While you were Sleeping

9. Shall we?

It was a busy morning in the café, the news of the robbery and Guille's assault did not deter customers, on the contrary, it seemed to attract them. Many commented on the incident but some were bold enough to ask them questions. After the first few, Juliana and Javier had come up with a few vague responses, sticking closely to what the news had already reported. When Karla arrived, they advised her to stick to the same responses.

"Are you okay Juli?" Karla noticed the woman had been zoned out in her own little world for a while.

Juliana looked up, her eyes focusing on her colleague. "Yes, why?"

"You were frowning and looked like you'd zoned out, are you sure you're okay?"

Juliana smiled, three times in twenty-four hours. "Sorry, yes, I'm fine Karla, thank you." She went back to her job of loading the dishwasher. "Karla?" She turned to look at her. "Do you live near here?" The woman nodded. "What do you do for fun around here? I just moved here and I'm looking for things to do."

Karla smiled. "There's loads to do. There's the park, bowling, cinema, bars, nightclubs. Oh, we should go out some night!" Her eyes widened as she looked around to locate her boss. "Do you think Javier would come out with us?"

Juliana rolled her eyes. "Focus Karla! I'm not looking to go out drinking. I just want a fun activity for during the day."

Karla thought for a moment. "On your own? Or with someone in particular?" She raised an eyebrow, a knowing smile on her face.

Juliana tried to ignore her, but she knew she was blushing slightly. "For me and my mum. We haven't had a chance to go out yet so I was just wondering what we could do."

Karla wasn't convinced. "Hmm... well, it depends, if you want to be outdoors you could go into Hundido park, you can rent bikes, sometimes there are musicians playing in the small amphitheatre or you could go for walk in the woods. But if you prefer to stay indoors, where it's cooler, you could go to the cinema or the bowling alley. Personally, I would rather go dancing in one of the nightclubs."

Juliana laughed. "Yes, okay Karla, we'll go out some night. I promise."

"Yay! We'll have so much fun, there are sooo many places I could take you."

* * * * *

Valentina made it to the hospital at one thirty, she didn't want to risk being late or struggle to find a parking space again. She hoped she could sneak in early without being told off by the nurses.

Her morning had been very relaxed. She woke around ten o'clock, the tiger still in her arms, she had laughed when she realised. She hadn't snuggled a teddy all night since she was a little girl. Just like she knew it would, it made her think of Juliana, she felt lighter around her and it was becoming addictive. She had only known her two days but she missed her when she wasn't around.

When she arrived at Guille's hospital room, it was empty and she began to panic, she ran to the nurse's station to ask what happened to him. The same woman from two days ago greeted her with a kind smile.

"Yes, my dear, he's fine. They have taken Mr Carvajal for an CT scan; he'll be back soon." Valentina's shoulders sagged in relief; she forgot about the scan. "You can wait in his room, although it is still a little early for visitors, or there's a cafeteria downstairs if you prefer."

Valentina thanked the woman and went back to Guille's room. She took out her phone and began to scroll through her Instagram feed to distract herself. She thought about looking for Juliana but realised she didn't know her surname.

Guille was returned to the room shortly afterwards, the two men who had wheeled him in couldn't answer any of her questions, they were only responsible for taking and returning patients after scans.