At this moment, the sixth-floor kitchen of the old-fashioned block is stripped bare with the smoky sound of grease and smoke.
Angelo Herran is lying on the small sofa playing with Lego.
The door opens and Montrelle Herran returns, having changed his slippers and carrying his laptop: “Honey, I’m home”.
Claudio Belles puts the dishes in the pan, “How late it is today, but just in time, dinner is about to be served, go wash your hands.”
Montrelle Herran entered the kitchen and while washing her hands, Claudio Belles could not resist saying, “By the way, honey, it was Estrella and her husband who brought us home today, Angelo had an accident at the nursery thanks to Estrella’s husband. Next time we will invite her family for lunch and thank them.”
Montrelle Herran was stunned and turned to hug her from behind, “What happened to Angelo?”.
“Hey, there was a naughty kid in the daycare who kept bullying Paulita and Angelo helped Paulita beat the kid up.”
Montrelle Herran let out a soft laugh, “Good job, this bad boy.”
Claudio Belles glared at him: “Don’t flatter him, that’s a disguised way of telling him it’s okay to fight. While he was right to help Paulita, he was wrong to hit someone. He has to change, it’s too late to raise a violent man afterwards.”
“Not so much.”
Claudius Belles laughed and withdrew his big hand, “Come on, bring the food for dinner.”
The table was filled with three dishes, two vegetarian and one meat dish, a tomato and egg soup that seemed full of color and flavor.
Claudio Belles gave Montrelle Herran an extra rib: “Honey, take a rib, you’re tired from work, eat more”.
Montrelle Herran hooked her thin lips and tasted it, and it did taste good.
“Honey, I like your cooking better than that of a seven-star hotel chef.”
Claudio Belles glared at him: “As if you’ve ever eaten the food of a seven-star chef. You need to be a little more complimentary.”
“How come you’ve never eaten?” said Montrelle Herran unconsciously.
Claudio Belles was perplexed: “When did you go to lunch, how come I didn’t know that”.
Montrelle Herran said with a slight gleam under her dark eyes, “I forgot to tell you that yesterday I accompanied our boss on a business trip and ate at a seven-star hotel with a client. However, it was not good at all.”
“Montrelle, is your company very rich? It sounds like your boss is very generous.”
“We have good benefits for our employees, after all we are a publicly traded company.”
Claudio Belles nodded and asked no more questions, Montrelle Herran was a man who made her feel safe and trusted everything he said.
Angelo Herran nibbled on the ribs in his little hand and said, “Dad, Mom, could you eat properly and stop spreading dog food, I’m almost full.”
Montrelle Herran looked at his son: “If you are full, stop eating and go to your room to read.”
Angelo Herran rolled his eyes, “Dad, I forgot to tell you that we have to pay for food this month.”
Montrelle Herran asked, “How much?”
“Three thousand.”
Claudio Belles was puzzled: “Didn’t you just pay the food bill? Why do you have to pay again?”.
“Mom, last month’s food bill, you left it to the end of the month, people pay it at the beginning of the month, and now it’s the beginning of the month again.”
Montrelle Herran frowned a little and looked at Claudio Belles: “Honey, how are you going to charge me if you have no money?”.
“Your salary is only ten thousand a month, that kindergarten Angelo attends is too expensive, you have to pay three thousand a month just for food, you have a car, if you paid all the family expenses, you wouldn’t have any money left.”
Montrelle Herran’s heart was warmed by Claudio Belles’ concern for him, and he reached out to rub his long hair and said softly, “Don’t I have any savings? Haven’t I given you all the cards?”
“I thought I would pay for Angelo’s meals out of my salary.”
His salary was not as much as Montrelle Herran’s, but it was still six thousand a month.
“You’re my wife, it’s only fair that I support you and Angelo.”
With those words, Montrelle Herran stood up, walked to the floor-to-ceiling coat rack in the lobby, pulled his money clip out of his suit jacket pocket, picked up a wad of bills and handed it to Angelo Herran.
“Take it, son.”
Angelo Herran took the money, “Thanks, Dad.”
The little man counted the bills and found an extra twenty hundred dollar bills, “Dad, you gave more than that.”
“Take it, haven’t you always wanted to buy Transformers?”.
Angelo Herrán stuck his tongue out at her, rolled up the money and stuffed it in his pocket. “Dad, Mom, I’m done eating, take your time.”
The little boy ran off angrily to his room.
Claudio Belles sighed, “Montrelle, it’s not a good idea to be so lenient with Angelo, it’s not a good idea to have so much money in the hands of a child.”
Montrelle Herran calmed down and said, “Angelo is a sensible boy, he won’t spend it frivolously, don’t worry.”
Claudius Belles thought about it, bit his lip and said, “Montrelle, Angelo’s kindergarten is too expensive, although I don’t want my son to lose at the starting line, but … the school fees are too high, just the food expenses It’s just a kindergarten, and when we get to elementary school, the tuition, books and reference materials will be even more expensive. Montrelle, should we talk to Angelo about switching to a regular kindergarten?”
Angelo Herran, who was hiding behind the bedroom door, listening to his parents, blinked.
As much as she wanted to study with Paula Rouco, she could not ask her parents to continue paying so much money just to study with Paula Rouco, given her family’s meager means.
Both parents work a lot.
… Goodbye, Paula Rouco.
“Honey, don’t worry about Angelo’s tuition, I’ll pay it. And didn’t you say that he’s a good friend of Paulita, Adán Rouco’s daughter? I’m afraid the boy will be sad if we suddenly tell him he has to change schools.”
Claudio Belles thought so too, on the one hand the reality and on the other the fear of upsetting the child. “I thought so too, but you can’t put so much pressure on that.”
“Okay, I’ll have the money after a few more shifts.”
Claudio Belles wrapped his arms around Montrelle Herran’s waist and rubbed his face against the man’s chest. “Honey, I’m sorry, before we were married we agreed that I would provide for you, but now you provide for me and my son.”
Montrelle Herran laughed lightly and kissed the little woman’s forehead, “I should have raised you. If I had made more money, you could have stayed home and been a full-time wife and not had to work every day.”
“I don’t envy full-time wives, it’s okay to be tired as long as we are happy together as a family.”
Montrelle Herran touched her small hand, felt it on his empty ring finger, paused slightly, looked at her and said, “Honey, let’s go pick out a ring sometime, we’ve been married for three years and you’ve never had a wedding band.”
“It’s okay, now Angelo is using the money for his studies, a ring can be bought at any time, it would be another expense if we bought it now.”
Montrelle Herran looked at his little wife, so innocent and sweet, and it made his heart ache. “Honey, I’d feel guilty if you were so considerate.”
“Montrelle, I really don’t care, you don’t have to feel indebted to me. Come on, let’s go eat.”
“Okay, I’ll do the dishes after you eat.”
…
Montrelle Herran was in the kitchen washing dishes when her phone rang, caller ID, Jeronimo Orihuela.
“Hello.”
Assistant Jerome, on the other side, was particularly anxious: “Boss, when are you coming back to the Herran Group, the president is furious, if you don’t come back, the president is really going to sting me?”
“Wait a little longer, there’s no hurry.”
Jeronimo Orihuela: You’re in no hurry, you’re out there having fun, I’m going to have problems …
“Boss, take pity on me.”
Montrelle Herran said with a broken face: “Jerónimo Orihuela, you know that I have never had much sympathy”.
Jerónimo Orihuela: …