Two Drops E-Book

Victoria Romano

• Herausgeber: Tequisté
• Kategorie: Gesellschafts- und Liebesromane
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 378

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2024

Beschreibung

Lucía is an artist; Cisca, a successful lawyer. Lucía is being stalked by a violent ex-boyfriend who endangers her life. Cisca gets trapped in a building collapse, and an unfamiliar sense of anguish takes hold of her. Overnight, the course of their lives changes completely, and tragedy will bring their paths together.  Two Drops is a gripping, entertaining, and contemporary novel that gives its characters a voice to piece together a puzzle that readers will unravel through an intelligent, intriguing, and emotional storyline. A novel where each situation tests personal relationships, different forms of love, motherhood, the fragility of trust, but above all, the possibility of taking control of our lives and decisions to achieve happiness. 

Leseprobe

Two DropsVictoria Romano

Two Drops

© of the texts: Victoria Romano, 2024

© of this edition: Tequisté Publishing House, 2024

Original title: Dos gotas ©2022 Tequisté

Traduction: Victoria Romano

Reviewed by: Lourdes Scalise

Editorial coordination: M. Fernanda Karageorgiu

Editorial and graphic design: Alejandro Arrojo

1st edition: November 2024

Tequisté Publishing House:

[email protected]

www.tequiste.com

@tequiste

[phone]

ISBN: 978-987-8958-82-8

According to the Argentine copyright law (11.723)

No part of this book may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

BOOK EDITED IN ARGENTINA

Romano, Victoria Two Drops / Victoria Romano. - 1a ed. - Pilar : Tequisté. TXT, 2024. Libro digital, EPUB Archivo Digital: descarga y online Traducción de: Victoria Romano. ISBN 978-987-8958-82-8 1. Narrativa. 2. Novelas Realistas. 3. Literatura Argentina. I. Romano, Victoria, trad. II. Título. CDD A860

This book is dedicated to the memory of my beloved father, because his presence lives.

To my mother, for her unconditional love.

To my aunt Patricia, because the bond we form is unique.

To my cousins and sisters, Macarena and Trinidad, because they embrace me, in love and in so many other things.

To my dear brothers, for all the journey we traveled, even in the worst of storms, holding hands.

To my nieces and nephews, because their love pierces my heart.

CISCA

I woke up shortly before seven, I still felt asleep. I changed my clothes and went down for breakfast. Lalo, one of my dogs, looked at me from the kitchen floor with no desire to get up, and Mini wouldn´t stop turning around. I think at that hour I share Lalo´s bad mood. Still, I imagined that the nuisance may last a few seconds in a dog, we humans are much more complex.

I grabbed the computer, the bag, the car keys and left my house.

I live in a peaceful neighborhood outside of the city. The thing I love the most about my home it´s the garden, full of plants and flowers of all colors. There is something about the place that I don´t touch, the grill. I leave the use of it to my friends and family, they make the best barbecue in the world.

I’m a lawyer and together with Mark and Luke, we are in charge of an important legal firm, in the center of the city. During the week I run a lot against the clock —meetings, solving conflicts— the clients tell you their personal problems and the legal ones, and we listen and try to solve all we can. Because of that, I try to spend my weekends in a peaceful way far from the noises of the city, to help the balance. The complicated thing it’s to face the trip back and forth every day. My colleagues don’t understand how I exchanged sleeping time for a home far away, but they are choices and, although some days of the week I was late, others, I managed to work from home or get out early. When I got home, and went for a walk with my pets, everything made sense. That morning the traffic was terrible and I had to pass by Albert´s company to check documentation. I was late and predicted a difficult day, never imagining how far out it would go.

Part of the documentation I had to check was material we were going to work during the week and also the weekend, I say we should, but actually the only one that was going to work on Saturday was me, my other partners preferred to stay late during the week. We made a great team, we worked together for several years, and we can’t complain, our firm grew, and with that the responsibilities and the stress. I had told Albert that when I arrived I would go directly to the archive. I had a lot to analyze, and although it was information that I would study later, I had been chosen to do so.

Mike was waiting for me, he had separated for me most of the things I needed in boxes with different identification, not a minor detail because it made my work a lot easier. That day Mike told me that he would stay close just in case.

