There she was, sitting at my vanity, using my expensive skincare products, with the pearl necklace my mother had once given me draped around her neck.
She didn’t look the least bit surprised. In fact, it was as if she had been waiting for me, a provocative smile tugging at her lips.
“Is there something you need, sister?”
“What do you really want?” My voice was flat, betraying no emotion.
“What do I want?” She lazily capped the serum bottle in her hand.
“Don’t you understand?”
She turned toward me, feigning confusion.
“After all this time, you still don’t see what I’m after?”
“I want everything you have—your room, your clothes, your parents, even your identity.”
She rose to her feet and stepped closer, chin tilted upward though she was half a head shorter, as if she were looking down on me.
“Really, you should be thanking me. While you were away all these years, I was the one keeping Uncle and Aunt happy. By now, they already see me as their real daughter.”
She paused, licking her lips.
“And you? A daughter who’s always abroad, who never cares about her family? To them, you’ve long since stopped being their child.”
Uncaring? Unfilial?
Hearing those words, I couldn’t help but find it laughable.