In the evening, Micaela sits on the living room couch watching the day’s news with Yerma, and Nilson’s domineering and protective behavior makes Micaela even more certain that they are going to be together….
Yerma is happy for them too, it’s just….
She looked at her daughter.
-Moya, I am also sure that Nilson and Lluvia can get together, unless Mr. Nilson inherits what must be the first daughter of former Mr. Nilson, Estela….
Micaela looks at her mother and smiles enigmatically.
-Estela is!
What do you mean?
Yerma’s eyes are full of confusion….
Micaela told Yerma the story of the relationship between Nilson and Lluvia, before and after, and Yerma listened dumbfounded for a while before saying:
-Moya, you’re his matchmaker!
Micaela laughs loudly.
-The pleasure is mine.
Yerma wrinkled her forehead again, another one:
-Just…
Micaela’s heart skips a beat.
-Mom, only what?
-It’s just that it’s a shame about that girl Leila, she’s not a bad person by nature, and now this, I don’t know how it’s going to end?
…
At that moment Pareja family, Leila was punished by her mother to kneel in the sanctuary.
Mrs. Pareja’s chest ached with rage and, with a chicken duster in her hand, she gave Leila another hard slap on the back.
Leila winced in pain, her eyes crackling with tears, but she dared not resist…..
-You have disgraced our family, Pareja! Can’t you use your head? The more Lord Nilson hates you, the worse it will be for you!
Leila, however, heard hope in those words and looked up, clutching her mother’s thigh.
-What did you say, mother, that you can help me? Can you make Nilson marry me?
Mrs. Pareja hits the chicken duster hard.
-Why can’t I? How important is the innocence of a child, not to talk to mom about something so big…..
-Mom, then help me, go and tell Nilson that I really like him and that I want to marry him, that Rain is shameless…..
Another figure enters the sanctuary, this time Ian, who has come all this way, listening to what Leila has to say, and really regretting that he shouldn’t have been so soft and agreed to his sister’s plan to take Lluvia’s place and end up in this situation….
He took a step forward and yanked Leila away so forcefully that she threw herself to the ground and Ian, still not relieved, bellowed sternly
-Are you shameless or is Dr. Rain shameless, Leila?
Besides, you know paper can’t cover the fire, Dr. Rain is being lenient today and not killing you, one more word from her and you’ll be ashamed of yourself and jump straight out of the hospital building!
Leila’s heart hung in the air, was her brother going to tear her apart?
No, no…
Today she wanted to go to her brother first, but she couldn’t go into the top floor of the company or into the boardroom. Nilson had been adamant that she not go near him, and everywhere she spent a lot of time they had given specific instructions to security to keep Leila out….
Mrs. Pareja knelt down in anguish to help her daughter up and looked at Ian to accuse:
-Ian! You too, Leila surrendered her innocence to Mr. Nilson, how could you not tell me….?
Leila slapped her mother’s hand away and crawled towards her brother, clinging to his thighs and looking up at him with a tearful plea:
-Brother, no, you know, I’ve always liked him, I….
-Shut up!
Ian, trembling with rage, pushed her hand away and bent down, looking at her.
-Leila, I was wrong to help you in the first place, of course I want you to be happy and to be able to marry the man you like, but love must be between two lovers, you can’t cheat by lying…..
Leila shouted, interrupting Ian’s words:
-No, brother, it is not lying, it is not….
Ian’s hands caressed her little face soaked in tears.
-Leila, come to your senses and don’t wallow in the lies you have woven…..
Lies?
Mrs. Pareja looked at her pair of children and wondered what they were talking about?
Ian took a deep breath to tell her the truth, he should have told her a long time ago…..
-Leila, do you know who Dr. Rain is?
With tears in Leila’s eyes and the thought that Lluvia was still furious and about to let out a spitfire, Ian spoke first:
-That’s the woman who was with Mr. Nilson last year night!
What…
Leila brushed the tears away from her eyes as Rain’s words echoed in her mind today:
-Estela is not Nilson’s daughter, but she still likes him!
Even if, and she said -even if- in another sense….
Leila pushed Ian’s hand away and shook her head hard, hands on her ears, not believing it, not wanting to believe it….
-No, it’s not, brother you must be mistaken…..
Ian shouted:
-I put the man in, how could I have been wrong! It was you who was wrong! It was I who got carried away and listened to you! Leila, that girl is either the ‘wild child’ or Mr. Nilson’s daughter!
Leila pulled his arm and said enthusiastically:
-No, brother, didn’t you say then that the woman wouldn’t bother Nilson? Why this sudden appearance again? Also, do you mean Nilson’s when you say the girl is Nilson’s? Perhaps not?
Ian shook off his hand and stood up, looking down at Leila, who was sitting on the floor, in increasing pain.
-Leila, don’t kid yourself, everything Mr. Nilson said in the video is true.
Leila was beside herself, sitting on the floor with her eyes dazed….
My brother said that everything Nilson said was true….
So the girl is his and he’s the one chasing after Lluvia, not that he won’t love anyone but Moya, not that if he fights to marry him himself he’ll end up falling in love with her, but his eyes, in any case, can’t rest on Leila because she’s a sister….
Ian looked down at his weeping sister on the floor, heartbroken and blaming himself….
-With the importance Mr. Nilson places on Dr. Rain, do you know what would happen to us if he knew the truth and knew that we, brother and sister, had teamed up to lie to him?
Leila looked at him and winced, and Mrs. Pareja stumbled even more, falling to sit next to her daughter….
-Leila, you’re confused!
The cell phone Ian carried in his pocket rang and he looked at the mother and daughter sitting on the floor for a moment before turning and pulling it out.
It was none other than Rain.
He strides away from the sanctuary, trying to adjust his mind before picking up the phone, his tone respectful.
-Hey Doctor Rain, no, Ma’am….
Laughter was heard on the other end of the line.
-Mr. Ian, you can call me “Dr. Rain”…..
-How can that be, Mr. Nilson’s actions today have called to the world that you are Mrs. Borranio….
-Er, Mr. Ian, I am calling to ask you if you have told him that Estela is his daughter?
Ian froze for a few seconds and asked rhetorically:
-No, I didn’t, didn’t you tell him?
On the other end of the line, Lluvia was sitting on the living room couch, showered and changed out of her pajamas, with Estela lying next to her, and she let out a sigh of relief when she heard his voice….
So today, when he says Estela is his daughter, he is really just defending her, defending Estela, without knowing the truth….
This starting point, to his delight, he hastened to say:
-Mr. Ian, don’t tell him this, only I can speak for me.