Shortly after Umberto left, Albina awoke from her sleep.
It took her a while to sit up groggily in bed before she came to consciousness.
She was now a married person… But it didn’t seem like she had changed much from before.
Albina rubbed her hair and went to the bathroom to wash.
When she came downstairs, as soon as Umberto’s mother saw her in the living room, she narrowed her eyes and smiled.
-Albina, you’re up.
Albina felt a little embarrassed and her cheeks reddened.
The older ones were up and it looked like they had already had breakfast, so it would be rather impolite for her to get up now.
Olivia smiled as if she could see what she was thinking.
-We don’t have so many rules in our house, not to mention you’re pregnant and it’s normal to be sleepy. Mom has been there before.
She usually spoke frankly and Albina knew that was what was in her heart and she was relieved to feel a growing sense of belonging to the Santangel family.
Albina had just arrived in the parlor when Olivia had the maid bring her breakfast and sat down beside her to watch her eat.
-Albina, is it tasty? Everything is to your taste. What else do you want to eat? I’ll have the kitchen prepare it for you again.
Albina swallowed the food in her mouth and looked at Olivia’s loving face, smiling beside her.
-I had a bit of a pregnancy reaction a few days ago, but it’s gone now, and I don’t feel nauseous when I eat. Now I feel like I can eat anything. Mom, thank you.
The breakfast seemed to have been carefully prepared, very nutritious and made especially for her taste. It was very refreshing.
-Why are you thanking me? It’s good that you can eat.
Olivia stroked her hair and looked at Albina’s pretty, delicate face, thinking of her son’s handsome appearance and how her little grandchildren would be extremely beautiful in the future.
Olivia’s heart lit up at the thought.
Albina’s eyebrows jumped at her ardent and loving gaze and she quickly changed the subject.
-Mom, where’s Umberto? Has he gone to the office yet?
-Yes,” Olivia replied, smiling at the thought of Umberto’s face contorting in the morning. He has dark circles under his eyes, I’m afraid he was up all night. This morning he came downstairs and kept laughing, it’s the first time I’ve seen him like that.
Daniel sat on the couch reading a book and let out a laugh when he heard that.
-The boy goes to the office so early, I really suspect he has gone to show his marriage certificate.
It must be said that parents usually know their children better, even if Daniel seems to be not so close to Umberto, he still knows his son very well.
Albina couldn’t help but laugh at the image of Umberto running to Macos to show off after getting married.
Daniel was right, he should have gone to the office to show off.
-Albina, what are your plans after breakfast? -Olivia picked up the conversation.
Albina hesitated and looked out the window. It was a nice day, the sun was not too strong and there was a slight breeze. It was the perfect weather to go out.
-I’ll go check on the progress of the studio renovations.
It had been a while since she’d been there, and although the worker in charge of the place had sent her a message, it was better to see for herself.
Olivia nodded.
-Then I’ll go with you.
Albina obliged.
When it was time to go, something came up for Olivia and Albina was the only one who stayed.
Olivia grabbed her hand with a guilty look on her face.
-Why don’t we go together again tomorrow? I don’t want you to be alone.
Albina was still a little over two months pregnant, so she was afraid something would happen. The shadow that Michael had cast over the Santangel family had not yet fully dissipated.
Albina smiled and shook her head.
-It’s all right, I’ll go alone. I’ll take the car all the way, and I’ll just go up and have a look around. I’ll be back in a few minutes, nothing will happen.
The whole building belonged to the Santangel family, and no one would want to do anything to her there, so Albina wasn’t worried at all.
Olivia thought so too and gave up trying to persuade her.
Albina soon arrived at the building and asked the chauffeur to wait downstairs and went upstairs alone.
The elevator was about to close when suddenly a bony hand blocked the door.
Albina was texting Umberto when she looked up at the sound of his voice and was met with an extremely cold face.
He wore a black suit, his body was straight and his features were clearly clean and smooth, but his body was covered by a layer of inescapable coldness.
She frowned and, before she could react, her body unconsciously took two steps towards the corner of the elevator.