I had spent almost two hours reading and classifying documentation and I felt it was time for a break. I had two hours left easily and I needed some air, take a break, drink coffee and shake the ideas. I told Mike to leave everything as it was. In half an hour I would return, and in that moment a noise like an explosion made me unable to hear what he answered, everything started to shake, the shelves moved from one side to the other, almost hysterically. Either it was in the middle of a landslide, someone had planted a bomb or it was the end of the world. My brain was going so fast I could barely move, it was an instant, with the little lucidity that I had left, I managed to run as far as I could towards the exit, but I didn’t make it in time. Halfway there I was trapped between two shelves that formed a kind of triangle. Suddenly everything turned black.

MARK

Asking for a calm minute in the middle of the morning with three kids (two still young) is a lot. Emilio, Liz and Thomas are my world, well I have to say that soccer too, along with my profession. My children are my weak spot, that’s why every time I want to have a quiet breakfast, I choose to get up earlier, which means it’s six thirty in the morning, ok, you play, you pay.

I had to face a routine Tuesday, an occasional meeting, writing papers, some calls, but nothing out of the ordinary. I tried to leave those days of the week to myself, I left the office and went to play soccer with my former schoolmates. We had a great group with whom we always kept contact, the tradition of seeing each other once in a while was not negotiable. If it was possible, we would stay with some of the group for dinner. People hate Tuesdays (because they’re not Fridays) but I enjoyed them.

The office was in the heart of the city, near a main avenue, banks and some public offices. At the front we had a park that I resorted to on many occasions when I needed to think without anyone bothering me. The building was modern. It had three main offices, two smaller ones for the associates, a large space with cubicles (the interns used to be there) the meeting room and a large kitchen with everything you might need to make coffee and some quick food. I have to thank my dear Andrew, a personal friend, lifelong confidant and godfather of one of my children. Those who, in bad times, put the team on their shoulders and accompany you, thanks to him we made a great deal when we bought it.

Already at the office, Pamela greeted me and asked me to go directly to Lukes’s office, she was nervous. I didn’t have time to ask her what the reason was. Luk rushed out to meet me.

“Hey, what´s up? Why do you need me so urgently?” I saw both their faces, something was wrong, scary better said. “Cisca had an accident.”

Suddenly the world stopped existing, Cisca and everything that had to do with her came to mind. Our relationship was uncertain, it was always a question mark, I loved her so much, but not as a sister, nor as a friend, or maybe yes, but with friends you share certain things, that I didn’t share with her, but at the same time… the amount of talks, laughs, looks, and that night, many years ago, when we celebrated that we were finally lawyers.

During the time we studied at College, there had been nothing more than a few loose kisses when we were celebrating that we had passed a final exam. The day we finally finished college, we had sex, we actually made love, I don’t like saying it that way, but referring to that night only with the sexual part, would be very far from how we both felt about it. You could say we were in love.

It was a week before Christmas, I invited her to dinner at a very cool restaurant at that time. I still remember what she was wearing: a white t-shirt, jean shorts, simple but beautiful, her hair down, and that perfume so typical of her that left her fragrance floating for hours.

After dinner we went to my house, I knew my home would be empty, because all my family was at my grandpa’s country house. Since Cisca was nervous, we both agreed to lock the door.

The adrenaline of having sex in my house gave me an extra feeling. We kissed; she got a little closer.

“Please go slowly, I haven’t had sex with anyone else before and I’m a little scared.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll take care of you.”

I got a little more nervous because I didn’t want to do things wrong. I kissed her again very slowly, with caresses, without rushing, I don’t think I left an inch of her body without caressing. I felt her perfume and I wanted to stay and live in that smell. I tried to unbutton her bra and my fingers were slipping from the nerves. We laughed and continued kissing. The difficult thing was to stop the excitement I felt to be able to put on the condom. I didn’t hesitate, with Cisca, there was no chance of not taking care and having safe sex. My desires along with her nerves were not a great combination, but I was sure that we were going to have many more meetings to improve our intimacy.

“You are so beautiful; I would stay like this all my life.”

“Me too, despite the nerves, this night was incredible, but you know that my dad goes crazy if I don’t arrive at the time we arranged.”

“Sure, a few more kisses and I’ll take you.”

When I left her at her house, I didn’t imagine that something so beautiful would last such a short time.

I came back from my thoughts without being able to believe what was happening.

“What? an accident? Where? Is she ok? Is she hospitalized? Where are we going to look for her?”

