“Did Mom leave?” Theodore asked, his unfamiliarity with the task at hand highlighting how much he was trying to impress Vanessa. Phoebe hummed an affirmative.

Theodore looked up, but the steam blurred her features, hiding her expression from him. Even if he could see it clearly, it likely wouldn’t have been the reaction he wished for. “What are you standing there for?” he asked.

Holding her cup, Phoebe replied matter-of-factly, “I’m watching you do the dishes.”

The tone in her voice was indistinguishable from someone observing a monkey’s antics at the circus.

At that, Theodore felt his fists clench.

Theodore glared at her with a hint of aggression in his eyes. “If you’ve got nothing better to do, come and put these bowls in the sanitizer,” he commanded.

“Who says I’m not busy?” Phoebe retorted, extending her glass towards him, “I’m hydrating here, and I’ve got chats to catch up on with Miss Fitzroy.” Theodore was momentarily speechless.

Standing by, Vanessa always felt like an outsider whenever Phoebe was around, as if the air itself between Phoebe and Theodore became a barrier, isolating her. Whenever they spoke, she couldn’t seem to get a word in.

Especially when it came to Theodore’s attitude towards Phoebe the worse he treated her, the more it seemed he didn’t consider her an outsider, allowing his true colors to show in her presence.

With Vanessa, it was a whole different story. He was overly polite and distant with her. She sometimes wished he would snap at her like he did with Phoebe, instead of treating her with such formal indifference.

Respectful and aloof – that was their interaction.

Phoebe glanced down and spotted a band-aid on Vanessa’s exposed ankle. She expressed her surprise, “Miss Fitzroy, when did you hurt your foot?”

Vanessa felt a surge of exasperation. ‘Really? You need to ask? Don’t act as if you don’t know when I got this injury.’ Vanessa thought.

Theodore glanced at Vanessa instinctively, “You injured your foot?”

Embarrassed and trying to shake off the memory, Vanessa muttered, “It’s nothing,” while she slipped her foot further into her slipper. “Are you sure it’s nothing?” Phoebe pressed.

As Vanessa met Phoebe’s penetrating gaze, her eyes seemed to cut through to the darkest corners of her conscience.

Vanessa reassured her anxiously, “It’s fine, really.”

Phoebe let out a faint sigh, “It seems Miss Fitzroy may not be acclimating well to our environment. You’ve only been back for a little over two months, and it’s been one injury after another. That’s truly unfortunate.” Vanessa remained silent.

Crocodile tears, she thought.

“It’s not about adjusting, may just be mischief afoot,” Vanessa hinted with a deeper meaning.

Phoebe remained silent as well.

Theodore observed their back-and-forth banter and smiled inwardly at the sight of Phoebe’s jealousy. ‘So much for not caring about me,’ he mused, ‘then why the jealousy?’