Involuntarily Vegan E-Book

Laura Dessner

• Herausgeber: tredition
• Kategorie: Gesellschafts- und Liebesromane
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 270

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2023

Beschreibung

Emilia only wants one thing: to forget the betrayal and lies of her ex-boyfriend and start over in Munich. This turns out to be difficult though when she moves in with passionate animal rights activist Lorena, who not only throws out all animal products, but also never misses an opportunity to lecture Emilia. However, the chaos is only perfect when neighbor Flo comes into play, Lorena takes in a new furry flatmate without asking, and Emilia finds out that it wasn't her ex-boyfriend who lied to her all those months ago...

Leseprobe

© 2022 Laura Dessner

Edited by: Ernesto Mestre (https://www.bookbutchers.com/)Coverdesign by: miblart (https://miblart.com/)Typesetting & Layout: miblart (https://miblart.com/)Translated from German to English by the authorAuthor picture by: Fotografie vogelwild und andres

Publisher label: youngbloodISBN Softcover: 978-3-347-70565-4ISBN Hardcover: 978-3-347-70566-1ISBN E-Book: 978-3-347-70567-8

Printing and distribution on behalf of the author:tredition GmbH, An der Strusbek 10, 22926 Ahrensburg, Germany

The work, including its parts, is protected by copyright. The author is responsible for the contents. Any exploitation is prohibited without her approval. Publication and distribution are carried out on behalf of the author, to be reached at: tredition GmbH, department “Imprint service”, An der Strusbek 10, 22926 Ahrensburg, Germany.

For my parents, who always support me—as crazy as the plan may be. I am incredibly grateful to have you guys. ♥

Chapter One

“VEGANS ONLY.”

Frowning, I looked at the sticker on the door while pressing my phone harder to my ear. It rang for the seventh time, but no one answered. I glanced at the screen to check the time. 4:12 pm. The woman on the phone last night had told me to be here at four. And the name she had given me was on the doorbell right in front of me. This had to be the place.

If I hadn’t had such a good feeling about this and put so much hope on this meeting, I probably would have left long ago.

I ended the call and decided to ring the bell one last time. When, as expected, no one answered again and I was about to turn away, I heard the front door downstairs slam shut. I paused. Heavy footsteps rumbled up the stairs. Was that—?

I looked in the direction of the stairs and immediately ducked my head as a pair of grim eyes looked back at me. No, this was certainly not the woman who—

“Ah, Emilia. Bienvenida. You’re here already.”

Already?

I tried not to let on how flabbergasted I was and forced myself to smile. “Hello, I—“

Before I could finish my sentence, the woman thrust a set of keys into my hand. “Do me a favor and unlock the door, please. These are very heavy.”

My eyes landed on the grocery bags in her hands. “Uh, sure. No problem.”

I slipped my phone into my back pocket and was immediately in awe by the incredible amount of keys. How on earth did she keep track of these?

I tried my luck with one, but of course that one wasn’t it. The woman kept looking over my shoulder, which didn’t really help.

“The one on the far left . . . No, the other one! No, la otra.”

I felt my jaw tighten. I don’t know what I had expected from the apartment tour, but definitely not this.

When I found the right key after what felt like an eternity, I let out a sigh of relief, but then the woman spoke again.

“First pull, then turn!”

After a few attempts, the door finally opened. I was just about to take off my shoes to leave them in the stairwell when the woman, who I assumed was Mrs. Sehner, herded me inside. “That’s okay. Lorena can clean that.”

I didn’t object. Did that mean the place had its own cleaning staff? That would be a nice plus.

Mrs. Sehner went into the kitchen and dropped the bags on the table with so much force that the flat screen standing on it shook. My gaze remained fixed on it for a moment. Well, I guessed the kitchen also had to serve as the living room, because the apartment wasn’t particularly big, just under five hundred fifty square feet.

I peeked around the corner and spotted a shelf next to the refrigerator filled with books and baking supplies. Squinting, I made out a few of the titles: The China Study, Eating Animals, The Kind Diet: A Simple Guide to Feeling Great, Losing Weight, and Saving the Planet, Animal Liberation: The Definitive Classic of the Animal Movement

Certainly not your usual collection of cookbooks.

Mrs. Sehner calmly began opening cabinets and putting away the groceries. I thought I remembered her saying during our call that she would not be living in the apartment. Perhaps I had misunderstood her, but in her mid-forties, she seemed a bit too old to be living in a shared apartment.

