"Olga! Glad to see you in the kitchen again!" Robert "Big Bob" Pataki greeted his daughter as he returned home. "Something smells good! What're you making?!"
"Oh daddy!" Olga gushed. "It's going to be Teriyaki tonight! Chicken, steak, and all the yummy noodles and veggies you can eat!"
"Olga, where do you want me to put these..." Helga was cut off when she bumped into her father and fell to the floor, dropping the potatoes she was carrying.
"Hey! You watch where you're walking missy!" Bob chided. "You're gonna ruin dinner if you keep your head in the clouds! Why can't you be more like your sister?!"
Helga growled at her father as he turned back toward Olga. "So Olga, when's it gonna be done?" He asked excitedly.
"It'll be done in no time daddy!" She cheerfully answered.
"Great. Great. I'll be in the trophy room!" Bob said and patted Olga on the back before leaving the room. "It's great to see you back to normal, Olga!"
Helga continued to growl at him as he left, while Olga just looked back at her sister. The two shared a knowing look before Olga got back to work. Helga would have been angry with her before, but now she knew.
Now she knew why Olga continued onward as if nothing was wrong.
"Olga..." Helga trailed later on that night. Helga was in Olga's room this time. Both were wearing their nightclothes.
"I'm sorry Helga, I wish I could have defended you...but I..."
Helga sighed. "No, that isn't what I was going to say. I at least understand your perspective now..."
An awkward silence developed between the two sisters. Both of them were still getting used to this.
"Helga, I'm going to be honest with you..."
"What is it?"
"I won't be here for long."
Helga would have loved to hear those words just a day ago. But now that she felt like she was truly starting to connect with her sister - and from the heart, not from Olga's air-headed desires, she felt pained by those words, and dreaded to hear the answer to her question: "What do you mean?"
Olga sighed. "Helga, I've been planning on moving in with Louis for a while now. The real reason he's out here is because he's pondering moving since he wants to expand and do business here. The taxes are also lower and things like that..." Olga trailed. "So he's out here checking things out and questioning if he wants to have his primary residence here for a while, or if he'd rather just stay in Maine. Whatever he decides to do...I'm going to follow him."
"So you just came back to..."
"To check on how everything was doing, introduce Louis to the family, and give myself an easy exit from this house." She sighed. "To make it as least awkward as possible."
Helga felt crushed. Just when she started to feel loved and appreciated by her sister, Olga was now leaving. Not that she didn't understand why. Olga had a lot of reasons to want to leave - not only to be with the man she loved, but to get away from this house, and Big Bob. But still, it hurt. What happened to her feeling guilty about 'leaving her there with them?'
"Olga, I understand, but don't you think you're just running away from the problem instead of confronting it, again?"
Olga looked up at her sister somberly.
"I mean I'm not saying that you shouldn't leave the house and all but..." She trailed and sighed. "I was just going to ask...does Louis know?"
"Does he know what?"
"Does he know about...all of this? About everything you told me?"
"No." Olga sighed. "He knows I'm under a lot of pressure to perform. In fact, I really started falling deeply in love with him when he stopped me from going crazy studying." She laughed awkwardly, trying to reduce the tension. "But no...he doesn't know the full story. He definitely has his suspicions though."
"Well, why don't you tell him then?" Helga asked. "He's helped you a lot hasn't he?"
"Yes but, I don't want to get him involved in this. That would be selfish and unfair of me, baby sister."
"Olga..." Helga trailed. She knew that this was the wrong answer.
The phone rang. Olga picked it up.
"Oh hi Louis!" She answered excitedly. "We were just talking about you." She laughed nervously. "Yes, things are starting to get better now. Oh? Oh...OK..." Olga answered disappointingly. "Well, I guess I'll see you in a week then." She sighed. "I love you!" She gushed. "OK, bye. MUAH!" She made a kissing sound, which Helga still found annoying.
"What was that about?"
