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"And yet?" I pro

"And yet I can't help but feel that I can trust you"

"You can," I assured her

I didn't give my word often

You never kneho ht screw up, need to be punished, need to be taken out So you couldn't give them any assurances

But I gave her one

And I would do everything inpower to keep it

Chapter Six

Romy

Beauty is a curse

Those ords my mother had said to us so often that they were a fundae

She claimed she cried ere both born because we'd both been too pretty, would only grow up into very beautiful woly toas ere cooking dinner in our hborhood a couple weeks after she'd officially left my father

At that age, I had no reason to doubt those words

Myin their tracks, getting slaps from their wives when they passed her on the street She'd been thin but curvy in her youth, all boobs and hips and butt Even being naive of such things, I had always been fascinated by the way a sundress—her daily attire—slid over her curves, wondering if I would inherit a figure like hers once I grew up Her hair had been a long sheet of gleae dark eyes and flawless skin

So she'd been beautiful for sure