Two hours later, Claudio Belles returned from his trip abroad in a hurry.
Upon returning to the villa, Dulcina Calvo noticed that Claudio Belles’ face was not well.
Dulcina Calvo fried vegetables and rice to eat and asked, “I made fried rice to eat, do you want to eat it, shall I serve you a bowl?”
Claudio Belles gripped the back of the chair a little tightly as he settled into the chair at the table, looking less than stellar.
Dulcina Calvo asked worriedly, “Aren’t you feeling well?”
“No, let’s eat together.”
Dulcina Calvo nodded and sat down to eat with her.
Halfway through the meal, Claudio Belles suddenly put down his fork, swallowed and said in a deep voice, “Dulcina Calvo.”
“What is it?”
“There’s something I think I need to tell you.”
Dulcina Calvo’s eyes darted to the corner as if she had a premonition of something bad, “Is something wrong with Esteban Zaragosa?”
Claudio Belles pursed his red lips, clasped his hands together, took a deep breath and said, “He met Orlondo Marta on Rowan Island and from what Tom Paul said, Esteban Zaragosa and Orlondo Marta must have been shot more than once and both fell overboard. Both men went overboard.”
“…”
Dulcina Calvo opened her lips and stood still for a long time without uttering a sound.
After a long while, her voice sounded like a broken string long set with a muffled choke, “So … so Esteban Zaragosa is at sea, but his people aren’t found yet, right?”
“Yes. Still no sign of his people.”
Claudio Belles didn’t dare say that maybe the man who saw him was a corpse rescued from the sea.
Dulcina Calvo did not want to see him, nor did Claudio Belles, except that the chances of Esteban Zaragosa surviving the nine deaths described by Tom Paul at the time were slim and none.
Dulcina Calvo’s eyes were already full of tears, but she was not crying, her eyes were blank, her whole body was dazed, even her little hands were trembling with her fork, but she said calmly: “If we don’t find anyone, it’s good news, if we don’t find anyone, we can hope to live, Esteban Zaragosa is so good that he will come back alive! Esteban Zaragosa is so good that he will come back alive! He promised he would come back alive to see me…. he will.
At the end of the sentence, Dulcina Calvo’s tears finally could not stop falling and her voice began to sob, “Because he said that when he came back, we would have another son and we would return to La Ciudad Santa to open a pickle restaurant…. everything he promised … he promised me … that he wouldn’t die … oooh, oooh … ”
The emotions of fear, dread and despair came together, a feeling like standing on the edge of a cliff, where if you weren’t careful, you would fall to the bottom and shatter.
Claudio Belles stood up, approached Dulcina Calvo and finally embraced her by Dulcina Calvo’s small trembling shoulders.
Claudio Belles stood in front of her, patted her on the shoulder and said reassuringly, “I have someone going to Rowan Island and I’m sure there will be results soon.”
Rowan Island …
Dulcina Calvo looked at Claudio Belles with reddened eyes and pleaded, “Can you take me to Rowan Island, I want to go to Esteban Zaragosa?”
“Right now Rowan Island is still in chaos, right after the war, and it’s not a good time for you to go.”
“But Esteban Zaragosa is dead or alive, I don’t give a damn about fighting a war …. oooh, oooh…”
Dulcina Calvo cried like a child, and Claudio Belles was surprised that, for the first time, he agreed with her in a simply useless way.
Claudius Belles accompanied Dulcina Calvo, along with Ice Blade and his party, and set off for Rowan Island.
…
The helicopter drove for a day and arrived at Rowan Island.
As soon as they got off the plane, the group began a search and rescue.
Rowan Island is dark and gloomy in the middle of the night, with no moonlight.
Dulcina Calvo looked out over the pale sea, stood in the most conspicuous spot on Rowan Island, opened her hands to her lips and shouted, “Esteban Zaragosa! Where are you! Esteban Zaragosa! Come back!”
He did not know how long he had been shouting, he had used all his strength, but the sea did not give him a half-hearted answer.
Dulcina Calvo sat on her knees on the stone, her eyes full of tears, unable to hold them back any longer.
Claudio Belles approached her, knelt down, put his arm around her shoulders and said, “With old K here watching all the time, the sailors will keep rescuing, it won’t do you any good to be here, come back with me first and get some sleep, you’ve been going on for two days straight without a good night’s sleep, if you go on like this, your body won’t be able to take it. ”
“Claudio, do you also think that…. think that Esteban Zaragosa is dead?”
Dulcina Calvo looked at her with teary eyes, her little face stained with tears and sadness.
“I am sure Esteban Zaragosa is not dead, he is in my heart and in my mind, and he is a man of his word, and as he promised you would return safe and sound, he will.”
“But, but everyone seems to think my Esteban Zaragosa is dead, no, Esteban Zaragosa said he would take care of me for the rest of my life, he wouldn’t die, right?”.
Dulcina Calvo’s little hand, clutching Claudio Belles’ sleeve, repeatedly asked him this question.
Claudio Belles knew Dulcina Calvo must be terrified and, at that moment, there was a tremor in her eyes.
How much Dulcina Calvo loves Esteban Zaragosa, how much she cannot live without Esteban Zaragosa and how much she fears losing Esteban Zaragosa.
Claudio Belles approached her and hugged her tightly, reached out and touched Dulcina Calvo’s head like an older sister and said in a rare soft voice: “Don’t worry, Dulcina Calvo, Esteban Zaragosa couldn’t let you go and that’s why he couldn’t die. You still have many unfulfilled commitments with him, he will live and come back to you alive.”
Dulcina Calvo let out a low “mmm” and, unable to say anything else, buried her face in Claudio Belles’ arms and cried for a long, long time.
Claudio Belles gazed out at the pale sea with a soft sigh and a hidden moisture in his eyes.
For Claudio Belles, the loss of Esteban Zaragosa is the loss of a companion, of a good brother, of a good friend who were born and died together, and someday he will come out of it, even if he is sad, without breaking down.
But for Dulcina Calvo, the loss of Esteban Zaragosa will probably be a lifelong pain.
Suddenly, a voice of surprise came from the sea -.
“He’s been rescued! Come on people!”
Dulcina Calvo stood on guard and hurried over.
As she approached the corpse, Dulcina Calvo dropped to her knees on weak legs beside it.
A huge sigh of relief ran through her as she saw the body as it really was.
Fortunately, it is not Esteban Zaragosa!
She looked at Orlondo Marta’s body, burning with rage, and the little girl’s small hands, grabbing Orlondo Marta’s neck, slapped Orlondo Marta’s body, “Where did you get Esteban Zaragosa! Give me back Esteban Zaragosa! Orlondo Marta, give me back Esteban Zaragosa! Do you hear me?”
Claudio Belles, seeing that Dulcina Calvo had lost control, pulled Dulcina Calvo aside, held her tightly and said to his men, “Burn the body of Orlondo Marta!”
“No! We can’t burn him yet! I’ll kill him! If it weren’t for him they wouldn’t have killed Esteban Zaragosa!”
“Dulcina, Orlondo Marta is dead!”
Dulcina Calvo shook her head violently, “He’s definitely not dead! He must have faked his death! Claudio, you must not be fooled by Orlondo Marta!”
Claudio Belles, seeing that Dulcina Calvo was now emotionally shattered, raised his hand and hit Dulcina Calvo directly on the back of her head, knocking her unconscious.
Claudio Belles helped the fainting Dulcina Calvo to the resting place.