"Louis is going to Maine after his business deal tomorrow to see to a few things." Olga sighed.
"Hmmm..." Helga pondered apprehensively.
"Look sweetie, whatever winds up happening, we should just enjoy what time we have together now..." Olga trailed, trying to comfort her sister.
Another awkward silence developed between the two sisters.
"How did you guys meet anyway?" Helga asked tepidly, trying to lighten the mood.
Olga began to giggle, and this made Helga break out into a nervous smile.
"He approached me one night after one of the concerts my school's orchestra was performing. I was on the piano of course. It was hilarious because there were a lot of guys surrounding me and trying to make conversation, but Louis just came up to me and said that we 'had to do that interview because he didn't have all night.' Then he just whisked me away, and when I asked him what he meant he said he just made the whole thing up. It was a convenient excuse to get me away from all of them and he said as much. I was laughing because I couldn't believe that someone would actually do that."
The two sisters actually shared a laugh, for perhaps the first time in their lives.
Olga sighed dreamily. "I would have never guessed it at the time, but that night radically changed the course of my life. When I'm with Louis I can actually relax. For the first time in my life I don't need to worry about being a perfect little windup doll. I can just...have fun and be a normal young woman."
Helga smiled lightly at her sister.
"You know, for the first time in my life, I actually felt loved, I mean really loved. One time after I was preparing for a really hard final...I overheard him talking about me with his brother on the phone. And he was angry. I've rarely ever seen him get angry, but this time it was because he was angry about, again, all the pressure I was under. The fact that he was angry on my behalf, and taking precious time to talk about me to his brother, who was on deployment at that moment and had a limited window to talk to Louis...the fact that he used some of that time to talk about me is something I'll always cherish." Olga's eyes began to get watery, but Helga didn't mind this time.
"His bother who's a Navy SEAL right?" Helga asked. "Louis told me a bit about him. That guy must be pretty amazing. Have you...?"
"No." Olga smiled as she wiped her eyes. "I've never met Henry, only exchanged a few fleeting words with him on the phone. But I want to. I want to thank him for everything he's done for Louis."
"And he really did a lot, given that picture Louis showed me." Helga grinned.
The two sisters again shared a laugh.
"Well...I was pretty dorky too." Olga laughed. "It all makes me wonder about the person you're going to turn into."
Helga looked down at the floor, not knowing what to say. Olga interrupted by continuing to speak. Even now, with the situation changing, Olga was the talkative one and she was the brooder.
"Helga, there'll come a time in your life when you'll find a boy who brings out the best in you and will help you be your best self. That's still some years off for you baby sister, but be on the lookout. And when you find him, don't be afraid to open your heart and devote yourself to him."
Helga's eyes sank and she looked at the floor again for a moment. She instantly began to think about Arnold. He certainly did have all of those effects that Olga described. Little did she know that she found that boy now. Still, Helga was not at all ready to tell her sister about Arnold, much less tell the football head himself.
A knock on Olga's door interrupted the moment and a split second later Bob peeked his head through.
"Hey Olga. I was just wonderin', are you planning on making that exotic coffee tomorrow morning?" He asked with an excited grin.
"Sure thing daddy." Olga smiled happily.
"Great! You keep all this up and I'm gonna have to put another notch in my lucky belt!" Bob grinned before he walked away, revealing a tired-looking Miriam. She smiled lightly.
"Oh, my two girls." She slurred. "Anyway Olga, I'm glad you're feeling better." She said before walking away.
Olga was relieved when she heard her parents' door shut, and she and Helga again shared a tepid embrace. Olga was letting out the pressure she felt. Helga could sense this. She really needed to tell Louis everything, Helga thought.
"Oh my, don't you have school tomorrow?" Olga asked in a moment of recognition.
"Uh...yeah, I better get to bed." Helga replied, walking toward the still-open door. "...Olga, I really hope you stay here in the city." Helga squeaked weakly before she left.
"I hope I do too, baby sister."