As she continued to stand with her back to me, I wondered if I should clear my throat to draw attention to myself—or find an excuse to leave. I felt uncomfortable standing there watching her. Couldn’t she unpack her groceries later?

I had heard of crazy castings to find a flatmate, but I hadn’t expected to be treated like a ghost.

During our phone conversation, she had been quite unfriendly at first, until hearing my name and finding out that I had Argentine roots and was fluent in Spanish. In fact, the phone call had hardly been about the apartment, but about my father, when and why he had come to Germany, how he had met my mother, and what the two of them did for a living.

In return, Mrs. Sehner had given me a short version of her own life story, although I had not learned much more than the fact she had left Peru at a young age and married a guy from Austria. But as soon as a woman’s voice in the background had shouted something to her, she had suddenly been in a hurry and invited me to see the apartment at short notice.

Today, however, she was barely talking to me.

“Would you like me to come back another time?” I politely reminded her of my presence.

She turned to me and put on a smile that didn’t reach her almost black eyes. “No, no. Feel free to look around, I’ll be done in a minute!”

So that’s how this went. I hesitated briefly, but then began a tour of the apartment. I only got to take a look at the bathroom before Mrs. Sehner appeared behind me so abruptly that she startled me.

“You’ll share the apartment with my daughter Lorena.”

Thank goodness.

“She’s not here right now, though. This is your room right there.” I turned and followed her into the room to the left of the bathroom, which was empty except for an armoire that seemed like it would fall into pieces if anyone tried to move it and a mattress on the floor. Although I should have been more concerned about the sparse furnishings and stained walls (which I hadn’t noticed in the photos), I couldn’t help but wonder what her daughter was like.

“This is Lorena’s room,” the woman said, pointing to a locked door with more colorful stickers. “And well, you’ve seen the kitchen and bathroom already. That’s pretty much it.”

This has probably been the shortest apartment tour ever. But only if you considered just the time inside of the apartment and not counted the one for putting away the groceries.

“Do you have a fixed income?,” she asked so suddenly and loudly that I winced.

I bit my lower lip. “Yeah, well, I—”

“Good,” she interrupted me. “When are you moving in?”

I blinked. “Uh . . .“

“Next week?”

I thought about the sticker on the apartment door and how strange this all seemed to me. “I don’t know. I . . . I actually wanted to look at other apartments before I decided.”

Lorena’s mother waved it off. “You won’t find anything better. I’ll offer you the room for three fifty a month.”

That was well below average and less than she had put in the ad. Should I now jump for joy or rather run for the hills, given the price was so suspiciously low? Was it possible that I had found an affordable place to stay in Munich on my first try? It sounded too good to be true.

“Shouldn’t I get to know Lorena first?” I asked. “We would be living together after all.”

She clicked her tongue. “No problem. Lorenaesun poco complicada, but a nice girl.”

“The sticker on the door—,” I began hesitantly.

Mrs. Sehner shook her head. “Don’t worry, she’ll take it off.”

I nodded, not convinced. The thing was that I hadn’t even searched for more apartments, since I had been invited directly by Mrs. Sehner, and to be honest, I hadn’t felt like looking anymore. I still suspected that she had only been so inviting because my Spanish skills had earned me sympathy points with her. Or she simply assumed that I would be an uncomplicated tenant.

Mrs. Sehner stared at me impatiently, which ultimately made me take a deep breath and reply, “I’ll think about it.”

She snorted snidely. “You don’t have to think about that, pero bueno. Call me by tomorrow night.”

When I sat in my best friend’s living room an hour later and told him about the apartment tour, he just shook his head.

“You need to call her right now and take the room!”

I raised an eyebrow. “Did I leave out the part about the waiting around, the groceries, and the weird sticker on the front door? And the books? And the giant TV on the kitchen table?”

Daniel grinned. “No, but do you have any idea how difficult it is to get an even remotely affordable shared apartment in Munich? Usually, you hope that the landlords will get in touch and not the other way around. You can’t pass up a chance like this!” When I didn’t answer right away, he went one better: “Besides, you wanted to take a risk and be independent!”

I sighed. Unfortunately, this wasn’t as easy and adventurous as I had imagined. And as I had blazed aboard.

“Did you talk to your parents?,” Daniel asked as casually as possible, but I heard the concern in his voice. “Or to Leo?”

“No!” I replied gruffly, “I don’t want to talk about any of them.”

Daniel said nothing more and so we sat in silence for an uncomfortable minute.

