Hate that I love you

vii

Camila tells her parents about her prior activities, specifically, her performing on stage for charity.
She speaks ardently, eyes wide and a genuine smile on her face for once as she tells them this, because it was something she did for herself and was proud of that aside from doing what she loved, she faced her fear of stages.
"It was nerve racking," she tells them, and they simply let out a hum and nodded their heads in return. She falters for a moment with the lack of reply, but decided to ignore it and went on with her story.

Camila's words gets stuck in the tip of her tongue later on though, upon noticing the clanking of forks had came to a sudden stop and the air grew tense. She notices the look on her parents faces, and she briefly thinks back to the words that came out of her lips, wondering if she had said something wrong to elicit this kind of reaction. It then struck her.

In the midst of her rambling, she must've inadvertently blurted out of wanting to pursue music. It was her dream, and though the possibility was low of her achieving this due to circumstances (at least she believed so), it wouldn't hurt her to want something.

However, They couldn't say the same.

She actually had been cognizant of their apathetic expressions from the moment she started speaking, noticed how uninterested they were with the subject, similarly to the way she was whenever things related to business was brought up. They didn't even try to hide it. However, Camila had remained undaunted and continued on.

(Until now, that is.)

"You want to be a singer?" Alejandro pejoratively says, almost spat out the last word at its absurdity, as if he couldn't believe she had even considered this. He wasn't pleased to say the least, finding out that his only daughter could possibly ruin all their years of planning and shaping her future ahead of her, for something else he believed was far from being ideal. They wanted a Cabello to run the company, to keep the tradition alive for years, and although Camila's spouse in the future could do so the same, a tradition is always a tradition. He refused to let anyone ruin it.

Camila kept her chin held high, didn't want to show any sign of weakness, because maybe if they see her valiant posture and though the confidence she displayed was pure sham, they'd reconsider. She highly doubted they would, but It wouldn't hurt to try. (even if she'd done this enough to know that that statement wasn't entirely true). "Yes, papa."

"Karla..." Alejandro sighed, massaging the bridge of his nose. Camila could see he was trying to keep his composure. "You're not going to get too far in life with this dream engraved in your head.. or anywhere at all possibly." His face was passive as he said this, but his words caused Camila to slowly crumble. "We're not paying for your tuition in one of the prestigious schools in Miami all these years just to tell us that this is what you want to be. It's just not ideal."

Camila's eyes falling down to her lap as she twiddled with her fingers. She rued ever hoping to hear the words I'm proud of you coming out of their lips, hoping that they'd for once showed that they truly cared for her, rather than the perfect image they put up all these years but she guessed it was too much to ask for.

"We're only doing what's best for you, Hija." Sinu added.

Camila wasn't sure what to say next, so she tentatively nodded her head and sat up straighter, completely losing her appetite to eat. Was it really for her own good?

"Sí, papa. Mama." Camila forces a smile on her lips as she addressed them both, took her quite a lot of energy to do such a simple thing although it was what she does best. She wouldn't want to add fuel to the fire by acting up, so she quietly pushes her chair from under the table and stood up to leave the room, "Excuse me."