“Stop with the questions for a bit, Mark, calm down please, let me talk.” He was right, I was hysterical, I couldn’t process what was happening. “The person who was on the phone was Albert, His company building collapsed, a gas leak or something like that, part of the place went down, he found out because one of his secretaries saw everything from the street, they are doing rescue work, from what they know Cisca arrived at the company and was working on the file, she was not alone, some guy Mike was helping her, the firefighters are working there, not much else is known, we have to wait.”

“Luke! Cisca is trapped among thousands of rubble, who the hell knows in what condition she’s in. We’re just going to sit here in the office waiting for someone to call us? No way, you’re crazy if you think I’m going to stay here, whatever I’m going to see her.”

“Mark, even if we were family we couldn’t get through, we are not doctors or firefighters, we are simple human beings, without any help.”

Luke was right, there was no point in leaving the office, at least I would be more content with them. At that moment the cell phone rang, it was my wife Caroline, who hadn’t heard anything and was making a ridiculous proposition to me about a family event, it wasn’t her fault. At another time it would have bothered me too, but not to the point of wanting to cut off the phone and tell her that she didn’t understand anything. I answered as best I could what had happened, she recalculated her tone and the approach, she seemed concerned and asked me to keep her updated. There was almost no connection between them, except for some family events where my wife thought it would be good to invite the partners of my firm, I didn’t see much sense in it nor was I interested in her, much less Cisca. Appearing was not in her characteristics, something that I always liked about her. In my case, I come from a family where the issue of what looks good and what should be done weighs a lot. I think that’s why they liked it so much that I became the boyfriend of a girl like Carol.

When I hung up I went to the meeting room, we had a TV there, I turned it on to see if there was anything by chance and yes indeed, two central channels were on the topic.

CISCA

I woke up coughing and with a very bad headache, the first thing I thought was “I’m alive but trapped in an archive,” a tragic scenario. The triangle formed by the shelves allowed me to move a little. I looked at my watch and estimated that I had been unconscious for about fifteen minutes. I touched my head and the rest of my body. I noticed a small cut on my knee, another on my head, and a scrape in my arm and quite a bit of pain, I was relieved to know that there was nothing serious. The archive was completely destroyed but at least I was whole, and that gave me hope and the possibility of fighting to be able to ask for help, I had no idea how. My head wouldn’t stop hurting, but I had to forget about the pain a little to stay calm. In those extreme moments I felt that it was where one risked permanence in this world, I thought I had to do whatever it took to survive, the famous survival instinct that I had never had to go through, but here I was, trapped between papers, rubble and very afraid that everything would end. I began to wonder, what would happen if that were the last moment of my life? If no one managed to rescue me, how many things I had left pending, trips, courses, conversations, looks, truths. I became very distressed, I began to feel short of breath, but something strange, it was like reliving a situation from the past in which I had been locked up. I had no idea what it was, but something had gone off and it was starting to make me dizzy. I thought again about all the things I had left behind, mom’s sudden abandonment, dad made a mess, and Mark, thinking about him was what upset me the most. What was I doing at a critical moment in my life thinking about him? Suddenly, I didn’t know if it was better to stay locked up there or return to the world. When I recovered a little I realized that something was bothering me, it was my bag. I remembered I had a bottle of water, I took a sip because my cough was becoming more and more constant. Nerves and dust were not good allies, I still had to ration the liquid I had because I really didn’t know when they were going to get me out of there.

Shortly after, I began to hear some distant noises, like a kind of moan. I tried to strain my ears to hear well, it seemed like the sound was coming from behind, it had to be Mike, while I had been working at the place I don’t think I saw another person. Mike was close because I could hear him, and he seemed hurt, I tried to clear my voice and spoke to him to find out how he was.

I heard the moans again, I pushed aside the papers behind me to try to find a space and see who was there. The pile of papers along with some boxes was very large, I moved as much as I could and tried to breathe as little as possible because the movement helped more dust appear. I made a hole and saw that there was a body lying on the other side, I had to use all my ability to get to where it was. I moved very slowly, first I tried to pass my purse, to be sure I had the water with me. I crawled through the gap to get to the other side and there was Mike, yes, it was him, his right leg was trapped by a shelf, he had cut his forehead and arm, they were small cuts, but the worrying thing was his leg.

“Miss Francisca, is that you? Where are we? What happened?”

“Yes, Mike, it’s me, there was a collapse or something like that, we’re trapped, we have to find a way to ask for help.”

