The Red Rose

Chapter XV

The commotion over Juanpi's grandfather's death interrupted our conversation about his fanfic and his beta reader, but there were priorities, and this is one of the most obvious for all of us.

"As long as at least one person reads my books, I can say I've fulfilled what I wanted," Juanpi said, and after a pause, reflecting while looking at his wife, he added:

"Now that grandpa has passed away, I'll have to go back to Vienna."

While Sebastian was discussing his grandfather's death and the details of the matter, he glanced sideways at Juanpi and, with a slightly sad tone, approached us and asked:

"You're leaving? Dude, your family is here, and the weather is less gloomy now, isn't it?" He ended with a joking tone.

Juanpi pointed his face towards his children and said:

"Cousin, they are my family now. My wife isn't happy, she's mentioned it to me, and I need money for my son's treatment. The allergy issue is complicating our lives, and neither my wife nor my eldest son should live on constant medication. I already have contacts with my company, they want to rehire me."

Sebastian looked back at Juanpi's eldest son and said, "Okay, cousin, family comes first, you had better stability there, it's understandable. Just take some vacations from time to time to see us, huh? You've been away for too long! Oh, and keep practicing the drums, or the bass, I'm thinking of restarting a band, to remember old times." He smiled.

"I will, cousin," Juanpi said.

Juanpi went out to talk to his mother and uncles to be informed about his grandfather's situation, and Sebastian gestured for us to leave; it seemed like he needed to talk to me in private.

We sat on a bench in the yard, where the dog, Courage, was writhing on the ground like a worm with its mouth open and its gaze lost, as if it wanted to scratch its back.

Sebastian coughed when the dog started to kick up dirt and called him.

"Come here, stupid dog!" He joked.

While he scratched the dog's back and I watched the chickens walking around, Sebastian began:

"Are you going to Europe? I mean, because of that clue about the Hungarian car of the vampires, in addition to all that stuff about the sect that Juanpi and his friends are hacking."

"Sure, I'll have to go, but dealing with the Trauco seems more urgent. Once I deal with that issue and contact the Machi to find out how I did, I'll see how to travel to Europe; it's not like I have much money, really," I confessed.

Sebastian looked at the chickens and with a pensive tone said to me:

"Look, Micky, while Juanpi knows about machines, he's not a hacker. My cousin has too many hobbies and is always one to learn something new; I'm afraid he'll get caught, not by the police, but by all those guys like the ones we saw in the car. Look, now he's also trying his hand at being a writer! And only one person reads his books!" He joked.

He took a pause and continued: "We also talked about the circumstances of grandpa's death. The nurses mentioned that he seemed to be complaining, and in his delirium, he asked to be put out of his misery, besides deliriously talking about a young woman, an angel, who seemed to visit him at night and keep him company. Nobody in the family recognized who she was. He only said that she was a girl with brown hair and eyes, very beautiful, very eloquent. We really thought the old man was just delirious, or so the family thinks."

I looked at him intently and asked, "Is there anything else?"

Sebastian looked at me, then frowned, looking towards the chickens before finally saying: