Sunflower | C.M

XI

The Madrigal Family felt something strange happened to Camilo.

He woked up earlier than usual, finished his meal faster (with seconds), and even finished his tasks faster than them. It's unusal, as if someone bewitched him!, they thought.

But not for Dolores.

Since early in the morning up until recently, one word that she always heard was "Francesca". Her younger brother's voice was so loud she forced herself to get out of the bed. ("The last planting with Francesca was not good, but I hope this time, nothing bad will happen!", "I winder what Francesca and I are planting today, if ever we'll plant? Hmm", "Why am I fixing my hair for the 3rd time? As if I'm trying to impress Frances- wait what?").

Camilo knew she could hear everything as she remembered his stare she received when they ate their meals, but as a good sister as she was, Dolores zipped her mouth and pretended to be clueless everytime her family asked her about Camilo's" strange behavior".

_________

Camilo failed to hid his excitement.

Ever since both of them have been in good terms, he always thought about spending more time with his new friend.

It felt good for him. He may have friends in the town and loved spending with them, but something about the thought of spending with her made him somehow giddy.  As soon as he reached the Castro's residence, he knocked the door with a big grin on his face. Footsteps were lightly heard until it became louder as the person was getting nearer to the door.

Chest rising, Camilo stood straightly as the door opened and revealed....

"Oh, Camilo? What are you doing here?", Pablo asked, ruffling his hair while yawning. Camilo felt dissapointed as it was not someone that he expected to open the door. "O-oh, buenos diaz Pablo! Is Francesca here?", he tried to sound bubbly, but the way his posture changed into slouch one says otherwise.

Pablo gestured him to enter the house. "Oh yeah! She's in the backyard, right now. By the way, I'll be out for a while. I need to catch up on Abuela. Adios!", Pablo quickly wore his shoes, waved at the older boy and left before Camilo could even say goodbye to him.

Sighing, he looked around the house. He remembered the first time he went to this house , getting worried about Antonio and found him here and Francesca being not so nice to him, but that was on the outside.

He observed each and every decoration in awe, from the decorated walls to the flower vases placed on each corner. He even got surprised that this house's a 2 storey building. But what he caught attention were 2 pictures that were placed in the wall beside the staircase.

The 1st picture was a portrait of the Castro family. Camilo immediately recognized Abuela Juana, Karlos, and a younger Francesca who was smiling with two front teeth missing. He chuckled at the sight before noticing a woman with a baby in her arms who was standing beside the said girl. She was beautiful, with oval shaped eyes and wavy hair. "This must be their mother", he whispered.

The 2nd picture was another family portrait, but he didn't recognized the people in it. There was a man who probably was around in his 30s, a young woman sitting on a chair, and two girls and one boy, whom he assumed were triplets, sitting on the lap of the woman.

"Boo."

A scream emitted from Camilo's mouth and transformed different people. He turned around and saw  the girl that he's been waiting to see. Francesca stood there with a smirk, with a sweats on her temple. The girl wore a hat with flower and vines patterns, wavy hair turned to a bun, and an apron with dirts in it.