' accidental penpals' // mirabel madrigal x reader

chapter. 9 - discoveries in the attic

Y/N woke up to the smell of wet moss accumulating the air. And the sound of Camilo's voice echoing through the forest trees from below the treehouse. Shuffling to pick herself up, her eyes met Mirabel's, who's also startled by the sudden boom of her cousin's voice.

" Mirabeeell?! Mirabel! Where the hell are you?!"

Both scrambling towards the ladder, each girl took turns to climb down the creaky steps. Mirabel jumped off first, getting anxious as she stepped into the moonlight to show herself to Camilo. Y/N remained in the shadows, unsure of what to do. When Camilo finally saw his cousin he immediately ran to her to hold her by the shoulders.

" Are you crazy?! I thought you were just gonna get something!"
" I had to take a detour."
" A DETOUR?!"

Glancing behind her, he got a glimpse of Y/N who just jumped off the ladder. When the two locked eyes the girl immediately panicked, fearing that she might've just been the reason her friend is about to get in trouble. He turned back to Mirabel with an unimpressed look. " Are you serious? So SHE was the detour?" he said, mocking Mirabel's voice as he said " detour". Camilo earned a hit on the arm while Mirabel just rolled her eyes at him.

" What do you want from me anyways?" she asked, trying to return to the point of why it had to be him to call her from here. Placing his hands on his hips, he shook his head. " Ah Mirabel, you are in big trouble."
" And WHY is that?"
" You missed dinner and now Abuela is annoyed because this is the first time Mariano came over as Dolores' boyfriend." he winced at the mention of the handsome man's name being paired with his sister's.

The two Madrigals stood there for a few silent seconds before Y/N placed a reassuring hand on Mirabel's shoulder.

" Hey I think you should go back. I can go home by myself. Right now I think your family needs you."

Mirabel turned to her, eyebrows furrowed. " Are you sure?". " Yes I'll be fine." Mirabel remained in doubt as her, Camilo and Y/N walked out of the forest together, her friend waving her one last goodbye before they parted ways again. The empty feeling was back in Mirabel's hollow heart when she saw Y/N's figure slowly disappear into the crowd.

Camilo and her finally arrived at Casita, and seeing her Abuela's furious face didn't make anything better.

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(y/n's pov)

I tried my best to sneak into the already dimly lit house as much as possible to avoid my parents. I still didn't feel like talking to them even if I spent half a day without them knowing where I was.

I have never experienced this before, but now that I did it felt weirdly refreshing.

Or maybe I was just that disturbed of dad's words that my legs worked on its own and left.

Placing a foot on the slightly creaky floorboards, all I could do is hope it doesn't make a sound. I even had to remove my shoes for this.

" Cecille I hope you aren't awake" I whispered to myself, eyeing the door to Cecille's room before taking a bold run up the stairs. I didn't risk thumping my feet down on the floorboards of course. After years of avoiding speaking, I learned how to make my actions somewhat quieter too.

I held the doorknob to my room, eager to hide in bed when suddenly I hear whimpering that belonged to a dog from the ceiling. I looked up to find Dime stuck in the attic, the slightly ajar door revealing his sad puppy eyes. Poor fella.

" How long has he been up there?" I thought to myself, pushing the foldable ladder down to climb up to him.

When I reached the top though, it was filled with so much dust that the amount of times I had to hold in a sneeze to remain quiet got uncomfortable.

The piles of what seem to be endless seas of papers, some turned yellow due to time. And of course there had to be one of those ancient clocks up here.

Turning on a lamp, the back corners of the room began to show, it had more papers, this time in folders. One folder caught my attention because my father's initials were on it...in bold red letters.

Dime was scurrying to follow behind me as I took the folder in my hands.

Opening the folder, there were papers with my father's signatures hastily written all over them. His signatures looked squiggly, as if he signed them in a car on a bumpy road.

The concern I had for the signatures disappeared after a short moment however.

Because the contents of the papers left me at a loss for words.

It was contracts. Contracts about liability, exchanges that require big sums of money in return. " What is this...what the hell has father gotten himself into?!" were the only words I could muster weakly as I reached the last of the papers.

This was the worst one yet.

I could hear Dime whimpering, sensing the sudden shock flowing into my body from head to toe as I read the last contract.

Only it wasn't a contract. It was a letter. And it had my name on it.

It read:

" Sir L/N,

I thought we already discussed about how late you are when it comes to deadlines? This is the second time this month and the boss is gravely disappointed.

We need more content for the upcoming boards by the end of the month and you know what happens when you fail to pass a prompt. The company needs your stories F/N, and if you cannot provide us something as simple as a paper then you should spend the rest of your days trying to protect Y/N L/N. The boss' son needs some sort of cooperation from your family after all.

This business requires writers to gain a huge fanbase of readers. More readers mean more money. Take more consideration to your schedule F/N /L/N, or hand over your daughter to continue your bloodline instead.

- The Vice President ".

Then finally the letter ended with a furious red signature at the corner of the page.

What was happening? Why is this happening to us? I thought Father was doing fine at work. He was successful.

But who is this person? The Vice President? And why are they plotting against my father by using me?

My head started to hurt from all, the secrets seeping into my brain like poison. Did I make a mistake by running away now knowing these strangers are tracking me down for some forced marriage?

I wanted to sleep. I needed to. But I didn't do either. Because now sharing the stress my father was feeling, one can only weep in the dark.

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stream The Perfect Girl by Mareux because they've been a big help for me to be able to write this chapter

i would also like to thank everyone for 1.9k reads !! i never expected to get this far and i am so happy (≧▽≦)

thank you so so much !! i'll return soon with another chapter for you bubs 🤍