Her mother was fed up. Her daughter was already 25 years old and there was no way she could convince her to marry anyone. She had rejected all the single men in town - or rather, most of their mothers, who were the ones who wanted to find a woman for them.

"I'm not giving anyone a second chances mom, it would be wasting time" she said lying on her bed, waiting to resume reading the book she was holding because she was interrupted by her mother, who was sitting on the edge of her bed.

"There will be someone that seem decent to you."

"No, anyone. They're all immature."

"And what do you want?" She asked angrily. "An old-" and an idea came to her mind, or rather - a face, and that made her expression and tone change completely, from anger to maximum joy "-man! I've got it!"

"What- in WHO have you thought of!?"

"Bruno Madrigal! He has returned to the family and he never got married! He's single. He's older than I would like for you, but surely he seems less immature to you than the rest of the men in the town. His mother tried to find him a wife when he was your age and there was no way. I'm sure she will listen to me and like my idea!"

She knew she couldn't stop her mother from talking to the matriarch Madrigal about it, and she knew she was going to have to go to his house to meet him to "bond." She had already been through that many times.

Her mother wanted her to marry for love, or at least with tolerance, but for that she had to meet men, which was what she forced her to do. She never liked the idea but knew she couldn't help it. At first, in the first dates with the first men, she pretended her best face, but they were idiots, and although the following weren't idiots at all, she always carried her bad mood accumulated by the first experiences in this regard, and thus ended up discarding all the single men in town.

The next morning, her mother went to speak with Alma Madrigal, who was delighted to accept the proposal, and that became news that spread fast as wildfire through the Madrigal house. At lunchtime, which is when Alma had planned to announce it, the youngests of the family already knew.

Bruno was in shock. It wasn't the first time that his mother sought a woman for him, but he was surprised that even with him being 50 years old, she still had the idea in mind.

"You're not obligated," Alma said, "at the end of the day, you're the one who has to decide to kneel and ask her to marry you, but I think it would be good for you to have a wife, and you don't lose anything by meeting her."

"Well..." he sighed, "okay, but how come I don't already know her? Where was she when you were day and night looking for me a wife?" He asked his mother.

"She wasn't born yet, was she?" Said Camilo laughing.

"What?" He asked confused. "How old is she?"

"25 about to turn 26, from what her mother told me" Alma answered.

"Do you know her?" Bruno asked his oldest nephew. "How is she?" He asked for his gift to respond to him.

"Yes, but I don't want to ruin the surprise" he said with his typical tone and playful face, which his uncle was annoyed at, but not enough to complain and argue.

"She's pretty" Isabel said.

"Yeah" Camilo said.

"She and her family are coming to dinner tomorrow" Alma announced.

And everything was said. Bruno was nervous, shy and pessimistic about finding a wife, he had already done badly in the past. The Madrigal family was treated like a royal family in the town, and many people wanted to be part of it to have a better life in many ways, especially women, but unfortunately, there was only one man, and that was Bruno, badly associated with misfortunes that would happen in the future. He didn't fit in with any woman and he knew that someones faked being interested on him because who would not want to be part of the Madrigal family? And especially women.

He thought about seeing the future, but he knew it wasn't worth it, so he simply waited for the moment to meet her and her family, hoping the same as always and trying to survive the evening.

At the Fernández house, her relatives treated _______ as if she were a doll - dressing her, doing her make up, brushing her hair...

"A ponytail?" Asked her 18-year-old sister, who was brushing her hair in front of the dressing table mirror.

"No, it makes her look like a chicken" said his little brother, also 18 years old.

"I love you too" said ________.

"They're leaving their house! They're coming!" Dolores reported to the rest of the family thanks to her gift. He knocked wood, poured salt and sugar over his left shoulder, and crossed as many fingers as his body allowed.

At the Madrigal house, everything was ready, but because they were so restless, they couldn't sit down and relax, so they checked if everything was ready, and above all, if Bruno looked good and presentable, removing possible traces of salt and sugar on his clothes.

