Chapter 48

MARÍA 

We finished eating and told our mom we're going to see Gabriela. She didn't believe it at first, but we told her what Marcos told us and she knew it's true. I also told her the four of us would have to talk at night about that person my sister has as a boyfriend, a boyfriend we would have to study because something told me he changed since the last time and he tells the truth he loves Gabriela, I'm more than sure that before, he wouldn't have done anything to protect us and today he did it. But that wasn't the most important thing, it's that Gabriela truly love him and we're not going to be able to do anything to break them apart.

Right now, we're going towards Marcos' house and as soon as we were in front of it, we rang. As soon as the door opened, we saw a smiling Gabriela but that smile disappears as soon as she sees us. She stayed for a few seconds looking at us and then closed the door without letting us speak to her.

"Gabriela, open the door, we have to talk to you." I protested at what had just happened. There's no response from her, but Carlos ended up opening the door for us and we entered. "And Marcos said he wanted to see us? Because it's not what it seemed." I snorted, rolling my eyes. "You may not think so, you know how stubborn she is."

"I think that's the worst thing about my sister." Mario said next to me "It may be annoying, but come in, she's in the kitchen with my siblings." We entered the house and headed towards where Carlos had told us. Before entering we could hear her and Marcos having something like an argument, but she falls silent as soon as we enter the kitchen.

"What are you two doing here?" Our sister asked, crossing her arms and frowning. "Alex told us you weren't well and since you don't want to answer our calls, we came to see you." I informed her and I could see how surprise invaded her face. "Alex did what?"

"What you heard, so let's not make his efforts in vain and let's talk." I responded, "We honestly have nothing to talk about." She assured and I denied "Gabriela, don't start." Marcos protested and it didn't take long for her to turn in the direction of her best friend. We could see she's angry. "Marcos, I said it back in the day I didn't want to talk to them, you know the reasons I have, and together you all make a trap for me so I have to talk to them."

"If those reasons are that according to you it's your fault, then let me tell you it's not true, you weren't to blame for what happened to us." I said, getting the idea it was where the shots were going. "Oh Ok, so how do you explain that they sent greetings to me from her?" our sister asked ironically, "Well, that girl is crazy and wants to take the person you love away from you."

"She's just looking for a way to hurt you and she knows your weak points, so the next one she'll go for is them or Alex. We don't want you to suffer because of that bitch Gabriela." We said that last thing pointing to Marcos and his brother since I'm more than sure that bitch knows how important they are in Gabriela's life, and Carlota can be included in that bag.

"And since when do you care about me and Alex?" She asked, raising an eyebrow. "Since this morning he defended us from those guys who beat us up last time. We realized it's possible he changed." I'm not sure she heard everything Mario said, but I'm sure she got the first sentence, that's what her face said and I saw how she tensed.

"Did they try to hit you again?" Marcos whispered, "Of course Marcos, why do you think Alex was next to us?" I asked him "And he didn't tell me anything?" Gabriela murmured again to herself, trying to understand what's happening. "I'm sure it was so you wouldn't worry more than you already are, Gabriela."

"As if it weren't a reason, they want to hit you again and I wasn't there to help you. "I'm the worst sister you could ever have." At that moment she started crying and Mario and I approached her without a second's hesitation, ending up hugging her. We hugged her for a while until we noticed she's no longer crying; it was at that moment that Ana came to the kitchen.

"Mommy, are you ok?" the little girl asked, looking in my sister's direction. Both Mario and I frowned, because her mother isn't here. "No, don't worry about me, darling." my sister responded, which confused us a little more "Then why are you crying?"

"It's nothing, really." She insisted, "Do you want a hug?" the little girl asked and our sister laughed. "It wouldn't hurt me at all, honestly." With that, the girl got closer to my sister and hugged her legs since she was a little short, but Gabriela didn't hesitate to return it, staying like that for a couple of minutes, while all of us who were in the room stayed looking at the scene with a silly face, we always knew my sister would be a great mother, but I don't think we had ever seen her like that, I'm sure if our grandmother saw it she would start crying or something, but I'm sure she would be quite moved by the idea of having a grandson.

"Why don't you go play for a while?" Gabriela asked Ana, "Do I not have to do my homework anymore?" Ana questioned, with a big smile starting to form on her face. "Of course, it's the first thing you have to do before you start playing."