I was sorry that I had lashed out at him, but Leo and my parents were the last people I wanted to think about.

I let my gaze wander around the room. My things were scattered all over the place. Two piles of clothes in the corner, stacks of papers on the table, my suitcase and backpack behind the sofa.

“It’s time I give you guys some time to breathe again.”

“Oh, nonsense.” Daniel squeezed my knee. “Although I highly doubt our couch is really as comfortable as you always claim.”

I rolled my eyes. “I don’t have high standards or anything, but I don’t know if I can handle living with a militant vegan.”

The corners of Daniel’s mouth lifted. “You’ve been through a lot of other things. Maybe it will be fun living with her.”

“In the end, her mother would have been the better flatmate,” I said, sighing.

Chapter Two

A few days later, I was back in front of the door with the uninviting sticker and rang the bell. This time I had my suitcase and a monstrous travel backpack with me that constantly made me lose my balance. On top of that, I was soaking wet, because a deluge had broken loose today.

A young woman opened the door and scrutinized me and the puddle that had formed around me with narrowed eyes. This had to be Lorena, Mrs. Sehner’s daughter. She looked a little paler than her mother, but she had undoubtedly inherited her pitch-black hair and grumpy expression.

“Hi,” I said with a smile. “I’m—”

Bang. The door slammed shut. For a moment, I stood motionless, my smile slowly disappearing. What had just happened? Did I look that horrible? There was a deafening roll of thunder that made me wince and snap out of my shock. No way I was setting foot outside now.

I rang the bell again.

“What is it?” the woman barked as she yanked the door back open.

“Hi, I’m Emilia, your new flatmate,” I replied coolly, holding out my hand to her.

“I don’t know anything about that.”

She slammed the door in my face again.

I sighed and lowered my hand. If only I hadn’t let Daniel persuade me to accept Mrs. Sehner’s offer. No wonder the rent was dirt cheap!

But I was already standing here with all my stuff, ready to move in, and I wasn’t going to give up without a fight.

“Your mother and I agreed on this, Lorena!” I shouted loud enough for her to hear through the door. “I’ve already paid the deposit and this month’s rent and that’s why I’m going to stay here until you let me in.”

“Sure, you can wait all you want!” she yelled.

I had a strong urge to bang my head against the wall. My flatmate was either going through a very late puberty or . . . she was overwrought and frustrated because she hadn’t eaten cheese in years or something. I at least could get pretty intense when I was hungry.

“You don’t even know me!” I replied, trying to keep my voice calm.

The door swung open.

“Are you vegan?”

I blinked. “What?”

“That’s all I need to know,” she said without waiting for my answer. I knew what she was up to and took a step forward just in time. My foot made it impossible for her to close the door.

She crossed her arms in front of her chest, “You have no right to enter my apartment.”

“Actually, I do,” I shot back. “I’ve already been inside our apartment, and I really don’t understand why you’re judging me like this.”

“Hmph,” she grunted deprecatingly, finally letting me enter. “But just so you know, there are rules if you want to move in.”

I squeezed past Lorena, carried my luggage into the apartment, and looked at her with raised eyebrows. “We’re just going to share a bathroom and the refrigerator. We’re not married or anything,” I clarified as I awkwardly slipped out of my sneakers.

Lorena smiled. “But that refrigerator is what I’m talking about. There are no animal products in my kitchen.”

I put down my backpack and peeled out of my jacket. “So, that’ll change now.”

Lorena took a step toward me, glaring at me with her dark eyes.

“Over my dead body. I swear to you that I will personally throw everything out that doesn’t belong here.”

Still in the hallway, I opened my suitcase and started carrying my shirts into my room and putting them in the armoire, the doors of which creaked and groaned worryingly. I could have thrown my suitcase and backpack on the mattress, but I didn’t want to get it wet, and the floor of the room didn’t provide as much surface area as the hallway to comfortably unpack everything.

“So, tell me, what am I supposed to feed myself on?” I asked as I went back to my suitcase to get my pants next.

Lorena stood in my way, grinning. “You’ll find out pretty quickly. You’re welcome to get some inspiration from my cookbooks.”

“No, thank you.” I made a face. “I’m not really into salad and tofu.”

Laughing, Lorena stepped aside, so I could finally walk past her. “We’re going to have a great time together, Elisa.”

A sigh escaped me, but I didn’t correct her, because I already figured that I didn’t want to start arguing with her.

A little later, after I had unpacked and hoisted the empty suitcase and backpack onto the armoire, changed, and lay on the mattress staring at the ceiling, I remembered how I had entered Leo’s new apartment not even three months ago.

