Perfidia

the bride, the groom and the (missed) honeymoon

the groom

"What the hell was this about?!" Andrés stared at Alicia being rather pissed off as the woman got into his car a couple of corners farther away from the hospital. She took off her sunglasses, blinked at herself in the rear-view mirror, then stared out through the window chewing a gum with a serious expression.

"Me." she said briefly. She has already formulated an explanation in her head for why she didn't want to meet his brother after all, but she didn't want to jump right into the middle of things.

"You?! I thought meeting my family was more about... me." he said as he fixed his suit, not even trying to hide the fact that he felt personally insulted.

"Because everything must be about you... And only you. "Alicia started to laugh ironically and moved her gaze to the side of the road on her side. No matter how the others involved feel, right? This should be a red flag if I'd care about stuff like this at all...

"I had to tell him that you weren't feeling well just to cover for you, and do you think what my little brother's first guess was?! He asked me whether you're pregnant! He told me that that would explain why I want to marry you so hastily!" Andres was half angry, half amused.

"Well that would be ridiculous..." Alicia said with a grimace. "We're not in the 20th century... But were you really covering for me, dear?" she finally turned towards him. "Or were you covering for yourself?"

"For myself?" he raised his eyebrows.

Alicia shook her head laughing. "If you just tell him that I've changed my mind, what actually happened, he'd think you're marrying a capricious nightmare." she shrugged. "What would that say about you?"

"Am I marrying one?" he looked at her, still with a questioning expression. "It's not like I'd listen to my brother's opinion when it comes about women... He's smart, but not on that field, trust me..."

Alicia chuckled. "Never mind, I actually like your confident, smug perfectionism." he gave him a cheeky smirk. "Everything related to you has to be top-class and perfect. Your work. Your suit... Your wife." she added with a sly smile. You are not just narcissistic after all, you are also megalomaniac.

If Andres was angry with her a bit, for a while, he forgot about it by now. All that remained of it was curiosity. "Why did you change your mind?" he looked at her with a searching gaze.

Alicia rolled her eyes, let out a long sigh, and hesitantly licked her bottom lip while she was pondering.

"I panicked." she said briefly looking into his eyes. It wasn't exactly a lie. But neither entirely true. Not in the sense he understood it. She looked out through the window again.

"Are you saying you are suddenly having doubts about us?" Andres asked suspiciously.

"Oh dear... I've just said yes to marry you a day ago!" Alicia shook her head laughing. "I think it's normal if it's making me a bit... nervous, don't you think? It will change my life in so many ways! Like... I don't know... being at the point of meeting your family suddenly made me realize how real this is, and... I really don't feel ready to play a mother figure for your baby brother...."

"He's like... 4 years younger than you!" he looked at her being baffled.

"Almost 5. He's still a teenager, Andres... It's responsibility!" she swallowed. "And I don't want that kind of responsibility. Not now, who knows about later..."

"You are having doubts." Andrés gave her a cold look and started tapping the steering wheel with his fingers. "He is my responsibility, and I can deal with that! I only wanted to-"