Chapter 153: A Tenderness Fondly Remembered
As soon as Estrella Berrocal left Yahua Film and Television Company at closing time, she saw the black Maybach parked a short distance away.
He ran over, jumped on and asked Adán Rouco with a smile, “From now on, you’re not going to pick me up every day at work, are you?”
Santino Yepes, who was driving, looked at them in the rearview mirror and joked, “Miss Estrella, don’t worry about it, we’re just by the way, by the way.”
Santino Yepes adds the word “por cierto” twice, which makes Estrella Berrocal raise her hand to cover the smile on her lips.
When Adán Rouco looked at her again, he saw the bracelet on her wrist and his dark eyes narrowed slightly as he grabbed her wrist and questioned her coolly, “Who gave you this bracelet?”
Seeing his reaction, Estrella Berrocal was quick to explain, “Oh, it’s a token that President Jonathan asked me to draw, and I’m afraid of losing it, so I’m wearing it on my wrist.”
Adam Rouco’s dark eyes watched her with a cold and sullen gaze, a gaze that seemed to want to see through her eyes.
Estrella Berrocal asked, “Adam, what’s wrong with you? This bracelet, what’s wrong with it?”.
The man grimaced, and the large hand squeezing her wrist grew harder and harder, Estrella Berrocal frowned in pain, “Adam, you’re hurting me.”
Adán Rouco looked at her for a long moment before slowly releasing her wrist and pursing his lips, “It’s okay.”
But why was his face so cold all of a sudden?
Estrella Berrocal digressed and asked, “By the way, are we moving into our new house tonight?”.
Adán Rouco said only an indifferent “yes”.
When we arrived at The Villas at Repulse Bay, the black Maybach pulled up to the public house, and when we pulled into the driveway of the new house, Adam Rouco had no intention of getting out.
“The code on the door is Paulita’s birthday.”
Estrella Berrocal was stunned: “Aren’t you coming in with me?”.
The man’s face was cold and his voice unconcerned, “I have some business to attend to and Paulita has been picked up by the old man for dinner at La Villa Rouco, so no need to wait for her.”
Estrella Berrocal hesitated and asked, “So you’re coming back for dinner tonight?”
“You don’t need to wait for me.”
Estrella Berrocal said “Oh” in a dejected voice and got out of the black Maybach without stopping, and left the villa.
…
Inside the black Maybach, Santino Yepes asked in confusion, “Boss, what other business do you have to attend to?”
How did you not know that Adán Rouco had business to attend to tonight?
“Al Blue Bay Public House.
Blue Bay Public House…, Miss Juliet’s residence.
Santino Yepes didn’t dare ask any more questions, so he just drove to Blue Bay Public House.
…
When we arrived at Blue Bay Public House. and Adán Rouco entered Julieta Sarinana’s house, she poured him water and said, “Today I went to see my uncle during the day and I heard him say that you were taking Paulita and Miss Estrella to move in…”
“What’s the problem?”
Juliet Sarinana was stunned and handed him the water. “Of course there’s no problem, I’m just worried about you, but Adam, are you really going to marry Miss Estrella, didn’t you say you’d never marry in your life?”.
Adam Rouco’s gaze was unperturbed, no emotion was evident, “She is Paulita’s mother and it is natural for me to marry her.”
Juliet Sarinana’s back stiffened and she frowned, “You’re going to marry Paulita just because she’s her mother, Adam?”
Before Julieta Sarinana could finish her sentence, Adán Rouco interrupted: “I will be at ease with her”.
“You mean you’re with Estrella Berrocal and that will help you recover?”.
Adán Rouco did not answer him and said directly: “I am coming for the medicine”.
The man’s indifference made her a little uncomfortable, but she said quietly, “Yes, I’m going to look for them.”
Julieta Sarinana had originally prescribed a half-month supply for Adán Rouco, but had deliberately taken out only half of it.
When he came out with the medicine and handed it to Adán Rouco, the latter wrinkled his nose: “Why is it so little?”.
