1: 1
Three days before the tuition deadline at the state university, I finally had my first year's fees saved up.
When I asked Marvin Stephens to hand the money over, his head was down, thumbs moving over a text to Harper Fox. He didn't even look up.
"I used the tuition to sign Harper up for a dance class. She goes to a private school. If she can't perform, the other girls will laugh at her."
"Just let her have it. You can reapply next year."
For as long as I could remember, Mom had told me to give in to my twin sister.
When the family could only afford one can of imported formula, she said Harper was frail and gave it to her, and I got the domestic kind.
When Harper didn't get into college, Mom spent all the tuition money sending her to a private school and pushed me out into the working world early.
Even when it came to college applications, she bought Harper the whole Apple set, and tossed me some forty-dollar off-brand phone for seniors.
Marvin was the only person who ever stood up for me, so he was the only one I trusted to keep my tuition.
But somewhere along the way, without my noticing, he'd changed too.
When I stayed silent, he finally looked up.
"Mia Fox, don't be like this. Harper and I are going ahead to Chicago to set things up for you, so we can take care of you when you get there."
All at once it felt completely pointless.
I pulled out my phone and told Mrs. James yes, I'd take the live-in tutoring job for her son who was studying overseas.
She asked, "You don't need to keep your little boyfriend company anymore?"
I gave a bitter smile. "No. I already gave that up too."
1
After the screen went dark, the room fell dead quiet.
Until the patter of Harper's footsteps came running in from the hall.
"Marvin, your delivery's here!"
Marvin's whole face softened. Same as always, he handed the mango pomelo smoothie to Harper.
"Light ice, less sugar. That's right, isn't it?"
"But I'm sick of that one. I want something different today." Harper pushed out her lower lip.
Without a second thought, Marvin swapped my jasmine green milk tea for hers.
The moment the mango pomelo smoothie was pressed into my hand, my fingers trembled without meaning to.
I'm allergic to mango.
Marvin remembered that Harper wanted light ice and less sugar, but he'd forgotten I can't touch mango.
Yet he used to be the very first one to panic when I accidentally ate mango, the one who carried me on his back and ran miles to the hospital.
I quietly pushed the drink aside.
Marvin's brow creased. "What? Sulking again?"
"Stop keeping score against Harper over every little thing. She's your sister, not some stranger."
It was Harper who rolled her eyes. "Mia can't eat mango! Marvin, did you forget?"
Only then did Marvin shut his mouth, embarrassed.
That evening Mom asked Marvin to stay for dinner.
Harper's pretty new princess dress had just arrived, and she couldn't wait to tear it open and hold it up against herself.
Mom's eyes shone as she watched her. Then her gaze landed on me, and her whole manner changed.
"Harper's got such presence. Anything looks good on her."
"Not like Mia, all dowdy and plain."
But she never mentioned that a little princess's presence is built with money and love, neither of which she had ever given me.
I kept my head down and shoveled in my rice while she scolded on.
"Look at you, shut up tight like a clam, mouth stuck out all day. Anyone would think I owed you something."
Only when he got interrupted from admiring Harper's new outfit did Marvin say, in an irritated tone, "Don't say that, ma'am. Mia's fine too."
I suddenly thought back to something at school.
Some boy had said of Harper, "She's pretty, sure, but her nose isn't high enough."
Marvin's face had changed on the spot. He grabbed the boy by the collar.
"Say that again, I dare you."
"Don't you know that judging a girl's looks can really hurt her pride?"
So he knew words like that could hurt someone's pride. It was just that, in his eyes, my pride wasn't worth mentioning.
After dinner I took a shower to settle myself, and walked straight into Marvin coming the other way.
He was in high spirits. "Since you don't need to save for tuition anymore, let's go on a trip tomorrow. Like we said we would."
My college dream was in pieces, and a graduation trip meant nothing to me now, but I remembered what I'd told him once.
"When I graduate, I want to see the ocean. Mom takes Harper every year, and I've never been, not once."
Back then he'd stroked my head and smiled. "Okay. When you graduate, I'll take you."
So, hardly knowing why, I nodded, and just as I was about to ask what he'd arranged,
I turned and saw him holding Harper's backpack.
Power bank, sunscreen, a spare raincoat, packing one thing after another into it.
Even her pads, tucked neatly into a little pouch.
"Harper's been spoiled her whole life. She doesn't know how to pack. It has to be me."
I watched him fuss over her, back and forth, and my heart sank again. Not once had he ever packed any of that for me.
The car Marvin booked came early. Thinking I'd finally get to see the ocean, I drifted off to sleep on the way.
When cheerful music woke me, it took me a moment to understand. What lay ahead wasn't the ocean. It was a fairy-tale theme park.
Harper ran ahead, thrilled.
"Marvin, so this was the surprise! I always said I want to be a princess forever, and you actually remembered!"
"Will you be my knight forever, and protect me always?"
Marvin bent down with a smile and gave a perfect knight's bow.
"Of course."
He chased after her, leaving me alone to carry three people's bags, like a maid.
I got through the day in a daze. On the way back, I found out Harper had bought several big bags of merchandise.
Any one of those bags cost more than half a year of my tuition.
This world really is unfair. Same family, same age, even the same face.
The back seat was crammed full. Marvin gave me a troubled look.
"Mia, this stuff can't take being squashed."
"And I don't feel right sending Harper home alone. You've always been independent. Just make your own way back."
Before I could answer, he had already started the car.
I looked around at the strange surroundings, gripping the senior phone that didn't even have navigation, and broke out in a cold sweat.
It seemed independent people had no right to be looked after, born without it. No matter how hard the road, they had to walk it alone.
I asked several people and switched buses several times before I reached the last transfer station.
In the cold wind, the phone suddenly buzzed.
It was Marvin.
"You there yet?"
I was holding back the anger inside and didn't want to reply, but the next second the messages came popping up one after another.
"What's the matter with you, why so slow?"
"You're a grown adult and you have no sense of timing at all. Harper and I already ate dinner."
"Sort it out yourself. Don't keep people waiting next time."
"Out in the real world, nobody's going to cut you any slack."
I stared hard at the screen, and the tears blurred my vision in an instant.
My fingers typed and deleted, deleted and typed again.
Right then, the last bus of the night roared past.
And the tears finally broke loose.