The first thing I noticed was the strong smell of fresh wall paint and cleanser. But my thoughts were quickly distracted by the beautiful real wood parquet flooring, the huge windows that let in so much natural light, and the modern American-style kitchen. I had seen this in movies and catalogs, of course, but the fact that Leo would actually start living here blew my mind.

“Wow!” I blurted out and got startled as the echo of my voice reverberated in the almost empty rooms.

Leo wrapped his arms around me with so much vigor that I almost lost my balance. He laughed softly in my ear. “You get scared so easily.”

I turned to him and was about to protest when he put his lips on mine. A familiar tingling sensation spread through my stomach.

“Do you like it?” he asked as he broke away from me.

“Are you kidding?” I pulled away from his embrace, spun in a circle, and exclaimed, “It’s amazing! I can’t believe you’re going to live here!”

The corners of his mouth twisted into a smile, his soft brown eyes glittering dangerously. “We,” he corrected me, “we are.”

In shock, I tripped over my own feet, but Leo grabbed my arm and caught me. “Wait, what? What do you mean?”

His smile turned into a genuine grin, which made me shove him playfully.

“Stop making fun of me!” I urged him, while I couldn’t help but smirk. His infectious smile was one of the things I loved most about him.

“You’re cute you know,” he teased me. Before I could say anything back, he kissed me again, but I pushed him off me in feigned indignation.

“Who are you going to live here with?”

He looked back at me without saying a word. The silence between us dragged on so long that I thought I would explode with tension if he didn’t finally answer.

“Well, with you, of course,” he said, rolling his eyes.

I suppressed the grin that was about to form on my lips when I heard him say that and crossed my arms in front of my chest. “And who says I want that?”

“Who says you have a say?” he shot back, grinning.

I shook my head but lost the battle against the smile that tugged at the corners of my mouth. “You’re so cocky.”

Leo’s face drew closer to mine. “Keep telling yourself that, Emilia Moreno.”

I laughed. “You’re such a knucklehe—”

Before I could finish my sentence, Leo had already grabbed me by the waist and thrown me over his shoulder.

It was always the same with him.

And I loved every single second of it.

Chapter Three

Lorena hadn’t been joking when she had threatened to throw away everything non-vegan. The night before, I had picked up some groceries at the Edeka around the corner, only to find my entire breakfast (which I had been so looking forward to!), after a long search this morning, in a plastic bag next to the trash can. There were a few more, also filled with food and looking suspiciously like the ones her mother had carried inside a few days ago. I really hoped that she wasn’t planning to actually throw it all away.

I was fishing the milk and cereal box out of the bag when my flatmate entered the kitchen. Gorgeous vegan was emblazoned on her shirt. A mocking remark was on the tip of my tongue, but I pulled myself together and lifted the chocolate muesli into the air instead.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

“Good morning to you, too,” she chirped. “How did you sleep your first night here?” She turned on the kettle and grabbed a cup from the kitchen cabinet. “Tea?” she asked as she faced me. My gaze landed on the cup. I’m hot & vegan.

I stared at her without saying a single word. If she didn’t apologize, she could at least give me a reasonable explanation for her behavior.

“Check the ingredients. I’m curious if you’ll figure it out on your own.” With a slight smile on her lips, she turned around and took margarine and jam from the refrigerator. I watched silently as she put two slices of bread on a plate and sat down at the table.

“Why don’t you just tell me what your problem is?”

The corners of her lips twitched. “Because it’s so much more effective.” Our eyes met. “And entertaining this way. You’ll learn.”

I was this close to throwing the cereal box at her. Who did she think she was?

Before the idea of dumping the milk over her head became too tempting, I took my breakfast as it was and went back to my room. I had never liked confrontations, and I tried to avoid explicit conflict as much as possible, but Lorena had the ability to easily push me to the limits of my patience, I could tell. That she voluntarily gave up good food was one thing, but that she had the nerve to throw my groceries in the trash was quite another. That was going too far. And if I read the word vegan again today, I might scream.

I remembered what Lorena’s mother had told me and shook my head. Lorena was more than just un poco complicada.

“Fine!” Lorena called after me. “But you can’t have my kitchenware for that, Elisa!”

