Chapter 61

GABRIELA

A couple of kisses later we went down where everyone is. I could see how they looked at me a little weird except grandma who looked at us with a smile.

Carlota and I left the house to go practice for a while, more than anything so as not to have to wake up Ana. "Come on, let's warm up." She said excitedly, "Are you going to let me put the bandages on?" I asked "Sure, I'm just going to tell you one thing Gabriela."

"What?" I asked, continuing to put on the bandages. "You're going to give everything you've got." She said seriously "Why do I have to do it?" I questioned "Because this is serious." He responded, "I don't really see it that way." I replied, shrugging my shoulders. "So you're going to tell me you're not going to teach your siblings everything you know to prevent what happened last week?"

"Of course, I will teach them everything I know, but that has nothing to do with giving everything I can Carlota, I don't want to hurt you." I assured, it's the last thing I want to do. "You won't do anything to me, so don't worry, you may scare others, but nothing will happen to me." She protested and I rolled my eyes. "I don't trust it, Carlota."

"If you don't trust yourself, trust me." My best friend insisted, "It's just you I don't trust, I know how far I can go and I don't want to hurt you." I insisted "You're not going hurt me, and if hurt me it's my fault, ok? Stop worrying about the rest. It isn't necessary, and is your main problem"

"Is caring about others my main problem? I don't understand what you mean." I said confused "Of course you know, you just don't want to admit it." My best friend informed me and I denied, because I'm serious that at this moment I had no idea what she's talking about. "No, I'm serious, I have no idea what you're talking about."

"You're not stupid enough to not understand what I'm telling you, Gabriela." said my best friend, "Well, call me whatever you want, but it's true, I'm not understanding." I assured, "Come on Gabriela, your problems with stress and anxiety are because you worry too much about everyone before worrying about yourself."

"That's not true." I protested, "Tell me when was the last time you stopped to think about yourself, in case you find the last time you thought about yourself before others, I'll think about whether what I say is true."

I don't think that's true, it may be I cared about everyone, but I had been taught to care about others, it may not be at the level I do, but it's my way of being, especially caring about family. At the end of the day, is the most important thing I have in life, I'm lucky to have the family I have, and this includes my close friends.

"What I was saying, you don't care enough about yourself, and that's what you should do." She responded, sure of what she's saying, "That's not so easy to do." I murmured "Of course it is, do what you want instead of listening to others."

"Well then, I already did it, I'm with Alex. I did something for me, don't you think?" I asked, raising an eyebrow "After a long time, but your thought was "I don't want anyone to get angry or have problems with anyone in my family"" she responded, trying to imitate my voice, to which I ended up rolling my eyes "But I was worried they might hurt him."

"That will never be out of danger, because the slightest damage he does to you, we will go after him." She assured and I sighed, because I knew she's serious. "I won't let you; you know it." I said, "I know, but they won't care. But let's stop talking about this and get back to what we came from."

I finished tightening the bandage a little to prevent it from coming loose and we warmed up for a quarter of an hour and then we had that fight in quotes between me and Carlota which I won.

"I told you Carlota, she was going to beat you." Marcos said, laughing "Shut your mouth Marcos if you don't want me to kick your ass." She said, annoyed, "No, I don't want to risk my physique, thank you." our best friend answered, raising his hands in the air.

I hadn't even realized they were there watching, my siblings and Ana with surprised faces and with Alex, I couldn't really tell what's going through his head. We looked at each other for a couple of seconds until Carlota hits my arm.

"Hey, that's cheating." I protested, "What difference does that make?" she said laughing "You hurt me, and as far as I know I never cheated." I responded "There's always a first time Gabriela, you should know that." She answered, laughing again, "Oh yeah? Well, now you'll see. Let's have a serious fight, later."

"Are you going to tell me you didn't fight seriously Gabriela?" My best friend asked without believing it. "Obviously not Marcos, I don't want to hurt her, but now she's going to know what I really am." I said, preparing myself, "That's what I wanted from the beginning, if I knew with this, I would achieve it, I would have done it sooner."

"Something tells me you shouldn't play with Gabriela, Carlota." Marcos said "So do you want me to play with you Marcos?" Carlota asked, sending him a threatening look. "Ok, do whatever you want, but then I'll tell you that I told you so."

"Whatever you want." Gabriela responded, "Well, I'm going to go get my siblings." I said "I'm going with you, mommy." Ana said quickly, getting up from the place where she sat. "As you wish, beautiful."

