“Rich.” I step up to him and take his hand. “I’ve come this far with you without complaining, haven’t I? I don’t regret anything.”
Rich runs a hand through his dark ruddy hair. He looks much more like an uncertain young boy than the confident, steady man I know. “It’s hard for me to say this, Penny. But I just have this feeling that once I take you inside—” he gestures behind him, “—once I introduce you to Min, there won’t be any going back for you. You’ll be stuck with me. And even though you already know how I feel about you, it’s just… well, it’s still not too late for you to turn away. Go home. Forget about me. If things go well with Min, I will come and find you. And if they don’t, you won’t be stuck in a situation that is outside of your control.”
Rich sounds so genuine and conflicted that it breaks my heart. It tells me he truly cares about me.
“I’m not leaving, Rich,” I promise. I can’t abandon him to himself, not after everything we’ve gone through. “And I’m not going to weigh you down, either. I’m going to help you however I can. I mean that.” I give him a stern look and harden my voice. “And don’t you dare tell me to forget about you again.”
Rich chuckles. The doubt lifts from his face. “Stubborn as always, huh?” He reaches out to tuck a strand of hair behind my ear. “All right. I won’t say that again. You ready to meet my sister, then?”
“I was born ready.”
***
I feel a little nervous as the elevator climbs to the top floor. I hadn’t considered this before, but what if Min doesn’t like me? What if she ends up being angry with me for derailing all her plans? No matter what Rich said, I had caused trouble for him. For him and Min both. Would she resent me for that?
I wonder if she knows that Rich had fought Victor for me. Or that he has a row of stitches on his leg because of me.
I shrug uncomfortably. Min could easily hate me for putting her brother in danger. I hope she doesn’t, but I can’t hold it against her if she does. After all, I was the one who ruined the plans she’d made with Rich.
I really want her to like me. Normally, I wouldn’t care. But, this is different. Min is Rich’s sister. She is the only family member whom he loves.
Because of that, her opinion means the world to me.
The doors slide open. We step into the hall.
“Rich!” a girl’s voice cries out. I turn in time to see a dark blur streak in front of me. It collides with Rich. The next thing I know, he’s swinging his sister round and round, laughing as he does so.
I take a small step back to let them have their moment. Rich sets Min down and embraces her again. All I can see from here is the back of her head.
“Min,” Rich says to her when they part, his eyes shining, “I want you to meet Penny.”
His sister turns and looks at me. I see her face for the first time. She’s pretty. Really, really pretty, with the type of large doe eyes that boys go crazy over.
“Hi,” I say, smiling as I offer my hand. I don’t want to make a bad first impression.
Min surprised me by foregoing the handshake. She launches forward to wrap her arms tight around my neck.
“Thank you for looking after my brother,” she whispers, so low I can barely hear her. When she pulls back, I see that her eyes are wet with unshed tears.
“I’d say he’s the one looking after me,” I quip.
Min laughs. She has a vibrant, beautiful laugh. She dabs at her eyes to clear the tears.
“I’ve been worried about you,” Rich says, walking up to us. “I didn’t know how well you’d be holding out on your own.”
“On my own?” Min says. “I’ve been on my own ever since you left home all those years ago!” She sounds like she should be angry, but there’s a playful vibe in her voice. She hits Rich on the arm. “That’s for thinking I’m still the helpless little sister you left in New York,” she accuses.
I smile at their banter. I decide on the spot that I like Min.
“Hey, hey, I never said that,” Rich defends. “What is it with you girls and putting words in my mouth?” He nods at me. “Penny does the same thing.”
“That’s because Penny is smart,” Min declares, linking arms with me. Rich scowls. I laugh.
“Come on,” Min says, leading me down the hall. “I’ve been dying to meet the girl who stole my brother’s heart. I just know that we have so much to talk about.”
***
A few minutes later, I’m sitting cross-legged with Min on the carpeted floor of an unfinished bedroom. It’s part of an apartment that probably takes up half of the building’s top floor. We’d left Rich behind in the living room, then come in here and closed the door.
“You want a drink?” Min asks, going on her hands and knees to reach for the closet. “I have a little cooler in here that I stocked with some sodas.”
“A Coke would be nice,” I tell her. I jump in surprise when a dark can flies toward me. I fumble a bit, but manage to catch it.
Min settles down across from me and tucks her legs under her. “Well,” she sighs, “I don’t really know how to start this… but, I’m sorry.”
I blink at her in surprise. “Sorry?”
“For getting you involved in all of this.” Min gestures around her in a mannerism eerily similar to her brother’s. “I’m not asking you to forgive me. I know it’s probably way too late for that. But, at least, I don’t want you to hate me.”
She starts trailing a finger idly around the rim of the can. “It was a stupid plan that Rich and I thought up. Stupid and selfish. The whole time I was waiting here, stuck in limbo, I just felt so awful about the poor girl that Rich would pass off as me. It was a way for us to buy more time. You have to understand. Rich assured me no harm would come to her, once they realized she wasn’t me. But still…”
Min trails off, looking around the room, everywhere but directly at me. “We were desperate. I was desperate. I would never have agreed to it if I had thought that we’d be endangering the other girl. Still, as soon as I came here alone, and our plan was truly set in motion, I began to feel like such a terrible person.”
