Chapter 72

ALEX

A couple of minutes ago Gabriela had fallen asleep, and at least I'm a little calmer because I didn't believe that I had kissed that harpy, I wouldn't be able to kiss anyone other than Gabriela. I decided the best thing was to get her out of here, take her home so she could rest, so I got up slowly and picked her up preventing her from waking up.

As soon as I came out, I found Santi, Carlota and Marcos waiting, and it didn't take them long to approach us, but I kept walking to go to the car and take her home. "How is she? Have you spoken?" Carlota asked, "She's not fine, and we haven't spoken as such either, she fell asleep in a short time."

"She didn't sleep at all; I don't know what was wrong with her." Marcos said next to Carlota looking at his best friend asleep in my arms. "Gabriela is like this since what happened with your father, Marcos, and from what I could understand, she's keeping everything to herself." herself so as not to worry us, especially Ana."

"That's not good for her, especially with the anxiety. She shouldn't worry so much about us." Marcos murmured as if he is upset with something, "I know Marcos, I really do, but you've known her longer than any of us, you know in that aspect she won't change. She must control her anxiety again as she has been doing for the last couple of years."

"I think that too, but this year has been bad for her." He said, "That's my fault, maybe if I hadn't come to this college, things would be better." I responded, "Don't blame yourself for something you don't have the blame. Maybe at first, she hated you, but now she's ok with it, she loves you despite what she said to you before, feels terrible about it." Carlota said.

"I don't want her to feel bad." I replied, "And she doesn't want you to feel bad. You should talk to her and try to get her to talk, even a little, she has to get that out of her, it will end up affecting her too much. I don't want to see Gabriela depressed again."

"She doesn't want to talk about it, and I don't want to pressure her." I assured, because I don't think pressuring her would make her feel better, at least this moment. "Well, you're the only one she'll tell something, even if it is so you can be calm. She knows we reach a time when we ignore it so as not to go crazy, but with you that won't work, or am I wrong?"

"No, I'm worried she'll get sick." I responded, nodding, "Well, get her to talk to you at least." Carlota asked, "I'll try, but now I'll take her home to rest." I said "Ok, let me have her car keys so I can take her siblings home later." I started looking for her car keys and couldn't find them, until I went to look at her backpack. As soon as I give them to Marcos, I walk back to my car to take her home, when I notice Santi is coming behind us.

"Are you coming in my car?" I asked Santi "I always come with Gabriela, but if it bothers you will have to wait for a cab to take me to her house." He said, shrugging his shoulders. "No, it's not a problem, you can come." With that she got into the car while I put Gabriela in the passenger seat, put her seat belt on, closed the door and headed to the other side of the car to take her home.

When we arrive, her mother comes out to see who had arrived, and when she sees me, she comes to my side. "Alex, what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be in college? Because let me tell you Gabriela isn't at home." She informed and I nodded, because I already knew that. "I know, I have her in the car sleeping." I said, pointing in the direction of the car. "Did something happen to her?" Lara asked, concern creeping into her voice.

"Bad day, and from what Marcos told me she didn't sleep at all at night, so I decided not to wake her up and bring her home so she could rest for a while at least. Can I come in? I'll put her in bed and I'll go if you want." I said even though it wasn't what I wanted to do, "Of course you can come in, and of course you can stay. It's better to when she wakes up."

"Thank you, Lara." I thanked "You're welcome, now please take her to her room. Be careful not to wake her up, she wakes up easily." With that, I opened the door on Gabriela's side, who was still sound asleep, I took off her seatbelt and picked her up, being careful not to wake her. When I was about to enter the house, Ana appears through the door with a big smile until she sees I have Gabriela in my arms, and her face changes to one of concern.

"Alex, is mommy, ok?" Ana asked, without looking away from Gabriela. "Yeah, she's just tired. Don't worry. We'll let her sleep for a while, ok?" the little girl nodded and we both headed upstairs. Santi stayed outside the house making sure Monica didn't appear, and as soon as I got to Gabriela's room, I left her on the bed and covered her, gave her a kiss on the forehead, and went to sit on a sofa in her studio. It doesn't take long for Ana to come sit next to me and stare at her like I'm doing.

"Do you know mommy hasn't slept for a couple of days?" With those words I turned to the little girl to see if I understood her correctly. She kept looking at Gabriela with a worried face, which made me worry more than I already am. "What are you talking about little one?" I asked, "Mommy hasn't slept for a couple of days, she wakes up agitated in the middle of the night."

"Why didn't you tell anyone little one?" I asked kindly "Because I thought she would be fine, but she wakes up more and more times without almost falling asleep. I don't want anything to happen to mommy." Ana said, tears starting to form in her eyes "Don't worry about her, she'll be fine. Gabriela is strong and will know how to overcome what's happening to her, you'll see."

"Do you promise me?" She asked, looking at me. "I promise, now why don't you go to her side and lie down next to her?" I'm sure she'll be very happy when she wakes up and see you." I responded, "I just can't see Mommy like this, I'd better go play the guitar in the garden, Santi is helping me write a song."

"That's good, I'm sure he'll help you." With that she got up from the couch, picked up the guitar and left Gabriela's room, leaving me with her. I was looking for her for hours, I hadn't even come down when Lara came to tell me to go eat with them. I wanted to make sure Gabriela was sleeping and wouldn't wake up.

I don't know how many hours passed until I noticed how Gabriela was starting to move too much, so I got a little closer to her to see if she needed anything, but as soon as she woke up, I noticed she's upset, so I sat next to her and I hug her.

"It's alright, beautiful... Nothing's wrong... Everything's fine." We were hugging for a couple of minutes until I noticed she's calmer, so I separated her from me a little so I could see her, I had to make sure she's ok.

"Are you alright, beautiful?" I asked worried "Yes, don't worry." She responded, but not entirely convinced, "Too late, I already am." I assured, "You don't need to worry, really, I'm fine."

"You've gone practically days without sleep Gabriela, that's not being well." I said "Yes, I sleep" My girlfriend responded, and I denied, "It's not what Ana said, and I think that in this case I will trust her more." I said, revealing the information that Ana had given me, "Ok, that's true, but it's just because of the stress of the exhibition."

"And that's why you wake up upset?" She looked away from me and I knew the stress about the exhibition weren't true and it almost confirmed it's because of what happened a couple of months ago. "Let's go for a beautiful ride." I said, getting up from her side and extending my hand in her direction. "I don't really feel like going out, Alex."

"Ok, then let's talk." I said, taking my seat again. "Of what?" Gabriela asked "About Jack, I can't let you keep that to yourself." I responded "Alex…" she started, but I denied. I couldn't allow this to go on like this "You can't go on like this, you'll get sick and I don't want that to happen, so if you don't want others to find out what's happening to you, I recommend that we go for a walk, even if we just go to my car, we'll have more privacy and no one will hear you."

"I appreciate what you want to do love, but I don't want to worry you more than it is." She said and I sighed before taking her hand and placing a kiss on it. "I'll feel calmer if you talk to me about what's happening, I'll stop worrying so much." I assured, "I don't know if I believe you, you worry too much about me."

"But I do it because I love you with all my being, and when you love someone as much as we do, we worry about each other, even though it's the least we want." She stayed silent for a couple of minutes looking out the window and I hope she was considering the idea of telling me what's happening to her. That way I could help her with whatever she needed.