La Mujer de Lalo (Lalo's Woman)

A Stranger in the Night

The next morning Ana woke up refreshed as ever. She couldn't find Lalo anywhere. He'd covered her and left for some business. Or that's what his little note said. She thought about what he'd be doing now, and decided to send him a text.

"Buenos Dias, mi amore! (Good morning my love) I miss you already. Going off to work. See you tomorrow at the party. Love, Ana."

All her clothes that were scattered on the floor last night had been neatly folded and kept on the drawer. She crushed at how sweet Lalo was. She changed into her attire from the previous day, packed the new yellow dress in a bag and headed out. She decided to go to her place rather than Nacho's.

She bathed, had breakfast with Andrea and told her to say that she had spent the night here, in case Nacho questioned her. Andrea giggled at what she had implied. She kept questioning Ana about last night, but didn't get any answer from her mouth.

"Oh come, on. Just tell me how it was. Any details? Please."

Ana knelt down before Andrea, kept her ears on her tummy and giggled as she talked to the baby, ignoring the mother.

"You know sweet one, your mother is going to pester you like this in the future. And if she does, you can always come to aunty Ana, alright? I'll kick your mama's ass if that'll get her to shut up. Deal?" Ana said playfully.

Andrea messed up Ana's hair for that remark and had a good laugh about it. A few minutes later, a knock came from the door. It was Nacho.

"Ana, where have you been? I've been worried that you didn't come home last night." He put forth sternly.

"Oh relax, you. I was here all night. I just wanted to have a girls night. Plus I just cant stand those two creatures you have at yours. I think I'm going to stay here from now."

Nacho knew that she was lying. After Ana hadn't turned up till midnight, he came looking for her. He had crept into her house and found that she wasn't there. With just one other place to look for, he went to Lalo's. He saw her bag and scarf in the couch and when he went up, he heard them.

He wanted to break down the door and shoot Lalo in the face and save his sister. But damn. He couldn't do anything. He just stormed away silently. He marvelled at how Ana had lied though. The last time she did something like this, he didn't think of stopping her. And it ended up in her marrying the man who'd thrown him in prison. But he was still ok with that. He knew Ana would at least be safe. But this time, it was a different story. With Lalo, there was nothing guaranteed.

"No. You stay at my place. I'll ask the girls to move out somewhere else for a while. And I'll ensure that they don't visit my place under any circumstances. But you, hermanita, will be staying there. Comprende?" (Understand) Nacho hissed.

Ana just shook her head and waited till Nacho left. She looked worried at how things had been drifting apart between them ever since she started seeing Lalo. At every turn, Nacho was trying to keep her away from El Diablo. She too knew of Lalo's ruthless nature, but he'd been nothing short of a sweetheart to her. And that's all that mattered to her. The way he made her feel like his queen, it was what she had been yearning for, all these years. She didn't get that from anyone. Not even during her brief marriage to Marcus.

She left for work and was in a bad mood all day. Lalo called her during lunch and was concerned by her tone.

"Everything alright, Chiquita? You sound uh disturbed." He said over the phone.

"No. Just work stress. So, where are you now. What are you doing? You didn't make breakfast for me." She changed the subject to divert her mind.

"It was an urgent call from my boss. I had to go."