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Lita sat on the edge of the bath as her eyes began to water. She knew this day was coming, but she had always held onto the hope that maybe, just maybe, one day her mother would come back. How could she be so stupid?

In the solitude of the bathroom, her father's voice came from the other side of the door.

"Lita, honey?"

"What?" she said, sniffing quietly as she wiped the tears from her eyes and stood before the mirror, trying to clean herself up.

"You can't stay in there forever, y'know..." her father said.

Lita laughed, "I know." She waited for his next words, which never seemed to come. Instead, she heard music—'El Trieste' blared through their speakers, and Lita heard her dad mimic the lyrics in English.

"Today I want to savor my pain... I don't ask for compassion or mercy!" he belted out the last note, making Lita laugh to herself. She unlocked the door to see her dad standing on the couch, singing out the last part of the song, "He podido ayudarme a vivir!"

Lita picked the letter up from the ground, the song now fading out into the background.

"You should go," her father suddenly voiced.

"What?" she said, her eyebrows knitted in confusion.

"To the wedding. It'd be good for you, and it'd make her happy," he said with a shrug, taking a seat on the arm of the couch.

"I can't... Mateo–"

"Is fine. I'll be here to watch him, mija. You don't have to worry."

"I don't know..." she said, trailing off, her eyes scanning the letter.

"It's next month. You've got a while to decide," he said, getting up and patting her shoulder before heading to his own room.

Lita lay down on the couch and turned on her phone to see a message from Paul. A smile made its way to her face at a photo of him and his friends sitting on the plane. A message was sent saying 'waiting for takeoff.'

Lita sent back her own 'Tell them I'll miss them!' He messaged back almost instantly, 'If I tell Quil that, he'll get the wrong idea.'

Lita giggled to herself and turned off her phone, looking toward their empty kitchen. She managed to roll her way off the couch with a hard thud.

"Ow..." she said, rubbing the back of her head. She then turned toward her dad's room, opening the door to see him lying down, snoring loudly. This is what he usually did on the weekends—slept. Lita understood; he worked hard to provide for them. Sleep was well deserved.

"Papa..." she whispered, but he didn't even move. "Dad!"

He groaned before shifting his eyes, not even opening an inch as he spoke. "What."

"I'm gonna go get some groceries."

He nodded, his eyes still glued shut. "There's 50 dollars in my wallet, it's beside my keys," he said, pointing outside his room.

"Ok, I love you~" she said, pressing a kiss against his cheek and leaving him to his sleep.

Heading to the front door, Lita picked up the keys and the money, careful not to slam it. By now, it was late in the afternoon, and luckily, the sun had not yet set.

Turning on the car, she turned on the radio, singing along to whatever song was on, and pulled into the nearest grocery store.

Lita pushed her cart through the many aisles, mostly picking up the nameless brands she had found to often be the cheapest.

She suddenly stopped at the sound of familiar voices and laughs. Turning around the corner, she saw her friend group huddling by some food, seemingly trying to decide what snacks to buy.

Lita mentally cursed at the squeaky cart she had gotten, as one of her friends turned around at the noise to see Lita there.

"Oh hey, Lita!" the voice of her friend Sam caused the rest of the group to turn around.

If there was one thing people knew about Lita, it would mostly be about her friends—they were popular, pretty, and while Lita was too, she was not exactly outgoing.

Allie, who was the self-appointed leader, had a stupid smirk on her face. "This bitch," Lita whispered to herself.

"Lita, oh my god, hi. We totally didn't know you were here," Tory said, giving her a knowing look.

"Yeah, funny how things work out," Lita replied, offering them a tight-lipped smile. She knew full well that they must've seen her car and gone inside.

"You look pretty," Kye, Allie's boyfriend, said as he had his arm wrapped around her.

"I know," Lita said, shrugging.

Allie glared at the girl until her eyes trailed down to what was in Lita's cart. If anyone could make Lita feel self-conscious, it was her.

"Shopping, huh?" Allie forced Kye's arm off her, walking up to Lita's cart and pulling out a box of Cheerios. "I didn't know you could afford this," she said before bursting out laughing.

"I'm kidding... we'll see you at school, bae," she added, and the group left in a fit of giggles, except for Sam, who stayed behind with a sad look.

"I'm so sorry, Lita. She's a bitch," Sam said before quickly hurrying off to catch up.

Lita scoffed at the group's shallow laughter, dismissing them with a roll of her eyes. Whatever. She didn't need them. Returning home, she mechanically put away the groceries. When she turned around, her eyes fell on the wedding invitation.

With an exasperated huff, she sank onto the couch, reopening the invitation for a proper read. Lita paced around the room, attempting to distract herself by aimlessly flipping through TV channels and mindlessly scrolling through her phone. Anything to postpone the impending emotional turmoil nested within the invitation.

The room was heavy with a suffocating silence, broken only by the distant sounds of a melancholic ballad playing on the TV. Unwilling to delay it any longer, she took a shaky breath and began reading.

The formal wedding details adorned the front, but as she turned it over, a handwritten note on the back caught her eye. It simply stated, "Can't wait to see you there. Love, your mama."

The familiarity of her mother's handwriting and the weight of that simple yet profound message pierced through Lita's defenses. She crumpled the invitation in her hand, unable to restrain the tears that welled up in her eyes.

Collapsing onto the floor, the weight of her emotions became too burdensome to bear alone. The room seemed to constrict around her, and she found herself ensnared in a moment of profound sadness, aching with the void left by her absent mother.

Her violent sobs filled the empty house, echoing through the walls. She must've been very loud because her father came out of his room to find Lita's head buried in her arms, wet with salty tears.

"Shhh, shhh, honey, it's okay," her dad said, pulling her into a tight embrace. Lita was used to her dad comforting her, so she had no problem letting her tears fall into her father's shirt.

He held her, letting the weight of her grief pour out. "I miss her so much, Dad," Lita choked out between sobs.

"I know, mija. I miss her too," he whispered, his voice cracking with emotion. They stayed like that for a while, wrapped in each other's arms, sharing the pain of a loss that seemed to linger in the air.

In the aftermath of her torrential sobs, Lita's emotions began to settle. She gently pulled away from her dad, her tear-streaked face now a canvas of conflicting emotions. With a shuddering breath, she whispered words laden with resentment, "I hate her. I hate her so fucking much."

In that moment, a decision solidified within Lita. The realization dawned on her — her mother didn't deserve happiness, and she certainly didn't deserve her dream wedding, and Lita would make sure she never had it.

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