Crystal had a big mouth, and I had to warn her. She was quite capable of dropping snippets of nonsense in my mom’s ears and creating a rift between me and my mom.
“Tsk, Tsk. I won’t dare to think of any crooked ideas. Besides, I rely on Aunt Isabelle to get what I want. Why would I want to offend you, Yvonne Tanner?” Crystal flashed a provocative look through her narrowed eyes.
She called me Yvonne Tanner! People now addressed me as Ms. Goldstein or Yvonne Goldstein. Only Christopher would refer to me as Yvonne Tanner and that’s because he knew that I liked him to do so. But when Crystal said it, it just sounded sarcastic.
“No doubt, you are now Ms. Goldstein, all high and mighty. You have every right to be so. But, you must be thinking, what right do I have to speak to you in such a manner? I’m just a miserable nobody, right?” Crystal gave a strange laugh of delight as if she held some secrets over me, of which I didn’t even know of.
“What are you trying to say? I have no time for such chattering. Please leave if you have no other business. To put it plainly, get lost!” I had no wish to talk to her at all. Her carrying-on with my mom in the afternoon had infuriated me enough.
“You have a guilty conscience because in your heart you are still uneasy about everything.” Crystal laughed loudly. “Yvonne, shall we have another bet? Let us say, whether I can get into the Remington art exhibition, and hang my painting at the space allocated for you.”
Crystal’s words were loaded with meaning. Taking my space meant that she wanted to replace me. I narrowed my eyes. I had great confidence in my painting skills. “Are you sure that your own painting is good enough to replace mine?”
“Perhaps I don’t even have to paint it.” Crystal laughed in an inscrutable manner, but her face exuded every confidence of sure success.
This made me flustered because, in the past, I had always lost my bets with her. Hearing these familiar words and seeing the same old arrogant and dismissive expression on her face made me feel like my pathetic old self.
The more I panicked, the more determined I became. I said between gritted teeth, “What have you done, Crystal?”
“You will know when the time comes, Yvonne. You will never defeat me. No matter how high you climb, you will never beat me. Haha.”
Crystal’s words and Crystal the person were a curse to me. I could not be rid of it no matter what I did. Because of what she said, I did not get a good night’s sleep. My dreams were nightmares of Crystal. You can’t beat me. You are a pathetic worm. It’s only in your dreams that you can defeat me. I will take away everything that is yours.
When I woke up in the morning, I had the self-fulfilled two dark circles under my eyes. There was no one around at breakfast. After asking around, I found out that Isabelle and Crystal had gone shopping.
“What the heck? Who the hell is her daughter!” I slammed down the bowl and cutlery angrily.
Christopher clapped his hand over his mouth in laughter when he saw me with my panda eyes. I punched him angrily. “Have you never seen a panda before?”
“I’ve never seen such a lovely panda, indeed. Did our sex chats give you such erotic dreams that you couldn’t sleep well?” Christopher said slyly. “I should have broken in last night and gotten myself an eager panda. That’s a nice thought.”
“How can you still joke about it?” If Christopher had come and we were caught in flagrante by the likes of Crystal, there would be a big brouhaha. I sighed gloomily at the thought of Crystal.
“What’s the matter? Why the long face?”
