Jin leans his elbow against the windowsill, looking up at Danielle, who is climbing a tree near his window.
The boy smiles slightly as he watches her nimbly climb higher and higher, sometimes blowing strands of hair off her forehead.
It's terribly hot outside, but even in this weather it's a nice place, he himself sometimes sits there, reading books in silence.
Apparently, now she has taken over his favorite childhood retreat.
— Why are you looking at me like that? Are you counting on me to fall and break all my bones? — turns to him a fourteen-year-old girl when she is at the height of his window.
— I'm just wondering why you chose this particular spot?
Danielle leans her back against a thick branch and shrugs her shoulders.
— It seemed to me that here I would be able to hide from my mother.
He understands her.
They have only been here for a few days, but he has already noticed that the woman controls her every step. Danielle can't do anything on her own, she has to ask her mother about everything, even if she gets hungry, she has to refrain from snacking because her mother strictly forbids it. She believes that her daughter must take care of her shapely figure and grow into a beautiful woman to marry a rich man in the future, all because she has a poor academic record.
— Are you hungry? — The teenager stretches her lips in a wide smile. — Well what? Here I hear your stomach burping loudly.
She nods in response.
Jin pulls out a packet of fattening chips from the cabinet and throws it straight into Danielle's hands.
— Do you realize how many calories this has?
— Fourteen is the age when you shouldn't worry about counting calories. Eat whatever you feel like eating. Don't limit yourself.
Danielle puffs out her lips, then rips open the package without thinking. The smell of bell pepper chips, makes her stomach burp even harder.
— You persuade me to sin. I like you more and more. — The girl lifts her thumb.
She tilts her head when he doesn't respond and just stares at him for a while, silently. A thought popped into her head that Jin looked like a dream prince in that window.
She's been watching too many fairy tales lately.
Definitely.
— Why are you looking at me like that?
— It's just that... I'm grateful for feeding me.
He stretches his lips in a smile.
— Well... I have to admit that your mother is abnormal.
Danielle stuffs a handful of chips into her mouth and shrugs her shoulders.
— I've put up with her for fourteen years, so I don't know how much longer I can stand being under her care. I dream of growing up and becoming independent — she says with a full face.
— And do you wonder what your future will look like?
The girl licks her fingers.
— I'm a lightweight. What is to be, will be. I don't worry to excess.
The teenager shakes his head, hearing her answer.
— Such a mode always leads to tragedy....
— My whole life is a tragedy. I don't count on a happy ending.
— And again this pessimistic attitude....
The boy sighs loudly, watching her munching chips, not giving a damn about the future. She just wants to live from day to day, not worrying about what tomorrow will bring.
She is fourteen years old and will probably change his mind about it completely in a while.
*
Jin loses his appetite when he sees his mother secrete food that is the size of a walnut for Danielle. The 14-year-old gazes longingly in her eyes at the fattening meat that spreads the smell throughout the dining room. It is clear that she is hungry and longs for normal meals, yet she keeps all her anger inside, afraid to defy her mother.
The boy can't stand it. It all feels sick to him.
He rises from his chair and puts a rather large piece of meat on the younger girl's plate.
She is surprised.
She lifts her face and looks at him with wide-open eyes, occasionally glancing at her mother.
The woman remains calm.
— My parents taught me to share food with people I respect. We are both now at an age when we are maturing and need valuable meals — he turns to Danielle, then scoops up another piece of meat and places it on her father's plate.
The 14-year-old looks delighted to see her mother force a nervous smile.
Jin purposely does not share the meal with her stepmother.
— Forgive me, but I noticed that you are dieting, so I wouldn't dare put such fatty food on your plate.
Every moment, he impresses Danielle more and more.
— That's nice of you. — There is so much venom in her words that she is just short of starting to hiss. — It's good that you care about others.
He only smiles triumphantly, ignoring his father's offended look.
— This is delicious! — says Danielle enthusiastically, whose face is dirty with grease.
The sight disgusts her mother.
— Use a tissue — she points out to her.
— There is no need for that. Let's feel comfortable in each other's company, since we're supposed to be a family. Let everyone be himself.
— Jin! — The man chastises his son with his eyes, making him realize to bite his tongue. — Just take care of dinner and don't speak until you finish your meal.
The boy meekly grabs the cutlery, out of the corner of his eye glancing at his angry stepmother. He realizes that this evening he has finally found himself on her blacklist.
And quickly, considering how short he has lived with her.
*
It is twenty-two o'clock. The boy is sitting on the garden swing, browsing the website of the school where he is to start school after the summer vacation. He is excited for September, the moment when he will cross the threshold of Horace Mann, getting to know people living in a similar environment.
No longer will he have to endure the teasing that he is the son of a rich daddy. At this school, everyone will come from the upper classes, and no one will tell him that he was born with a silver spoon in his mouth.
He will finally belong to the right place.
— It was beautiful the way you treated my mother.
The 16-year-old looks over his shoulder and sees Danielle approaching him.
— I can't help thinking that this woman drives me crazy.
The girl sits down next to him and looks at the laptop screen, where the Horace Mann website is displayed.
— It seemed to me that ninety-nine percent of students dream of taking a vacation that lasts as long as possible....
— I find myself in that one percent.
Danielle curls her lips in a slight smile. She pulls her legs up and hugs her knees, looking at him obliquely.
— There is something about you that makes me enjoy being in your company. As I mentioned to you earlier, I am not a person who makes friends with others. I prefer power to people.
— Did your mother assimilate this nonsense to you? — Jin closes the laptop and shifts his gaze to her. — Am I wrong?
— No. When I was a child, she kept telling me that people take advantage of weak people, so I should have power over others. That's why I used to beat my peers in kindergarten.
Jin crinkles his eyebrows, barely restraining himself from laughing.
— Your mother really has something wrong with her head if she instilled such nonsense into her child's head. How did she seduce my father?
— She is playing a game. In time, she will show her true face, but so far, she pulls the wool over your old man's eyes quite well. She is a born fox.
In the distance you can hear the voices of people passing by. They are gibberish and undoubtedly belong to people under the influence of alcohol.
— Is this why you don't want our parents' wedding to happen?
— Do you know why my mother never had a husband? Why did she adopt me alone? Because she is unfit for relationships. She drives people to destruction.
— So you mean to say that my father is in danger?
— That's not what I meant. It's just that power and money are number one in her life. I don't even know if she has a heart, if she loves your father at all....
— Maybe not her father, but his money.
Danielle does not answer, only nods in response.
— Remember that now she has someone to protect you from your mother. Since I am to become your older brother in the future, certain responsibilities are mine.
He looks into her eyes, noticing the sadness in them.
— I hope it won't come to that.
— Hm — the 16-year-old looks confused. — Don't you want me to protect you?
— I don't want us to become siblings in the future. I will not allow my mother to marry your father.
And that's not the only reason.... although she hides it deep in her soul, not letting anyone see it.