Sue hissed, a slight frown cracking her perfect mouth. “Really, Sarah? We haven’t seen each other in ten years, and the first thing you say to me iswhat the fuck are you doing here?At least give me a hug first.”
She stepped forward and my hand flashed.
Snatching my knife off the cutting board, I brought it up between us so fast, she flung back—nearly colliding with the open door. All trace of her smirk was gone now.
“Fuck’s sake, what are you doing! Put that away!”
“This isn’t any concern of yours”—I flashed the knife—“because you’re turning around and walking out that door.”
“Dammit, Sarah!” She flung her arms down like it pissed her off that I made her throw them up. “I’m not here for this,” she snapped. “I’ve been searching for you for months. I wouldn’t have done that and come all the way here if it wasn’t important.”
“Sucks for you, because I’m not interested.” I tossed the knife back on the cutting board without issue. It wasn’t like I was actually going to kill the bitch in my apartment with my knife covered in my fingerprints. Sue had already ruined my life. I wasn’t going to prison because of her on top of it. “Get out.”
“Just let me say what I came here to—”
“Get out.”
“—you’ll regret it if you throw me out before—”
“Get out!”
Frustration bled into her tone. “This is life or death—”
“GET O—!”
“Omma’s dying,” she shrieked. Sue punched the door and slammed it against the doorjamb—rattling the decayed building. “She’s dying, and she wants to see you before it’s too late! It’s the only thing she wants!”
Her screeching went in one ear and out the other. “Bullshit.” I finished chopping my vegetables and transferred them to the sauté pan. “That woman can’t die. She’ll survive on malice and self-righteousness long after the human race dies out.”
“Witty comeback as usual, Sarah, but this is serious.” I heard cautious footsteps approach the kitchen. “It’s cancer. She was diagnosed a couple years back. We thought she beat it, but then it came back hard. She doesn’t have long, and she knows it.”
I said nothing—engrossed in my cooking.
“She wants to see you before it’s too late.”
Silence.
“She’s our mother,” Sue cried. “The only parent we’ve got left— The onlyfamilywe’ve got left other than each other. I tell you she’s dying and all you can do is stand there playing with your noodles?”
Still, I said nothing. I didn’t so much as liftmy head.
“What is wrong with you!” A rough hand spun me around. “Do you think I’m lying or—”
“Yes.”
She blinked. “What?”
“Yes. I think you’re lying through your bleached teeth. You forget that I know you, Sue. I do,” I hissed, “and that’s why you’ve always hated me. Everyone else has looked at you and seen the pretty, sweet, charming person you’ve always pretended to be, but me...”
She backed away, expression hardening.
“I know you’re nothing but a monster in a candy-coated shell.” I flicked her forehead, making her jerk. “And you’re already starting to crack.”
Sue straightened, clearing her throat. “That’s very hurtful, Sarah, and completely uncalled for. I came here not as your enemy, but as your sister. Your only sister. All I want is for the three of us to be together one final time. Please, can’t you just for once leave the past in the past? What good is it doing you, sitting here in your hovel all day, frying up a side of resentment to make your Korean cheap eats go down easier?”
I clenched my teeth, fuming as my own words came back to haunt me.Fake-ass apologies like that put all the responsibility on me for what happened, instead of on you.
But, of course, Sue didn’t even apologize. Why would she when I was the one holding on toresentmentandrefusing to leave the past in the past? It really had to be nice in the mind of a narcissist. They got to live an entire lifetime never doing a single thing wrong—or so they would go to their graves swearing.
