The Kiss that Sparked it All

Upon hearing a noise, Balfour turned his head towards one of the two rooms that he had deemed off-limits in the Howard household the former room of his sister, Pearl Howard. The door was ajar, and he could see that Ellinor was in the room, squatting down with a music box in her hands, seemingly deep in thought.

Upon hearing Patricia’s voice, Ellinor slowly lifted her gaze towards the siblings.

Suddenly, Patricia shrieked, “Ellinor, what the hell did you do to my sister’s music box? That was her favorite when she was a kid!”

Ellinor was taken aback. She wasn’t surprised by Patricia’s accusation but simply stood up and calmly said, “I didn’t do it.”

Shock painted Patricia’s face as she took the now broken music box from Ellinor’s hands. After inspecting it, she exclaimed with regret, “What the hell? It’s really broken!”

Then, Patricia turned to apologize to Balfour, “Balfour, I’m sorry! I just went to grab a drink for Ellinor, and she wandered into Pearl’s room and messed up the music box. It’s all my fault. Don’t blame her, blame me!”

Patricia was well aware of Balfour’s intolerance for anyone stepping foot in his sister’s room, let alone damaging anything in it.

snagged the room’s curtain with her shoe while cleaning, making Balfour livid. So he punished her

usually locked, and nobody

exactly as it was before Pearl

dare go against Balfour. So she never touched anything

pretense of Ellinor, she seized the opportunity to cause some havoc in the room.

‘breaking’ Pearl’s favorite music box, even as the woman

Patricia couldn’t completely be rid of Ellinor, at least she could take some satisfaction in

Patricia. After glancing at the shattered glass bear on the floor, he simply sighed

was stunned; her eyes were wide with disbelief, “What?!”

What the hell?!