Things Must End To Begin Again

My Dear Daughter

".... He began to chop the beanstalk. The giant fell and died. Jack and his mother were now very rich and they lived happily ever after...."

Sergio glanced to Paula who's laying on his lap, after a story time, he was dozing off soundly already. He smiled in contentment while looking her closely and he remembered what his mother said about their resemblance. "Right, you kind of looking like me, Paula"

He's scanning around Paula's room and his attention turned to one framed picture he didn't see before, guessed it's new. Carefully, he placed Paula's head on the pillow, got off of her bed, walking toward a table with drawers underneath. He took the picture of Paula and Raquel when they were in LA. While Paula was surely looked adorable in it, he focused on Raquel. "How could you be so happy without me, Raquel? But I also glad that you are"

Accidentally, he dropped the picture. Thankfully it didn't break nor woke Paula up. When he's squatting to pick it up, the last row of the drawer opened up a little bit. Just a slight, he saw more pictures and he thought of checking them out briefly. Surprisingly, other than pictures, there were also some important documents, one of them was Paula's birth certificate. He knew he shouldn't go this far, it's still vivid in his memory how Raquel was upset when he read her chat without her consent, but his curiosity was bigger so he checked it anyway.

It's written Paula Murillo and what's written next made him frowning and his heart felt stuffy.

Sergio found out that Paula was older than the age Raquel mentioned. Doing a little math and by his knowledge about pregnancy, he could be wrong but according to the certificate, it meant she's already pregnant before she departed to LA, which was just a month away from the day she broken up with him, the last time he had sex with her. His eyes were shaking. He's clenching his teeth. He was confused.

"There's only two possibilities, either you're cheating on me or Paula... or Paula is my daughter. We have to talk, Raquel!"

***

In the meantime, Raquel and Alicia arrived at home. In the living room, they didn't see either Paula nor Sergio. "They must be sleeping" Raquel said as plopping her body on the couch, relaxing her muscles after a long day of working.

"Why, Raquel? You look concerned" Alicia asked while handing Raquel a bottle of water, following Raquel to sit on the couch, flexing her stiffen neck.

"I don't know Ali, I'm genuinely happy seeing them together being close, Paula deserves Sergio's love and I have no doubt at all how he loves Paula without any conditions. But at the same time it makes me worried"

"It's about Sergio's mother, right?"

"Yes... If she found out that Sergio has been spending time with my daughter, I'm afraid she would try her own way to find out who Paula really is. What if she would try to hurt Paula? Or steal her away from me?"

***

Still in Paula's bedroom, as Sergio heard Raquel and Alicia's voice, he assumed that they're home already. He was tiptoeing to get out from the room. Although he knew she's obviously tired, all he wanted to do was talking to Raquel right at the moment.

Turned out, Raquel was having a serious conversation with Alicia.

He didn't mean to eavesdrop but he accidentally heard them.

"Raquel, but still, I think you have to consider it, one day you have to tell Sergio the truth, you can't hide the fact forever. It's for Paula too"

"You mean telling Sergio that Paula is his daughter? I kind of thinking about that, Ali, but I don't know how and where to start. It's complicated Sergio heard it well and clearly behind the wall. It was too shocking that he needed some more time to grasp what Raquel said.