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Gabriella went to go find her daughter. She was in her bedroom, crying on her bed, with her two best friends trying to console her. Elsa, the grand daughter of the house's cook, rubbed Lolita's back soothingly, telling her, "I'm sure it was just a misunderstanding, Lolis."
"Yeah," Marco agreed, placing a hand on Lolita's shoulder. Her two best friends had frowns on their faces as they saw how much Lolita had been affected by what she saw.
"Marco, Elsa," Gabriella spoke softly, getting their attention. Both children looked right at her, but Lolita only burried her face into her bed covers. Gabriella continued, "Can you give me a moment alone with Lolita? You can play later. Marco, since its getting late, you can ask Thomas to take you back home." The two children nodded and left the room. Marco Stefandl was a boy who lived in the neighboring ranch. He was an only child and had aspirations of becoming a footballer. He had even gotten into the Bayern Munich youth academy though he was only twelve years old.
Gabriella took a few hesitant steps into the room and sat on the bed next to her daughter who was still crying. "Lolita..." She began, placing a hand on her daughter's back.
Lolita swatted her hand away and cried, "Go away! You and Thomas are betraying dad."
Sighing, Gabriella tried to explain their situation. "Its been a whole year since your father died, and Thomas has been so good to me. I know Ernesto is looking down at us from heaven and he probably wants us to be happy. Please understand..."
The little girl shook her head frantically. "I can't understand! And I'll never accept a relationship between you and Thomas! And I hate Thomas!"
But Gabriella was not ready to give up. She had fallen in love with Thomas, and she wanted Lolita to understand. She wasn't betraying Ernesto because he was gone and would never return. "Dolores, you like Thomas. What's so different about him now?"
"He betrayed my dad, and so did you. I will never forgive the two of you for what you did." She quickly climbed off her bed and ran off crying, leaving her mother alone.
As she ran down the stairs and towards the kitchen, where she planned to spend the night with Elsa and her grandmother in the service bedrooms, she ran into the last person she wanted to see. Her green eyes looked up to see the twenty year old footballer, on his face was a downcast expression. Though his eyes brightened when he saw the little girl he had come to love as though she were his own, despite the fact that he was only eight years older than her. "Lolita." He said her name with a hint of happiness.
But she glared at him. "Get out of my way, you traitor." She tried to push past him, but he was much taller and stronger than her.
He stepped in front of her to block her path. "Listen to me, Lolita." He got down to her eye level. "I love your mother with all my heart and I only want what's best for the two of you. If you accept me, I promise I'll be the best husband for your mom."
"No!" The little girl shook her head, bringing her hands up to cover her ears. There was nothing she wanted more in that moment than to wake up from the horrible nightmare, only it wasn't a nightmare. It was a reality she didn't want to accept. More tears ran down her face upon realizing she had nowhere to run. She was only twelve years old and couldn't leave the ranch. She would be forced to see the betrayal every day from that moment on. She would be forced to live in her suffering.
Her green eyes darted to the front door of the house to see her one and only possible form of escape. Her grandparents, who were visiting from Spain walked past the front door with bright smiles on their faces. Those smiles soon dropped when they say the crying little girl with Thomas.
"What's going on here?" Gloria, Gabriella's mother asked.
"Abuelita!" Grandmother! Lolita shouted, and raced to their side. Her grandmother pulled her into a protective embrace and eyed Thomas with a glare.
Thomas straightened himself and cleared his throat before speaking. "I was just trying to talk to Lolita and explain a few things."
As he paused for a breath, Lolita cut in, "I saw him kissing my mom, and now they want to be together. They're betraying my dad! please take me away from here. I don't want to live in this house anymore. I want to live in Valladolid with you."
Gabriella, who had heard her daughter's screams, rushed down the stairs, worried that she might be in danger. She gasped at the sight of her parents, having forgotten that they were going to visit. "Mom, dad! I'm very sorry, I forgot you were coming to visit us from Spain."
Gloria nodded. "With all these problems that suddenly came up, anyone would forget."
Her father, Roque, was the next to speak. "Your friend was explaining the situation to us."
"Oh, yes." Gabriella nodded nervously. Going down the stairs, she walked across the room to stand by the footballer. "This is Thomas Müller. He's my..."
"I'm her boyfriend." Thomas finished for her, grabbing a hold of her hand in his.
Lolita hugged her grandmother tighter. "Please, abuelita. Please take me away from here."
Gabriella's own green eyes glazed over with tears. There was a deep hurt evident in her words as she asked her daughter, "Lolita, do you really want to leave Deutscland?" She was hurt that her own daughter wanted to leave her.
Lolita nodded, not having the courage to look at her mother. She didn't want to leave her alone, all she wanted was for Thomas to go away. Or for things to go back to the way they were. She was happy in Deutschland when Thomas and her mother were only friends and the three of them spent time together. Now things would change and she didn't like the way in which it would happen. "I don't want to be in the same house as him." The way she refered to him was now full of anger, and maybe even hatred.
"But Lolita..." Thomas tried to talk to her.
"Maybe its for the best if we take Lolita to Spain with us for a few weeks." Roque suggested. Both Gloria and Roque agreed that leaving Lolita with Thomas and Gabriella was not the best thing to do. She was a little girl and they feared that she would be greatly affected by living in the ranch with them. "We can bring her back once everything has calmed down."
A forlorn sigh escaped Gabriella's lips, but it was also a sigh of defeat. "If you think that's the best thing to do..." As a mother, she only wanted what was best for Lolita.
Thomas tried to argue. "But Gabi, she's your daughter. You shouldn't let others make decisions that are yours to make." And she was like his daughter as well. He didn't want to see her go and he couldn't stand to see her hating him. He thought that if he gave it time, she would come to accept him again. But he didn't want her to leave.
Despite Thomas disagreeing, it was decided Lolita would spend a few weeks in Valladolid with her grandparents. That afternoon, her things were packed, she said goodbye to her best friends, and they were off. Gabriella cried the entire night, afraid that her daughter would hate her. And Thomas consoled her, and made plans in his mind that could possibly bring Lolita back to Deutschland sooner. That little girl was the happiness of both of them and he wanted her back in her mother's arms.
Though Lolita said nothing of it, she had no intention to return to Deutscland. At least not as long as Thomas was around. Until then, she would refuse to return.
-
an update!
i hope you all enjoy it. i'm on vacation now so i can update without worrying that i have an exam tomorrow or something of that sort. i'll be having two summer jobs, but it won't be heavy work. just research shit and computer tech stuff at school ^.^
i am very blessed that i can save up for my graduate school stuff, bc i want to study in spain next fall and i need about $4000 for the whole year. haha.
anyway, stay tuned bc i'll be updating more often!
-clary xx