Min’s lower lip starts to tremble as the words pour out. “How selfish was it of me to have someone else take the blame? How irresponsible? I couldn’t sleep most nights. The guilt just gnawed at me, until I came this close to giving myself up.” She pinches her thumb and forefinger together to demonstrate. “But then I got a call from Rich, and he told me about you, and everything that’s happened…” Min looks at me and offers a weak smile. “And I was just so relieved that he pulled you out of that situation…”
She stops. For a second, she looks surprised that she’d said so much. “Look at me, just blabbing at you. Let me say this. I’m glad you’re here. Really, really glad. And I just hope—I wish—that you won’t hate me for what I’ve done.”
Her concern is so heartfelt that it takes me aback. And so absolutely misplaced that I can’t help but laugh. “Hate you?” I say. “Min, I can’t possibly hate you. Not when you brought me to the first person in the world I’ve ever cared about.”
Min’s eyes widen in understanding. At the same time, the relief on her face is so obvious it’s palpable. “So is it… love?” she asks. “No, no, don’t tell me. I want to figure it out for myself.”
“So do I.” I smile. “I don’t hate you, Min. Not even close. The funny thing is, I was worried about what you’d think of me. I ruined all your plans, after all.”
Min giggles. “That is funny. So then… friends?” She stuck her hand out for me to shake.
I take page from her book, instead. I crawl over and wrap my arms around her in a hug. “Friends,” I tell her.
***
For the next half hour, I recount my adventures with Rich. Min makes for a captive audience. Apparently, Rich managed to avoid mentioning his fight with Victor to Min. So she wouldn’t worry, I make it seem much less dangerous than it really was.
Min shares stories about Rich, too. She
tells me that, when she was about eleven, Rich rented a moving van with all his friends. With their help, he took out all the furniture in his room and drove it to the dump. The only thing he left was his mattress. We share a laugh about how he still lives that way.
“Oh my God, I almost forgot!” Min exclaims, grabbing my hand and dragging me to the bathroom. We stop in front of a mirror. “I want to see how similar we really look!”
I look at the reflection in front of us. We both have dark waves, and we’re about the same height. That’s where the similarities end. Min’s eyes are larger and prettier than mine. My lips are a little plumper. Her nose is small and delicate. Mine is long and thin.
“Well, that’s disappointing,” Min announces. “We don’t look anything alike!”
“Nothing at all the same,” I agree. Her eyes are a beautiful, rare, misty blue—much like Rich’s—whereas mine are a more common brown.
“Men are all blind,” Min declares. I laugh.
“Go back to back,” I suggest. Min nods and turns, pressing her back into mine. Her shoulders are higher, but my neck is slightly longer. It makes the top of my head graze a little above hers. It could just be the difference in hair volume, though.
I catch Min frowning in the mirror. “We’re not even the same height!”
“No,” I agree. “But you’re so lucky. Your eyes are so pretty.”
Min laughs. “I’d trade them for a second to have curls like yours. Your hair is beautiful. Do you know how long I have to work on mine just to give it a tenth of the volume yours has?”
I blush slightly at the compliment. “Come on,” I say, linking my arm with hers. “We’ve got to tell Rich what we really think about his selection of me.”
Chapter Seventeen
Rich and Min spend the next few hours catching up. I keep to the side, trying to stay out of the way. I don’t know what it’s like to have a sibling, but I expect that they would appreciate the time alone.
By the time dinner rolls around, we order pizza for takeout. I’m happy to finally shower and change into some clean clothes after eating. Min was nice enough to offer me some of her things to wear.
When I come out, Rich is nowhere to be found. Min is alone on the living room couch. She looks pensive, and a little bit upset.
“Hey,” I say, “is everything okay?”
She looks up. “Rich and I had a disagreement about what to do next,” she explains. “Apparently, he’s been planning something. So have I.”
I sit down beside her. “So, what’s the problem?”
Min grimaces. “He asked me to talk to you.”
I get a sinking feeling in my stomach. “About what?”
“For starters, he wants me to convince you that he’s all wrong for you,” Min sighs. “Or some garbage like that. He must think you and I are blind as bats if we haven’t seen the way he looks at you.”
The sinking feeling transforms into nervous butterflies. “What way is that?”
“Like a man head over heels in love.” Min smiles gently. “But you didn’t need me to tell you that.”
Min’s words make me want to squeal in delight. I try to act somewhat unaffected, instead. “What did you say?”
“He stormed off after I told him I would do no such thing. He was frustrated. I told him he would have to talk to you himself if he really wanted to convince you. I had a feeling he wouldn’t do it.”
“How did you know?”
Min shrugs. “Just a feeling. I’d give him some time to cool down, though. I don’t know if you’ve ever experienced his temper. I had hoped he’d outgrown it since leaving New York. But no, it’s still there—as always.”
“I don’t envy you,” I tell her. “I know what he can be like, too.” I give Min’s arm a squeeze.
“Hey, it’s not my fault if my brother is as dumb as a post. He has you right in front of him, and he’s trying to push you away?”
