2: 2
2
Yolanda rushed to explain, her eyes flooding with panic as she looked at me.
"No, Ursula, that's not what I meant, you have to believe me."
Mom and Dad stepped in just in time to smooth things over.
"We've got plenty of rooms in this house. Why fight over just one?"
"Yolanda, come next door. We've already gotten your room ready. It's right next to Ursula's."
Yolanda nodded and followed them into the room next door.
I had to admit that, well decorated as it was, Yolanda's room was a size smaller than mine.
Mine was the largest in the wing. Even Leslie's was smaller than mine.
The moment the door swung open, Yolanda went quiet. Her feet stopped where they were, and all that was left was the tears rolling down her face in big drops.
Mom and Dad stood there awkwardly, not knowing for a moment what to say.
Leslie let out a cold snort.
"See? Told you I called it. One look at Ursula's room and she's green with envy, one look at her own and now she's crying."
"She just thinks we play favorites, doesn't she? Butl— Yolanda, what exactly are you after?"
"What's next, you want to swap rooms with Ursula?"
Yolanda shook her head quickly, tears falling hard with the motion.
"No, no, it's not that. I just never thought I'd get to live in a room this nice. How could I ever deserve it?"
"Forget a room this nice. Back in Brook Hollow, I didn't even have a room. I just slept in the woodshed next to the pigpen..."
Her voice dropped lower and lower toward the end, until I couldn't hear her at all.
At those words, even Leslie, brimming with hostility toward her, fell silent along with Mom and Dad.
I ignored all of them, walked over and took Yolanda's hand, and led her to the window to look down at the big courtyard on the ground floor.
Right then the gardener was watering the flowers, the head chef in the kitchen was counting out the ingredients he'd need for the day, and the butler was checking on the koi in the artificial pond.
"See that, Yolanda? This is your home. Everything here belongs to Mom and Dad. Your real parents."
"So it's not just this room. Every good thing in this world, you deserve all of it."
"As long as you want it, every good thing in this world should be yours."
When she turned to look at me, her eyes were still wet with tears.
But the next second she gave a firm nod, as if something had just taken root inside her and begun to grow.
"Mm!"
I may only be eighteen, but in this circle I'd seen more than my share of scheming, and every kind of person there was.
Somehow I felt Yolanda wasn't like those manipulators who played weak on purpose.
I didn't know whether I'd misjudged her.
But at least for now, I wanted to protect her.
As it happened, it was the weekend, so there was no school those two days.
Early the next morning, the tutors arrived one after another, right on schedule.
Starting at seven, they came in wave after wave: etiquette, flower arranging, tea ceremony, foreign language, business management.
Except for lunch, I didn't get a single minute of rest.
It wasn't until the last lesson ended that I noticed Yolanda standing behind the entryway of the living room, watching me.
"Is this the kind of life you and Leslie have had since you were little?"
I rolled my stiff neck loose.
"Pretty much since I was four. Almost every day off for Leslie and me has been like this."
Yolanda's eyes went red in an instant.
"So you've had it this hard since you were small. None of this should ever have fallen on you."
"I grew up in the countryside. I had to cut pig feed every day, but at least I could slack off now and then and run wild with the other kids up on the hillside."
"During the busy harvest I'd work till my back wouldn't straighten, but at least in the off-season I could catch my breath. You..."
Before she could finish, Leslie cut her off impatiently.
"Cut the divide-and-conquer act. You're hinting again that you suffered out in the country while Ursula stole the good life that was yours, aren't you?"
"Yolanda, drop the little games. It's honestly sickening."
Yolanda's mouth snapped shut, and she shot me an uneasy glance.
There was pure panic in it, as if she was terrified I'd misunderstand.
If anyone else had said all that, I'd have thought exactly what Leslie did.
But those clear eyes of hers told me she truly ached for me.
I smacked Leslie hard on the back of the head.
"Shut your mouth!"
I wanted to say more, but a burst of noise from outside the courtyard caught my attention.
"Is this the Summers house? Is our Yolanda in here?"
"You tell Yolanda to open the door. We're her parents and her grandmother. We came all this way to find her!"
"Who do you think you are, blocking us? Our Yolanda is a young lady of the house now! You'll pay for this soon enough!"
