There was a table full of people in the private room of the small restaurant, and Dulcina Calvo had a good memory, so the faces were still fresh in her mind.
The male students had only changed because their beer bellies had started to grow, most of the female students had gotten prettier with makeup, and some were more or less the same as they remembered and hadn’t changed much.
After Esteban Zaragosa and Dulcina Calvo sat down, Dulcina Calvo was surrounded by several coeds chatting about their lives.
“Dulcina, you work in a hospital, don’t you?”
Dulcina Calvo smiles back, “Yes, I used to be, but it’s not in the hospital anymore.”
The female students joke, “Looks like the food at the hospital canteen is really nutritious, our Dulcina has grown up to be a bit chubby.”
Another student frowns and laughs, “Come on, come on, can we talk, what girl likes to be called fat?”
In three words, Dulcina Calvo blushed at the comment, and Esteban Zaragosa, sitting next to her, suddenly came clean: “Dulcina is not fat, she’s pregnant.”
Some of the female students were stunned and then said with some surprise, “Dulcina, congratulations, I always thought you weren’t open about relationships, but I never thought you would get married so soon.”
“But Dulcina, we’re not talking about you, you’re pregnant and you haven’t invited us for a drink, so invite us when the baby is full term.”
Dulcina Calvo nodded, “Yes, but at the time it was because there was no more contact information for you.”
“Now add one, then.”
Before long, Dulcina Calvo was chatting with some of her colleagues.
“Dulcina, your husband is so handsome, what is he doing?”
“Seeing Mr. Esteban, he’s feeling very medical.”
Dulcina Calvo glanced at Esteban Zaragosa not far away, a certainly clean and noble man, whose beautiful hands gave her the impression that he either played the piano or was born to hold a scalpel.
One of the students slipped her arm around Dulcina’s shoulders and, with a silent glance at the students across the table, whispered in Dulcina’s ear, “Federico Lagos, who is not yet married, asked us about you the other day and, from the looks of it, he still likes you.”
Federico Lagos? The iron magnet at Dulcina Calvo’s high school, the little follower.
Federico Lagos was a transfer student in Dulcina Calvo’s class when she was a junior.
Dulcina Calvo was a child, and with her simple and kind heart, she often defended Federico Lagos, who eventually became a good friend of Dulcina Calvo. He and Dulcina Calvo became good friends.
After high school exams, they went to different high schools and although they had contact with each other, their friendship was such that they had been separated for a long time and when they met again, their contact had changed. Bald.
At that time they used QQ, but then Dulcina Calvo’s QQ was stolen, and when she changed her cell phone number, and then WeChat became popular, there was no more contact with Federico Lagos.
Federico Lagos, a man who has disappeared from Dulcina Calvo’s life and from Dulcina Calvo’s sight.
Even when she walked in just a moment ago, Dulcina Calvo did not notice Federico Lagos at first glance.
“Dulcina, I noticed Federico Lagos looking at you as soon as you entered earlier. ”
Dulcina Calvo, a little embarrassed, took a sip of the juice in her hand and whispered, “How can that be, I’m married, and besides, he and I are just classmates.”
“You think you are just a classmate, but Federico Lagos is not. I heard from the rumor that Federico Lagos flew from the United States to come back with you, and as soon as he came back, he asked us about you. But someone in the class said you had married and that was the end of it.”
“Not likely, you’re the whitelighter in someone’s heart.”
Dulcina Calvo grows increasingly nervous.
She has never been missed, oh, except by Esteban Zaragosa.
But Esteban Zaragosa’s thoughts and infatuation, as she knew them, came after she fell in love.
Federico Lagos stood up suddenly, his glass raised toward Esteban Zaragosa.
“Mr. Esteban, Dulcina was my best friend in high school, but then … we lost touch. But now that I know she’s married and I’ve seen the man she married, I hope you treat her well. Here’s to that, I’ll drink first.”
Dulcina Calvo unconsciously looked at Esteban Zaragosa to say something to him, but he had already gotten up with his glass and drank it too.
When Dulcina Calvo looks up, she meets the deep gaze of Federico Lagos across the room.
But Dulcina Calvo, reluctant to think, quickly averted her gaze.
In Dulcina Calvo’s case, what Federico Lagos had just said was a blessing and nothing more.
…
After the party, Esteban Zaragosa and Dulcina Calvo were leaving when Federico Lagos shooed them away.
“Dulcina, can I talk to you for a moment?”
Esteban Zaragosa was generous enough not to beat around the bush and said to Dulcina Calvo, “I’ll wait for you outside.”
When Esteban Zaragosa left, Federico Lagos looked at her and hesitated to speak.
Dulcina Calvo swallowed saliva and smiled to ease the awkwardness: “That … who used to be short and skinny, now he’s so tall and handsome, I heard from a classmate that he’s in the United States, is America so nourishing?”
“And do you regret it?”
“Huh?”
Dulcina Calvo was a little confused, but Federico Lagos was looking at her with unmistakable seriousness.
The man got a lump in his throat and asked in a deep voice, “Why didn’t you return my messages after the entrance exam?”
“…”
Dulcina Calvo scratched her hair, “I, I was my mom, she even confiscated my phone so I could concentrate on my high school exams, that old phone, and then I switched phones and phone cards when I went to college. I’m sorry, what did you send me?”.
Federico Lagos’ eyes darkened and he finally said, “Nothing, something inconsequential.”
Shortly after, Esteban Zaragosa returned from outside, “Dulcina, mom called to tell us to come home.”
Dulcina Calvo said “Oh” and greeted Federico Lagos: “My mother has asked me to come home, so Federico Lagos, shall we talk next time?”
Dulcina Calvo turns to Esteban Zaragosa.
Behind him, Federico Lagos looks at the girl’s back, his hands clenched into fists in his pockets, gradually loosening.
He no longer cared which message he had sent her in the first place.
She’s in a good place, and between them, maybe it’s meant to be.
…
On the way home, Esteban Zaragosa looked at her, “How come I didn’t know about that Federico Lagos?”.
Dulcina Calvo sheds her mahalo: “He was a former transfer student from our class and was often bullied by the boys, so I helped him sometimes, so the relationship was good back then.”
“Feelings?” Esteban Zaragosa’s eyes sank and he bit off those two words.
Dulcina Calvo looked at the man’s face and her little heart fluttered, “Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, say it wrong, it’s friendship, no, it’s not like there’s only one kind of relationship, love.”
“And you really want to develop a love relationship with him?” Esteban Zaragosa moved closer to her.
Dulcina Calvo shook her two little hands, “No, nothing! I wasn’t even emotionally open when I was a girl, I just thought of him as a good friend, I swear!”
“Really, Dulcina, why do I see in your eyes, a weakness of heart?”
Dulcina Calvo: “…”
No, honestly!