Narrowing my eyes, I turned around, “My name is Emilia. E-m-i-l-i-a. Is that so difficult? Dios mío—”

Her smug look told me that she had put me on edge on purpose. I entered my room, slammed the door, threw the milk carton and cereal box on the mattress, took my laptop, and began looking for a new place. If we were starting out like this, I didn’t want to imagine what everyday life with Lorena would be like. I preferred realizing sooner than later that it wasn’t going to work out with us before I spent months struggling with her. Unfortunately, I had already made the first payment, but maybe I was lucky and I could move out next month. Lorena’s mother hadn’t found it necessary to set up a proper written contract, after all. This family seemed to be a real disaster. I shouldn’t have jumped at the first offer because now I had to figure out a way to get out of here as quickly as possible.

But after half an hour of clicking through countless ads without finding anything promising in my price range, I realized that the search for a suitable place might not be that easy. I sighed, opened my cumbia playlist, and selected a classic by Damas Gratis. After just a few seconds, I was tapping my foot to the beat and humming to myself. Fortunately, I knew what kind of music could lift my mood. At the chorus, I increased the volume when my door swung open and Lorena got into my face, furious.

“Don’t you have any headphones?” she yelled.

Without bothering to respond, I opened one of the newsletters I had subscribed to by email. Maybe there were new ads. To be honest, I had never invested much time in my search. I had only opened a few real estate websites, filtered, then clicked on the first serious-looking ad and contacted the owner.

Before I could even guess what she was up to, Lorena had snatched my laptop from my hands. She slammed it shut and the song stopped mid-way.

“I don’t want to hear music here. Especially nothing Spanish, got it?”

I felt my face falling. Didn’t they hear cumbia in Peru, or did she just not have any taste? “¿Por qué no te—?”

She threw my laptop onto the mattress. “I hate Spanish, okay?”

My eyebrows shot up. “Why? Your mother is Peruvian, isn’t she?”

“And didn’t feel like teaching me anything. I don’t understand a single—”

She paused and for a moment I had the feeling that she herself was surprised by what she had just confessed to me. But her facial expression hardened again so quickly that I thought I had only imagined it.

“Just shut up and turn off that stupid music.”

With that, she left my room and slammed the door shut.

“You can’t possibly give up now,” Daniel said when I called him around noon. “Why don’t you give her a chance first?”

“You’re just saying that so I don’t show up at your place again,” I replied, snorting.

He started to say something, but I quickly continued before he could interrupt me.

“Trust me, I’ve tried, but I just can’t get along with her. Her veganism is all well and good—she just comes across as very extreme and I don’t know if I can live with someone like that.”

“You guys have to get used to each other first. That’s all. Remember, her mother said she was a nice girl. Just try to adapt a little bit.”

I huffed. “Adapt? So, you mean I should follow her rules?”

“I don’t think that’s necessary. You could buy her a nice gift, though. Maybe that will change her attitude toward you.”

“You want me to keep trying to come along with her because you think she’s a real sweetheart inside, don’t you?,” I asked, sighing.

“It’s worth a shot.”

“You should meet her. That would change your mind. But well, I don’t see the point of moving out early just because of her, when I’ve already paid the rent. I guess I’ll survive it.”

Two months earlier

I stuffed my dancing shoes into my bag and was almost out the door when mamá stopped me. “Emilia, where are you going?”

I would have preferred to rush past her without a word, I didn’t owe her an explanation after all, but to save myself unnecessary stress, I replied curtly, “Salsa starts in half an hour.”

She shook her head. “You realize you can’t keep doing that, do you?”

I froze. I must have misheard. What had she just said?

“What do you mean?”

She sighed and looked at me, one eyebrow lifted. “You have a boyfriend.”

“Yeah, and?”

I didn’t like her displeased look at all. That was absolutely none of her business. Since my brother Mateo had moved out, however, she had to interfere in all my affairs.

“You take a lot of liberties in your relationship. I don’t know what Leonhard thinks about that.”

What she was saying was so ridiculous that I almost laughed out loud. She was aware of the fact that we were living in the 21st century, right?

I took my key from the table in the hallway. “I have to go.”

“You’ll see I’m right!” she stated before I closed the door behind me.

After that, we never went back to talk about what Leo might think of me going to my class, but still, her words had left me uneasy. What if it did bother him? I tried to imagine the situation the other way around. How would I feel if he danced with other women several times a week?

I shook my head. This was so silly. Yes, salsa was a couple’s dance where you could get close sometimes, but Leo knew that he could trust me and that he didn’t have to worry about anything. Still, I couldn’t help but bring it up when I helped Leo get settled into his apartment a few days later.