“You’ve hardly had an attack in the last three years, so from now on I won’t give you half a month’s worth, you’ll take it every week and come and see how it cures, and if it’s good, you won’t need it afterwards.”
Adán Rouco did not question this and simply nodded: “If there is nothing else, I’m leaving”.
He was getting up to leave when Julieta Sarinana grabbed his arm, but only when she did so and Adán Rouco looked down at his hand, which he had suddenly grabbed, did Julieta Sarinana realize that she had been abrupt.
He withdrew his hand awkwardly, “I … just wanted to ask, does Estrella Berrocal know about your condition?”.
“You don’t have to know.”
“But if you decide to really be with her, or even get married, sooner or later she’ll find out, and back then, didn’t the girlfriend you were talking to break up with you as soon as she found out about this condition of yours?”
Adán Rouco’s face clouded: “What do you mean?”.
“Don’t get me wrong, of course I want you to be happy, I’m just afraid Estrella Berrocal will be like your ex-girlfriend and leave you when she finds out about your condition.”
“It won’t.”
Adán Rouco said coldly, turned around and walked angrily out of Julieta Sarinana’s house.
Juliet Sarinana looked behind her back as she walked away, her fists clenched … The person who understood and knew him best in the world was her, and there was no other woman who could soothe his heart like her.
He had only a passing interest in Estrella Berrocal, and she was the one he trusted the most.
Juliet Sarinana took a deep breath, looked at her week’s supply of potion and scorned herself a little.
All I wanted was to see him more often, more often.
But since when had he started to play such cheap tricks, like the women who were always hanging around Adán Rouco to ask him for favors?
How was it possible that a man as stilted and cunning as Adán Rouco did not know what he meant by prescribing only a week’s worth of medication, and whether he was too lazy to talk about it, or simply did not want to understand what he meant?
…
Inside The Villas at Repulse Bay, it was dark and dreary, except for a flickering table lamp in the master bedroom.
Estrella Berrocal lay on the fluffy bed, flicking the light switch, bored, turning it on and off, the light flickering on and off, just like her heart, bright and dark.
He picked up his cell phone and looked at the time, it was ten o’clock.
Had Adán Rouco left for a social event? Why hadn’t he returned already?
And, tonight, he had picked her up at work and yet he was so indifferent to her, was it because of the bracelet?
Estrella Berrocal raised her eyes and looked at the bracelet she had put aside.
She was lost in thought when the sound of a car engine came from downstairs.
She hurriedly got up and ran out of the master bedroom, barefoot, without having time to put on her slippers, and headed downstairs.
As Adán Rouco enters, Estrella Berrocal throws herself into his arms.
The man frowns, “What’s all the fuss about?”.
Estrella Berrocal’s teary eyes look straight at him and her voice is soft: “I was in a hurry to come out and get you.”
Adán Rouco’s frown relaxed slightly.
He stared into her watery eyes for a long, long time, not seeing in them the slightest hint of dissimulation or deception, before letting out a soft sigh … Perhaps he had been suspicious.
Estrella Berrocal smelled the faint whiff of alcohol wafting from him and frowned, “Have you been drinking?”
“Well, a little bit.”NôvelDrama.Org holds text © rights.
“Then I’m going to make you some lemon water and honey, it’s very good for hangovers, I make it for my father whenever he comes from a function, one glass and he won’t feel bad.”
She turned and headed for the kitchen, but was picked up by the man behind her in a horizontal hug.
Estrella Berrocal was not prepared and let out a soft cry, “What are you doing? You can easily fall down if you hold me while you drink…”
In fact, Adán Rouco was so sober that two glasses of brandy were not enough to get him drunk.
Adán Rouco’s burning eyes rested on Estrella Berrocal’s bare white feet and his frown turned back to a frown. “Why aren’t you even wearing shoes?”
Estrella Berrocal, fearing he couldn’t hold her steady, threw her arms around his neck. “I came down when I heard the car and didn’t have time to put them on.”
His eyes, which had always been cold, grew warmer and warmer as he looked at her, probably from the wine he had been drinking, causing her to blush.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
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