[X] Ethnic Third Wheel Acquired.
You smile at her, and wind the scarf around your neck. "Thank you, Shannon. It's terribly kind of you to think of me."
Her eyes crinkle a bit as she returns the smile. "Please call me Del, Miss Joanna."
"Only if you call me Jojo, Del," you insist. You've always rather preferred father's nickname for you.
From that point on, Del is your constant companion. She gets on your nerves sometimes with the way she's so excited just to be around you, but it's almost like having a friend again, so you don't mind as much as you probably should.
=
But all of this is the past, and we are concerned with the present.
This morning after breakfast, Father read his correspondence at the dining table, as is his wont. You were lingering over a cup of cocoa, and so you witnessed something you might not have, otherwise.
Over the course of a letter, you see your father's expression go from delighted, to dismayed, to resolved. He has a great face for reactions, and each of them are so fully realized that they almost constitute their own mini-event, separate from whatever it was that provoked them.
"Jojo," he says, breaking your reverie, "two weeks from now, a young man will be coming to live with us."
"A young man?" you ask in astonishment. You don't have any male cousins; could Father have arranged for a private secretary?
He nods. "Do you recall what I told you of the night your mother passed?"
How could you forget?
"The man who saved my life and yours, Dario Brando, is dying." Father holds up the letter. "The debt I have long owed must be repaid in full, and if not now, then when?" He smiles. "I will be accepting his son, Dio, as my ward. Please, Jojo, do what you can to make him feel welcome in our home. The poor boy has no family left."
[X] "Of course, Father." Ugh, does it have to be a boy? You get enough of those at school. -_-
[X] "Of course, Father." You're rather curious as to what this Dio could be like. You wish you could have grown up in London; everything's always happening there.
[X] "Of course, Father." Wait, some stranger is just going to up and move into our house? >_< Father, this is one of those things you need to give me more than two weeks' notice on! How am I supposed to get us into an appropriate state to receive in a fortnight? How am I supposed to pull together a cohesive list of The Rules?