“A lot of things have changed recently here, haven’t they? I’m sorry for not talking to you sooner, and not seeing how you could be upset. I thought that since you’re already used to Daniel and we all get along well, it was going to be fine.”
“I like uncle Daniel.” Manu was grabbing the edges of the blanket and ready to sleep, but his eyes were wide open as he looked at her. “But are you going to marry him?”
“Maybe.” She hoped that one day they’d be there. “That is nothing you should worry about. If we marry, then isn’t it like just making him an official member of our family?”
“Mom, I love you the most.”
Valeria caressed his chubby cheeks, wishing he’d alway
The fact that he didn’t know Long Wei was marrying until a week before the ceremony could be blamed on his friend not knowing that he’d moved abroad. Only when his mother remembered to tell him about the invitation that arrived to his house did Daniel learn about it.By that time, the only thing he could do was to send a gift and call his friend to complain, of course.“You didn’t even tell me that you proposed?”“Ah, that’s because she did.”Long Wei’s future wife was formidable.It was really despicable that he would be ignored this much, when he’d played a great role the days he took care of Aaron and even Danny sometimes, just so that Long Wei could stop agonizin
The day Valeria visited her mother to show off her engagement ring was perhaps one occasion she’d been waiting for a long time, because what Maria did seconds after congratulating her daughter was to go to the shelf of albums on the wall and pick one photo that wasn’t glued to the book.“Look, I just found this yesterday when I was going through the old pictures.”The photo was taken the summer Valeria and Daniel first met. Her grandfather had bought a bike for her, and don Ricardo had tasked the boy to teach her how to ride, taking that picture just before sending them off to go around the neighborhood.“He wasn’t very happy to be here, I remember.” It was written all over his face at that moment captured by the camera.“T
People tended to use the expression "happiest moment in their lives" too easily until another came to top that mark. When it came to the milestones in this relationship, Daniel first thought the happiest moment was realizing he was in love with Valeria, that he’d been in love with her long before he knew it, and she loved him too.Later the happiest moment changed to the second she said yes to his proposal. Again, he wasn’t aware of how much he actually wanted to have that kind of thing he’d seen his parents have until the idea of Valeria as his wife took root and would not leave his mind.She was just something that happened to him.Naturally, others would ask him after the ceremony was over and he’d been sure he would answer that their wedding day was the happiest moment in his life up to t
The car’s passing and splashing the murky water on her was the last straw of a very, very bad day.Great.She was already drenched anyway: having forgotten to look at the weather forecast before leaving home that morning, she did not take an umbrella with her. When the classes were over that afternoon, she couldn’t just wait until it stopped raining.Manu stayed home with a fever today, and she had to check on him. That morning, he’d cried for her to stay, something he rarely (if ever) did.This image weighed heavily on her mind through the whole day, to the point she didn’t care much about the 10th grade’s insolent behavior or the principal reminding her those kids needed to get higher scores the next semester.
The summer when she was twelve years old, this truth hit Valeria with force: she was just a flat skinny girl, and Daniel, though always kind and willing to play videogames with her or ride their bikes around the neighborhood, was moving on to different interests. And maybe she wasn’t able to follow him no matter how hard she tried.It was difficult to keep up with someone you only saw once a year, but even more if that person was Daniel, who changed passions as others changed shoes. Just a year ago, he was into chemistry and talked a great deal about his club in school, which also made Valeria put a lot of extra effort into her science subjects (one day she’d understand better the things he tried to explain to her). But now, Daniel had just come back from an exchange year in Italy, where he’d lived with a host family, attended school, and learned yet another language during the past eight
Had she not met him that day would life be any different? No, if she was going to be honest with herself, there had been many chances to avoid Mateo afterwards, yet she didn’t want to. After that first meeting, he was everywhere: at every party, every gathering, at any direction she looked at.It wasn’t something as far-fetched as fate, simply that the world was small enough that you’d end up meeting people who were connected to you in some way. Would she have met and liked Daniel in the first place if he wasn’t the Garcías’ grandson?Mateo was Camila’s cousin, and Camila was Valeria’s closest friend at school. That movie night at her friend’s house just happened to be the first time they coincided at the same place, at the same time.He was charming, a ha
“I can’t believe this of you, Valeria. Thank God Mateo is a nice young man and he brought you home safely. But how can you come back like that?” The disapproval in her mother’s voice, the disappointment in her eyes, and the words she said at that moment were all a slap in her face.“I’m sorry.” Valeria lowered her head. “It won’t happen again.”Entering her room again without saying another word, she waited until her mother’s steps could no longer be heard, and the silent tears turned into strangled sobs.She did not mean for any of this to happen, but what was she supposed to say now? Her mother was so mad just because she came back home drunk, what would happen if she told her the rest?The sweet fantasy
‘Misfortunes never come singly.’ Why did she remember her grandmother, dead for more than ten years, more than ever these days? Abuela Juana used to repeat this a lot, whenever she talked about the family’s curse, and then she’d lock herself in the bedroom every day to pray for hours. Valeria was sure her grandma went through every bead of the rosary more than once. Maybe she, too, preferred to pray in solitude so no one would come and talk to her.On the long sunny days in the city, Valeria did not feel like leaving her bedroom when she had no reason to. She went to school, visited her friends when they invited her to hang out, and she’d laugh and have fun for a while… but then she’d be back home, feeling more lonely than ever and wishing for her misfortune to be over. For Mateo to leave her alone.