Malee gave a quick nod to Mary and went down to the cellar for a quick shower and changed to a new uniform before running up to Georgia’s room. She hesitated for a while, pondering whether to pull down the handle to open the door herself or to knock on the door. She could open the door to George’s room as her fingerprints had been added to the access program, but she wasn’t sure if it would work at Georgia’s room too. She decided to knock.

*Knock* *Knock*

“Come in” answered Georgia. Malee’s hand instinctively extended to the handlebar and pushed it down. To her surprise, there was a click sound, and the door opened. She peeped in the room and found Georgia sitting at the table beside her bed.

“Come in. Don’t be afraid.” waved Georgia.

“But I never been here before. Why I can open the door?” asked Malee. By then, she was fully aware of how the access to each room must be granted by the owner of the room, such as George. So being able to open a door to a room that she had never been to was a complete surprise to her. She came in to the room, closing the door behind her and walked towards the table and sat down by the chair, facing Georgia. The room was about the same size as George’s drawing room but with a bed, whereas George’s bedroom was in another room.

“You are wondering why it is smaller than George’s room?” smiled Georgia. She need not be a genius to see that Malee’s eyes were wondering around the room to know what she was thinking.

“Yes. Sorry. I didn’t mean to.” apologized Malee, knowing how competitive the twins were with one another.

“It all right. It’s his house.” replied Georgia as she picked up the coffee cup in front of her and taking a small sip. It wasn’t as good as Kenyan coffee she had in Belgium, she sighed. The food seemed much better in Europe than here. Her only consolation was that the school holiday would soon be over and she would be back to pursuing her PhD in Oxford.

“His house?” Malee echoed back the words.

“Yes. He owns this house along with a few more properties. Didn’t he tell you?” whispered Georgia.

“Then don’t you also own this house? You are his sister.” replied Malee. She wasn’t sure how the inheritance worked, but she had seen enough death in the slums to know whatever the parents owned or owed, the children get them equally well. Stories of children suddenly went missing after their parents died and turned up as beggars under the bridges were more than just stories to her. She herself was nearly taken in by the same people were after her father’s debts, except that George was there to help her. She shuddered at the thought of herself begging under the hot sun or fate much worse than that.

“No. I am his sister, but he is a male. So they gave him everything.” said Georgia bitterly.

“So the house, the cars, the garden..” Malee looked around the room and imagined the house, the cars, the paintings.

“Yes. Everything you see here and much, much more. All given to him at birth.” completed Georgia, observing Malee as she took another sip of the coffee. “Don’t you want them too.”

Malee was shocked at the suggestion. “No. No. I wouldn’t know what to do, anyway. I am very happy with what I am now.” replied Malee in a hurry. She wouldn’t mind being rich but she couldn’t imagine living a life where you are forced to stay in a room like a bird in a cage. She saw how protected George was by everyone and felt his frustrations. She would rather wash clothes in the garden under the blue sky. She wondered how was George doing with his lessons. She smiled at the thought of George being forced to take lessons he wasn’t interested in.

“Let’s go to his room.” said Georgia while standing up.

“Sorry?” asked Malee.

“You are thinking about George being miserable for taking lesson he wasn’t interested in right? Let’s go see him then.” said Georgia. Malee wondered how could Georgia have known what was in her mind, but she remembered what was conversation among the servants the day before Georgia had returned from overseas. She could understand why some servants would be disturbed by Georgia’s habit of “reading their minds” as they liked to call it. She decided not to ask how could Georgia had known her thoughts.

“Yes. Why not?” Malee stood up and followed Georgia across the hall to George’s room.