“I don’t think there’s a way for them to rescue us, we are underground, full of rubble, surrounded by papers and boxes, who is going to listen to us? I have a trapped leg, I won’t last long.”

He had to give this man confidence or he was really going to lose him in less than a minute.

“Mike, I need you to look at me and pay attention to what I’m going to tell you: we’re going to get out of here, we’re going to try, things are difficult, but I need you to trust me and be as calm as possible, we already know something is going to happen.”

I noticed that his gaze softened, and that he was making a great effort to return a smile to me.

I took out the water bottle and gave him a sip. I noticed that his leg was completely trapped and he kept complaining about the pain. I didn’t know if he had something stuck in him or if it was simply the weight of everything that had fallen on him. My head was still racing a thousand revolutions per minute, time was passing and it was becoming more and more difficult for me to keep myself together.

CISCA

About three hours had passed with no sign of rescue, it was becoming more and more difficult to breathe, to hold on, it occurred to me to distract Mike and ask him about his life. He spoke slowly, he told me that he had been married for forty years to Dora, the love of his life, that he had two children and three grandchildren, he really liked gardening, that’s what he dedicated himself to in his free time and that, although he worked as a maintenance In a company it was not what he had dreamed of for his life, he was a happy person. His story made me tender and sad at the same time, the way he told me about his wife made me wonder if one day I could have something like that. My parents’ bond was zero and the worst example. The talk encouraged him a little, he asked me about myself, I told him about my life, my work, and then I realized how little I had to say about my personal life, everything was summed up to academic achievements, some trips, but not much more. I was quiet. Mike apologized to me because he noticed I was distressed; I told him that it wasn’t him, but that I had realized that if we were stuck there I didn’t have much to go out of, that my childhood had been difficult. It was crazy to tell all this to a complete stranger, me, the queen of secrecy and the one with the drawn smile, but I felt the need to open up in the face of so much confinement.

Suddenly, I heard noises, a voice in the distance, I tried to take a deep breath and with the little energy I had left I screamed: “Help, please, we need help!” The voice appeared and told us: “I am Peter, we are going to rescue you”

Emotion had taken over my entire body, I think because of the joy and nerves I had forgotten how much my hand hurt. I explained to Peter that I was with someone else whose leg was trapped. When they reached us, a woman grabbed me and started taking me to the exit. I looked back, I didn’t want to leave Mike, but it didn’t make sense to stay. Already on the street I felt my pressure drop to zero, I saw everything black and I fainted.

I woke up in a room, I didn’t understand anything, it took me a few seconds to remember the accident, Mike, and the rescue. I tried to sit up, but a very calm voice told me:

“Calm down dear, don’t try hard, you went through a lot.

The voice I needed to hear belonged to my dad, that voice I could identify from thousands of miles away. We formed that invincible team, us and the world, because it was that simple and complex at the same time. My parents divorced when I was six years old. I have the memory of getting up several mornings to have breakfast and asking my dad about her. The same response: She went on a trip, Paquita, she’ll be back in a few days. The one who fulfilled the role of mother was my beloved Carmela, dad’s sister and much more than that.

“Dad, I’m in the hospital, right? My head and hand hurt quite a bit. Do you know how Mike is? The man who was trapped with me.”

“Paquita,” the only ones who called me that were Dad and Carmela, “my love, I’m going to tell the doctors that you’re awake.”

A few minutes later, a nurse and a doctor entered the room, they introduced themselves as Dr. Rubiarte and I think the nurse said her name was Rose, I was still a little dazed.

“Hello, Francisca, how are you feeling? Any pain in particular?”

“My head and hand hurt, otherwise I feel fine.”

“Don’t worry about the headache, we did a CT scan when we saw the cut on your forehead, we wanted to rule out anything, the result came out fine; The pain in your hand is due to a sprained wrist, nothing serious.”

I paid attention to what he was explaining to me and it was good news, I thanked him and asked about Mike.

“Francisca, I’m sorry, Mr. Ordoñez did not survive. He arrived at the hospital with his leg severely compromised, had a hemorrhage and died.”

While the doctor was talking to me I noticed my heart was racing, I was nervous, I knew that Mike was not part of my family. We had only met twice. Perhaps the anguish was due to the moment of intimacy shared while we waited for the rescue, his loss affected me greatly. My lip was trembling, Dad came over to restrain me and Rose gave me something to calm me down. I wanted to be alone for a while and sleep.

