I looked at Elena.
Then back at my mother.
"I don't hate you."
She began crying again.
"But I don't know if I can trust you."
That sentence hurt her.
But it was the truth.
## A New Beginning
The weeks that followed were complicated.
There were arguments.
There were apologies.
There were questions that could never be answered.
Why had my parents made that decision?
Why had they continued hiding Elena?
Why had my brother stayed silent?
There were no simple answers.
But there was one thing we could do.
We could stop lying.
Elena eventually moved into her own apartment.
We began spending time together.
Our first few meetings were awkward.
We didn't know how to behave like sisters because we had never been allowed to become sisters.
But little things began connecting us.
We both hated crowded restaurants.
We laughed at the same terrible jokes.
We both tapped our fingers when nervous.
