Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Noah Luo and I were "limited-time siblings" for four years.

When I was 15, my mom remarried, and I moved into the Luo family with her—this was when my sibling relationship with Noah Luo began.

Noah was two years younger than me. They say there's a generation gap every three years, but for kids from blended families, any gap, even age, feels like an insurmountable chasm.

Noah harbored a lot of hostility toward me. The first time I met him, the teenage boy, almost as tall as me, stood behind my stepdad, staring at me with a dark look in his eyes, as if he wanted to tear me to shreds with his gaze alone.

Having watched countless cheesy prime-time dramas with my mom, I was all too familiar with this trope. In Noah's eyes, my mom and I were just like the "new moon princess" from Qiongyao's novels—claiming we "came to join this family" while actually destroying his.

In reality, my mom and Noah's dad fell in love and got married normally, and Noah's parents had also divorced amicably. There were no unethical or shocking melodramas involved.

But that didn't stop Noah from holding a hostile prejudice against my mom and me.

On the night we moved into the Luo house, I knocked on Noah's door, wanting to properly introduce myself.

After knocking for a long time, the door finally opened from the inside.

Only a small lamp was on in his room, casting a shadowy glow over the boy's figure.

Half of Noah's body was hidden in the darkness, and his voice was as cold as his eyes. "You don't have to go out of your way to curry favor with me. The best I can do is treat you like strangers."

With that, he slammed the door shut.

I was stunned by the gust of wind from the door. When I came to my senses, the door was already tightly closed.

But I wasn't angry. Unlike Noah, I had a completely tolerant attitude toward this stepbrother of mine.

The reason was simple—I was a die-hard fan of good looks and had a soft spot for younger brothers.

From the moment I first saw him, I thought he was the younger brother I was destined to have.

I wanted to dote on him like my own blood brother and give him all the love and care he needed.

Back then, I was in my third year of junior high, and Noah was in his first year. After my mom remarried, I transferred to Noah's junior high school.

Every night after self-study, I was the first to rush out of my classroom and wait for him at the door of his.

When he handed in a blank essay during the monthly exam, making the Chinese teacher so angry that she wanted to call his parents, I covered for him, telling more than a dozen lies—saying he'd taken the wrong medicine for a bad cold and accidentally fallen asleep during the exam.

When I heard a female classmate had confessed to him, I kept nagging in his ear about a hundred downsides of puppy love.

For months, my world revolved around Noah Luo.

But none of this improved our relationship. It remained as cold as ever, with us exchanging fewer than three words a day.

Even my stepdad—Noah's biological father—thought I was being too humble, "chasing a cold shoulder with a warm face." He told me not to bother with Noah and scolded Noah to treat me better.

We were having dinner at the time. Noah put down his chopsticks and said, "I never acknowledged her as my sister, and I have no interest in playing this 'family' game with her."

My stepdad flew into a rage and yelled at Noah.

I quickly stepped in to stop him: "Dad, he's still just a kid. Boys his age are all like this. Don't be too hard on him. It's also my fault for being in too much of a hurry to get along with him."

My mom also helped smooth things over, and finally, my stepdad calmed down.

Noah didn't appreciate it at all—instead, he grew even more annoyed by my constant attention.