Bound To You

Chapter 9

Juan

I stared at the note in my hand. Stared and stared until my eyes began prickling.

I placed it on my nightstand and took a long pull of my drink, the ice clacking against my teeth.

It wasn't that I felt guilty. Really, the only reason I knew that there existed a feeling known as guilt was because I had studied characters who felt it for my literature essays in school. I knew it only in theory.

But it did cool my rage. There was no denying the sincerity of it, and for once it wasn't a weepy, emotional, unnecessarily long-winded and uncomfortably heartfelt letter. It was short and simple. Just the way I like it.

It sounded like she realised exactly why her actions had made me angry.

And, if I was being begrudgingly honest, I understood why she did what she did. My brain would not let me deny that I had been an ass. A complete ass.

I knew full well that this marriage had been out of necessity. I had been a brat about this since the moment my father had called me into his office and told me of this. I hadn't stopped at screaming, either - I had actually destroyed his possessions-

I stopped that thought short, cringing hard enough at myself that I walked from one end of my room to the other just to give myself something to do.

Coming back to the point, I was no longer feeling angry. I hadn't been for a while, and the apology just satisfied my ego enough that any and all negative feelings that I felt towards Valeria vanished.

I heaved a sigh.

I should go make it better with her.

I'm going to go make it better with her.

Surprised at myself for not being an ass for once, I headed for the door.

* * *

I stared at my wife in bemused hilarity as I leaned against the doorway with my hands in my pockets.

Her otherwise tall and slender frame curled into the letter C, wrapped from head to toe in the snowy white quilt, her lower lip tucked into her mouth, eyebrows scrunched, the white light of the computer illuminating her face in the otherwise darkened room.

I knew I should probably do something to catch her attention, but I just could not bring myself to disturb her. Not when she looked this adorably focused.

Three minutes ticked by as I continued to lean against the threshold, watching her as she clicked and scrolled her way through her research.

Then, without consciously planning it, I took my phone out of my pocket and snapped a picture of her.

I quickly pocketed it again, approaching her slowly.

She still jumped when I knocked against the foot-board.

"Juan!" she yelped, "my God, you scared me!"

"Sorry, cariño," I said-

A brief pause as we both realised what I had just called her. Painfully awkward and mercifully fleeting eye contact. Ahem. Moving on.

"What are you working on there?" I asked, glancing at the back of the laptop.

"Oh I'm just researching universities," she says nonchalantly.

I frown. "What're you planning to pursue?"

"History," came her distracted reply, her eyes focused on screen once again, her frown back in place. Then she blew out a frustrated sigh and shook her head, eyes still trained on the screen. "Great, that's out then," she mumbled, "couldn't possibly get in here...I'm not delusional...still, gotta be others..."

"Uh, Valeria?" I asked hesitantly.

Her head snapped up, expression clearing. "Oh I'm so sorry, what were you saying?" she said, closing her laptop and interlacing her fingers in front of her quilt-burrito.

"I, uh," I began, scratching my eyebrow, "I read your letter..."

Understanding flashed across her face. She swallowed, glancing away from me for a second, seeming to take that second to collect herself. Then she looked at me again.

"And?"

"And, um," come on, think of something good, something elegant, something that matches her note... "We're...cool."

Sigh. So much for elegance.

To Valeria, however, this seemed as elegant as her note. She grinned brightly at me. "Great! Glad we're good," she said cheerfully.

I smiled at her.

We both turned to the door at the sound of metal scraping against metal as the knob turned.

We were greeted by my father.

"I hope you two aren't busy tomorrow," he said, smiling at us. We exchanged a glance, then shook our heads. "I have an inauguration tomorrow at noon and they've invited all of us. I think it's mostly to get to know you, Valeria," he smiled at her. Mom came to stand at his side, slipping her arm through his and smiling at her daughter-in-law.

"Okay, one request," Valeria said, glancing at all of us, looking slightly weirded out, "everyone please call me Val."

I exchanged a glance with the folks, then smiled at her. "Very well, Val it is."

She grinned, then turned curious eyes on my father. "What are you inaugurating?"

"A new port," my father says proudly, "one that'll be very beneficial for business."

Mom smiled up at him.

"We look forward to it. Right, Val?" I turned to her.

She nodded enthusiastically.