Adán Rouco holds his phone with some hesitation.
Paulita sat next to him on her little legs, blinking her big stinging eyes, “Daddy, fight!”.
Adán Rouco raised an eyebrow and looked at his daughter with a playful look, “Did you say when you were finished?”
Paulita made an “OK” gesture, “No problem, but daddy, will you take me to the Ferris wheel this weekend?”.
Heh, this little milk bag, has even learned to exchange terms.
But Adán Rouco, …, who has always been particularly principled, surprisingly lost his principles and, with a slight frown, more or less agreed, dialed the number and then passed the phone to Paulita.
“Say it right.”
Paulita nods her little head.
The phone rang for a long time, but no one answered on the other end.
Paulita’s little eyebrow furrowed as she waited, “Papi, Estrella is not answering the phone, is Estrella sleeping through the night?”.
Adam Rouco looked at the time, it was supposed to be daylight in England, he wasn’t too sleepy, why wasn’t he answering the phone, had it just happened so things were too busy to answer the phone?
Paulita waited a long time, frowning, “Dad, still no answer.”
Adán Rouco said nothing, except to accommodate Paulita and tell her: “Get some sleep and remember to call me if anything happens.
Adán Rouco did not wait again for Estrella Berrocal’s call, but left Paulita’s bedroom in silence.
…
London, England.
When Estrella Berrocal finished watching the fashion show, she found a missed call from Adán Rouco on her cell phone.
She froze, inside the fashion show venue it was so noisy that she didn’t even hear the phone ring.
He returned it in a hurry.
…
Over here, Paulita was grabbing Adán Rouco’s phone and playing with it for a while before the call came in.
Paulita’s little finger slipped out and picked up the phone, connecting like a little adult, “Hello? Who is this?”
“Paulita, it’s me, Estrella. ”
“Estrella!!! Estrella why didn’t you answer the phone sooner?”
Estrella Berrocal apologized, “I was outside and it was so loud I didn’t hear it before, why do you have dad’s phone?”.
“Dad … I played the game on Dad’s phone.”
Estrella Berrocal nodded and said, “What about Dad, is he with you?”
“Not in, but I can go to him.”
Paulita picked up Snoopy’s little quilt, got out of bed with her cell phone in her arms, put on her little shoes and walked towards Adán Rouco’s room while saying: “Estrella, when are you coming home? My little brother won’t stop crying and crying and we can’t get him to leave, only Estrella can get him to leave! Estrella, will you come back soon?”.
Estrella Berrocal’s heart went out to her and she condemned herself as soon as she learned that her son had been crying: “I’ll be back as soon as I can”.
“Well, I fell down today too.”
Estrella Berrocal’s heart skipped a beat and she asked: “How did you fall? Did it hurt? Does dad know? Did he look at you?
“The fall hurts, Estrella you should go home, there is no one to help me with my bath, I still like Estrella to help me with my bath.”
Estrella Berrocal sighed, “You will have to give in for a few days and let Felipa help you with the bathroom, never wash in the bathroom, you will fall, ok?”.
“All right, come back soon then.”
Paulita ran to Adán Rouco’s bedroom, checked that Adán Rouco was not in the bedroom and ran to the study, where she finally found Adán Rouco.
“Dad, I can find you, Estrella’s phone!”
The little girl handed him the phone and climbed up to sit on the lap of Adán Rouco, who held the phone in one hand and Paulita in the other.
Paulita approached the phone and went to listen to their conversation.
“Adam, has it been a bad few days at home? I heard Paulita say that Lucio has been crying and today Paulita fell down. ”
Adán Rouco looked at the little bundle of milk in his arms, who winked at him triumphantly.
Adán Rouco cleared his throat and said, “Yes, the two little boys are not very good.”
Paulita came to the phone and said, “Estrella, two little boys are bad and there’s a big boy who’s not happy either!”.
“…”
Adán Rouco looked at his daughter with contempt, what was this little girl talking about.
Estrella Berrocal, over there, blushed hotly, but still asked deliberately, “Why is that annoyed … big boy?”.
Adán Rouco pursed his thin lips and said with a little twinge, “Older children are quite nice.”
“… Big kids don’t want Estrella?”
Estrella Berrocal’s face burned through the phone as she asked the question.
How could he muster the courage to ask such a brazen question?
And then … Before the “big kids” could respond, Paulita replied, “The little kids miss you, and the big kids miss you even more!”.
Adán Rouco couldn’t help but cough slightly and frowned at Paulita: “Why do children interrupt when adults are talking?”
Paulita shrugged her shoulders and held out her little hands, selling her good behavior, “Oh, that child doesn’t talk.”
On the other end of the phone, both adults were embarrassed.
Paulita, however, had the good sense to quickly get off Adán Rouco’s lap and soon ran out of his studio.
Estrella Berrocal heard the silence around here and unconsciously asked, “Is that … Paulita is gone?”
“He’s gone.”
Estrella Berrocal bit her lip, “So, is there anything you want … to tell me?”
For example: Do I miss you?
Adán Rouco coughed and said to the caller, “Go to bed soon.”
Estrella Berrocal: “… But here it’s daytime for me”.
There was something spicy in his tone.
Adán Rouco emitted a faint “hmm” and said, “It’s nighttime here and I’m about to go to bed.”
“Adán Rouco!” said Estrella Berrocal, a bit exasperated.
To say “I miss you” costs a piece of meat? Why is this man so arrogant?
“I’m doing it.”
Estrella Berrocal said vaguely and quickly: “…. I miss you”.
He wouldn’t say anything, so she had to be the one to say it first.
“What?” Adán Rouco froze for a moment.
“Forget it if you haven’t heard!”
Soon after, Estrella Berrocal hung up the phone with a deliberate pout.
Adán Rouco looked at the hung up phone and, after several seconds, his thin lips curved slightly.
The man named Santino Yepes: “Book me a flight to London the day after tomorrow.”
Missing something like that makes sense when you say it out loud in person.
But there were only a few days difference and he was in such a hurry to book a flight for her that it seemed like it was really up to him.
Adam Rouco felt a little uncomfortable, inexplicably squirming, usually it was the girls who were more dependent, and when they got married, it was usually the wife who watched her husband, how come in his family, he was the one watching them all the time?
Inexplicably uncomfortable.
…
Estrella Berrocal hung up the phone and tried to get a cab back to the hotel.
From the parade site, Ricardo Prats pursued him.
“Star, wait!”
Estrella Berrocal looked back, “Ricardo, I didn’t see you earlier at the venue, did you also come to the show?”.
“Yes, but what brings you to England, my brother-in-law agreed to your coming to England to further your studies?”
Estrella Berrocal nodded and smiled, “Yes, she’s very supportive, but I’m not staying in England to study this time either.”
Ricardo Prats scratched the back of his head and asked, somewhat puzzled: “And what’s this about …?
Estrella Berrocal is relieved: “I turned down a place to study at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, but I asked Arbiter Teodoro for a place to visit and see the parade, and I’m going back to La Ciudad Santa in a few days, I can’t leave our children, nor can I leave them”.
And of course, there’s the big boy from …..