The villas of Repulse Bay, Adan Rouco was about to fall asleep with Estrella Berrocal in his arms when his cell phone rang.
Estrella Berrocal frowned, “It’s almost twelve o’clock, who’s calling you?”.
Adam Rouco reached up to retrieve the cell phone that was on the bedside table, caller ID, Jonathan Tasis.
…
Blues bar.
Jonathan Tasis was already half-drunk when Adam Rouco arrived at the private room.
As soon as he saw Adam Rouco enter, Jonathan Tasis stood up and grabbed Adam Rouco by the collar of his shirt, staring at him with red eyes, “Tell me, why isn’t it Analena Lozada?”
Adam Rouco stared at him with a calm and sensible look and spoke, “It was never Analena Lozada, it was Eleanora Lozada, it was someone else.”
Jonathan Tasis dropped onto the couch and clutched his head in his hands in pain, his voice hoarse and somber, “So I should let her go?”
“If you love her, take a chance, Analena Lozada has been gone for many years and would want you to be happy, if you’re missing out on this relationship because of the burden and guilt, I don’t think it’s worth it.”
Love?
Jonathan Tasis took a deep breath, even he wasn’t sure who he loved today.
It’s Analena Lozada, I think, and I don’t think it is.
Was it Eleanora Lozada? But when he looks at her, he always unconsciously carries the shadow of looking at Analena Lozada.
This is not normal.
Adam Rouco sat next to her and pursed his lips, “After all these years of Analena Lozada’s absence, did it ever occur to you that maybe you had stopped loving her and were just an obsession for her?”
Jonathan Tasis closed his eyes deeply and let out a slight sigh, “I don’t know.”
His feelings for Analena Lozada were complicated, like a thorn from his youth stuck in his throat, he wanted to pull it out but it hurt so much he didn’t dare, but now he was being told to swallow it and digest all that feeling, a thought he hadn’t had before, the thought came for the first time today, could it be digested?
He doesn’t know, he really doesn’t know.
Adam Rouco reached out and patted Jonathan Tasis on the shoulder, “People who think too much about the past get sick. I used to dwell on the guilt I felt towards Analena Lozada, so I tried to commit suicide at one point to give you and Analena Lozada this life back, then Estrella came along and I never had those thoughts again, and I wish there was a girl in your life that would allow you to start a new life.”
Jonathan Tasis looked at him silently.
Adam Rouco spoke earnestly, “Make peace with the past. Let Analena Lozada go, and let yourself go.”
Under Jonathan Tasis’ eyes, a sea of depths.
…
Throughout the night, Jonathan Tasis did not return and Eleanora Lozada sat on the edge of the bed in her room, looking out the window at the rare luminosity of the night, and sat there all night.
The next morning, Eleanora Lozada washed up and tried to go downstairs to greet Exaltation before leaving, but as soon as she did, she ran into Jonathan Tasis returning with the smell of alcohol still on his breath.
Through the void of air, all four eyes locked.
Jonathan Tasis averted his gaze first, but headed straight for the table, holding two contracts that Eleanora Lozada assumed were his company’s papers and did not ask.
Eleanora Lozada said, “I’m leaving here later and we probably won’t see each other again…”
Before the words left her lips, Jonathan Tasis looked at her again, “Come look at this document.”
“What?”
Eleanora Lozada approached the table, only to see the two documents with the marriage agreement written in large letters.
Eleanora Lozada’s eyes twitched, “What do you mean, I already told you Analena Lozada is my sister, I’m not…”
“I mean, we got married.”
Jonathan Tasis cut her off, staring at her, without any trace of joking, serious and grave.
“…” Eleanora Lozada was unable to respond for a moment, her head went blank.
Marrying him was something Eleanora Lozada would never have thought of at one time.
Jonathan Tasis swept his dark eyes over the two documents and said, “These two documents, I’ve signed them, you sign them, the agreement will go into effect and we’ll find a time to get our license.”
“I am not Analena Lozada.”
“I know you are Eleanora Lozada, but I also know you love me, otherwise you wouldn’t have come running back to La Ciudad Santa almost on New Year’s Eve, when you really wanted to sneak a peek at me and then leave quietly, right?”.
Eleanora Lozada’s heart was laid bare, but instead of being embarrassed, she graciously admitted, “Yes, you’re right about everything, I love you, but you don’t love me, do you? Marriage is when two people who love each other come together willingly, you don’t have me in mind and you shouldn’t marry me.”
