As soon as Paulita heard this, her little hand touched Adán Rouco’s right arm and she puckered her little heart: “Daddy, put Paulita down, Paulita doesn’t want you to hug her”.
The little girl was so sweet, Adam Rouco’s thin lips curved up and he held her with his left arm, “Daddy can hold you with one arm, it’s okay.”
Paulita threw her arms around Adán Rouco’s neck and asked, “Papa, is Estrella awake?”
Adán Rouco looked into the bedroom, put his long fingers to his thin lips and lowered his voice: “Estrella had a high fever last night, let her rest for a while”.
After Adán Rouco took Paulita downstairs, Felipa saw that Adán Rouco looked tired and had evidently not rested well.
“Third Young Master, you should go get some more sleep, you must not have had much rest last night since you took care of Third Young Master.”
In addition, the third young master’s right arm had obviously recovered after the last car accident, but how did the old disease suddenly revive?
Could it be that the third master had slept with the third grandmother in his arms the night before?
Adán Rouco raised his hand and rubbed Paulita’s little head, who ate her breakfast with her head down, occasionally poking a piece of egg or something and putting it in her mouth for her to eat.
He looked toward the bedroom and said in a hoarse voice, “No, we’ll leave as soon as Paulita finishes breakfast.”
Felipa froze: “Huh? Isn’t the Third Young Master going to wait for the Third Young Grandmother to wake up?”.
The last person she wanted to see, at this point, I’m afraid, was him.
“Instead of being glad to see me, when she wakes up, you make her some hot, appetizing porridge to eat and let her rest at home for the day, don’t let her go out to roam.”
Felipa nodded, “Okay.”
Paulita took a sip of milk, her mouth full of white foam, looked up with her cute little face and asked innocently, “Daddy, why isn’t Estrella happy to see you? Have you made Estrella angry, Daddy?”
“Don’t worry about adult business, kids, just eat your breakfast.”
Paulita pouted and said “Oh” in a milky voice, replying, “I’m not a girl, I’ll be a sister when Estrella has a baby!”
Adán Rouco’s eyes darkened, if Estrella was really pregnant, perhaps, it would be a good thing …
Felipa smiled, “Yes, Paulita is a bit of an adult, she doesn’t even stay in bed anymore, she gets up early in the morning and asks Facundo Montes to take her to Las Villas de Repulse Bay.”
…
Shortly after Adán Rouco left Las Villas de Repulse Bay with Paulita, Felipa was in the kitchen cooking green beans and millet porridge, and Estrella Berrocal had already washed up and gone downstairs.
“Third Young Grandmother, you are awake, the third young master has sent Paulita to school, she hasn’t been gone long.”
He was a little surprised to see Felipa, “Felipa, why are you still here?”.
With Paulita gone, shouldn’t Felipa be back at La Villa Rouco?
“The third little lord asked me to stay and look after you, saying that the third granny had a high fever last night and was a little unwell, so he asked you to rest at home for the day, and specifically charged me to cook some hot and appetizing porridge for you to have.”
Estrella Berrocal frowned, but did not move.
She had not forgotten that Adán Rouco had made love with Lucrecia Javier the night before, but this morning she had woken up in the same bed in which he had slept with Lucrecia Javier the night before, and she had gone to take a shower as soon as she got up, feeling unusually uncomfortable.
Adán Rouco was suddenly so nice to her, but he had something else in mind, didn’t he?
“Felipa, I have no appetite, I don’t want to eat, I’m going to pack up and go to work.”
Felipa couldn’t resist saying, “Third granny, the third little lord took care of you all night, when he got up this morning he was especially haggard, and I suppose you slept with your arm glued to him last night, this morning I saw that his right arm was not well, he was having trouble holding Paulita, I’m afraid it’s an old wound that has come back.”
Estrella Berrocal, who had her back to him, had a chill in her eyes.
She stopped in her tracks, vaguely remembering that the night before she had seemed to be pressed against an arm, held tightly and very securely…. Was it not her illusion that it was really Adán Rouco who had guarded her all night?
Felipa added: “Third abuelita, the third señorito came to say this morning that he wouldn’t bother you if he took Paulita first, did you and the third señorito have a fight…?”
Estrella Berrocal wrinkled her nose slightly, it was clear that he was in cahoots with Lucrecia Javier against her, why was he pretending to be in love now?
He said nothing and went straight up the stairs.
But when he got upstairs, his mind went back to thinking about what Felipa had said.
His right arm had been severely injured in the accident, and had been immobilized by her all the previous night.
But reason told her that even if Adam Rouco’s right arm was crippled, what did she care?
Wouldn’t it be better if she were? She was seeking revenge on him.
He raised his hand to pack when he saw that the back of his hand, which Lucrecia Javier had burned yesterday with hot water, had healed.
Had Adam Rouco put the ointment on his hand last night?
A faint, irrepressible movement in his heart.
…
Adán Rouco’s right arm ached after a meeting.
Santino Yepes saw that his right arm was limp and asked, “Chief, has your right arm not recovered well since the last car accident? Do you need to come back for a checkup?”
“No.”
It was probably because the muscles and bones were a little numb from being crushed by Estrella Berrocal for so long the night before.
Thinking of the little woman, Adán Rouco made a call to The Villas of Repulse Bay.
“Has Estrella Berrocal woken up yet?”
Felipa said with some hesitation, “The third young grandmother is awake, but she hasn’t eaten the porridge I made either, and after washing she has gone to work.”
Adán Rouco’s eyes sank, when was this woman going to behave?
Or was he already looking forward to going to the Yahua Film and Television Company to see Jonathan Tasis, right after his fever broke?
At this thought, the anger that Adán Rouco had repressed in the depths of his heart flared up.
The audio recording that Irene Guillén had given him had always been a problem in Adán Rouco’s mind.
All he had to think about was Estrella Berrocal at Jonathan Tasis’ villa that night and even the mere thought of it made him find himself unable to tolerate it.
Adán Rouco’s knuckles, gripping the phone, are blue and white with strength.
Santino Yepes spoke cautiously and asked, “Boss, there is a meeting in five minutes, do you want to continue, or do you want to take a break?”.
“It’s postponed, I have to go out.”
…
The design department had just finished its meeting when Estrella Berrocal received a call from Adán Rouco.
She looked at the name popping up on the screen of her phone and froze for a long moment before slowly picking it up.
The man’s deep, cold voice came over the phone, unmistakable: “Come down, I’m downstairs at Yahua Film and Television Company.”
Estrella Berrocal bit her lip and took a deep breath to reply, “President Rouco, I’m at work now, I can’t be absent…”
Before she could finish the sentence, Adán Rouco had already interrupted her directly: “It’s okay if you don’t come down, I don’t mind coming up to get you.”
“…”
Estrella Berrocal knew that Adán Rouco was true to his word and that if Adán Rouco came to the design department, he would cause a stir.
He hung up the phone, excused himself and left the design department.
As he exited the Yahua Film and Television Company, he caught a glimpse of an unobtrusive black luxury Maybach parked not far from the Yahua Film and Television Company building.
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