Sitting on the terrace of her favorite cafe overlooking the sea, Nina opened a sugar packet and poured its contents into a cup of steaming black coffee. She usually preferred her coffee black, but today she needed all the help she could get.

Rita was running late. Nina was beginning to worry she might have reconsidered. Earlier that morning, almost immediately upon waking, she sent her a message:

I need to talk to you. Please meet me at Riviera.

Rita was at first dismissive of the idea, but Nina knew how to get her to come.

I baked your favorite orange chocolate biscuits.

Nina had been baking those irresistible biscuits since she was eighteen, and whenever she fought with Rita, they were her way of getting back on her sister's good side. They never failed.

She checked her bag to make sure she had the small metal case with her and checked her watch again - Rita was already fifteen minutes late. Nina took out her book, sipped her coffee and treated herself to a cookie. If Rita didn't want them, no reason for them to go to waste.

"I hope those are not my cookies you are eating," Rita said, suddenly appearing beside her and pulling a chair. Nina exhaled a breath she hadn't realized she was holding.

"I only took one, it's not like I infected them with some kind of disease," she said, remembering how they used that joke when they were little. It must have been at least a few years since they shared a joke though. Nina frowned. Rita sat down and took a cookie from the metal container. She bit into it, chewed and swallowed. A broad smile lit up her face.

"Well, it wasn't a complete waste of time coming down. But I am busy. Tell me what you want."

"I want us to get along," Nina said.

Rita grabbed another cookie and dismissed the waitress who came to take her order.

"Why?" she asked with her mouth full.

"Because we are sisters! And because I remember we used to not hate each other once. So I know we can do it again. C'mon, wouldn't life be easier if we could just talk to each other about stuff?"

"Right," Rita said. She pressed her lips in a thin line and gazed towards the sea. "Now that dad is dead, now you want us to get along. When you had him to fulfill your every whim, you couldn't care less about me."

Nina's eyes widened at the accusation.

"What do you mean? Dad loved us equally, he never showed preference. We always came here together. The three of us. I wish he was here today," Nina said, suddenly overcome with sadness. Her hopes of getting along with her sister were dwindling down. She felt a bit naive for thinking she could resolve years worth of issues and resentment with one coffee. But she wasn't ready to give up yet.

"When are you leaving?" Rita asked.

"For Bangkok?"

"Yes."

Nina took a sip of her coffee. She winced at its sweetness. "Actually I don't know if I'm going to be able to go –"

"Of course you will," Rita cut her off. " That's what you do. You leave. It's your... your thing – you leave people behind." She turned to face the sea.

"When have I ever left you?" Nina asked, flabbergasted.

Rita was quiet. She crossed her hands over her body, looking like she might never say another word. Nina decided to wait. The one who first broke the silence first lost – another one of their games growing up. Rita was usually the one who lost and now she glanced at Nina. She looked fragile and Nina felt a surge of love for her little sister.

"You left me when you went to college. Don't you understand?" Rita said finally. "With you gone, dad didn't like to spend time at home anymore. He took every opportunity to leave the house. Can't you imagine what it's been like for me ever since you left? She's been torturing me for the last ten years!" she almost shouted. The terrace was deserted except for the two of them and the waiter sitting by the door, smoking. He peeled off his gaze from his phone for a second and peeked at them but quickly went back to his screen.

"I never thought about it," Nina admitted. Once she left for the capital, she indeed had left her little sister behind. The college courses were hard, living on her own had a lot of challenges, and if she was honest, it was true she was quite self absorbed then. Rita used to text her memes, but she rarely replied as they mostly irritated her. Nina now felt her cheeks burning, embarrassed by her own behavior.

"I'm sorry," she said and took Rita's hand. "I should have been a better sister."

"Duh," Rita said. "You should've."

"I hope this trial thing is not a way to get back at me," she said, realizing she would forgive her sister, even if it was.

Rita was again quiet for a while. "It got you home, didn't it?"

Suddenly Nina understood. "I always thought you liked mom. I used to envy you when she took you shopping without me."

"She never bought me anything I wanted! Don't you know her at all? Appearances uber alles. I wanted to wear comfy clothes, even some goofy ones, but she wouldn't have it. She turned me into her replica," Rita started biting her nails.

A girl with a barking dog walked by the cafe, interrupting their conversation. It gave Nina time to think. All the puzzles suddenly fell into place. All the why's that kept her up at night, it all started to make sense.

"I always thought you two had the same taste. You seemed happy with what she bought you," she said, to check her hypothesis.

"Well I didn't want you to realize I was miserable. You had dad, you two were a happy little team with your books and your vanilla lattes. Remember how mom wanted to get us out, dress us up and show us around town? Dad and you just wanted to stay in and read, you joined him so naturally. Like two peas in a pod. I tried to read with you a few times. But I always got bored way before you. Dad got irritated because I kept talking and wouldn't leave you in peace. So I gave up," a small tear was rolling down her delicate cheek. "I always felt like I gave up part of his love for me, because I didn't persist with reading. He was disappointed in me."

Nina shook her head. "No..no he wasn't. He was always talking about you. He was proud of how good you are with people, something he and I always struggled with. For you it came naturally. That's how I got this idea."

Rita shifted her eyes from the sea to Nina's face. "What idea?" she asked, noncommittal.

"I want to offer you a job."

Rita frowned. "I already have a job. Besides, like you can afford me."

"I know you do, but I also know you hate it. And as for paying you, I can afford it if you drop the lawsuit. My firm is definitely still in its startup phase, so you'd need a bit of courage to venture into it. You need to trust in our abilities. As far as I'm concerned, I think together we could be invincible. But I can't believe it for both of us."

There was a pause. They looked at each other over the table and the now empty cookie container. Then a small smile started to appear on Rita's lips. It was barely noticeable at first. The right corner of her mouth shifted slightly upwards, and if anyone other than her sister had been looking, it would have disappeared unnoticed. But Nina's eyes suddenly glinted.

"You do believe! You want it!" Nina said, happy and laughing. "I knew it!"

"I am prepared to discuss the terms," Rita said, trying to keep her voice unenthusiastic.

Nina knew she had just struck a jackpot. She always wanted to reconnect with her sister, and she really did need someone to share the burden of being a business owner with. She always respected Rita's PR skills, and even though her attempt at becoming an influencer never succeeded, it wasn't because her efforts were lacking. Rita sighed, her shoulders sagging as if a burden had finally lifted. She let out a small, tentative laugh.

"There's something I need to say if we're really doing this," she suddenly looked solemn.

"What is it?"

"I'm sorry about the whole trial business. That was crappy and childish of me. I never intended it to go this far. I was just angry and when mom started talking about it I went along with it. It soon got out of my hands. It's not an excuse, but I need you to know. I soon started to feel bad about it. My therapist said it was a very bad idea and I knew she was right. Can you ever forgive me?" she asked, raising her eyes from the floor back to Nina's face.

Nina got up from her chair and in one swift movement, hugged her sister as tight as she could without knocking her from her chair.

"I'm just so glad you're my sister. We've had enough bad things transpiring between us. Let's not let anything come between us again," she said, her heart overflowing with love and happiness.

Rita nodded and sniffed.

"Are you blowing your nose in my hoodie?"

Rita sniffed loudly. "Maybe."

"You're washing it."