La Villa Rouco, lunch table.
Paulita takes a few bites of her food, goes to play for a while, the bowl of rice is almost cold, Adán Rouco does not resist to educate her a little, Paulita then grabs Estrella Berrocal’s hand in a sign of pity, hides behind Estrella Berrocal and looks at Adán Rouco with big, sensual and tearful eyes.
Estrella Berrocal, who was naturally the everyday peacemaker, pulls Paulita back into the child’s chair: “Eat, if you don’t, Paulita won’t grow anymore, and if you don’t grow anymore, Angelo Herrán will call you a dwarf, does Paulita want Angelo Herrán to call her dwarf all the time? Does Paulita want Angelo Herrán to call her dwarf all the time?”.
As soon as the little girl heard this, she immediately grabbed her children’s chopsticks and yelled at her rice bowl, “I don’t want to be a dwarf.”
“Slow down.”
Estrella Berrocal gave her daughter a piece of pork rib.
The man sitting opposite frowned slightly, “Where’s mine?”.
“…”
This man, how old is he to ask for a piece of food?
Estrella Berrocal gave him a blank stare, but gave him a piece of rib anyway, joking, “Here, great friend Adán Rouco, a big piece of rib for you.”
“Dad is very childish.”
The family sat happily at the table, the old man had escaped on a trip with his senior group and Dante had been picked up by Olivia Montes, leaving the family alone, apart from the maids, on the inevitably cold Saturday.
Estrella Berrocal asked, “By the way, when is dad coming home?”.
“I just called and asked, he seems to be having a good time, so I guess he won’t be back until next week.”
Estrella Berrocal smiled and said, “It’s good that the older ones get out more, he gets bored when Paulita is at school and there’s no one to play with.”
Adán Rouco smiled at his concern for the elderly man: “You are very worried about him, aren’t you?
“Of course, he’s our father.”
Our father.
The name made Adán Rouco very happy.
Estrella Berrocal’s phone rings, it’s a WhatsApp from Claudio Belles, she opens it, “Claudio has asked me to go shopping with her this afternoon”.
Paulita smiles, “Then Estrella won’t get to play with me!”.
Estrella Berrocal wanted to say no to Claudio Belles, but he sent another message saying that he needed her as an advisor for something.
Estrella Berrocal was too embarrassed to say no, after all, she was very close friends with Claudio Belles, so Estrella Berrocal cajoled Paulita and said, “I’ll come back tonight and play with you, okay? ”
Paulita frowned and said, “Estrella, you have to go home soon!”.
“Okay.”
After lunch, Paulita was tucked in by Felipa for her nap, and Estrella Berrocal was about to slip away when Adán Rouco called her.
“What about sneaking around and being a thief?”.
“Aren’t I afraid I’ll wake up Paulita and she’ll bother me to play again?”.
Adán Rouco looked at the bright afternoon sun, it wasn’t too cold outside, “I’ll walk you out.”
“No, seriously, I’ll take a cab there.”
Adam Rouco approached her, pursing his thin lips and saying with utmost seriousness, “Who is responsible if you pass out from heat stroke halfway through?”
“…”
He could not be convinced.
Once in the car, Adán Rouco bent down to help her with the seat belt.
Estrella Berrocal looked at the side of his handsome face and said, “I’m going to be with Claudio for a while, I’ll be back soon.”
The man replied indifferently, “Don’t take too long, you’re pregnant, get plenty of rest and don’t drink messy drinks or lattes here.”
Estrella Berrocal couldn’t help but burst out laughing at his instructions, “Why are you becoming an old woman too?”.
Adam Rouco’s gaze rested softly on her bulging belly, his large hand caressed it gently, dropping the words lightly, “I can afford to lose everything but you and the baby.”
Estrella Berrocal was struck by the suddenness of the words, but her heart was beating much faster.
It was over, he hadn’t had anything to drink, and yet he felt his blood sugar rise.
…
Adán Rouco dropped her off in front of the shopping center where she had arranged to meet Claudio Belles, and after Estrella Berrocal unbuckled her seat belt, he said to her with a frown and a smile, “I’ll leave you then, drive carefully home.”
“Call me when I’m almost done and I’ll come get you.”
“Okay.”
…
On Saturday, the mall was quite busy.
Estrella Berrocal was waiting for Claudio Belles, who took her by the arm and said with a smile, “It’s an important Saturday and you have been invited out, President Rouco is not angry, is he?”.
“No, he’s very supportive of me making friends, because I don’t have many, and since I got married early, I don’t have many friends to go around.”
Adán Rouco is doing a good job, as some men are very reluctant for their wives to have a private space to make friends, thinking that they should be at home all day with the children, cooking, doing the laundry and not even have the right to meet their friends from time to time.
But Adán Rouco has said that he is in favor of having more friends, but only if they are good people.
“President Rouco is also too reasonable.”
“By the way, what did you call me for advice on? Are you going to buy something big?”
Claudio Belles blushed slightly as he walked to the jewelry counter with Estrella Berrocal on his arm. “I’ve been married to Montrelle Herran for three years, but I never got married, and it was too rushed to get the license in the first place, so I never bought a wedding ring, and suddenly I wanted to surprise her with a pair of wedding rings. ”
Estrella Berrocal had already been there and said, “But do you have an approximate figure for the thickness of Montrelle Herran’s fingers?”
“I measured it secretly last night while I was sleeping.”
“Ingenious.”
The two men went to the counter and chose their pair of rings.
After looking at them for half a day, they were either too expensive for the price or the style was not very good.
Finally, Claudio Belles bought a pair of moderately priced rings. After paying for them, Claudius Belles looked at his purchase, smiled, rubbed his neck and said, “Star, am I being too stingy? My coworkers say that women who are too stingy with themselves will be abandoned by their husbands.”
“Those are all sophists, Montrelle Herran is so good to you and loves you so much, you save money to supplement your family, those who understand will only love you more.”
Claudio Belles nodded, thinking Estrella Berrocal was right, “Thank you for being my advisor today, shall I buy you dinner?”
Earlier, Claudio had said that Montrelle Herran was an ordinary programmer, and although her salary was not bad, it was not too much, so she was not as well off financially as Adán Rouco. “You spent a lot of money today on a ring, how can I let you buy me dinner? Paulita is waiting for me to get home to play with her, you’re going to cook for Angelo too, aren’t you?”.
“Yes, let’s go over there and look at more clothes then.”
“Okay.”
Estrella Berrocal had been shopping with Claudio Belles for an hour or so, and when she saw that it was almost four o’clock, it was getting late, she called Adán Rouco.
Who knew the man would say, “Okay, come on out, I’ll be right in front of the mall.”
Estrella Berrocal froze, how had this man arrived so fast, in a flying car?
After separating from Claudio Belles, Estrella Berrocal saw the familiar car as soon as she arrived in front of the shopping center, approached it, opened the door and sat in it, then asked curiously, “How did you get here so fast?”
Adam Rouco had not come out at all, and after a brief glance at the car, the man began lightly, “I slept in the car, and you called.”
So, had he been sitting in the car waiting for her?
Estrella Berrocal’s lips curved slightly as a slight sweetness crept into her heart.
Adán Rouco again asked nonchalantly, “No shopping?”.
“I didn’t see anything today, Claudio bought some wedding rings and then he saw a dress, but it was too expensive and Claudio didn’t buy it.”
Listening to Estrella Berrocal recite, Adán Rouco raised an eyebrow.
Montrelle Herran’s wife, who could not buy a dress, was a whole story.