Jonathan Tasis was silent for a few seconds, he looked into her clear, watery eyes and said, “I’m not sure I love you, I need time to see my own heart, but until then, can you give me a chance, or rather, give yourself a chance?”
“But…”
“It’s a fact that Analena Lozada is dead, it’s a fact that I’ve been lying to myself, it’s a fact that we had sex, I’ll give you time to think about it and tell me the answer when you’ve thought about it.”
With those words, Jonathan Tasis tugged on his tie, dropped the two marriage agreements and headed up the stairs.
As he reached the stairs, the man’s stride stopped and he glanced slightly sideways, unmoving, at Eleanora Lozada, who was standing by the table, stunned.
…
Eleanora Lozada did not leave the villa for the moment. Exaltacion prepared lunch but Eleanora Lozada was the only one who ate it.
Jonathan Tasis has not been down since he returned in the morning.
Exaltacion looked up worriedly and said, “Miss Analena, the gentleman has returned from a night of drinking and must have an empty stomach by now, could you bring up some food and persuade him to eat a little? I know what I say won’t work, but Miss Analena’s persuasion is sure to work.”
Eleanora Lozada shook her head softly, Exaltation had overvalued her place in his heart, would she still care as much as she did now that she knew she wasn’t Analena Lozada?
Apparently not.
But Eleanora Lozada, out of the goodness of her heart, nodded, brought a steaming plate of rice and went upstairs.
Eleanora Lozada knocked on the studio door before unscrewing the knob and entering.
Jonathan Tasis has showered and is dressed in a comfortable men’s house suit, his toughness seems much more restrained, but his eyes are still red and bloodshot from too much sleep, and he looks exhausted.
“Exaltacion was afraid you were starving and asked me to bring you up some food.”
Eleanora Lozada brought the food closer and placed it next to her desk. When Jonathan Tasis didn’t move, Eleanora Lozada remembered again, “Eat while it’s hot.”
With these words, Eleanora Lozada felt there was nothing to say to him if he was still here, and she turned to leave, only to have the man behind her gently grab her by the wrist.
“How are considerations going?”
Eleanora Lozada panicked, terrified that he would ask this question because she had no answer in mind either.
“I … haven’t thought about it.”
Jonathan Tasis, uncharacteristically, did not press her and only slightly released her wrist.
…
In the early afternoon, Eleanora Lozada was standing in front of the floor-to-ceiling window, gazing outside contemplatively, when she was hugged from behind by a man.
Before Eleanora Lozada could refuse, Jonathan Tasis had spoken in a muted voice: “Stay with me for a while.”
The next second, Eleanora Lozada had been carried by the man to the large bed, wrapped tightly against his arms.
Jonathan Tasis looked sleepy and closed his eyes as soon as he lay down on the bed. Eleanora Lozada looked at his handsome face and her heart beat like thunder, she had seen him many times, it wasn’t the first time they had slept together, they had done it all before, but Eleanora Lozada was excessively nervous.
Maybe because it was the first time she confessed who she was to confront him and sleep with him in an embrace, and before, it was all about being emboldened by my sister’s identity.
But the person he was holding now was really himself.
Until the man falls asleep and lets out long, even breaths, Eleanora Lozada reaches up and carefully traces his clean forehead and the bridge of his nose.
The man her sister fell in love with was very, very good, so much so that she selfishly wanted to take him for herself.
She felt humbled and guilty, but what to do, she just fell in love with the man her sister had.
Even though her sister had passed away, it was as if this man still carried her sister’s label.
Eleanora Lozada is secretly in love with him as she gives herself away by being too tormented.
The man frowned slightly as her fingers slipped to his thin lips, seeming to startle him, but he didn’t turn awake, just unconsciously grabbed her hand and said in a slightly commanding voice in his sleep, “Analena, stop.”
For a moment, the light in Eleanora Lozada’s eyes went out, and all the warmth in her body seemed to vanish, making her feel chilled to the bone even under the warmth of the blanket.
From start to finish, she was a shadow of her sister.
Jonathan Tasis did not care for her other than her face, which bore a striking resemblance to his sister’s, and how he could hope for a future between them.
The fact that they are married is settling and settling for something more than a joke.
Eleanora Lozada gently withdrew the male arm around her and gingerly sat up, sitting on the edge of the bed for a long, long time.
Finally, turn around and get out of bed.
Outside, it’s dark.
Eleanora Lozada changed and looked long and lovingly at Jonathan Tasis, before finally lowering her head to his thin lips and kissing him softly.
Jonathan Tasis… say goodbye to this.