Together Again

chap 14

The next few days, Hector followed Maria around. Mostly keeping his distance but kept an eye on her. She was starting to get lonely and upset.
"Hector..." She turns to him but he only stutters and walks away to watch her from a farther distance. He even stopped sleeping in their room, slept on the floor outside the door.
"What's wrong míja?" Her mother asked when she saw her daughter slumped on the couch.
"Hector's avoiding me..." She says with a depressed tone.
"He probably blames himself for what happened with Imelda and Ernesto." She sits next to her daughter.
"But he won't even talk to me...I don't like it when he ignores me." She stuffs her face in her knees, starting to cry.
"Well...what do you plan to do about it?" Maria looks up to her mother and thinks. They've been in a relationship since she came to the land of the dead, and it hurts when she's not with him. She misses him even if its only been a few days since he started to avoid her.
"I got it..." She wipes her cheeks and smiles to her mother, hugging her before rushing out of the house.

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Hector came around the corner, expecting to find Maria on the couch where she was last.
"Where...where did Maria go?" He asks the woman sitting on the couch.
"She left." Maria's mother says casually.
"WHAT!? AND YOU JUST LET HER LEAVE? WHAT IF SHE GETS KIDNAPPED AGAIN, OR INJURED OR...."
"Hector, calm down. She's a grown woman. She'll be fine. If you're so worried, why do you keep ignoring her?" She turns to him.
"I..I don't want her to get hurt. She always seems to be in danger or hurt when I'm near her."
"She seems more hurt when you refuse to be around her."
"She does?" Hector turns to her.
Julio walks in, hearing the conversation after Hector started yelling. "Maybe if you stopped ignoring her, you both would feel better."
"You need to think about Maria." Oscar pats his shoulder.
"Maria...I think about her all the time. I love her with all my heart."
"Then tell her that." Coco hugs her father.
"When do you think she'll be back?"
"Hector..." He flinches and turns around to the person who called his name.
"M...Maria." He chuckles and walks to stand infront of her. "Im sorry...I shouldn't have ignored you, but I was scared that I'd get you hurt again...and the thought scared me and..." She places a finger in his lips and smiles.
"I understand. Dont worry, I forgive you. In fact I wanted to talk to you about something." She strokes his cheek.
"Anything, what is it?" He asks.
Maria chuckles but looks at the group of peering skeletons listening in.
"Let's go somewhere more private." She grabs his hand and pulls him away and to one of the balconies. "I haven't been here that long, but ever since I came here, I couldn't help feeling lonely and sad when you stopped talking to me."
"I'm sorry..."
"Let me finish. And because I felt like that, I realized that I would never want to feel like that again. So I went and got something so I could ask you a question."
"Maria?" He sits on a bench as she stands in front of him.
"I love you Hector. This usually happens the other way around but I couldn't help myself." She reaches I to her pocket and pulls out two matching rings, holding one out to him. "Will you marry me, Hector River?"