When Adán Rouco and Estrella Berrocal arrived at Esteban Zaragosa’s hospital room, Estrella Berrocal handed Esteban Zaragosa the pink thermos.
“Dr. Esteban, would you like some white mush?”
Esteban Zaragosa was silent, he didn’t seem to want to eat it, and Adán Rouco began lightly, “Someone asked us to bring it here, are you sure you’re not going to eat it?”
Estrella Berrocal: …
Esteban Zaragosa’s dark-eyed gaze flickered.
Estrella Berrocal unscrewed the thermos, poured some white porridge into one of the small compartmentalized bowls and handed it to Esteban Zaragosa.
Esteban Zaragosa magically picked it up and drank a small bowl.
…
This way, Dulcina Calvo, with her hands a little empty after checking in and her feet disobedient, headed for the hospitalization unit.
As he walked toward Pavilion 63, he realized how he had come to see Esteban Zaragosa again.
Adán Rouco and Estrella Berrocal are gone, and Esteban Zaragosa is alone, leaning on the hospital bed, holding a pink thermos in his big, thin hands and watching it for a long time.
Dulcina Calvo stood just outside the door, silently watching him.
I don’t think he knew it was his holding tank.
Estrella should not have betrayed her.
It would be nice to see him from afar and, since I was still thinking about him at one point, to come and see him from time to time during his stay in the hospital.
So thought Dulcina Calvo Q, when a voice suddenly sounded behind her.
“Dr. Dulcina, what are you doing standing here?”
Dulcina Calvo startled, fearing that Esteban Zaragosa in the room would hear her, her little face full of panic, “Yo, it wasn’t me, I was just passing by, I’ll be back sooner!”
A colleague looked at the handsome guy in the room with a wicked grin and laughingly scoffed, “The handsome guy in room 63 has become famous in your department? Have you even come to see him?”
“I’m not …”
Dulcina Calvo turned and walked angrily away.
And in the living room, Esteban Zaragosa heard the door and when his dark eyes peered in, it was deserted.
Esteban Zaragosa pulled out the IV tube, lifted the sheets and got out of bed, and as soon as she opened the door, she was stopped by the doctor at the door.
“Mr. Esteban, why are you out of bed?”
“I’ve got something.”
The doctor stopped him, “No, you can’t leave yet, your stomach bleeding is not a trivial matter…”
Esteban Zaragosa’s large hand swept past the doctor, who strided away in her hospital gown.
…
Dulcina Calvo walked to the elevator with her hands in the pockets of her white coat, waiting for him, her eyes boring into the closed doors and her watery eyes blinking.
From the wall of the elevator, she saw the upright man standing behind her.
The small hands, tucked in the pockets of the white coat, were crumpling into little fists …
She dared not turn around, only hoped the elevator would arrive soon, but delayed until she saw the man behind her from mapping the elevator doors, taking a step toward her, when Dulcina Calvo could no longer restrain herself and ran quickly toward the side staircase.
Esteban Zaragosa gave chase and by the time he reached the safe passage, the ladder had disappeared.
Dulcina Calvo hid in the small confined space and, through a thin slit, saw the figure of the man.
Esteban Zaragosa, who naturally knew she was hiding, began softly, “Dulcina, I know you don’t want to see me now, but I miss you so much. Can you come out and let me see, please?”
Dulcina Calvo covered her mouth as tears silently welled up in her eyes.
Was it really Esteban Zaragosa? The Dr. Esteban she remembered was proud, overbearing and spoke with arrogance in his eyes, but now this man was begging her to come out and meet him.
Dulcina Calvo swallowed saliva, feeling nothing but heartburn in her throat and between her nostrils.
Esteban Zaragosa added: “You made me the white porridge, didn’t you?”.
Dulcina Calvo’s eyes were red and she closed them tightly, holding back her sobs in that confined space, afraid that he would find out, and even more afraid that he would come to embrace her and she could not really push him away or keep her promise to her mother and Claudio Belles.
She was not to see him again, nor was she to become entangled with him.
Dulcina Calvo wiped her eyes when the cell phone in the pocket of her white coat suddenly rang and, startled, she went to answer the doorbell.
But at the same time, Esteban Zaragosa has turned and approached the source of the sound …
It wasn’t until the man’s big hands, about to pluck this side of the lid, that Dulcina Calvo finally stifled a sob, burying her face to her knees and saying in a trembling little voice, “Don’t come any closer!”
Esteban Zaragosa’s big hand stopped in mid-air.
After an unknown amount of time, Dulcina Calvo saw that the man outside was gone. She wiped away her tears and stepped out from inside, only to be grabbed by a pair of strong arms, from behind.
Dulcina Calvo’s heart skipped a beat and, after a few seconds of hesitation, she stepped back and pushed Esteban Zaragosa.
But it seemed that her hand had pressed him in the pit of his stomach and Esteban Zaragosa stifled a grunt of pain, his body leaning against the wall, his face as pale as paper.
Dulcina Calvo was nervous and rushed to embrace him anxiously, “I’m sorry …. did I hurt you? I forgot you were bleeding from the stomach …. Well…”
The man’s large, thin, clean hands cupped the woman’s small, wet face, lowered her head and kissed her lips.
Dulcina Calvo stiffened and, for a moment, her hands remained in the air, unable to answer him or push him away.
Let it run over his lips and brush against them.
The man leaned on her forehead, his fingers gently wiped the tear marks on her face, and said in a muffled voice, “Girl, stop hiding from me.”
Dulcina Calvo bit her lip, her tear-stained eyelashes slightly drooping, Esteban Zaragosa couldn’t see the emotions in her eyes, only hear her speak with difficulty: “I promised my mother I would never see you again.
“What if I get divorced, you’re not going to give me a chance either?”
Dulcina Calvo shook her head, “I don’t know…. don’t ask me like that, I really don’t know”.
“You stay with me, girl, and I’ll take care of everything.”
She simply needed to, well, be by his side.
…
Dulcina Calvo left the shift with a dizzy head and not knowing what to do.
On the one hand, Esteban Zaragosa is on my mind, and on the other hand, I resist him.
But the deepest feelings of the heart cannot be deceived.
She was leaning against the back of the door, lost in thought, when there was a knock at the door.
She froze, she had just moved to a new house that only Estrella knew, she didn’t think much about it, thinking that it was Estrella who had arrived, she opened the door and as soon as she did, she saw Lázaro Morejón standing in front of the door.
“Lázaro Morejon… you, what are you doing here?”
Lazaro Morejon looked at her and said, “I heard that you had gotten a new job at the second hospital and I went looking for you when you got off work and saw you leaving in your car, so I went with you.”
Dulcina Calvo frowned, “What are you doing following me?”.
“Dulcina, the last time your mother called me in the middle of the night, I knew you had been sad about breaking up with me, and I thought about it afterwards and was very sorry for you. Miss Hermina has a strong temper, but you are a good girl. Now I regret very much that I did not appreciate her properly.”
“… You followed me just to tell me that?”
Dulcina Calvo is speechless, what a person, what a freak!