Mi Amor | A ZuriPons Fanfic

6. Night Out [Part 2]

As soon as Juanpa brought Lele back to her apartment, they said their goodbyes, and Juanpa left, feeling miserable about what had happened. "I was too slow, I could've stopped them," he repeatedly told himself as he walked back to the hotel he was staying in, no farther than a few miles away from Lele's home.

Walking into the main lobby of the hotel, he took the elevator, walked quietly back to his lonely hotel room, and immediately plopped down on his bed, face-down. He then threw his shoes to the side, loosened up his worn out button-down, and slipped off his belt as he was too tired and emotionless to change his clothes. "First thing tomorrow, I'll cancel the shoot. I need to go to Lele's first, and sort things out," Juanpa thought to himself, as he slowly drifted off to sleep...

Ring, ring, ring, went his alarm clock.

The next day, Juanpa quickly got up from his bed and called his manager to cancel his photo shoot he had planned two weeks before. Surely, attending to Lele was more important than some silly photo shoot where you do nothing but stand and act ridiculous, for a gruesome 4 hours or so. Juanpa threw on a dark grayish shirt and yesterday's jeans, and went out to Lele's in just a matter of minutes.

~~~~

"Here's what we'll do, we'll go to the station and ask if there's been any reports or news on the group of men or your stolen purse."

"What if there's nothing to be heard? There'll be nothing we can do, it's over," said Lele, upset.

"You can't give up so easily Lele, and even if we can't get it back or if they can't find them, it's not the end of the world. We can still enjoy ourselves."

"You don't understand, Juanpa. My purse, there was something inside that meant a lot to me. And if I can't get it back—" she paused, and bursted out to tears.

"Lele.."

Wiping her tears away, she said, "You know very well that at the age of 4 when my father passed away, he gave me something very special—a bracelet. A beautiful silver, diamond-branded bracelet, with a little heart attached saying, 'I love you, mi amor, stay happy.'... Ever since then, I've always treasured that bracelet and have never taken it off."  She paused. "Until yesterday... when I decided to take a break and take off the bracelet for the first time. I still treasured it so I kept it in my purse, but who would've known..." Lele cried again, still upset with herself.

"I... I'm sorry, I didn't know." More than determined, Juanpa needed to find a way to make Lele happy again.

~~~~

"I'm sorry ma'am, we found nothing. There was no trace of your belongings and no reports on stolen items or a group of gang members. We even sent out our best officers and there was no sign of thievery. With all due respect ma'am, we've tried our best." said the lady at the front desk of the LAPD building.

Solemnly, Juanpa looked at Lele in despair and told the officer, "Thank you," and left.

...
"Juanpa, thank you for trying."
"No, I am going to—"
"It's okay. You've done what you can and I couldn't thank you enough."
"But, I have to do something.. your bracelet.."
"Don't worry about it."
...

What Lele had told him was nothing but a lie. Juanpa saw the sadness in her eyes and he heard the crying in her soft, mellow voice. He walked her home, and he want back to the hotel, pondering.

"I can't stop here. I just can't. I have to do something,"

When the sun went down, Juanpa went out to the city to look for something that could cheer Lele up. In the nearest jewelry store, he browsed the aisles, looking for something that could potentially catch Lele's attention.

Immediately, he saw a sparkling thin, silver necklace, and ran over to examine it further. It was embezzled in jewels and had a small heart-shaped locket. He opened the locket to find that it was empty and ready to be used. Not paying attention to the price tag that read $550.00, he stood in excitement and knew that this was the one.

"Hello sir, do you need assistance finding your girlfriend a gift?" asked the nearest employee.

"I'll take this one please!"

After Juanpa bought the necklace, he then went to Micheal Kors to find her a bag, worthy of carrying all the junk that she has, and a wallet  that would go perfectly well with the purse. After he found the perfect one, he went straight to the Apple Store and bought her the same model that she had previously owned.

"I hope she likes these," looking at the amount of shopping bags he held.

~~~~

Ding, dong, rang Lele's door bell.

Opening the door, "What... what's all this?" She asked, leaning on her doorway.

"Well, I felt bad that we couldn't get your stuff back, so.. I, uh, bought you these gifts to, hopefully, make up for all that you lost." he said, hoping to put a smile on her face.

He first showed Lele the newly bought navy blue Micheal Kors bag, along with its partnered wallet, good enough to fit all her credit cards. Afterwards, he brought out the iPhone 6s that Lele always treasured in her day to day life, even the same exact bunny themed phone case.

"Juanpa, you can't be real..." chuckled Lele.

"Oh, and, before I forget," he said, pulling out the box with the necklace from his back pocket. "I know this can never replace the bracelet that your papi gave you, but I hope this is enough to remind you that he loves you, mucho." Opening he box, he stood, staring at Lele, waiting for an reply.

There was silence. Until she finally spoke up:

"Juanpa, get out of here," she said, playfully hitting him on the chest. "Did you actually just get me a limited MK edition and an iPhone, with a case, and a BEAUTIFUL necklace, just to make me happy? Oh my gosh, you don't even know how lucky I am..." sniffling, "to have you... in my life...." bursting out to tears, again.

"Of course I did. I mean, I love you Lele, very much. I would do anything to make you happy."

Standing awkwardly in the hallway, Juanpa set the stuff down, took out the necklace, and reached in to wrap it around her neck.

"It's gorgeous."

"Open the heart," he said.

Lele opened the heart to find a message that read, 'You're always loved, Lele, don't forget it.'

Quietly, she closed the necklace and gazed at Juanpa.

"Do you... like—" As he was about to ask Lele, she quickly gave him a small kiss on the cheek.

"Gracias."