LUCY

I think that, deep down, we always run, I don’t know where or why, but we do. People run with their minds, with their words, with their actions. I need to go for a run to get rid of everything. Usually if I’m not painting, or out with friends, I’m running.

I haven’t even gone out for a run with music in a long time, my mind has to be able to wander calmly. It happens to me that when I listen to music I inevitably transport myself to a situation from the past, or I am thinking about the future, I remember someone who is no longer in my life, a broken relationship, what I would like to do with my life and I don’t do it. Therefore, it is better to oxygenate, digress and let it pass.

That day, the world was a more hostile and darker place, somebody told me a few hours ago that my grandmother had died. That matriarch of steel with a heart of cotton had left this world, and a little bit she had left me, I couldn’t conceive life without Meme. When my dad was traveling for work and my mom spent hours in her room depressed, she was there, to cook for us, to help me with some homework, to praise my first steps as an artist. She came to accompany me to the doctor because Alice, my mother, always had a lot of headaches, the famous migraines that translated into: I can’t do this alone and your dad is never here, I’m sorry, it’s a lot for me. Dad was the boss of a pharmaceutical laboratory based in the country; the headquarters were in the USA, so he traveled all the time, and in the process he got away from the family for a bit. I grew up like this, at first I didn’t realize it and it was so good to have the best gift for my birthday and vacation at Disney all the time, but as I grew older the absences lasted longer and longer, and Meme came to the rescue. I remember that, when I finished fifth grade, I received an outstanding award in art. Dad promised that he would be there and instead showed up the next day, blaming Alice for the fact that she had missed the date. They argued so much that I thought a divorce was coming, but no. There was some kind of arrangement between them that I never understood. I didn’t mind her absence, my grandmother was there encouraging me and curing me of everything, she was the one who introduced me to the wonderful world of Astrology and Tarot. It was the only thing my parents and my brother agreed on: according to them, all that was trash, a scam, and was of no use. Sometimes we had to go somewhere far away so she could read me the tarot cards without anyone bothering us. After the sessions we would have coffee with croissants and laugh about how difficult it was to connect with someone in our family.

The fresh air touched my cheeks and made me happy. A few blocks from where I lived there was a very large park where I loved to run and play sports. I loved that place, the day was good, it was neither too cold nor too hot, it was ideal, there were few people, I couldn’t complain, although I did a little. Meme my heart, it will be impossible to live without you, what a mess a world without your physical presence, you felt responsible because Horace, your son, was never there and your daughter-in-law did what she could and sometimes, not even that. You were huge despite being so short.

Thinking about my grandmother, I fell rolling on the floor, it was good for me because I saw blood, a cut in the stone and I started crying. I cried for the blood, but for the one that could not be seen.

A woman came up to me and offered me help, I couldn’t get up from the pain, I was so embarrassed and everything was so uncomfortable that I thanked her and told her to leave, that I was perfect. I recovered a little. I knew that there was a hospital in that area and I could walk there. I asked my brother to pick me up and take me home, I could already see the subsequent complaint coming, I had the best dysfunctional family.

I passed through a very high iron fence and climbed a couple of steps, I don’t know if it was because I was half lame from the cut or what, but they seemed like forever. I walked through a glass door and a nurse walking by saw me. I had to use my shirt to wrap my leg, so I was in shorts and a sports top. I think that caught his attention the most. Or maybe the entire picture. I sat down in a chair, one of those long ones that have several seats in a hallway, and a few minutes later they called me. I was treated by a somewhat older, very kind doctor who realized that I had cried, and also noticed that I was making movements with my arm to hide it. Many, my ex, had left me a bruise. The man asked me if everything was okay, I told him yes, and with a smile he told me that the blow was a great excuse to cry if I didn’t feel like telling the world the real reason.

That doctor was a genius, I thought about the number of people who must come to the wards crying their eyes out over a simple cut and maybe they are hiding much deeper things. I had to come back in a week to get the stitches removed, I told him that I had good medical insurance, that I could see another doctor at a private clinic, but he insisted.

When I left the exam room I called my brother, Nicholas, because I was in a lot of pain and couldn’t walk back home. I had only left with my cell phone and house keys. I had to wait for him for a while because he was in a very important meeting, as always.

