Estrella Berrocal reopened another room because Esteban Zaragosa was injured and Dulcina Calvo needed to take care of him, and since they were a couple, it would have been more or less inconvenient for Estrella Berrocal to stay in a room with them.
Esteban Zaragosa’s injuries are not dangerous, but they are not minor either.
Dulcina Calvo stayed with him all night, not daring to close her eyes.
Esteban Zaragosa patted the bed beside her and, in a muffled voice, said softly, “Come up here and sleep with me, child.”
Her legs were numb from lying on the edge of the bed like that.
“If I stay over and something happens to you, I won’t even know about it, your wound is quite serious, I’d better not sleep, I’m sure I’ll fall asleep right away if I go to bed.”
It was uncomfortable to be on my knees like that, so sleeping was almost impossible.
Dulcina Calvo saw that his eyes were open too, but he was too pale and weak to say anything about it, so she laid her hand on them gently. “You should get some sleep and freshen up.”
Esteban Zaragosa raised his hand and pulled it away from her, wrapping it in his dry palm, his dark eyes boring into her clear, watery ones as he asked, “Are you really not curious as to why I’m hurt?”
Dulcina Calvo bit her lip and shook her head, “In my mind, you’re the good guy anyway.”
Esteban Zaragosa was amused by her innocent and cute look, his lips curved into a slight curve, “Is it hard to think that in someone’s mind, I’m a bad person with ten vices?”
Dulcina Calvo’s face, however, became serious and she said, “Maybe what you have done is not good, but I know you wouldn’t hurt me.”
The girl said this with her long eyelashes hanging down and her watery eyes averted, her expression inexplicably confused and cute.
Esteban Zaragosa’s long arms, wrapped around the back of her neck, pressed her head until Dulcina Calvo looked at him in confusion as she pressed her face against his.
“Are you in pain?”
“No.”
“So, …”
Slightly cool, dry, thin lips rested on her forehead in a very light, but deep kiss.
When her lips moved, Dulcina Calvo’s ears burned red.
His thin lips had landed on the tip of her little nose and it tickled Dulcina Calvo so much that she wanted to reach out to scratch his ear and push him away.
But just as she reached out her small hand and pushed him away, Esteban Zaragosa coughed violently and Dulcina Calvo nervously pounced, “Are you okay?”
Esteban Zaragosa lifted her onto the bed.
Dulcina Calvo wrapped herself in his arms.
“… Esteban Zaragosa, let me go, I’m going to touch your wound”.
The man rubbed his chin against the top of her hair and sighed, “Don’t move, hold me like this and let me sleep for a while, I’m so tired.”
“…”
Dulcina Calvo peeked her little face out to look at his haggard face with her eyes closed, her little hand came up to gently wrap around his neck and she murmured, “Then I’ll get some sleep too.”
“Mmm, granted.”
“…”
…
The Holy City, La Villa Rouco.
The house landline phone kept ringing.
“Hello?”
The telephone, answered by Mr. Rouco.
“Dad, where is Estrella, why can’t she communicate by phone?”.
Mr. Rouco was excited and worried when he heard Adam Rouco’s voice, “Adam where are you now, are you safe?”
“Dad, I’m safe, what’s wrong?”.
Mr. Rouco patted his head and let out an ouch, “No well, we saw the news of the terrorist attack there in Italy, Estrella was worried about you and ran to Rome to look for you, where are you now, are you in Rome?”
…
Adán Rouco hung up the phone and said to Santino Yepes, who was next to him: “Book a flight to Rome immediately”.
Santino Yepes froze: “But boss, we have an appointment tomorrow.
The next morning, Esteban Zaragosa woke up and saw that the person he was holding was still lying in his arms.
With this movement, he woke the little girl in his arms.
Dulcina Calvo, who had been sleeping groggily, rubbed her eyes and growled in a squeaky voice, “Are you awake? Are you hungry?”
“A little bit, but there’s no rush.”
Dulcina Calvo reached out her little arm and picked up her phone, tapping it open to see that it was almost ten o’clock and the sun was already high outside.
“It’s late, I have to get up and have Estrella accompany me to the restaurant for breakfast, when we checked in last night the receptionist said they wouldn’t serve breakfast past ten-thirty.”
He said, struggling to get up.
Esteban Zaragosa did not stop her.
Dulcina Calvo looked at his wound and said, “I’m going to have breakfast and come back to change your bandage.”
…
Estrella Berrocal went with Dulcina Calvo to the hotel restaurant and returned her breakfast after a quick sweep.
Esteban Zaragosa was already cleaned up, only the action of washing earlier seemed to have disturbed the wound and the bright red blood was again showing on the outside of the gauze.
Dulcina Calvo left her breakfast and ran to help him, “Sit down, I’ll change your dressing and get you dressed again.”
Esteban Zaragosa, in a better mood at seeing her so tense and worried, sat obediently on the edge of the bed, the girl in front of him, kneeling, carefully and thoughtfully removed the gauze, her white forehead furrowed at the sight of the bullet wound.
“Look at you, what’s wrong with playing with a gun, it can kill you!”.
Dulcina Calvo tells him with the tone of a frightened child as she helps him clean the wound.
“If I die, will you send me a wreath?”
“…”
Dulcina Calvo raised a hand to cover his lips and glared at him, “You can’t talk nonsense!”.
Esteban Zaragosa smiled slightly, took her small hand between his, brought it to his lips and kissed it. “Yes.”
Only then did Dulcina Calvo withdraw her hand and continue cleaning the wound.
However, a question occurred to him …
“Esteban Zaragosa, does your family know that you have been hurt so much?”.
Or maybe he had done something illegal and didn’t feel comfortable telling his family?
“I have no family.”
Dulcina Calvo froze, he sounded too calm to be joking, and when she looked up, she saw his deep dark eyes watching her.
Does he really… no family? No mom and dad? No family either?
“My parents were killed in the line of duty.”
“In the line of duty?”
“Well, in the line of duty.”
Esteban Zaragosa didn’t want her to know too soon about his complicated background and family history, he wasn’t sure if it would scare her.
Dulcina Calvo let out a sigh, “That’s pretty pathetic.”
Pathetic?
Esteban Zaragosa laughed when he realized that no one had called him pathetic to his face since he was a child.
After a moment, Dulcina Calvo looked at him again and said, “Your parents died in the line of duty, so they must be heroes, so don’t do anything illegal in the future, otherwise they will be sorry to hear about it.”
Esteban Zaragosa’s brow furrowed, did he look so much like someone who did something wrong?
Seeing that the man was silent, Dulcina Calvo was implacable, “Esteban Zaragosa, if you don’t say yes, then I … will not be your girlfriend.”
Esteban Zaragosa let out a light laugh.
“What are you laughing at?”
“From a good threat.” The smile under the man’s eyes, deepened.
“… So, are you saying yes or no?”
“How dare I not say yes, a girlfriend is more important than anything else.”
At the sight of his burning gaze, Dulcina Calvo’s small face flushed quickly and she hurriedly averted her eyes.