Love, Amor, Amour

《Chapter 9》

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Dancing to the beat of Michael Jackson's greatest hits on full volume, Mina cleaned her apartment with Harvey lounging on his tower right next to his fresh litter box. As she mimicked Michael Jackson's signature high pitch with her own, she banged her hip against her desk abruptly, making her yelp in pain. She tugged her pants down to view the small bruised spot now forming. Slightly red and painful to the touch, she kept her pants loose, untied as she walked over to the fridge and opened the freezer for an ice pack she owned. Mina grimaced when she held the ice pack to her hip angled one side of her bod,  pressing more on her desk chair than the other. She looked down her desktop still the same as she left it several days ago, post-it notes on her notebook, laptop opened but turned off. One magazine under a pen and highlighter made her sigh in discontent, it was last month's issue of Luck's magazine: Ladies, Love and Lust. That specific issue in which the contest was brought out into the public, right after the romantic story about the host meeting and falling for their soulmate.

"Soulmate," she huffed out disbelieving the word was even real.

Acknowledging the fact that she had done nothing productive relating to her writing, she stood up and away. At least her home was looking spiffy, she commented proudly to herself. Although she really wanted to win, the task was currently an uphill battle for her.

Interrupted by the tone of her phone ringing, she saw her mother's picture on the screen and quickly answered, "Álo, mamá que ha-" (translation: Hey mom, what -. )

"Té vi, té vi con él! Wow, no sabía que te gustaban alto y flaco, but he is handsome," she approved suggestively. (translation: I saw you, I saw you with him! Wow, I didn't know you liked then tall and skinny, but he is handsome.)

"Má!," Mina yelled over the phone having some idea of what she was talking about.

"Don't 'má' me, yo se que tè parí! Tengo la estrías!" (translation: Don't 'mom' me, I know I gave birth to you! I have stretch marks!)

Mina cringed at the mention of the proof she held and then apologized to her nosy mother, "Who told you?"

"Nadie! I saw you looked so cute with him, Aldén looked celoso," she said laughter in her voice at the end of her sentence and Mina didn't hold back her own. (translation: Nobody! Alden looked jealous.)

Her mother also laughed before asking, "What's his name? Where did you meet him? What -"

Mina immediately turned grim as she was questioned by her mother, the ultimate detective she loved and hated at the same time.

"His name is Elijah, he's an engineer of some systems with sound I think, I met him last week so, I don't know everything about him, mom." She strategically responded to the questions completely leaving out the scene at a night club and the fight with a drunk man.

Listening intently, her mother encouraged her to find out more and told her she should go after the handsome man named Elijah. It didn't matter that she was nosy because it was her way of caring.

"Love you mamá."

"I love you too, Romina don't forget the cupcakes tomorrow," her mother firmly reminded.

"I won't, bye má!"

She hung up and put the ice pack back in its spot inside the freezer. Checking her phone now seeing a text message from Heidi, she read its contents and rolled her eyes. Heidi was working more than usual to rise from her position as an assistant, but still made time to message her and bug her about that idea she had mentioned.