Change of Heart - By S.E. Edwards Page 0,81

after my brother,” she whispers, so low I can barely hear her. When she pulls back, I see that her eyes are wet with unshed tears.

“I’d say he’s the one looking after me,” I quip.

Min laughs. She has a vibrant, beautiful laugh. She dabs at her eyes to clear the tears.

“I’ve been worried about you,” Rich says, walking up to us. “I didn’t know how well you’d be holding out on your own.”

“On my own?” Min says. “I’ve been on my own ever since you left home all those years ago!” She sounds like she should be angry, but there’s a playful vibe in her voice. She hits Rich on the arm. “That’s for thinking I’m still the helpless little sister you left in New York,” she accuses.

I smile at their banter. I decide on the spot that I like Min.

“Hey, hey, I never said that,” Rich defends. “What is it with you girls and putting words in my mouth?” He nods at me. “Penny does the same thing.”

“That’s because Penny is smart,” Min declares, linking arms with me. Rich scowls. I laugh.

“Come on,” Min says, leading me down the hall. “I’ve been dying to meet the girl who stole my brother’s heart. I just know that we have so much to talk about.”

***

A few minutes later, I’m sitting cross-legged with Min on the carpeted floor of an unfinished bedroom. It’s part of an apartment that probably takes up half of the building’s top floor. We’d left Rich behind in the living room, then come in here and closed the door.

“You want a drink?” Min asks, going on her hands and knees to reach for the closet. “I have a little cooler in here that I stocked with some sodas.”

“A Coke would be nice,” I tell her. I jump in surprise when a dark can flies toward me. I fumble a bit, but manage to catch it.

Min settles down across from me and tucks her legs under her. “Well,” she sighs, “I don’t really know how to start this… but, I’m sorry.”

I blink at her in surprise. “Sorry?”

“For getting you involved in all of this.” Min gestures around her in a mannerism eerily similar to her brother’s. “I’m not asking you to forgive me. I know it’s probably way too late for that. But, at least, I don’t want you to hate me.”

She starts trailing a finger idly around the rim of the can. “It was a stupid plan that Rich and I thought up. Stupid and selfish. The whole time I was waiting here, stuck in limbo, I just felt so awful about the poor girl that Rich would pass off as me. It was a way for us to buy more time. You have to understand. Rich assured me no harm would come to her, once they realized she wasn’t me. But still…”

Min trails off, looking around the room, everywhere but directly at me. “We were desperate. I was desperate. I would never have agreed to it if I had thought that we’d be endangering the other girl. Still, as soon as I came here alone, and our plan was truly set in motion, I began to feel like such a terrible person.”

Min’s lower lip starts to tremble as the words pour out. “How selfish was it of me to have someone else take the blame? How irresponsible? I couldn’t sleep most nights. The guilt just gnawed at me, until I came this close to giving myself up.” She pinches her thumb and forefinger together to demonstrate. “But then I got a call from Rich, and he told me about you, and everything that’s happened…” Min looks at me and offers a weak smile. “And I was just so relieved that he pulled you out of that situation…”

She stops. For a second, she looks surprised that she’d said so much. “Look at me, just blabbing at you. Let me say this. I’m glad you’re here. Really, really glad. And I just hope—I wish—that you won’t hate me for what I’ve done.”

Her concern is so heartfelt that it takes me aback. And so absolutely misplaced that I can’t help but laugh. “Hate you?” I say. “Min, I can’t possibly hate you. Not when you brought me to the first person in the world I’ve ever cared about.”

Min’s eyes widen in understanding. At the same time, the relief on her face is so obvious it’s palpable. “So is it… love?” she asks. “No, no, don’t tell me. I want to