"Then you have to help me." She said with a pout, "I'll go, you go get the things." With that she left the kitchen and Mario and I stared at her without understanding what had just happened here right now.

"Change that face before I smack each of you." said my sister, and both Mario and I returned to the present. "Did you not hear what she called you?" I asked, confused in case she hadn't heard, "So what?"

In short, we didn't understand what had happened here nor did we understand Gabriela didn't care about what Ana had just said, maybe it's one of those games they had between them. "Look, we talked another time, now I have to help Ana do her homework." She said and both Mario and I exchanged a look "What if you come home? Mom and grandma would like to see you."

"I'll go later, ok?" she said "You better Gabriela or we'll come look for you ourselves and we will take you against your will." I assured, "I already told you I would go." our sister responded rolling her eyes "Don't worry guys, if necessary, we will take her." Marcos stated, which we appreciated.

We exchanged a few more words with them and left. As soon as we got home, we told my mother Gabriela would be coming home later and she was happy, more than we had seen her this week in which she didn't see Gabriela. She called my grandmother and told her Gabriela is coming home, which made them appear at the house in just under an hour.

Around seven thirty Gabriela appears at home and at first, she seemed tense and avoided talking to me and Mario, but as the minutes passed, she stopped being tense and began to look like the usual Gabriela.

It was around nine o'clock at night when she said she had to leave, which made us tense and I'm sure we all had that question in our heads as to why she didn't want to stay home, to which Gabriela replied she would be back tomorrow, today she promised Ana to put her on the bed and do something important, of which we don't have the slightest idea of course.

Right now, we were all gathered in the dining room and my mother turned to us, sure so that we could start talking, but we had to wait for my father to return from wherever he is at that moment, which he didn't take long to do.

"What was so important you wanted to talk to us about?" Mom asked, "It's about Gabriela." We responded simply, "What's wrong with her?" Dad asked, frowning. "It's true what she says about that boy having changed." Mario responded and which I supported.

"What are you talking about Mario?" Dad questioned "What Mario means is we should support Gabriela in this, we can see that boy loves her more than anything." I replied "That is impossible." He snorted, but both Mario and I denied, "Dad, believe me, I would say it's almost impossible, but in this case it's true."

"Can I know the reason for your change in that?" Dad asked, annoyed. "Today they tried to mess with us and he defended us. We could see he's been watching over us since Gabriela was expelled, he's taking care of us."

"That doesn't mean he cares about you." Our dad said, rolling his eyes, "I know, Dad, but apparently Gabriela asked him and he did it without her being there, he didn't tell the others either, he didn't tell Gabriela so as not to worry her more than she already is. That guy really loves her."

"Are you sure what you say?" Mom asked and we both nodded. "Yes, we have also heard it was Alex who separated her from Paula to prevent her from doing something worse, only Carlota, Marcos and the family do that." I insisted, "I already told you that boy changed and he really loves her." answered grandma.

"If it weren't for Gabriela saying you didn't know, we would believe you did." Mom murmured, "I just knew, she said so you wouldn't get angry." Grandma assured and we all stared at her trying to understand what she had said. "So, she told you?"

"She told me because I pressured her, but you can say I found out before her that Alex was at the same college." She stated, "You knew and you didn't tell us anything he was going to go to the same college as her? That way we could have prevented her from having a bad time." Dad assured and Grandma denied "It was bad at first because now it's ok, at least as far as Alex is concerned."

"Of course, now the other problems are Paula." I said, rolling my eyes. "You shouldn't worry about Gabriela; she knows how to take care of herself." Grandma tried to calm her down, but I don't think it would work very well. "I know she knows how to do it, but what will happen if the anxiety attacks return now, she has them under control?"

"She will know how to act and if it happens again, Marcos and Carlota are at the college, they know how to act and Alex will help her, don't worry so much about her Lara." Grandma insisted, "Well, let me say I still don't trust him at all, neither him nor Paula."

"And then you complain about your daughter stubbornness, Sergio?" Grandma asked, rolling her eyes. "That's true dad, she got it from you, but believe us when we tell you Alex changed, now he's not able to do anything to her, you could say he lives for her." I assured, because even I had realized that "Don't try to convince because you're not going to succeed."

"It's not us you should believe, but Gabriela." Mom said calmly, "We'll see if I believe her or not." It didn't take long for our grandparents to leave and as soon as they left, we all went to bed since it's late, at least tonight we would sleep better knowing Gabriela would return home tomorrow.