For three whole days the search on Rowan Island failed to find the person of Esteban Zaragosa and his body was not recovered from the sea.
Not only did the searchers feel that Esteban Zaragosa was certain to die, but even Claudio Belles felt there was little hope.
But only Dulcina Calvo does not give up and stubbornly stays on Rowan Island.
There is always one who looks alive and one who looks dead.
I don’t know who said without thinking, “It’s been many days, even the body may not be recovered, it may not have been eaten by sharks in the sea long ago.”
Claudius Belles’ sharp gaze looked harshly at the man, “Shut up if you can’t talk! Or I’ll cut out your tongue.”
The other man hurried to shut his mouth obediently.
Dulcina Calvo hugged her knees and crouched on the beach, looking out at the vast ocean with a chill in her heart.
The blur of her vision looked out to sea and, in a trance, she thought she saw the figure of Esteban Zaragosa, and Dulcina Calvo slowly stood up, reaching out to try to grab him as she walked toward the sea.
Claudio Belles turns around and sees Dulcina Calvo lost in thought heading towards the sea.
“Dulcina Calvo!”
Claudio Belles has his eye on Dulcina Calvo!
“Dulcina Calvo, what are you doing! Esteban Zaragosa is still alive, I mean, Esteban Zaragosa might still be alive! Why do you seek death now? If you seek death now, what if Esteban Zaragosa comes back and doesn’t see your people?”
Dulcina Calvo had a flash before her eyes and the sea, now empty of Esteban Zaragosa, came back to her. “I … I think I just saw it.”
Claudio Belles thinks Dulcina Calvo is sick, so much so that she is beginning to hallucinate.
If this keeps up, Dulcina Calvo will go into a psychotic state before Esteban Zaragosa returns.
Claudio Belles held Dulcina Calvo’s shoulders and fixed his gaze on her: “Dulcina Calvo, listen, Esteban Zaragosa is not dead, now you must pull yourself together”.
Dulcina Calvo remained submerged in thought, as if her whole soul had been emptied. “Well, I’m sure he’ll be back.”
…
A week later, Esteban Zaragosa’s body had still not been recovered.
Even Claudio Belles gave up: “Dulcina, I see, we may have to go back to country Z.”
Dulcina Calvo, clutching the candy cane Esteban Zaragosa had left her earlier, tearfully shook her head, “I don’t want to go back…”
Claudio Belles could not bear to tell her that Esteban Zaragosa was dead, but Dulcina Calvo probably knew in her heart that the chances of Esteban Zaragosa surviving were very slim, and although Dulcina Calvo said she did not want to go back, her tone was no longer stubborn, only She had ceased to be stubborn, only helplessness and despair.
There was one last piece of candy left in the candy jar, and Dulcina Calvo could not bear to eat it, because if she did, Jiang Jingzhan would not be able to return.
Dulcina Calvo was helpless as a child, her little hand clutching the candy cane as she cried, “Esteban Zaragosa told me before he left that he had bought an island and that when he came back safe and sound we would get a license to get married and he would take me to the island for our honeymoon….. … but he’s gone, who am I going to marry, how am I going to have a honeymoon, what kind of honeymoon am I going to have alone … I don’t even know where the island is … I don’t even know where… … woo woo woo woo …”
Dulcina Calvo hugged the candy cane and burst into tears for a long time.
Finally, Dulcina Calvo obeyed and returned to the Z with Claudio Belles and his group.
…
Back to Z, Dulcina Calvo stays at Esteban Zaragosa’s villa and Claudio Belles wants to stay with her, but Dulcina Calvo refuses.
“Now that Orlondo Marta is dead and Esteban Zaragosa is gone, there shouldn’t be anyone who would want to threaten Esteban Zaragosa with me, and even if they did, Esteban Zaragosa is gone … You don’t need to watch me, I’ll wait here a while longer.”
Claudio Belles looked at her and asked quietly, “What are you waiting here for?”
“I’ll wait for Esteban Zaragosa, maybe he’ll come back.”
“And if … you can’t wait for him?”
Dulcina Calvo looked at her small mouth and said with a forced smile, “If I can’t wait, I can’t wait for him anymore, I’m going back to La Ciudad Santa … I’m going back to work and to eat good food …. … and to eat good sweets … I can’t let you worry about me”.
As she spoke, tears rolled down her face again.
Claudio Belles lifted her hand, wiped away her tears and said, “It’s good of you to think about it. Dulcina Calvo, I think you can.”
…
Dulcina Calvo spent several days alone in this large villa.
The villa is very large and you can hear the echo when you talk.
Dulcina Calvo sits from time to time by the floor-to-ceiling window, basking in the sun and leafing through Esteban Zaragosa’s diary, and from time to time she sits at the dining room table, eating a meal for two.
Esteban Zaragosa’s scent was still on the blankets and pillows before he left, but he had been gone so long that the blankets and pillows had gradually lost their scent.
…
Dulcina Calvo lay down on the big bed and fell asleep, clutching her candy cane.
In the middle of the night, Dulcina Calvo faintly heard the sound of an airplane spiral roaring.
She rubbed her eyes and looked out the window to see a helicopter hovering in the air, slowly descending toward the villa lawn.
Dulcina Calvo, alarmed, thought it was more terrorists and was about to call Claudio Belles when the helicopter had landed.
From the helicopter emerged an erect and familiar male figure.
Dulcina Calvo’s heart skipped a beat.
She rubbed her eyes again with a clenched hand, thinking she was hallucinating again, but this time, after rubbing them for half a day, the tall, erect male figure was approaching her step by step.
“Esteban Zaragosa…”
It really is Esteban Zaragosa.
For a few seconds, Dulcina Calvo’s feet seemed to freeze in place, she was so excited, but also scared, afraid it’s her illusion!
Until, when Esteban Zaragosa approached the window and met her through a pane of glass, eye to eye, Dulcina Calvo’s tears, silently, flowed.
“Esteban Zaragosa … Is it really you?”
“It’s me, Dulcina.”
Esteban Zaragosa opened the window, raised his hand and touched her small, wet face.
Dulcina Calvo choked back her tears and her little face swelled, “Why have you come back now? I thought … I thought you were dead … oooh oooh oooh oooh …”
The little girl’s soft little body, through the window, threw herself straight into his arms.
Esteban Zaragosa hugged her too, but this brief embrace was not enough to satisfy the longing of these days apart.
The man grabbed the girl’s small body and pulled her straight out the window.
Dulcina Calvo’s legs spontaneously and automatically wrapped around Esteban Zaragosa’s waist, her two little arms clung to his neck and leaned against him like a little kangaroo.
Dulcina Calvo felt that real body heat, but felt it wasn’t enough. Her small hands cupped the man’s handsome face and took the initiative to kiss his thin lips.
The darting, nibbling young man, with little skill, did not fail to excite the little girl.
Esteban Zaragosa was a little uncontrolled by the girl’s kiss and his eyes darkened a little, his forehead rested gently against hers, his voice muffled and sensual, “Dulcina, if you keep kissing, I really won’t be able to control myself and I’ll want you now.”
Dulcina Calvo, her face flushed, suddenly remembered something and asked worriedly, “Are you hurt? And how did you manage to escape death?”
“I’m not hurt.”
Dulcina Calvo’s small hands restlessly groped her body while Esteban Zaragosa looked at her with burning eyes and said, half jokingly, half seriously, “I could take off my clothes for you to scrutinize.”
“…”