“Hey,” I said as I put his uni books on the shelf. “Can I ask you something?”

He lifted his head and looked at me. “Sure.”

I gulped. “Does it bother you that I . . . spend so much time in the studio and at dances? I mean, no, that wasn’t really my question. Do you have a problem with me dancing at all? Salsa, I mean? With other . . . men?”

He approached me, his head tilted slightly. “Why would I suddenly have a problem with that?”

When I looked up into his eyes, I felt stupid for even bringing it up. For letting my mother get into my head. I shouldn’t have asked him that. Of course, it wasn’t a problem.

“I don’t know,” I muttered. “Forget it. It was a stupid question.”

I avoided his gaze, but he lifted my chin. “Hey. What’s up?”

Shit. Why on earth did I start this whole conversation? I sighed. “My mom thinks it might bother you.”

Leo looked at me in disbelief before bursting out laughing. “What makes her think that?”

“I don’t know,” I said, shrugging my shoulders. “But I couldn’t forget what she had said.”

“It really doesn’t bother me at all,” he assured me. “You’re insanely good at it and you enjoy it so much. Why wouldn’t I want you to do it? That’s bullshit.”

“You’re right. Let’s not talk about it any longer.”

Leo seemed to think for a moment before taking a step back. “The more important question is, when are you going to tell them about moving in with me?”

I bit my lower lip. I had also thought about that a lot in the last few days because I was unsure of my decision. Whereby Leo hadn’t really let me decide.

“What is it?” Leo asked, coming closer again.

I had to tell him, but I didn’t know how. “I . . . I’m afraid we’re moving too fast if we do this.”

His gaze darkened instantly. “What, does that mean you don’t want to move in?”

I didn’t mean that at all, I wanted to yell, but I bit my tongue to not provoke another argument.

“I never said I wanted it or didn’t want it. You never really asked me. You just decided that for us. But that’s not the point, I—”

“Why didn’t you tell me from the beginning that you don’t want to?” His voice grew louder. “I would have understood, of course, if you don’t want it to get that serious between us.”

Tears stung in my eyes. Whether from anger or despair, I didn’t know. This was simply not going the way I had imagined it.

“I would have liked to have a little more time to think. I haven’t even been able to consider any alternatives.”

Leo shook his head. “I don’t understand. It’d be perfect! It’s a great apartment, big enough for the two of us, we’re close to the university and even your studio and the law firm. We’re great together, it’s going well. What alternatives do you want to think about? Do you want to keep staying at your parents’ who feel like they need to control your life?”

Overwhelmed, I closed my eyes. I hated arguing with him. But after taking a deep breath, I looked at him again. “I just don’t like making rash decisions. It all sounds great, but you know I don’t like jumping into the uncertain. We never talked about moving in here together. You asked me completely out of the blue.”

He threw his arms up in the air. “So what? What are you uncertain about? We have nothing to lose! We don’t even have to worry about the rent! My parents won’t even notice that cost.”

“That’s one of the things that I don’t like about this plan!” My own voice had become louder by now.

He looked at me, confused. “What’s wrong with that? You know my parents. You know how things are. What’s the problem?”

“Maybe I would like to have something of my own. Something that doesn’t have an American kitchen and real wood parquet flooring, but something I chose and could even remotely afford! I’m tired of being patronized by others. I want to finally take control of my life!”

Leo laughed, which only made my anger grow. He showed this other side of him sometimes, this hard, bitter side.

“You know what your problem is? You’re doing everything just to please your parents. You’ll study the field they picked out for you, you even only have friends they approve of. But me? I’m a thorn in their side. At first, they loved the nice lawyer son, but ever since they realized I was making you question their decisions and their control over you, I’ve been the enemy. They would never approve of you moving in with me, and you know it. That’s why you’ll never do this. You would never do anything against their will.”

“Oh yeah?” I exclaimed. “And what about the dancing? They don’t like that. I do it anyway, though! I don’t do everything they tell me to.”

I hated the fact that I sounded like a defiant child by now. But the anger had a tight grip on me.

“You’re so naïve,” Leo scoffed, laughing humorlessly. “You couldn’t forget what your mother had said about us and dancing, and that’s why we started this whole conversation in the first place. What would you have done if I’d told you that she was right and that it did bother me? Would you have gone on? I’m sure you wouldn’t have! I know you.”

Deep inside, I knew he was right. Partly, at least. It was true that he knew me like no one else. But that didn’t mean he could talk to me like that.

I grabbed my bag and stormed toward the door.