold water. As he reached for the fridge, his phone buzzed loudly in his pocket, shattering the silence of the house.

*Dad: Korn, I have important business in town tonight. Coming home late. Take care of yourself and stay out of trouble.*

Korn stared at the message, a cynical smirk twisting the corner of his lips. *Important business.* The exact same excuse text, typed word for word just like the weeks before—a lazy cop-out his father used to escape this house, to flee from the mother who spent her days weeping in her bedroom, and to shirk his responsibilities as the head of the household.

Korn hurled his phone onto the kitchen counter with a loud clack. The emotions he had suppressed all afternoon erupted like a volcano in his chest. He didn't care about his father's message anymore; he felt utterly sickened by the hypocritical facade of this family.

Stumbling slightly with every step, fueled by a dense, suffocating rage, Korn stormed up the stairs to his bedroom on the second floor. Reaching his door, he slammed it shut with a massive bang that echoed throughout the upper level.

He stood in front of the large wall-length mirror in his room, staring at his disheveled reflection. His school uniform, now completely dry, was stained with grey smudges and reeked of cheap soap. He relived the moment Rinlada splashed that filthy water on him, recalled his sister's harsh reprimands, and thought of his utterly shattered family.

"Damn it... To hell with all of it!" Korn shouted, venting his pent-up frustration. He snatched a framed family photo from his desk and hurled it with all his might straight into the mirror.

*Crash!*

The glass frame shattered into tiny shards, leaving a massive web of cracks across the surface of the mirror, reflecting Korn's frantic, bloodshot eyes. He sank to his knees amidst the scattered glass, his breath heaving in ragged, disordered gasps. In the dead stillness of the night, a dark, unwavering seed had firmly rooted itself deep within his soul.

Since his life was already ruined and soaked in isolation, he would not let a girl named Rinlada live in peace either. Tomorrow at school, the real g

ame was about to begin.