Sofía and Mirabel were left confused. When they had arrived at the scene, Casita was unharmed, not a scratch in sight.
“But there were cracks… everywhere! The doors were fading and the miracle… the miracle was dying!” Mirabel ranted. “Abuela… I promise…”
“There is nothing wrong with la casa Madrigal!” Abuela turned to the crowd after giving Mirabel a glare. “The magic is strong! And so are the drinks,” A few chuckles came from the crowd as the woman requested music to be played.
Luisa rushed over to her father, Agustín, with a piano and he started to play it. The crowd dispersed and headed back into Antonio’s room to party.
Mirabel led her to her mother to heal their cuts in their hands. “I’m fine,” she had said. “I’ve dealt with worse,”
“Yeah, well, you’re a guest in my house, therefore you go by what I say,”
Sofía eventually gave in. Rolling her eyes, she followed the Madrigal girl to the kitchen.
“Mami,” Mirabel said, showing her hands to her mother. Julieta smiled and started to cook two arepas con queso.
“If it was all in my head, our heads, then how did we cut our hands?” Mirabel told her mother. “I would never ruin Antonio’s night! Is that really what you think?”
“What I think is that today was very hard for you-”
“That’s not-” Mirabel started to say before she sighed. “I was looking out for the family. And I might not be super-strong like Luisa, or effortlessly perfect like ‘Señorita Perfecta’ Isabela, who’s never even had a bad hair day. But…” she sighed again. “Whatever…”
Casita moved two plates of arepas towards Julieta, who handed them to the girls. “I wish you could see yourself the way I do. You are perfect, just like this. You’re just as special as anyone else in this family.” she said to her daughter. The two of them chewed on the arepas. Immediately, the queso melted in Sofía’s mouth and her body felt warmer and more energetic than before.
“Mm-hm. You just healed my hand with arepas con queso.”
“I healed your hand…” Julieta began in a playful tone. “...with my love for my daughter, with her wonderful brain—”
Mirabel tried to wriggle away from Julieta’s affection. “Agh!”
“—big heart—”
“Stop,”
“—cool glasses—”
“Mamá.”
Julieta gave Mirabel a big kiss on the cheek, causing the girl to blush slightly of embarrassment since Sofía was standing right in front of them.
“¡Ay, te amo, cosa linda!” Julieta tried to snuggle up to Mirabel but failed when her daughter refused so.
“I know what I saw.”
Julieta sighed. “Mira, my brother Bruno lost his way in this family... I don’t want the same for you. Get some sleep. You’ll feel better tomorrow.” Julieta then smiled at Sofía. “You should get some rest too,”
She nodded and followed Mirabel to the nursery.
***
There was no way that Sofía could or would sleep. She knew that they weren’t making it up. And if she had managed to fall asleep, her nightmares would be horrible… maybe even worse than usual.
Frustrated, Sofía climbed out of the guest bed. Before she reached the nursery door, Mirabel’s voice came, “Can’t sleep either?”
She jumped, as she wasn’t expecting the Madrigal girl to be behind her.
YOU ARE READING
Abre Los Ojos || Camilo Madrigal
RomanceSofía Valdez and her twin brother Leo have been through a lot. Their mother died in a fire when they were young and have been on the run since, traveling from orphanage to orphanage. But after returning from the war ending in Gaea's defeat, Sofía le...
