Chapter 4

“Mireya...” I started, but I just didn’t know what to say. I barely knew the woman, and yet she had already shot my heart a thousand times in my chest, and not exactly out of fear.

When was the last time my body reacted that way? I couldn’t remember. I’ve been surrounded by tragedy after tragedy, but the truth is, I’m not made of steel like I thought I was.

In front of that woman, I was more aware of that than ever.

“Relax, you’re not the only one who feels something, but... Maybe you need an incentive,” she murmured with a smile before walking away.

Without thinking, I held onto her hand.

“Try me,” I murmured.

Her eyes looked first at our joined hands and then into my eyes before her smile widened.

“All in good time,” she muttered without further ado, and this time, I let her go, although unwillingly.

I surprised myself by wanting to kiss her.

We left the restaurant. And without me having to ask, she told me that she would take me home. It was instinctive. It just occurred to me to tell her to drop me off at a different location from where I lived. I didn’t want her to run the risk of going to my neighborhood or, rather, for her to find out where I lived. It was too soon. Too much information on the first day. Besides, I couldn’t deny that I was attracted to Mireya, and, truth be told, I wouldn’t want her to see all of my reality yet.

As I said, it was too early.

She dropped me off on the corner, quite far from my house, and I said goodbye with a kiss on the cheek. It wasn’t until I saw her car drive away that my heartbeat finally slowed to its normal rhythm.

I looked forward to seeing her at work again tomorrow.

Now I had a short walk home, and on the way there, I saw Thomas’ new car in the distance. It was standing on the corner with two more black cars, both with blue lights, that I had never seen before. It was strange to me. These people had never been here before. Thomas was right; a lot of things changed during the time I spent locked up in my house, lying in that bed.

I tried not to get too close to them so they wouldn’t see me, but I inadvertently tripped over a trash can in the street, causing a noise that was hard to miss. Thomas turned around, and his face twisted in anger. He had never looked at me like that before.

It was weird that he was with those people. What was going on?

I didn’t wait to find out, and quickly, I walked home. When I got there, I almost jumped up the stairs in my haste and hurried to lock myself in. I couldn’t sleep. I stayed up all night watching out for anything to happen, but strangely enough, that night, I heard nothing, not a sound.

When dawn broke, I was sleepy. I was so tired that I thought I shouldn’t go to work like this, but Don Luis could fire me, and I couldn’t afford it, so it was best not to risk.

As soon as I got into the shower, I realized my water had been turned off. Once again, I cursed my luck.

Now I had to go to the neighbor’s house to see if she had water to give me. If there was one thing I knew for sure, it was that I couldn’t go to work like this.

I knocked on my neighbor’s door, who lived in one of the most expensive houses in the neighborhood. She was the only one who could give me water. Through the translucent glass of the door, I saw a woman approaching whose silhouette I could not recognize. I never expected in a million years that, when the door opened, the woman walking toward me would be Mireya.

“What are you doing in my house, Oscarcito?” she smiled, leaning against the door frame, “Are you stalking me?” she grinned mischievously, “How did you get here? How do you know my address?” and looked at me curiously, “And tell me, what do you need?”

“I didn’t know you lived here,” I replied in surprise. I still couldn’t believe that my new co-worker was in front of me, and once again, I felt embarrassed, for the umpteenth time, as I came to ask for something.

“I just moved in,” she said matter-of-factly, “Tell me, what do you need?”

I decided to be honest. It wasn’t worth lying, so, with all the sorrow in the world, I decided to tell her the truth.

“I live in that house,” I pointed to my house, “not where you left me last night, and I wanted to ask you to give me some water so I could take a shower and go to work.”

She looked at me with a look of annoyance on her face for lying to her. I didn’t think she ever cared how I lived or where I lived, but she did resent the lie.

She took my container and went to fill it. She didn’t say anything else. She didn’t need to. Just by her look, I knew she was disappointed I had lied to her. She gave me back the container full of water.

“Goodbye,” she muttered, closing the door with a big bang.

I sighed.

I went home, showered, and got ready to go to work. I couldn’t stop thinking about Mireya and how to fix things. It was not only that I had lied to her but also that we had not talked about my work at the bar the night before.

I left my house still thinking about it, when I saw her in her car, waiting for me, smiling.

“Let’s get to work, Oscarcito,” she told me, “You have a lot to learn.”

From that very moment, I started to listen to her and memorized every single task Thomas did at the bar.

In my day-to-day life, for a whole month, that was the routine. There was not the slightest change... Until the moment I was waiting for came; I finally had enough money, and I was finally allowed to see my daughter.

I couldn’t be happier. Despite knowing that she would be fine, or should be fine, I also knew how much she missed me and that she would be very happy to see me.