Something was bothering Juju. Tia could tell. She’d hardly seen her sister eat anything for the past week. Her clothes seemed to be getting looser and looser around her already slim figure. Her physique couldn’t possibly handle too much more of this kind of stress.
Tia had spent the afternoon making Julieta’s favorite Argentine dish. She plopped a plate full of arroz con pollo in front of her sister’s slender nose. “It’s time you ate something.”
Julieta glanced up at Tia. “I’m not—”
“Hungry? No, Juju, you’re not hungry. You’re starving. You’re whittling away to nothing again. You think I don’t remember, don’t you?”
Eyes glazing over, Julieta echoed listlessly, “Remember? Remember what?”
“Remember the way you starved yourself after Papá and Mamá died. You buried yourself in grief. You punished yourself by withholding food, a very necessary item, from yourself!”
“What?” she responded tiredly. “That’s ridiculous, Tia! Why would I want to punish myself for their deaths?”
“I don’t know,” Tia whispered. “That part has never made any sense to me. But somehow, I knew that’s what you were doing. I might have been only thirteen then, but I could tell you were very angry with yourself. You nearly died, Juju!! Please eat something! I can’t watch you go through that again. I can’t lose you too!” Tears lacing her voice, Tia turned away to sob into her shirtsleeve.
“Hey. It’s all right.” Julieta would have to pull herself together for Tia’s sake. She’d have to make it appear that everything was all right. “Look, I’m eating.”
She forced herself to take a bite of the arroz con pollo. Her stomach instantly bolted. But her iron will won out over her stomach’s sensibilities. She shoveled another bite into her mouth under her sister’s watchful gaze. But her anxiety was still burning a hole through her gut.
She had to figure this out. She had to fix this problem. For Tia’s sake. She’d dragged her sister all the way across an ocean to another continent. She couldn’t let her down now!
They’d been in Korea for only two weeks. How was it possible that so much was already going so wrong? Julieta was so sorry she’d taken this job. So sorry she’d dragged Tia along for this disastrous ride. Once again, she was going to have to carry the load alone. And struggle to find an answer to what appeared to be an impossible question. She sighed. She should be used to being alone by now.