We were leaving and I ran into a man in a suit who was speeding very fast, I staggered and fell, nothing happened. Nicholas almost beat him up, he asked us for forgiveness, he told us something about a friend and a collapse, but we didn’t understand well. He sounded a little stuffy, he was about forty years old, very well behaved. He looked at me as if he knew me from somewhere. I didn’t want to generate more contact. I was leaving a somewhat toxic relationship and with mixed emotions in my head, better, bye.

At the funeral house, everything was terrible, from the energy to the furniture. Obviously, my family made sure to get the most expensive place which still sucked. These kinds of places never have a good vibe, but it seemed to me that there was something heavier floating in the air. Previously, Nicholas had left me at home so I could change my clothes and he went to look for my six-year-old nephew because, he said, he had to learn the cycle of life from a young age. If Meme had been there, she would throw a flip-flop over her head, she hated those things, what’s more, she always told me that the day she left this world, she didn’t want anything of that, precisely, her family was being a part of, with Alice in the lead, which, to fulfill social mandates and play the martyr, was what she was ordered to do. She was impeccable with her straight hair, her pearl necklace, and her ivory nails, all in black. Sometimes I wonder who I look like, and then I remember my grandmother. Alice came up to greet me.

“Lucy baby, come give me a hug, how are you dear?”

“The best I can. Where is dad?”

“Chatting with some friends from the club who came to offer their condolences, what happened to your leg? Your brother told me that you had an accident, is that why you were late?”

Alice looked at me with a face that I couldn’t decipher, a mixture of pity and anger. Classic.

“I fell when I was running and cut my leg. The doctor gave me some stitches.”

“I told you to pay more attention when you run, Lucy, you’re going to kill yourself one day.”

How boring she was when she pretended to be worried.

“I’m going to look for dad.”

I made some space among the crowd of unknown people to go greet dad. I saw him in the distance chatting with many people and he made a sign for me to wait for him. I waved at him and went to the entrance. I couldn’t breathe, I stayed talking to one of my cousins, I didn’t see him much even though we got along well. Anything to avoid returning to the epicenter of the farce.

MARK

When I arrived at the hospital I asked for Cisca Gomez Delgado’s room, they told me that there was no one with that information. I corrected myself and said her full name, it seemed like a lie, she had so internalized the “Cisca” that Francisca seemed to me like a name that belonged to someone else.

With all the rush, because I wanted to get to the elevator before they closed the door, I tripped and bumped into a girl who was walking with help. She seemed to have an injured leg, her companion became a little violent, but she calmed him down. I quickly explained my situation to them, I think they didn’t understand much, I stared at the girl, something about her seemed familiar to me. I didn’t realize what it was. The two continued walking, I quickened my pace, I wanted to see Cisca. I knocked on the hospital room door and her father, Edward, a very good man, with whom I talked about soccer several times, opened it for me. During college we often went to Cisca’s house, with Luke and another classmate. Her aunt prepared the best desserts and Edward the best barbecues. We had a code of respect, no bothering the opposing team. I remember and smile.

“Mark, my friend! I haven’t seen you in so long, how are you?”

“Very good, Edward, thank you. I found out what happened and I wanted to come to visit Cisca.”

“Of course, come in.”

I entered the room and saw a beautiful bouquet of flowers, for a second, I wanted to think that the people at the firm had had the magical idea of sending them to her, then I found out that they were from her family. The moment we exchanged glances I became uncomfortable; I didn’t know what was happening to me. I’d been with her the day before, working as usual. It’s like I was suddenly twenty-three again, I was falling in love with her and I was asking her not to leave me.

“Cisca,” I said somewhat clumsily, “I’m glad you’re alright, or well, the best that can be, right? I realized that I came empty-handed, sorry, when they called the office to let us know where you were I came right away.”

“But, Mark! What would you bring? Don’t be ridiculous! If everything goes well, I will be discharged tomorrow. They want me to stay hospitalized just for control, I feel sore, but fine.”

I didn’t want to ask anything about the accident, I assumed she didn’t want to talk about it. I don’t know, I was a little persecuted, at one point I saw that Cisca told Edward to take the opportunity to go have a coffee.

We were left alone, the discomfort continued, I didn’t know what topic to bring up. Cisca noticed it, she made a comment to me about something in the office, I told her about a new case she was studying. She spent a while, and asked me:

“Mark, what are you doing here?”

“What do you mean what am I doing here? I came here to visit you, you were in an accident.”

