Garcìa

chapter 12

Last night, Valentina and Rafael decided it would be best if she approached her uncle after the conference for his newest launch. Which meant she had to somehow get into the building and find him afterwards. She wore black jeans, a simple t-shirt and one of Rafael's old zip up hoodies. She wanted to be comfortable and came to the realisation she had no hoodies. So, Rafael offered her one. 

She walked towards the Garcìa Jewellery building. It was just as she had remembered. Except for the interior, it had been updated a little. It was nice but it felt a little cold. She decided to worry about that another time. She walked up to the front desk and found a woman sitting there. It reminded Valentina of the countless front desks she had seen the past four years, except now she didn't have sunglasses to hide behind. 

"Hello." Valentina greeted the lady behind the desk. 

The lady looked up and frowned at Valentina's outfit. Valentina could agree it wasn't what one would usually wear to a building like this but she didn't really care. 

"What can I do for you?" the woman behind the desk asked her, although it wasn't necessarily nice or mean. 

"I need to speak with Alicestar King. After his conference." she replied with confidence. 

"I can't let you without an appointment. Call and come back when you have your appointment." the woman said, this time it was a bit meaner. 

"Do you know who I am?" Valentina asked. Not in an arrogant way, just simply curious. With a kind voice. 

"Should I?" the woman asked with a raised eyebrow. 

"Yes, I think you should. I'm Valentina Garcìa. Pleasure to meet you." she said while holding out her hand. 

The woman stared at her for a while. From her hand to her face and back to her hand. The woman looked into Valentina's eyes before her eyes grew wide. 

"Oh m-miss Garcìa, I-I'm terribly sorry." the woman mumbled over her shock.

"It's quite alright, calm down. I just need to speak with my uncle after his conference. Could I perhaps wait in his office?" Valentina kindly said to the woman. 

"Y-yes, I'll get y-you a pass." the woman said before stumbling about. 

The woman rushed to prepare the pass and tried not to mess up. Valentina watched the woman with a frown. Was she so scary that she scared the poor front desk lady? She didn't think about it as she patiently waited for her to be finished.

"H-here you go. I-It's the same office your uhm y-your parents had." the woman told Valentina timidly while handing over the pass.

"Thank you very much. Goodbye." Valentina said before grabbing the pass and making her way up to the office.

She entered the office without knocking. Something she had always done. She looked over the office and noticed the most things were still the same. As if he couldn't bring himself to change too much. She looked at the pictures and smiled when she saw her parents, her uncle, her aunt, and her and her nephew. She walked around the office, waiting for her uncle to return. 

"I'll talk to him about it tomorrow." she heard her uncle's voice. 

It was enough to bring tears to her eyes. She hadn't heard that voice in so long. Too long. She wanted to run over to the door and engulf him in a hug, never letting go. She had missed her family so much. The door opened and revealed her uncle. He was the same man she remembered. But he now had a little bit more grey hairs. When he looked up, he stopped in his tracks. For a second, she was worried he wouldn't recognise her and sent her away. 

"V-valentina?" he stammered out. 

"Alice." she said through her tears. 

A smile broke out on his face before he ran towards her and engulfed her in a hug. Both of them squeezing each other as tightly as possible. Not believing they were in each other's embrace. 

"You remembered." he said in her hair. 

When she was much younger, she started teasing him about his name. She started calling him Alice as a joke but it stuck and it turned into a nickname of endearment. 

"How are you alive? Where have you been? What happened?" he rushed out questions. 

"I know that you have questions, and I want to answer them. But I first would like to see Mags and Leo." she told him. 

"Off course. I'll grab a few files and then we'll go home." he said and she nodded. 

Home. She had wanted to go there since she was free from Elijah. He grabbed some files and stuffed them into a briefcase. He turned back to her with a bright smile which she returned with a tearstained face.

"Let's get out of here." he said and she nodded.

They walked through the building and she could feel the stares but she didn't care. She was home again. She didn't have her parents anymore but she did have other family that would catch her if she fell. 

They went into the parking garage and they got into a car. She buckled her seatbelt and Alicestar started the car. They drove through the city towards a familiar part of the city. The part where she and her parents would drive to every week to visit her uncle and aunt and nephew. She took in the scenery, taking in everything that had changed since she had been gone. 

"The guest room is ready so you can sleep there if you'd like." Alicestar spoke up. 

"Off course, if that's alright with you." she replied. 

"Off course it is. I don't think I'm ever letting you out of my sight again." he said, chuckling at the last part which caused Valentina to chuckle as well. 

They stopped in front of a familiar house. They got out of the car and she took in the house in front of her. It reminded her of so much but she felt so good being back here. 

"Welcome home, Tina." he said, using his nickname for her.