PAULAI was in the kitchen helping Sergio’s grandmother to bake cupcakes for the kids at the orphanage home when Sergio’s mother came into the kitchen with my crying two-month-old baby in her arms. These two love each other too much. Oh, and it gets worse when the father is here; it is like I do not exist at all.“She no longer wants the milk from the bottle. She wants it straight from its cow. Oh, this child can be cheeky when she wants to,” Sergio’s mother, whom I have gotten used to calling her mama says.I laugh and clean up my hands before I get her. Yes, I gave birth to a beautiful baby girl whom my father named Sofia which was also my late mother’s name. I loved it when my father suggested it, and Sergio had no problem with it. I got to meet my aunt who is my mother’s sister, and we are in contact. As for Belinda, she was found and got arrested for murder. I cannot believe that woman fooled us all and claimed to love me. It is just sad that she was my brothers’ mother.“She is
Waking up to the sounds of a piano playing somewhere in the middle of an ocean has become my normal waking up routine ever since I chose to escape from reality. My fantasy dream has become my new reality because I chose to escape with the man that I fell in love with, no matter how many trials and tribulations we have come across together, I still stood by him against my family, and he did the same with me. It is euphoric how far we’ve come, but we are happy with our path – at least for now.I was twenty-two when I met my husband. It is really funny because I was very angry at him for replacing my bodyguard and at the same time I had a crush on him, but he kept it professional because he never mixed business with pleasure and kept his life very private, but that didn’t last for long when I crawled under his skin. I had a crush on him, and I kept it a secret for a long time before I finally confessed it to him. He wasn’t a man of many words then, and even now, I still don’t know much a
TWO YEARS EARLIERPAULAI come from a wealthy family. My father is a well-known business tycoon, and my mother is just always there by his side. I think that is why I was raised by nannies most of the time, and sometimes my older brothers would take turns looking after me because my parents were always away on business vacations and even when they were here, they were busy with everything else but me. My siblings were fortunate enough to spend a lot of time with them in their era because business was normal, but after I was born, everything seemed to have changed. They are more focused on the family business, bringing in new clients and making more money than actually having family time. I might sound like I am embroidering, but that is the truth.I am the last born of four siblings. I have three older brothers, and I am the last and the only girl. They are all married, and they live in their own homes, and I am still stuck at my parents’ house. I feel like my parents would pop that q
PAULAI am walking out of the fabric store, pushing the cart with all my items inside it while I am on a call with my boyfriend of one and a half year, whom my parents dislike so much. He is a biker, a rockstar bandleader with implausible tattoos all over his body, even on his face. His name is Bruce, but everyone else calls him by his stage name, Dungeon Dragon and he has a criminal record. He got his stage name from prison; that is why my parents hate him.I connect my Airpods to my phone so that I don’t have to hold my phone against my ear while I am walking, pushing my cart to the parking lot.“What happened?” He asks.“Well, I had an argument with my parents,”“Was the argument about me?” Well, most of the arguments I had with my parents were about him and for once today, it is not about him.“Not everything is about you, you know Amour?”He chuckles.“That’s a relief, love. You should have told me that you needed to get out, I would have come and fetched you to like, Netflix and
SERGIOImagine when you are the whole man of the house, you have a girlfriend who is unemployed and all you do is love them, support them mentally and financially, and the least you can expect them to do is to give you at least the same determination, help you wherever they can, but to me, it looks like I am accommodating someone in my life who needs refugee in someone else’s life, and I am that someone. Here I am, in the laundry room as I stuff my laundry in the washing machine, hoping that when I am gone, Cassey will take care of the rest. It is 6 AM and I am already dressed up in my black suit and a black shirt for work. It is my first day as Paula’s bodyguard and I am already feeling exhausted. That girl is just something else, and that comment she made about my car, she really crossed the line there but to be honest, it was something that I laughed about during the drive to her house. It was really nice to laugh with her about it since all we were doing was biting off each other
PAULAFLASHBACK“Hey, babe. I am sorry to call you this late, but my phone ran out of battery. How was your gig?” I asked.“Fine, what do you want, Paula?” He rudely asked. He sounds drunk too.“Uhm, did I call you at your bad time?”“No, Paulita, this is a perfect time, but unfortunately I am busy,”“It’s 2 AM, what are you busy with, Bruce? I just want to talk to you?”“Celebrating, Señorita!” He laughs and starts singing one of his songs. “You could have been here too to join the party, but you chose to ignore me the whole fuckin’ night!” He yells, making the person that he is with giggle. The laugh is off a woman that I don’t recognise. Is he only with a woman, I mean, I know that there is a woman in their band, but she sounds more like a man. Who could this one be?“Who is with you, Bruce, are you with a woman alone?” I ask in a firm tone.“What if I am, baby? As I said, I am quite busy. If there is anything else, call my manager.”He hangs up on me. He was utterly disrespectful
SERGIOI went outside for a smoke, leaving the girls to do what they know best, gossiping. I am standing on the balcony, welcoming the refreshing atmosphere as I look at the city of Madrid. I have been so busy these past few months that I did not let myself explore it since I started living here. It is an amazing place and I think the people here are nice too, well except for Paula. That girl is hell!As if she hears my thoughts, she walks out through the sliding door with puffy eyes and stands next to me, leaning with her elbows on the balustrade, looking ahead of us.“Do you have a cigarette for me?” She asked. I really did not expect that.“I do. Do you smoke?” I asked, taking out a cigarette for her.“What do you think?” She fires the question back at me, placing the cigarette between her lips like a pro.“I think that you are a smoker,” Obviously not! I don’t believe she smokes, but I will act like I believe she is. Oh, her dad is going to kill me.I lit the cigarette and I watch
PAULAI swear everything has consequences. The alcohol I drank last night is out here, playing in my body, reminding me how reckless I was last night. I regret drowning my sorrows in alcohol like I did last night because I feel so sick right now. I am up, sitting on my bed, thinking about what I did to Sergio. Oh, boy; how am I going to face him from now onward? I should have never kissed him, nor let my emotions take control of me.I pull myself out of bed, heading to the bathroom to brush my teeth and do my morning face routine. I tie my hair messy, walking out of my bedroom. When I reach the last staircase, I find my whole family having a meeting, as if I am the one that they were waiting for to arrive. When I say my whole, I am including all three brothers I have.Oh, oh… no one looks pleased to see me.“Sit down!” Luka, my eldest brother commands. He knows very well that I am scared of him more than our dad. I am even scared to tell him that my head is spinning from last night.I