**3:47 AM – Yin's Apartment**
Luong jolted awake to the scent of ginger tea and whispered arguing outside the bedroom.
*"—bringing strange girls home now?"* Yin's mother hissed.
*"She's not strange, she's—"* A pause. *"Just brew the tea, Mā."*
The door creaked open. Yin froze, steaming cup in hand, as Luong sat up—his oversized shirt slipping off one shoulder.
**"Sorry,"** they blurted in unison.
Then her phone rang.
The hospital's ID flashed like a death knell.
**The Poison Plot**
**"Medication sabotage,"** the doctor confirmed. **"Digitalis in his beta-blockers."**
Li Shiyi slammed a file onto the counter. *"Chen Ying's 'gift' of 'herbal supplements' last week. That bastard didn't even hide the paper trail!"*
Luong's vision tunneled. First her mother's brakes. Now her father's pills. *How many funerals would Chen Ying force her to attend?*
Then—warm hands gripped her shoulders.
Yin's voice was rough with sleep (and something darker): *"Breathe. Then we destroy him."*
*The Awakening*
Zhou Weng's first words upon waking:
**"Tomorrow… we visit your mother's grave."**
A chill slithered down Luong's spine. Her father *hated* that gravesite—hadn't gone in 15 years.
*Why now?*
Before she could ask, his skeletal fingers clutched hers. *"You'll understand… when you see what I left there."*
**The Kiss That Changes Everything**
At dawn, Yin walked her to her car—but Luong couldn't move.
*"Last night…"* She stared at his lips. *"You called me 'your girl' to your mother."*
Yin stepped closer. *"Would that be so terrible?"*
Their first kiss tasted of ginger tea and unsaid vows—until her phone buzzed with a photo:
**Chen Ying, standing at her mother's grave… holding a shovel.**