I smiled winningly. “Me and the past are living quite happily in this hovel. And I’ll have you know that resentment is a tasty spice, but my cheap eats don’t need it. I always was the better cook than you.”
“No, you weren’t!” she barked, lip curling.
I smiled wider.
Sue saw it and fixed her face in an instant, internally cursing herself for the slip—and I didn’t need to be in her head to know it.
I was eight years old when I figured out that my sister was a twisted, duplicitous snake. Nine when I stopped taking her crap, and made it my mission to ensure the world saw her for what she truly was. And ten whenOmma realized that the only way for us to live in a peaceful home was for her to put Sue and me at opposite sides of it.
She cleared her throat. “You know what? Have it your way, Sarah. Pick a fight. Be a bitch. Whatever it takes for you to feel like you’re winning a game you’re only playing with yourself.
“The only reason I came was for Omma. She wants to see you before it’s too late. Are you coming or not?”
“Not,” I breezed, turning back to the stove.
“Why? Don’t you care about your own mother?”
“I would, if she were really dying.” My tone couldn’t be flatter. “But since you’re lying and she’s not, I’m not rushing off anywhere with you.”
She choked. “I— I’m not lying! What kind of a nutcase do you think I am? Do you really believe I’d come all this way just to make up a story about our mother being on her deathbed?”
“Yep,” I replied, popping the “p.”
She blew out a rough breath that tickled my hair. “Fuck’s sake— Fine,” she snapped. “I thought you’d make this difficult, so here.” I heard shuffling behind me. “I brought proof.”
“What proof?” I didn’t turn around. “Medical reports? Scans? Might as well put them away now because you could’ve easily doctored those. That’s not proof of anything.”
“Will you just look?”
My stirring slowed down.There’s no reason for me to look at anything she has to show me. Sue used to call Omma a poisonous prune whenever her back was turned, and I doubt her feelings toward her changed much in the last decade.
She doesn’t give a shit about honoring her dying wish, because that would require her caring about someone other than herself.
Don’t get caught in her web,sense whispered in my ear.Remember everything you learned about dealing with narcissistic abusers. Remember that no matter how much you wish, beg, plead, want them to... they never change.
Just tell her to go.
“What is it?” I turned around and snatched the folder from her grip. “A letterfrom Ommathat you wrote yourself? Pictures from the bad olddays? Or is it...?” I trailed off, reading four uppercase words across the top of the document that shut me down better than an explanation.
LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT
“What is this...?” My whole body went numb.
“Read what it says under Disposition of Property.”
My hands moved of their own accord, flipping through the pages, they took me to the second to last page.
“She’s leaving it all to you.” Sue’s voice whispered against my ear. “Yes, all that she has. Omma made some bad investments in the last couple years, and that was before she found out about the cancer. Between the chemo and experimental trial after experimental trial, she doesn’t have much, but still, she’s leaving it all to you. Ten thousand dollars, her car, and even Halmeoni’s necklace.
“We bought the house from her to help her cover the medical bills,” Sue confessed. “That belongs to me now, but you get her book collection and most of her furniture. You can keep it or sell it—up to you.”
She didn’t have to tell me that. I could read it all in fine, black ink. All of Omma’searthly and monetary possessions bequeathed to my youngest daughter, Sarang Kim.
“It’s not fake,” Sue blurted out in the stretching silence. “You can see for yourself that she and the witnesses all signed it. It’s her real will.”
Sue didn’t have to tell me that either. I once dreamed of becoming a lawyer until Sue saw to the end of that. I knew when I was holding a legal document in my hands.
“You know what this means, don’t you?” Sue asked when again I didn’t speak.
