What does Tara think?

As soon as Isabelle stepped into the dorm, Tara pounced on her and flooded her with questions. "Where have you been? What did you do? With who? Why didn't you tell me about it?? I was so worried!" Isabelle felt a flash of guilt at forgetting to tell Tara. After all, Tara was responsible for her and Isabelle had no intention of worrying her unneccessarily. Apologising profusely, Isabelle told Tara what had happened. Sensing that Tara might have some bias to Dylan in one way or another, such as being told by Isabelle's mom how bad Dylan's family was or maybe Tara might be jealous, Isabelle did not tell Tara Dylan's name.

Tara heaved a sigh of relief upon hearing what had happened. She need not worry, in fact, as Isabelle was a smart girl and black belt in taekwondo. She could certainly take care of herself. Tara wanted to press further but looking at Isabelle's tired expression, she knew no probing would make her say more. Isabelle went to take a quick shower before going to bed.

It was late and the water was cold. "Brrrr!" Isabelle said. She shivered and quickly donned her pajamas. With pictures of all sorts of animals, that set of pajamas was Isabelle's favourite and she thought it was also the cutest.

That night as she went to bed, Tara thought about what Isabelle had told her. Judging from how Isabelle described it, the boy was probably Dylan. Tara was worried. Isabelle's mother had told her a secret in order for Tara to keep Isabelle on the right track in school. Isabelle's mother, Colette or Coco Chen, was not Isabelle's biological mother. Isabelle's adoptive parents adopted her when she was six. They learnt that Isabelle had selective amnesia. Meaning, Isabelle chose to forget her past. She would have headaches if anyone mentioned her past unless she wanted to remember of her own accord. At that time, Isabelle's foster parents wondered how painful her past was to make her want to forget. They themselves were not given her biological parents' information and had not wanted to pry further. However, they had been told to stay away from the Lins. They then told all of this to Tara when she was 18 and told her to keep all of this confidential. Now, two years later, Isabelle had finally met the Lins.

Tara didn't know what to do. Should she let Isabelle pursue her own life? Or should she, as Isabelle's cousin, try to protect Isabelle? She had stayed with Isabelle since Isabelle was adopted. She had not known at that time that Isabelle was adopted. Of course, she wondered how a baby could be 'born' as 6 years old. But she just accepted Isabelle and treated her as her own sister. Now, Tara was torn as to whether to protect her or help her. Isabelle would be mad if she knew Tara was trying to keep her away from Dylan, but she would be madder if Tara kept all a secret. Tara pondered late into the night, finally falling into a fitful sleep.