"What is this?" My sister holds a bag of chips with the sharp arch of her left eyebrow as I decide to not pay her much attention as part open another file, bringing my laptop close to me and nudging my face close to the screen. The lecture was coming I was so aware of that. I had a pile of files before me, ones that needed sorting, and would have to send a thorough email and copies through to my employer whom I hadn't met as yet. I had been hungry so I had gone for a bag of salt and pepper potato chips this time just to keep me going and maybe I had downed a couple of sodas, it wasn't my finest moment.
I would be at the office but since the guy, I was hired to 'assist' was out of town I didn't see why I had to hover over everybody. To be honest, I was also chickening out of the tension that was thick enough to be cut with a knife. I had sensed that some employees weren't that happy with seeing my face and the title of assistant to it. Of course, they were close as a staff, and I didn't mind them not being comfortable with me at first. I guess things like these sort of needed time and maybe we had a lot of that in our hands. I was going to do my job regardless.
I had gone through a whole interview and was qualified, though to be honest some would say a tad bit too 'qualified'. I was glad that hadn't come up, it had given me a headache for a whole year already and I didn't need it to return. I may have some things I still needed to get familiar with however, other than that I guess I had gotten used to some things quicker than I had assumed and the only thing left was to meet my employer. I wasn't necessarily comfortable with calling him that but I didn't know if I was allowed to call him 'Mr. Kang' the way that the others at the office did. I guess it was a bit uncomfortable unless referring to him professionally wise and not in the physical sense in one of those brief emails we had been sharing. They were professional and therefore far too impersonal that I just might as well be communicating with a robot. I did feel like a phone call once in a while as emails sure did take a bit of time with regards to response, but at the same time the thought made me nervous, maybe it would be worse to know of the voice and not the face. Emails were fine.
My sister picked up a bag of cookies I was yet to bite. "And this?"
I wasn't a child so I didn't have to give her an answer, but she was going to stand there holding up that bag and nagging me with that stare–I had no choice.
I sighed. "I was hungry. . .and didn't have time to make something to eat."
"Do you know the calories that are in this stuff?" she questioned, her eyes a nice green-brown as they practically bore into mine.
They were freshly baked and I did go to the gym as she said. I didn't get what was so wrong about a little indulgence once in a while, it certainly took the edge off. I didn't necessarily stress eat but some foods sure helped in easing the nerves, so I nibbled a bit on that and this.
I sighed as slightly shut the lid of my laptop. "I got them at a bakery."
"The time it took you to go to some bakery could have been spent behind the stove," Karla said, putting them right back on my coffee table that was littered with packets of sweets. I had a thing for jelly beans and there was no stopping that–I needed the sugar.
"I go to the gym."
"Is that why you can't eat something better? You go to the gym?" My sister folded her arms.
I sighed even harder, sort of slumping on the floor. "I got a job like you guys wanted me to, what now? It's just a little cookie."
My sister truly stood out whenever she was over at my place, I guess her designer clothes and shoes could never agree with those walls and my vibrant couches. I had decided to just let them sing their tune in that sour color that probably helped make the urine yellow tone of those worth crying over. I was dedicated so my crop tops and underwear fit the image. There was no way I was dressing up for this depressing scene, I only did for the office. I wasn't at the office, so my bright blue crop top and purple underwear seemed perfect. I didn't bother with my hair and it was loose around my face as it fell in those slightly rough spirals. I was making a habit out of being in my panties. My sister was going to have something to say about that for sure.
"I go to the gym though." I was persistent, I had to give myself that.
My sister rolled her eyes. "Yeah."
"I do, this was just a bit of snacking." I reached for the bag of Lays and held it up for emphasis.
"A bit of. . .are you coming over for dinner tonight?" I heard Karla sigh and turned her way, catching sight of her just as she sat on my 'lovely' couch crossing her legs.
"I have all these files and–"
"Your new job is the latest one, huh?" I caught the hurt in her tone as her green-brown eyes traveled to the soda can I hadn't opened, the one I wasn't planning on bringing to my lips. Soda weight was hard to drop.
"Latest one?" I stood up from where I had been sitting. My behind was left with deep patterns from the cushion I had been sitting atop of. I could feel the slight soreness from just the slight movement.
"Are you always wearing nothing?" she asked instead, eyeing me with her brows knitted together.
My underwear was almost just a piece of material this time, but it was comfortable as tiny as it was. Maybe it did leave room for my behind to greet whoever caught it and was of lace, that was the nicest part. I liked lace and this was the nice lace, the lace I could only buy on rare occasions just so I could wear it around the apartment–it made me feel good.
The crop top only covered my chest and left out my belly–I worked hard on that at the gym. I felt so aware of my body as soon my sister mentioned the underwear, however, so I just sat there with that cushion over my thighs that were no joke big. There was just no mention of that, my sister hated references like that despite the weight she had lost and her forcing me to go to the gym. 'Big' was flushed out and replaced with something like 'full', so I did not have a 'big' butt but rather a 'full' behind. It sounded silly to me but I had no choice, she studied this stuff.
"You know how I am, I'm always naked," I told.
My sister wrinkled her nose. "You'd make a great stripper then."
"Okay, that isn't funny. Those ladies out there trying to make money." I narrowed my eyes at her.
"Sorry," Karla said, "didn't imagine you'd be this offended."
"They're trying to make a living," I shrugged, "that's not so bad."
"Let's forget strippers."
I didn't know what she was up to. "Okay?"
I watched her as she sat up straight then sighed. "I hate seeing you living like this."
I cast my eyes around and just felt ashamed. "It's fine."
"I'm not trying to fight with you, okay? I just. . .don't really like you living here, that's all," my older sister voiced out, nudging herself even closer to me. I had already anticipated this and really, there was no fighting my older sister at this point. Those dinners had been to reel me in and trap me with those soft eyes of hers, to begin with. I wanted to get my place just as I had found my job, but in all honesty that wasn't an easy thing and I had to admit it, my apartment was questionable enough. Usually, I fought my older sister on things like this and it wasn't something as simple as going to the gym just to quiet her down–this was serious. However I needed a place to stay, I had shut myself in this cacoon of misery and God knows what for far too long–perhaps I did need better.
"I know," I said.
"You're trying we all can see that, but. . .you've stopped living," Karla stated, "you've been. . .I just miss my baby sister, that's all."
"And it's not like. . ." I couldn't finish the sentence. Instead, I swallowed and searched for a better one. "I'll move in with you and your husband. . .if he's okay with it."
Her brown-green eyes lit up like the stars at my words. "Really?"
"Yes."
"You'll drop those potato chips too?" My sister put on her best innocent face and it was the easiest thing with all those soft tones of green and browns swimming about her irises.
My shoulders fell. "I'll be living under your roof."
"Is that so bad?" Karla's eyebrows arched.
"I won't answer that," I told her, my feet up on the couch and my knees close to my chest, "and I've already paid my rent. I might need some time to get some things ready."
"It'll be like when we were younger," she said.
"I just hope your husband–"
"Your brother-in-law," Karla corrected sternly.
I narrowed my eyes at my sister. "I hope he's aware of this.
"He suggested it," my sister said, sounding as surprised as I was of her statement.
"He did?"
My sister stared at her phone which she had out on her lap instead of looking my way. "He doesn't like his 'baby sister' being alone."
"I'm not going to be for long," I sighed, trying to get myself to not be so deeply offended at the thought of my brother-in-law caring about me, "I'm moving in."
They all cared about me.
and