Kathleen sobbed and begged Elliot not to speak, so he truly fell silent.
But all at once I remembered the last time Elliot had fallen through the ice and ended up in the hospital. Back then, she'd also been hospitalized with pneumonia after falling into the water.
Could it be that everything was connected to that?
Before I could think it through, my mother heard the commotion and came over.
The moment she saw the blisters already rising on the back of Kathleen's hand, she wanted to rush her to the hospital.
Elliot, though, scooped Kathleen up sideways into his arms and hurried out.
My mother, not knowing the whole story, pulled me along into Elliot's car too.
On the way, her face was tight as she asked me,
“Trudy, what happened to Kathleen's hand?”
Elliot's hands clenched around the steering wheel, his voice ice-cold.
“She was jealous that I like Kathleen, jealous that Kathleen scored better than her and gets to go abroad with me, so she dumped a whole cup of hot tea over Kathleen's hand!”
My mother froze on the spot.
“That can't be……”
The next second, a sharp slap landed across my face.
My father shook out his stinging hand and looked at me, his eyes full of disappointment.
“Trudy Gilbert, this is what you meant by not bullying your sister!”
“If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I'd never have known how vicious you are!”
“Stealing a man, and stooping to something this low to do it!”
I swallowed the mouthful of rust and wanted to defend myself, but my mother jabbed me in the side and murmured under her breath,
“Trudy, your father's furious right now. Don't dig in your heels against him!”
Tears welled in my eyes. I didn't want to dig in either.
But then I caught the smug little glance Kathleen shot my way, and the wronged feeling broke free, past holding back.
“She spilled the tea on her own hand! If you don't believe me, go back and check the surveillance!”
Elliot suddenly slammed on the brakes and whipped around to glare at me.
“Are you only this brazen because you knew that camera at my place is broken?”
I froze in an instant.
The car drove on.
Inside, not one person spoke.
The pressure had dropped to its lowest point.
All that remained was Kathleen's desperately stifled crying.
“Sister, I'm sorry. If you want to go abroad with Elliot, then go. Someone has to stay home to keep Mom and Dad company……”
She wept as she accused me of being cruel.
And the whole car believed her.
By the time we reached the hospital, several large blisters had risen on the back of Kathleen's hand.
Even the doctor couldn't help scolding.
“How did it get this bad? It might even scar……”
My parents and Elliot were red around the eyes with heartache.
The way they looked at me was cold as frost.
“Trudy, you've let your parents down too much!”
“Forget about going abroad! We'll be sending Kathleen instead!”
“And apologize to your sister!”
I nodded in silence.
But I refused to apologize.
My parents, beyond disappointed, turned to Elliot and pressed him for confirmation.
“Elliot, do you truly love Kathleen?”
Elliot took Kathleen's unhurt left hand, lacing his fingers tight through hers.
“Yes, sir, ma'am. I know I was foolish before and made a verbal betrothal with Trudy, but that was all childish ignorance. I'm an adult now, and I know perfectly well that the one I truly love is Kathleen!”
My parents still didn't look at me. Instead they turned to Elliot's parents, who had just arrived, and got down to the real business.
“Mr. Delgado, three days from now I'd like to hold a college celebration banquet for Kathleen and Elliot together. It'll be their engagement party as well.”
This was my parents' way of punishing me, deliberately setting the celebration banquet and engagement party for three days out.
Tears kept welling up with the unfairness of it, but I stubbornly refused to let them fall.
It was the first time Elliot had seen me like this, and he couldn't help softening.
“As long as you don't cause a scene that day, I don't mind the three of us holding the celebration banquet together.”
I sniffed and turned him down flat.
Only then did Elliot's parents catch on. Their son had switched the woman he was engaging.:
“Elliot, weren't you supposed to get engaged to Trudy?”
Rejected, Elliot's face twisted, ugly with humiliation.
He pulled in a deep breath and said, loud enough for everyone to hear,:
“How could I ever marry a woman as vicious as her?”
