Perfidia

the brother

Intro

1995, San Sebastian

The sound of the engine of a car made its way into the building from the courtyard of the hospital, and the boy in striped pajamas instantly put the book he was reading down, grabbed his glasses, put them on his nose, jumped up from his bed and hurried to look out through the window.

"What's up with you, Sergio?!" the other patient he was sharing a room with raised his glance on him, looking away for just a moment from his game boy. "You've been doing that the whole day! Your brother might have forgotten to come..."

Sergio was himself a bit afraid that he did. Since his mother died, a couple of years ago, not long after his father was shot during a heist, his half-brother was his whole family. He was not a little boy anymore, he was 17, but when Andrés told him that he'll come to visit him, he found himself waiting for him the same way he used to wait for his father to come home: glued to the window.

Especially now that he had good news to tell him. According to his doctors he was getting better, and they were considering the possibility of letting him go home in a couple of weeks.

"He didn't forget to come. He's here!" he smiled as he saw his brother getting out of the car. But then he saw something he didn't expect to see. The other door of the car opened as well and a red haired woman stepped out of it.

Andrés walked to her, briefly told her something, then he kissed her and started walking towards the entrance of the building. But Sergio's eyes were stuck on the woman. She threw her hair back, put on her sunglasses and lit a cigarette as she leaned against the side of the car, slowly breathing out the smoke. Andrés never showed up with any of his girlfriends, and he had plenty... Sergio met a few personally, but just because he ran into them accidentally. He couldn't see the woman standing by the car clearly, but he saw enough from her to note to himself, objectively, that she was attractive.

Andrés noticed him in the window and waved up to him. Sergio grabbed his coat, left the room, ran down the stairs, accidentally bumping into a nurse. "Excuse me!" he muttered and stepped out into the crisp early-spring afternoon.

"Sergio!" Andrés walked towards him with a big smile and wrapped his arms around his younger brother. "Look at you... the last time I saw you this energetic was probably when I stole the book you were reading and told you that I'll use it to light some fire. I've never seen you run faster and hit harder since." he grinned. "Speaking of which... I brought you something."

Andrés sat down on a nearby bench and opened his backpack. He gave Sergio a book and a small box.

"The Chemistry Of Precious Metals?" Sergio laughed. "Did someone tell you that I am into the nerdy stuff nowadays?"

"You've always been into the nerdy stuff, little brother..." Andrés patted his shoulder. "And there's nothing wrong with it, just make sure it's also quality stuff you're spending your time with." he winked at him.

Meanwhile Sergio opened the box, and examined the watch it held. "Wow, where did you get this from? This looks expensive, I thought we are struggling with money."

"We were." Andrés nodded with an amused smile.

"Wait..." Sergio frowned. "Is this gold?"

"Uhum." Andrés raised his chin with a smug smirk.

"Did you actually get through with that crazy plan you were talking about and robbed that store?!" Sergio stared at his brother with awe.

"Shh..." Andrés looked around, but they were on their own. "Yes. We are not exactly struggling anymore. Although... most of the money I made from this will go into the wedding. Or not even the wedding itself... we don't want a ceremony, but I procured her a diamond ring I am not planning to sell and we reserved a two-week long vacation in Brazil for our honeymoon next month." he added with a mischievous smile, eager to see his brother's reaction.