On the descent, the cable car was chosen to go down the mountain.
Inside the cable car, Rufio and Susana were scrambling and joking, but Severo Laris and Paula Rouco were in a bad mood and kept silent the whole way down.
After a day of fun, he returned to the Imperial quarter and as he entered, Paula Rouco, who was following Severo Laris, threw her arms around his waist from behind.
Severo Laris, slightly stunned, looked at a small pair of white hands knotted at his waist and reached out to shake hands. “What’s wrong?”
The girl behind him tilted her little face to his grimly handsome face, “Are you still angry about what that street sweeper said?”
“No.”
Paula Rouco spat in exasperation, “He’s not a guru, he’s just talking nonsense, don’t believe what he says, it’s the age when people can say things like that about their wives.”
“Well, I don’t believe it.” Severo Laris turned, his big hands pushed her small head into his arms and shook it.
“Severo, when we talk a little later, I’ll tell my parents about us, okay?”
Severo Laris said in a light voice, “Haven’t your parents forbidden you to fall in love now?”
Paula Rouco reflects, “They do say so, but when it takes a little longer, even if I tell them, at most they will criticize me, my parents love me so much that they won’t object to us having a relationship.”
Severo Laris smiled slightly and asked, “If your parents were really against us being in love, would you give up?”
Paula Rouco lifted her little face and said, “If they were against it, I’ll say I know, but behind my back I’ll still fall in love with you. Eventually, they won’t be able to do anything about it, and if they still don’t agree, I’ll go to my grandfather; I’ll just have to cry pitifully in front of my grandfather, and my grandfather will definitely be on my side, and with my grandfather’s sponsorship, my parents won’t be able to stop us then.”
Severo Laris raised his hand and tapped her on the head, “Paula has a way with parents.”
“That’s right.” She lifted her little face in triumph.
She wrapped both arms around his waist and said, “You even gave up your place to further your studies in America to be with me, you have paid dearly for me, I will not fail you.”
Severo Laris looked into her light and dark pupils and reached up to stroke the strands of hair that had escaped her ear. “I’m afraid that one day, as that street sweeper said, I will indeed hurt you.”
Thus, he could never forgive himself for the rest of his life.
Even if the one who hurt him was himself, he couldn’t.
Paula Rouco arched an eyebrow at him, “I know you love me, you won’t hurt me.”
Severo Laris ducked his head and kissed her forehead.
…
In the blink of an eye, it’s Christmas.
Imperial’s sky is covered with little white snowflakes.
Paula Rouco had no school this afternoon and spent the evening in her Greentown apartment, lying by the window with her little hands catching the cold snowflakes.
Severo Laris took a criminal case three days ago, followed his client to S to take evidence and has not returned from his trip.
Before Severo Laris left, he made a bunch of dishes and put them in the fridge so that when it was time to eat, Paula Rouco would put them in the microwave and turn them on.
But the rice has to be cooked by yourself.
But even with simple cooking, someone puts in too much water and makes porridge, or puts in too little water and the rice comes out hard and stringy.
Someone is distressed that she too is too exhausted.
But after one failure after another, she finally got the water right, neither too much nor too little, and cooked a decent pot of rice, which she proudly took a picture of to show Severo Laris.
Severo Laris seemed to be busy, and it was two or three hours before he replied: “Iita is old and knows how to cook by herself”.
Paula Rouco: “…”
After an early dinner, Paula Rouco saw snow falling outside her window and wanted to go downstairs to build a snowman in the neighborhood yard.
Because of the Christmas season, there were lots of lights and Santa Claus outside.
He tries to ask Susana out for Christmas, but Susana has a date with Rufio and doesn’t even bother with her plastic best friend.
A little depressed.
…
Here, as soon as he gets off the plane and opens his phone, Severo Laris sees a message from Paula Rouco in his circle of friends.
“Only at Christmas.” Followed by a pathetic little emoji.
Severo Laris’ lips curved slightly, and what a little pathetic.
…
Paula Rouco, in her down jacket and snow boots, ran downstairs to build a snowman after grabbing a small shovel from the balcony.
On the first floor of the cell block there were several small children following her and building snowmen.
Severo Laris, umbrella in hand, had just entered the neighborhood when he saw her not far away with a group of half-grown children building a snowman, as if he were the king of children.
She had a pretty good time without him at home.
She wore a thick white down coat and a cream-colored plaid scarf, her face covered by the scarf under her chin, and she didn’t look much older than the children around her.
Severo Laris went behind her and held the umbrella for her.
Paula Rouco is crestfallen, hard at work on her snowman, not paying attention to the piece of umbrella above her.
Until the little boy standing next to her legs yells, “Brother, why don’t you build a snowman with us?”
Paula Rouco wonders, “Where’s the brother, I’m the sister…”
As soon as she turned around, she saw Severo Laris standing in front of her, holding his umbrella.
Surprised and excited by the sight of the handsome face she had longed for, her eyes lit up like the Milky Way, and she threw herself into his arms, her cold little hands clinging to his neck.
“Severo! When did you come back?”
Severo Laris looked at her fondly as he held the umbrella in one hand and wrapped his arm around her back, “Someone pathetically didn’t say I was alone on Christmas, so I hurried to spend Christmas with someone. I happen to see that someone isn’t alone either, and surprisingly there are a lot of children with them.”
Paula Rouco laughed, “How can it be the same, I only play with these kids when you’re not home.”
The group of children next to her said, “Sister, you’re too perverted!”.
Paula Rouco blushed a little at the comment, “…”
…
Severo Laris accompanied Paula Rouco out for Christmas.
The two went to the movies together, ate hot pot and had white heads in the snow.
Back home, Severo Laris didn’t expect the little boy to have a surprise for him.
Severo Laris raised an eyebrow and looked at her with considerable interest, “What do you give me?”.
A certain man carried a paper bag and put it behind him, saying, “First promise me that you can’t resent or laugh at me.”
“Sure, how can I laugh at you if you give me a gift.”
Paula Rouco handed him the paper bag she was holding.
Once Severo Laris opened the paper bag, he found inside a beige wool scarf.
Paula Rouco looked at him expectantly and said, “This scarf I knitted, I’ve been knitting it for almost two months, it’s not ready, you shouldn’t mind.”
When she plays the piano, her hands are quite nimble, but when it comes to a craft like knitting a scarf, she becomes incredibly clumsy, makes several mistakes, takes it apart and starts over again, a huge project!
Plus, it was even harder to hide it from Severo Laris and not be seen by him, so sometimes classes would sneakily knit scarves underneath.
Severo Laris pulled the scarf out of the paper bag, with a soft, warm look on his face, and said, “Since you knitted it, try it on.”
Paula Rouco took the scarf from his hand and stood on tiptoe, with her small hand she gestured, “You look down.”
Severo Laris bowed slightly and allowed her to help him put on the scarf.
This winter night, Severo Laris’ heart, is about to warm.
No matter how many merry Christmases we’ve had since then, they’ve never been as warm as this one.
However, she was very bad at knitting scarves, so much so that there was a hole in the scarf she forgot to knit.
But that scarf, which Severo Laris still cherishes to the point of not being able to wear it, has always been a treasure.