Involuntarily, she felt that this man was not a good person and that it was better to avoid him.
The man noticed her movement and looked at her slightly, with eyes devoid of emotion.
Albina took a breath, thinking that the man’s appearance was familiar to her.
It was a familiarity she had felt when she had met Saul Guillen before. When she had inadvertently noticed that the side of Saul’s face looked a little like her own father, Juan Espina.
Had she seen this man somewhere before? Or did he look a little like someone she knew?
Albina racked her brain, but she couldn’t think of anyone she knew, and it wasn’t as if this man had a popular face.
She was so lost in thought that she forgot to look away, her peach eyes riveted on the man.
Bewilderment surfaced in the man’s eyes as he sat up and tilted his head to look at her.
-What’s wrong?
The voice was dark and the tone was cold.
Albina gasped and snapped out of her thoughts, meeting his cold eyes.
-Nothing, I just thought you looked a lot like someone I know, sorry.
As she said this, she was still assessing the man, and her words carried a hint of tentative, though unspoken, proof.
The man stared at her for a couple of moments, then turned his head away and looked down at his feet.
No emotional ups and downs?
Albina frowned, she must have been mistaken, this man obviously didn’t know her.
Once she realized that, Albina also refocused her eyes on the screen of her phone and snapped a message to Umberto, receiving a reply from there with a sweet smile at the corner of her lips and a hint of tenderness around it.
The man’s eyes averted slightly and he pursed his lips.
“Why don’t you keep talking, doesn’t she say I look like someone she knows?”
He had seen this woman from the moment he stepped into the elevator. She was pretty, the attention-getting kind. Prettier than many of the TV and movie stars he’d seen, but without the flashy covetousness of those women. All around her she had a dry, clean aura that made people want to get close.
When she merely stared at him, the man felt his heart skip a beat, but after the two said a word, she withdrew her gaze, leaving him without half a light.
The man wiggled his long, slender fingers awkwardly, feeling a little uncomfortable in his heart.
After hesitating for a long time, the elevator slowly went up. Seeing that he was about to reach the floor the woman was going to, he finally spoke:
-Hello, my name is…
Before she could say her name, the elevator gave a violent jolt and all the lights disappeared, leaving it completely black.
Albina quickly grabbed onto the wall of the elevator to steady herself, her mind aghast.
The elevator had malfunctioned.
“What bad luck.”
She had sworn to Olivia that nothing would go wrong, and then something like this happened.
It was like a TV show where you promise you’ll be back as soon as possible, and then you don’t.
Albina’s mind went through a lot of things in an instant. The elevator shook so much that she hastily shook off the excess emotions, but she tried to calm herself.
She couldn’t afford not to go back.
As quickly as she thought about it, the elevator stopped and suddenly accelerated downward. The feeling of weightlessness hit her.
Albina felt a sick feeling in her stomach and an urge to vomit.
Grabbing hold of the elevator wall, she rushed to the floor panel and tapped all the floors below in the dim light of her cell phone screen.
Her fingers trembled with nerves and Albina forced herself to calm down, pressing her body against the smooth, cold walls of the elevator.
After a few seconds, the elevator finally stopped its descent and steadied itself.
Albina didn’t know what floor they were on, the doors wouldn’t open and the lights wouldn’t come on.
She rang the call bell and no one answered, and her cell phone seemed to have lost signal.
Albina turned off the phone in frustration, but she wasn’t particularly frightened. The building was full of people coming and going every day, and it shouldn’t be long before they discovered they were stuck in the elevator.
But that was what really made Albina feel bad. This building was an office building and there were a lot of corporate companies in it, with so many people coming out and going in, an accident in the elevator would be the worst.
When she got out, she would make sure to have someone check it regularly, so there would be no safety hazards.
Albina thought randomly and suddenly remembered that there seemed to be someone else in the elevator besides her.
That cold man!
She didn’t seem to have heard half of that man’s voice since the elevator accident.
“Oh no, something had happened to him, hadn’t it?”