“Yes, thank you very much. I imagine that everyone in the office was very worried. A few minutes before you arrived, I asked dad to call to let them know, he told me that Luke was the one who called him.”

“Well, Francisca, I don’t know what you want me to tell you, we are partners, I have known you for more than twenty years, we were friends, what else?”

“You are calling me Francisca?”

“That’s your name.”

“Ok, Mark. Yes, we are partners and we were friends, a call like the one Luke made, would have been enough.”

“Well, not for me.”

“Why? I want you to explain it to me.”

“I don’t have an explanation, I felt it, it was an impulse, but damn! Is it that hard to accept that I worry about you?”

“It’s not that and you know it well. Since that night we spent together almost twenty years ago we have not spoken about each other again. I don’t know, I was gone for almost a year and when I came back you were about to get married and expecting your first child. From then on we were excellent colleagues, but bye friendship, love, goodbye to everything.”

“And yes, it was like that because you wanted it that way. I asked you to please not to be gone for so long, that life can take a thousand turns. Throughout college days we had a great friendship, obviously it was more than that, but it didn’t happen, neither of us talked about starting something from a distance. At that time there was almost no social media, I heard you tell Jane that if a good opportunity arose you would stay, what can I tell you? I was devastated. My life went on, Caroline appeared and we know the rest.”

At that moment a nurse entered, and Edward stood behind, the tension was palpable. I greeted them goodbye and left the room enraged. Who the hell was sending me to stir up feelings that had been buried so many years ago. I told Pamela that I was not going to return, that she should cancel the pending meetings. I went by the house, luckily there was no one there, I didn’t want to give my wife explanations for my bad mood. I took a good amount of whiskey, too early but the situation required it. I wasted time on my cell phone and then it was time to go to soccer, to finally unload all the mental mess.

CISCA

Mark rushed out, it was clear that Rose had noticed my upset face and asked me if I needed to go to the bathroom, how she could help me. I told her that I wanted to be alone. Dad came out and she asked me if I was okay, if the person who was there had told me something; I explained to her what my connection was with Mark.

“Dear, I’m old but not stupid, you and that boy have something more, I can smell it in the air.”

“No, not at all, Rose, we are only united by a working relationship of many years, but personally there is nothing.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure, but if you say so... I’ll leave so you can rest.”

I was thoughtful. Until the day before, Mark was my partner. We had had a great friendship throughout the years we studied together, but after that infamous night everything changed, we could no longer be friends, there was no room for anything else because when I returned from my trip he was forming a family. It was all so crazy and so fast. I remembered sitting on the plane with a strange feeling in my stomach that had nothing to do with the trip. What was happening with me and Mark?

Carmela and my cousin Ines entered the room wanting to talk, it was good to change the energy, they stayed for a long time. Ine offered to spend the night with me, I didn’t let her, and neither did Dad, It felt perfect to me.

The hospital they had taken me to was not the most pleasant, by chance I managed to be alone. Rose had told me that a few minutes before admitting me, the patient who was in the bed next to me had been discharged and that she was going to do everything possible to ensure that I spent the night alone. A charm. It’s kind of ironic because I spend a good part of my income paying my medical insurance and, once something happens to me, I end up in a place I would have never wanted to enter.

I arranged with dad that he would be at the hospital first thing in the morning and when I was cleared for discharge, I would go to his house —since I couldn’t make much effort with my hand—. I was happy with the idea, a few days of pampering and company were going to be good for me. I was still thinking about what I had felt while trapped, that feeling of having been in a similar situation, but I still couldn’t explain it, whatever it was I didn’t want to be alone.

My cousin came over because she noticed I was acting strange, and in a low voice I told her that Mark had been there a while ago and that we had had an argument. It all seemed crazy to her and she wanted details; I told her that we’d better talk about it when we were alone, another time.

I spent the night without any problems, I fell asleep automatically. The stress of the accident, added to the discussion with Mark, was the best combination to sleep all night.

The next morning a nurse brought me breakfast, which consisted of a cup of tea and some biscuits. I wasn’t expecting the breakfast of a five-star hotel, but I thought it would be something a little better.

They discharged me and I felt sorry for not finding Rose, she had been so kind to me, I promised to come back, even if it was just to say hello.

My brief stay in the hospital was over. It’s incredible everything that has happened in such a short time. The worst thing is that it was just the beginning of the madness that my life was going to become.