She came towards me, took my hand and we headed towards the house. It didn't take long for us to get back together with the rest. We spent hours teaching my siblings and we repeated everything they didn't understand. Then we also made them practice for a while with us and told them where they could improve, which was impossible with Ana, I wasn't going to fight with her, she's too small, but she understood it better than my siblings and I hope it would be of some use to her.

When we finished, everyone went inside and I stayed picking up, or that's what I was going to do until I lay down on the mat looking towards the sky.

Today too many things happened that I had to assimilate and it's not easy, especially considering the people you considered as sisters and knew for eight years, hated you and turned out to be family of the person who hates you the most. That wasn't going to let me sleep tonight, much less let me relax, so I'm going to have to hide it in a certain way to avoid worrying others more than they already are.

I hated feeling like that, sometimes I couldn't even breathe and that sensation is the worst that could be felt, at least of all the sensations I have, I imagine there could be worse things.

Just then the face I love to see so much appears, and he had that crooked smile I also love. "Are you still worried about what they might do?" My boyfriend asked, "Who said I'm worried about something?" I questioned "You may confuse others, but you forget I have a master's of you and I know something isn't right Gabriela." He said sitting next to me and without looking away from me for a single second.

"Well don't worry, I'm fine." I assured him, because at this moment it's true, or at least it's closer to being true than it had been all afternoon. "You know you can tell me anything, right?" He asked and I nodded because it's something I know. "I will be there whenever you need me beautiful, no matter what time it is."

"I know too." I assured, "You know, I hate seeing you like this." He said sighing, taking my hand and intertwining our fingers. "Like what?" I asked, "I don't know how to explain it well, but you're not happy as always." He assured, "Don't worry, I'll be fine."

"Can I help you get better sooner?" Alex asked seriously. "You already do too much." I said sincerely, "You know I'm happy to do it." He responded, with a smile beginning to appear on his beautiful face. "It's just there are a lot of things to take in all at once, you know?"

"I can suppose, but you should stick with the good and nothing else." He responded and I nodded, because I knew it, but it's not easy at this moment. "Everything good I experienced these eight years with them is a lie, they hate me, Alex."

"Well, they miss what a great person you are, now what you should focus on is being good for Ana and the rest even though you can allow yourself to be bad, it's something human, beautiful" my boyfriend replied "Also for you." I said, focusing my gaze on his. "I will be good as soon as you are."

"Well, that's why I say, I want you to be well." I said, "Well, tell me how I can help you so you're better." He asked, "With your presence and a hug from you we will fix something, when you leave, I will have to try to distract myself." It didn't take long for him to hug me, he kissed me on the forehead, and I rested my head on his chest, clinging to him as much as I could until I'm practically sitting on his lap.

"Hey beautiful, what if you come to dinner with me and my grandmother? This way you'll be distracted and you'll be able to meet my grandmother under normal conditions." He said with a smile on his face "I don't want to bother Alex, besides, what do you mean by meeting her under normal conditions?"

"You wouldn't bother, my grandmother is delighted with you, and I mean meeting her outside of a hospital." He answered, "It would be fine, but I have to put Ana to bed because she has class tomorrow."

"We have dinner late, and if you want, I can accompany you." He assured, "Am I not going to be able to convince you otherwise?" I asked, knowing his answer, "You can, but my grandmother is excited about it, although I'm not going to deny I would do it too."

I knew well he's doing it on purpose, he knew well that by telling me his grandmother would be excited, I couldn't refuse. "Ok, I'll go, but only because it would give your grandmother will be excited." I say "So you don't mind if I'm excited?" He asked, pretending to be hurt by my confession even though he knew I cared about it too. "Maybe so, or maybe not."

"Oh ok, I realize you don't care about me." He said trying to hide a smile "You know that's not true, I care about you, and I would say too much." I assured him even though he already knew that. "Yes, I know, but at least I managed to make you smile."

"As always, I don't know why you're surprised." I said sincerely, "Everything that has to do with you surprises me." He responded with a big smile on his face. "You're exaggerating." I replied, rolling my eyes. "I don't know why you're surprised."

I started laughing, I don't really know why, but I did and it didn't take long for him to follow me. We sat for more minutes hugging and without separation between us until I heard my father call me, at that moment I became tense and to my surprise Alex was very calm, something I couldn't understand at all.