Chapter 2

The moment I said it, Mom's expression turned sour.

Aunt Diane was still defending her. "Lucy, this isn't fair of you. How could you call the room your mother went to such trouble to decorate a bathroom!"

Mom forced a smile. "Lucy, don't talk nonsense in front of everyone. You'll make us a laughingstock."

I gave a little smile, pulled out the floor plan of the new house, and said, "Whether it's a joke or not, everyone will see for themselves."

They all crowded in to look, and were instantly stunned.

This so-called princess room really had been converted from a bathroom!

My relatives exchanged looks, but I stayed perfectly calm.

Because this wasn't the first time Mom had done something like this.

When I was little, Mom loved buying me cheap princess-themed gifts. The toys were terrible quality, and the clothes were never fit to wear outside.

Whenever I said anything, Mom would play the victim, saying she just had bad taste and couldn't manage to find nice things.

And then she'd needle me with how I wasn't as good as my brother, who'd wear anything, was easy to raise, and wasn't picky at all.

But the designer sportswear Mom bought my brother, one piece was worth ten of mine, so of course my brother didn't need to be picky!

Under the questioning looks of the relatives, Mom said sullenly, "It's all my fault for being so careless and letting the contractor do whatever they wanted. By the time I found out Lucy's room had been converted from a bathroom, it was already too late."

Mom took my hand, tears about to spill over. "I'm sorry, my darling daughter. It's all my fault, I'm useless, I couldn't give you the princess room you wanted. It's all my fault..."

My brother couldn't stand it and stepped forward.

He shoved Mom behind him and said self-righteously, "So what if your room was converted from a bathroom?"

"Didn't Mom make it all pretty for you?"

"Making Mom lose face over a little thing like this, you're such an ungrateful traitor!"

Mom leaned against my brother, wiping her tears as she said, "Girls are just more sensitive. Don't blame your sister."

I clenched my fists, my head aching with rage.

I'm the one living in a bathroom, they're the ones lying, so how did I end up the villain?

I couldn't take it anymore. I walked over and flipped the princess bed over in one motion.

The bed board was flimsy, thin as a sheet of paper.

With the sound of cheap planks snapping, the toilet hidden under the bed appeared before everyone.

I pointed at the toilet, my eyes cold. "This was an accident too, right?"

Earlier I'd noticed the princess bed sat a little high. Sure enough, there was something going on underneath!

A chill went through me.

I'd assumed that at most there'd be a storage platform under the boards, somewhere for Mom to keep odds and ends.

After all, shrewd as Mom was, if I wasn't living at home she'd never waste an empty room.

But it turned out she actually planned to—

When I was home, this room would have someone living in it.

When I wasn't, it would go right back to being a bathroom!

The nerve of it.

Mom's face went red, then pale, and after a long moment she said guiltily, "The contractor said this thing was hard to take out... Why don't you just stay in the guest room for now..."

"Why should she get the guest room!" Before Mom could finish, my brother's shout cut in.

"Lucy isn't coming back to live here anyway, why waste a whole room?"

He said bitterly, "She should sleep in the bathroom. You've favored her so much all her life, what's wrong with letting her lose out just once!"

My brother planted himself sideways in front of the guest room door and said to me, "If you want to switch rooms, then you'd better make up all the years of favoritism Mom showed you, an equal share, right down to the last detail!"