LUCY

What an eternal day! Between Meme’s funeral and my burst leg, I couldn’t take anything else. The phone rang, I saw the identification, it was Many, my ex-boyfriend. He still didn’t know we had broken up but after the violent argument we had three days ago I understood the relationship was finished.

Three years of a relationship that had had more bad moments than good ones, I didn’t want to continue being involved in that emotional mess. Once he yelled at me so much that I was stunned and Meme realized it, we had a talk about it and she told me that something was not right inside of me to be able to endure the abuse of another human being in such a habitual way. The last time she read me my tarot cards she told me that the relationship wasn’t going to last much longer, she saw vague things, a man a few years older and a woman, actually two. In the case of women, it was not clear how they appeared, whether as a couple or friends; In the case of the man there was a sentimental issue. My grandmother knew about my bisexuality, she had sensed it and over the years I confirmed it to her. With the other members of the family it was more complex, Alice was very conservative, for my dad would have been the same, although he surely would have preferred that I was straight, and Nicholas would have made my life impossible just to annoy me. The issue was more with my mom, since I was never with a woman on a stable basis, there was no need to whitewash it with them. It’s not like I had that many partners either.

When Meme met Many she didn’t like him, she felt something was wrong. My grandmother’s sixth sense saw things that I didn’t. At the beginning of the relationship, perhaps we had some arguments with the tone of voice a little raised, it didn’t seem strange to me at all. Horace and Alice raised their voices a lot, so I didn’t see it as something abnormal, but one of my best friends, Veronica, once made me see that, at some point, I would stay still without saying anything and the one who ended up verbally attacking me was him. As time went by it got worse and worse and she was very surprised because I was a woman who was always upfront and with him I put myself one step lower. He was beautiful, what a paradox, a dark-haired man with light-coloured eyes and a model’s body. His violent and manipulative attitude was what made him horrible. Furthermore, it was always the same, after the arguments or the scenes he would ask for my forgiveness and promise me that he would change, just like the textbook, and I believed him. I was one of those women, who thought that you couldn’t hook up with guys like that, that it was crazy, but you just have to be in a vulnerable moment in your life and there they appear, they smell it.

When we met I was in a very dark moment, I had lost my “dream” job in an art gallery outside the country and had recently separated. I was a baggage of sadness and then Many appeared. It was like an earthquake of sex, fun and madness, what I needed to not think that with each passing day I didn’t have the job I wanted, the partner I needed and the life I supposedly deserved.

I liked art; no one in my family was interested, except my grandmother, who did it more than anything as a hobby. I’m not just talking about going to exhibitions or museums; I’m talking about simple things that are also art: music, good cinema, a book, and those things. Since I was little I said that I was going to be an artist, Meme encouraged me, Alice made a scared face and dad wasn’t even there. In high school I asked them to please let me do the last two years at a school far from my neighborhood that had many subjects related to painting and drawing, excellent extracurricular workshops and setting up sets. That place was a dream, but no, not only were they not going to take the car to take me half an hour further, but Nicholas and I were going to end up at the same school that they had gone to, and where they had met, Saint Jean School. Dad told me that later I would be able to study whatever I wanted and with my level of English I could go abroad, and Alice was convinced that I was going to get over it. I think that at some point they were bothered by my desire to study Fine Arts, for all I care, they could go to hell.

I graduated with very good grades and I decided to look for a job, so I didn’t have to ask my family for money, nor was I going to lift bags in the port, but something for a few hours, studies were still my priority. At home they took it as an act of rebellion, because with money left over there was no need to go out to work. For me, it was an act of maturity.

The phone kept ringing, I didn’t want to answer it, but it was going to be worse, on the fourth call I gathered courage and answered.

“What do you want, Many? If you think our situation is fixed, you’re in trouble, forget it, I don’t want to see you anymore.”

“Babe, please forgive me, I swear it won’t happen again, I’ve had some very crazy days, you know.”

“No, the only thing I know is that you’re a jerk and you’re not going to lay a hand on me again.”

“Lucy, baby, I swear I’m going to change. Not to exaggerate, it was a squeeze, nothing more.”

“For your information, you left a tremendous mark on my arm. You should be grateful I didn’t say anything to Nicholas because he would break your face into a thousand pieces. Seriously, Many, don’t show up at my house or call me ever again.”

I cut it off, I was shaking, I went out to the balcony to get some air and I saw a couple passing by with their pet, they seemed happy, for a moment I longed to have that life.