- 4.
But…
The way Maisie looked at Jake, with that
hidden ambition beneath her sweet façade,
seemed familiar.
When the housekeeper, Mrs. Chen, brought
her to our house, Maisie was all meek and
mild, trying to be my bestie.
I didn’t mind another friend, so I let her come
over whenever she wanted.
Liam lived next door and would visit us
regularly.
I don’t know how Maisie and Liam met, but
she called him “Liam–oppa” (I changed this
since “Song gege” wouldn’t make sense),
which clearly made his day.
Even though she knew Liam was kind of
dumb, she’d grab her homework and, the
second Liam showed up, she’d flutter her
eyelashes and ask, “Liam, could you help me
with this problem? I don’t get it…”
When I was sixteen, Maisie snuck into my
room with Mrs. Chen’s key and tried on my
clothes.
When I came home early and caught her, she
“I’m so sorry, Janice. My family’s always been
poor. I only wear hand–me–downs from my
cousins. I’ve never worn clothes like this
before, so I just wanted to see…”
“Oh, boo–hoo, so being poor gives you the
right to steal my clothes? And mess them
up?”
I sniffed my clothes.
Every single one reeked of cheap perfume,
and one even had a big yellow stain. It was
disgusting.
I’m not exactly a saint.
“This isn’t the first time you’ve done this, is
it? You and your mom get out of my house,
right now! And you’re paying for the damage.”
Liam lost it. He jumped in front of Maisie to
protect her.
‘Janice, there’s no need to be such a bully!
You scared her.”
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.
“She’s crying because she got caught doing
something wrong! And crying gives her the
right to wear my clothes, and ruin them?”
“It’s all my fault. I was so presumptuous to
think that Janice considered me her friend…”
“Don’t worry,” Liam said to her, glaring at me.
“You rich kids are so out of touch. Not
<
everyone is born with a silver spoon in their
mouth. Maisie’s had it hard, what’s the big deal about wearing your clothes?”
His disgusted look is burned into my memory.
I was the wicked witch trying to ruin their
romance.
Whatever.
Mrs. Chen begged for forgiveness, slapped
Maisie a couple of times, and my mom took
pity on them and let them off the hook.
When Mrs. Callahan found out about it, she
rolled her eyes at Maisie and told Liam to
stay away from her.
But I kept seeing them together at school.
<
Before that, I’d thought of Liam as a
childhood friend. I might have even had a little
crush on him.
After that, I couldn’t stand to be in the same
room.
Even if Liam had agreed to the marriage
arrangement, I would have run away on the
wedding day.
Thankfully, I didn’t have to. Maisie had done a
great job of wrapping the loser around her
little finger.
