While you were Sleeping

28. Why is this so hard?

When the alarm clock went off on Monday morning, Valentina didn't complain. She no longer moaned at the monotony of her life. It wasn't a struggle to get herself up and ready for work. Life was good and Valentina was happy.

She smiled as she thought of the person responsible for that feeling. Watching Juliana chat and joke with Guille and Renata had been amazing. She knew Juliana was worried, the nervous energy had radiated from her on the way to the house. And even though Juliana had suggested the meeting, she feared they were moving too fast. She didn't want Juliana to feel pressured or scare her away.

But thankfully, that hadn't happened.

Guille was his usual pain in the ass, dorky self, always trying to embarrass her but she wanted Juliana to see the silly side of their sibling rivalry. She wanted her to see that Guille was okay with their relationship, that they could all hang out together. Renata had been amazing, she had reined Guille in a few times when he started on something silly but more importantly, she'd taken Juliana under her wing. If anyone could relate, it was Renata, she knew first-hand how intimidating her father and sister could be.

Valentina hoped her father had learned something from the drama surrounding Guille and Renata's relationship. She hated the idea of putting Juliana through something like that. But if her father could come around to Guille's relationship, when he finally stood up for himself, then maybe he would do the same for her. And she planned to fight for Juliana. Her father had joked about finding her a partner, she just hoped he wouldn't be upset with her choice.

Valentina pushed the thoughts away as she stepped onto the newspaper floor. It was a new week, hopefully Mateo would have something interesting for her to work on. "Good morning," she greeted as she neared the reception desk.

"Oh, good morning, Miss Carvajal." Valentina rolled her eyes at the formal greeting. "Mr Luna would like to see you in his office."

"Now?"

"Yes, he requested that you see him first thing."

"Oh, okay. Thank you." Valentina turned towards his office, wondering what was so important. She glanced at her watch, thankfully she wasn't late. Maybe Mateo had a new assignment for her. "Knock, knock!" she said, lightly tapping on the door as she pushed it open. "You wanted to see me?" Her gaze swept the room, surprised to see her father pacing by the window.

"Hey Vale," Mateo greeted. "Come in! We need to talk to you about something."

Valentina nervously closed the door before settling herself into the seat opposite Mateo. "Um, is everything okay?"

"Have you seen the paper this morning?" Mateo asked seriously.

Valentina frowned, confused by the question, she never read the paper. "Erm, nooo... why?" She chanced a glance at her father. "What's in it?"

Leon stepped forward and presented the newspaper to his daughter. "Read page ten," he said, stepping back to perch on the end of Mateo's desk.

Valentina's heart thundered in her chest trying to imagine what could possibly have warranted this reaction so early on a Monday morning. Her thoughts raced. Did someone see me with Juliana? Did someone take a picture of us during our date? Oh God, we kissed on the street.

Valentina's hands shook as she opened to the designated page, her eyes struggling to focus on the article and images. One photograph immediately caught her eye, a picture of Juliana serving a customer in the café. Valentina's eyes moved from the paper to Mateo and then to Leon, who wore smug expressions. "I don't get it, why are you looking at me like that?"

Mateo gave a small laugh before speaking, "Look at the article, what do you see?"

Valentina looked at the paper again. "It's the article I helped Eric with..."