“I think it’s his way of trying to protect me.” I shake my head. “He promised he wouldn’t ask me to leave again, though.”
“So you’ve already had this discussion?” Min asks.
“More than once,” I sigh.
“That’s probably why he wanted me to act as the messenger. Rich has many flaws, but he always stays true to his word.”
“That’s good to know,” I say. “So now we just wait for him to come back?”
“I guess so,” Min agrees.
“Did he tell you what he was planning on doing next? He mentioned that he had a plan to me too, but when I asked him about it, he wouldn’t say a word.”
“No,” Min tells me. “The issue of you came as a bit of a stumbling block.” She pauses. Then, she picks up my hand and turns to face me. “You have to tell him how you feel.”
“What?” I stumble. “No! I can’t.”
“Why not?” Min stresses. “It’s the only way he will let you stay.”
“I can’t,” I repeat adamantly. “Not yet.” I haven’t known Min for very long, but already, I feel like I can confide in her. “What if he doesn’t feel the same way?” I ask in a small voice.
“Oh, sweetheart, I can tell you with absolute certainty that he does. I know my brother. I grew up with him. I’ve never seen him act around anyone the way he acts around you.”
“You’re nice to say that,” I murmur. “But you were both a lot younger back then.”
Min laughs. “Good point. But,” she adds in a secretive voice, “I also know men. Have you ever been in love before?”
I hesitate. “I thought I was once. Looking back, I don’t think that was what it was.”
“I was in love, once,” Min tells me. She sighs wistfully. “Circumstance tore us apart.”
“When?” I ask without thinking. Then I feel my cheeks grow warm. “I mean, if you don’t mind me asking.”
Min smiles. “You won’t tell Rich?”
“No!” I say in surprise. “Of course not.”
“Just checking. Older brothers can be stupidly protective at times. When? Oh, not so long ago. A few weeks, in fact.”
The pieces fall into place. “Your boyfriend from New York,” I say. “Who you were forced to leave behind when you came to Rich.”
Min smiles a little. “His name was Joey. My heart fluttered every time I thought of him. I had to leave him without a word. There was no other choice. I knew a clean break would be the only way to keep him from coming after me. It keeps him safe, too. If he doesn’t know where I am, he can’t get in trouble with the men looking for me.”
“That’s so sad,” I say. “I’m sorry, Min.”
“I don’t regret it,” she tells me. “How can I? We had the most beautiful few months together. Sometimes, I think, that once all of this is over, I’ll go back and find him again.” She laughs wistfully. “But that’s just me being foolish. My point is: I recognize the way Rich acts around you. It’s the same way Joey was with me. The only difference is that we’d professed our love for each other.”
“I don’t know if it’s that easy,” I admit. “Rich told me he’s never been in love. What if I’m wrong? What if you’re wrong?” I swallow, remembering the way I thought I knew Abby after being friends for a few weeks. It turned out I hadn’t known her at all. “What if I’m just an infatuation to him?”
“No.” Min’s voice is firm. “You are not that to him. And he is not that to you, either. Ask yourself: Does he inspire you to be the best you? Are you willing to stay with him through the highest highs and the lowest lows? If the answer is what I think it is, then it’s definitely love.”
I exhale. “This is a lot to take in.”
“Nobody said it was going to be easy. If you need to talk, I’ll be here for you. Rich told me about your family. How you don’t know any of them.” Min smiles. “I know it’s fast, but already, you feel like a sister to me. I’ve never said that to any of my girlfriends before.”
“Thanks.” I give Min another hug. “I need to think things through. Do you think
it’s safe for me to go outside?”
“Nobody should know that we’re here,” Min says. “Still, it’s probably better to avoid the streets.” Her face brightens. “I just remembered! There are stairs going up to the rooftop. Here, I’ll show you the way.”
***
I walk to the edge of the rooftop patio and peer out at the city below. Calling it a “city” is probably too generous. This is more of a well-populated town.
I lean against the railing, feeling the cool wind on my face. The sky overhead is darkening. It’s going to be dusk soon.
“Penny.”
I jump. “Rich? What are you doing up here?”
Rich emerges from behind a wall. He looks very subdued, very mellow. “I might ask you the same thing.”
“I didn’t come up here to look for you, if that what you’re thinking,” I tell him. “Min said you stormed off. I thought you’d have taken the bike somewhere.”
Rich looks at me. “I was going to. But I couldn’t stand the thought of being far from you.”
Then why did you try to get Min to tell me to leave? I think. But, I stay quiet.
Rich walks up beside me. He puts his hand on the railing, close to mine. He doesn’t touch me, though.
“I’ve been thinking,” he says after a long, contemplative moment. “About you. You’re afraid.”
“What?” I turn on him. “What are you talking about?”
“You’re afraid,” Rich repeats.
“Of what?” I ask.
“That’s what I’ve been trying to figure out.” Rich sighs. “You’re not afraid of the right things. You watched me fight Victor with barely a peep. You even tried to run when you thought he was distracted. That’s not fear. That’s bravery. But that’s not what I’m talking about.”
Change of Heart Page 20