It’s an early summer day and the subway is very air-conditioned, it’s not too hot, but Dulcina Calvo feels her whole body burning.
The man’s handsome chin resting gently on the top of her head, his bare feet on Esteban Zaragosa’s back, Dulcina Calvo’s little face burned red and she blushed even though no one noticed.
Esteban Zaragosa deliberately did not hold her and looked at her with a faint smile in his slightly downcast dark eyes, “Honey, you’re going to fall if you don’t hold my neck.”
Dulcina Calvo’s little feet, which have slipped out of her leather shoes many times.
“…”
It was then that Dulcina Calvo, her face heated, reached out her small arms and wrapped them hesitantly around his neck, and the two of them snuggled closer and closer, their breathing growing hotter and hotter.
When Dulcina Calvo reached out to hug him, Esteban Zaragosa suddenly reached out, grabbed her slender waist and squeezed her in his arms.
At the same time, the man’s thin lips lowered and whispered in her ear, “Now, tell me how you’ve been…. Hmm?”
“That’s all I do …. Looking for a partner and all that.”
“Does it look like you’ve been dating a lot?”
Dulcina Calvo strained her little neck, “Yes, my mother set me up on a lot of dates while you were gone.”
It’s not that he doesn’t love her, there are a lot of guys after her besides him, so he better have some sense of crisis!
“Are you telling me you have a lot of people behind you now?”
Dulcina Calvo grunted, “Yes, so now, if you want to be with me, you’ll have to get in line.”
Esteban Zaragosa looked at her cute little face with a slight smile in his eyes, “Cut the line, right?”.
“No. There has to be a first-come, first-served rule.”
“Then I’ve been here a long, long time first.”
–… a decade ago.
Dulcina Calvo, resenting his recent absence, glared at him. By the way, what are you doing here in the subway with me?
“You tell me.” Esteban Zaragosa’s dark eyes burned her.
“I … how do I know.”
“I was dying to see you, but you told me you’d been on a blind date recently and didn’t think about me at all.”
“…”
Dulcina Calvo’s heart gave a silent beat as she saw the dejection that crossed Esteban Zaragosa’s eyes.
She lowered her eyes slightly and puffed out her little mouth, her eyes resting on the collar of his neat shirt, “That’s not because you didn’t contact me, I thought … you didn’t want me.”
There was something sad in the girl’s soft voice, and she sounded increasingly self-conscious to Esteban Zaragosa’s ears.
Esteban Zaragosa was silent for several seconds before speaking solemnly, “I will not stop loving you, ever.”
…
Dinner is being served at La Villa Rouco.
Estrella Berrocal called out to the two to come and wash their hands: “Paulita, Dante, come wash your hands and eat!
Paulita ran first and Estrella Berrocal squeezed the hand sanitizer to rub the little girl’s white hands as Paulita asked, “Estrella, is there shrimp tonight?”
“Yes, I know. I know you like shrimp.”
Paulita squints happily with wide eyes.
After helping Paulita wash her hands, Dante did not approach and Estrella Berrocal frowned slightly, “Why hasn’t the brother arrived yet?”.
“I’ll go check, my brother has been in a bad mood lately.”
Estrella Berrocal froze: “In a bad mood?”.
Ignored Dante?
Estrella Berrocal took Paulita’s little hand: “Then we’ll go together to see our brother”.
“Good.”
The door to Dante’s room closed tight, Estrella Berrocal knocked on the door: “Dante, are you there?
The boy inside said nothing and Estrella Berrocal added patiently, “It’s dinner time, Dante, come out and wash your hands.”
As he finished the sentence, the door to the room suddenly opened and Dante Rouco stood there with a sullen little face and an unfriendly look at Estrella Berrocal: “I don’t want dinner!”
Estrella Berrocal thought he was feeling bad and asked in a low voice: “Dante, you are feeling bad, tell the aunt, have the uncle take you to the hospital…”
Before the words were out of his mouth, Dante reached out and shoved Estrella Berrocal violently in the stomach: “Hmph, don’t pretend to be nice! You’re the one who pushed my mother away.”
Estrella Berrocal was off guard and took several steps backward, but she didn’t fall, and she didn’t blame Dante, she just said patiently, “Dante, your aunt didn’t evict your mother, your mother went to live, just to make her personal life easier.”
“Hmph, but my mother hates you! My mother says you don’t have a good heart!”
Estrella Berrocal froze and looked at Dante, who was resisting, and felt a little uncomfortable. She didn’t think Olivia Montes would talk to a child about this. After all, Dante is the lineage of La familia Rouco and Estrella Berrocal wants to look good with Dante.
Paulita wrinkled her brow in disgust and said, “Brother, why are you pushing Estrella! Estrella is pregnant and you are hurting the little baby in Estrella’s belly by pushing Estrella like that!”.
Dante snorted, “Paulita you’re so stupid, if you wait until this woman has the baby in her womb, the guy won’t like you!”.
“No way, that’s nonsense! Dad loves me the most! And besides, Estrella would love me too!”
When Estrella Berrocal heard Paulita say that, she took a deep breath and said, “Dante, you have misunderstood me, I may not have really attended to you these days because I am not feeling well, but in the future you must tell me if you are feeling bad, I…. …”
“I won’t believe you, you bad woman!”
Dante returned to his room and closed the bedroom door tightly.
Estrella Berrocal and Paulita are isolated from the door.
Adam Rouco came down from the upstairs study and wrinkled his nose slightly at the sight of a small group standing in front of Dante’s room. “What are they doing standing in front of Dante’s room?”.
As soon as Paulita heard Adán Rouco’s voice, her little face turned away and she ran to say, “Daddy, my brother is in a bad mood, Estrella and I asked my brother to eat, but he didn’t, and he behaved badly with me and Estrella, saying that Estrella was a bad woman, and he pushed Estrella …”
Before Paulita could finish her sentence, Estrella Berrocal immediately stopped: “Paulita, don’t be ridiculous”.
“Hmph, I’m not making this up, my aunt told my brother that Estrella is a bad woman and told him not to trust Estrella!”
Adán Rouco’s eyes sank slightly, that Olivia Montes would say that to a child.
The man approached and asked in a warm voice, “Dante didn’t hurt you, did he?”.
“No, Dante a little boy, how can he hurt me.”
“You have to be more careful now that you’re pregnant.”
Estrella Berrocal, fearful that Adán Rouco would lecture Dante, rushed to put her arm around Adán Rouco and said, “I’m very well, but …”
He looked towards Dante’s room, “Dante doesn’t want to eat, why don’t you talk to him, I don’t think he wants to talk to me either.”
Adán Rouco nodded with his chin: “You take Paulita to dinner first and I will exchange words with him”.
Estrella Berrocal nodded and dragged Paulita into the restaurant.
In the restaurant, Estrella Berrocal was peeling Paulita’s shrimp. Paulita thought about what her brother had said and looked at Estrella Berrocal with big, dark and clear eyes: “Estrella, do you really think you won’t like me anymore after the baby is born?
Estrella Berrocal smiled slightly: “Why not, I also gave birth to Paulita like this”.
Moreover, having left as soon as she gave birth to Paulita, he has never been there for her for the past three years and feels even more guilty about Paulita.
Paulita ate the peeled shrimp, her little mouth smiled as she said in a grown-up way: “Good, if Estrella doesn’t like me, I’ll run away from home. That way daddy and Estrella will never find me”.
Estrella Berrocal couldn’t help but laugh: “Well, you don’t have that opportunity”.