Flores :: Carlos Sainz

Veinticuatro

"It was very nice meeting you," Eleanor widely smiled.

The family of Bibi looked at Eleanor and also smiled. Bibi invited Eleanor for a dinner with her family, who arrived yesterday in Madrid. Both the women were back in Madrid for a week, picking up their lives again. Bibi started her job at the private school again and Eleanor finished the last things in the house.

"Oh, dear, it was a pleasure to see you. Bibi always talks about you. It's nice to have a face with the name now," the mother of Bibi said. "She updated us on your house."

"Mam," Bibi said disapproving and embarrassedly looked at Eleanor.

Eleanor laughed. "Well, hereby I invite you to look at the house in real life," she said. "And thank you for gifting me the cheese."

"Oh, we would love that. Let us know when we are welcome. And anytime," Bibi's dad said.

"I will let Bibi know," she mentioned. "Enjoy your evening," she said and walked to the hall of Bibi's apartment.

Bibi sighed. "I'm sorry, they can be annoying and embarrassing," she mumbled.

"No, they're adorable," Eleanor chuckled and opened the front door. "They look like grandparents, it's so cute."

"Yeah, they are grandparents. You can see it, great," Bibi sarcastically replied and leaned against the door opening. "But let me know when you're free, I would love to see your finished house as well."

"Of course. I will call you. It will be more fun if my dad is there as well. But I will see," Eleanor agreed.

"I finished writing the book," Bibi announced.

Eleanor raised her eyebrows. "Really?"

"So can I email you the document so you can look at it? And meet up on Saturday or something?"

"Of course! I will look at it when I have the time. This is amazing, Bibi."

"And be critical, be hard, don't be kind."

"Have you seen my previous feedback? It's not personal, though. It's my journalistic critics," Eleanor nodded. "But go back to your parents, we will speak to each other soon. Thank you for this evening."

"Anytime, girl. Text me when you get home. And be safe."

"I will. Doei!"

"Doeg!"

Eleanor walked down the stairs from the building. She would detangle the white earphones while walking to the streets. An annoyed sigh left her mouth when her bag fell off her shoulder, hanging on her underarm. She put the straps of her tote bag back on her shoulder. She plugged the earphones into her phone and put on a nice song.

The trip back to Eleanor's house was over an hour - if everything went right. For a moment she doubted taking a cab, but that was expensive and public transport was just as fine.

Eleanor stepped into the metro and took a seat next to some businessmen. It was still unusual how the work schedule looked in Spain. She noticed that people would work until 20:00 (starting at 9:00, taking a siesta from 14:00 to 17:00) - in most cases. However, back in the Netherlands, she would start her day at 8:30, sometimes 9:00 and leave work at 17:00, sometimes 18:00. It was the same amount of hours, just divided at different times of the day. And people tend to go out for dinner much later in Spain than in the Netherlands.

After a few stops, a lot of people would leave the metro since they stopped at a huge station. Eleanor was relieved, she now could sit comfortably on her own instead of being squeezed by other people. Well, comfortably?