The closer the Fernándezs got, the more nervous they all got. The culmination was when the Fernándezs went through the door, and all the Madrigals were standing there.

The mothers gave each other two kisses on the cheeks as greeting and introduced their relatives.

Their mothers' puppets scanned each other up and down silently, avoiding eye contact, though it couldn't be helped, and they both looked away quickly.

To him, she was attractive. For her, he too, very surprisingly. He looked younger and healthy. But the attractiveness was the least - what mattered most was the personality and how they get along, and they both knew it very well.

They all sat at the table to eat the dinner. They had to sit across from each other, next to their mothers, who also sat across from each other.

During dinner there was no way for them to talk to each other, their mothers had to bring up conservation issues for them to communicate even a little and they didn't even get it to be directly between the two of them.

In the end, the mothers thought the best would be leave them alone so that the discomfort of the silence would force them to talk, and they did it, after planning it in the kitchen between whispers as they cleared the table after dinner.

"_______, Bruno, can you two leave the house for a moment?" Alma asked "After a few minutes you can go back" they both looked at each other puzzled, but they accepted and left, to which the doors of the house closed by themselves, and from there they saw the town, the mountains and a beautiful sunset with various warm colors.

"What a beautiful sunset" she dared to speak.

"I guess now I'd have to say 'You're prettier'." He said to which she laughed slightly "Lots of telenovelas"

"I like them too, although I prefer books."

"They're cool too but I prefer something more audiovisual, I like to see the performances of the actors."

"Yeah, that's entertaining too. I'm sure being an actor is a lot of fun, it's one of my dreams."

"Mine too! I have always been told that that is my 'true gift'".

"Oh it's true, you saw the future, didn't you? Have you looked at it recently? Did we end up together?"

"No, I don't use my gift to see my future, and anyway, they are visions and they have to be interpreted, and the interpretation may be wrong."

"Ah." Suddenly, a rat appeared on Bruno's shoulder, her gaze shifted from his face to his shoulder, and her facial expression changed radically. "You have a rat on your shoulder!" She said taking a step back and pointing at him.

"Ah," he wasn't alarmed, "yes," and he took it gently in his hands. "The rats in this house are my friends, and Antonio's" he said, referring to his youngest nephew. They're very good, they are domesticated" but no matter how good their rats were, no woman he had ever known had been amused by all that.

"Wow," she said, approaching him, "so can I...?" She asked, pointing to the rat in his hands.

"Sure" he said, keeping his amazement inside him.

"She's petting one of Bruno's rats!" Dolores reported cheerfully, assuming that that might be a good sign.

"Rats?" Asked ________'s mother, confused and disgusted.

"Uh... yeah, my son have them as pets."

In the end, they both got along well and since they had things in common like interest in various forms of art, they decided to continue seeing each other and getting to know each other, to see if something would come up and in the end they could bring joy to their families, especially their mothers.

The pressure of both of them to satisfy their families and especially their mothers was heavy, or at least that's how they felt it, and between them they talked about it, understanding each other, and agreeing that they preferred to be alone rather that being with bad company - and that although the idea of finding love did not displease them, being shy and having had bad experiences in the past did not help at all.

At first, they would meet to watch telenovelas and draw together. He only knew how to draw rats, and she taught him to draw humans, eventually drawing each other. Then they began to imagine stories and she wrote them and read them aloud once they considered that they could not extend them any longer, and him playing a random character, or having his rats act as their characters. Also, not only to entertain themselves, but also to entertain the little ones in the house, they began to practice plays (and Camilo was the one who enjoyed it the most, since like his uncle, he liked acting and telling stories), and that helped him connect with his nephews. But their stories was not the only thing she read aloud, she also read her books and he listened attentively, praising her way of storytelling. They walked together through the town and its surroundings, and after a while, they were encouraged to start holding hands, she being the one who took the first step, being a surprise for everyone, for him, and especially for herself. Along with that, every time they said goodbye after a date, they hugged each other.

They both felt very safe and comfortable with each other. Bruno told her about his past, in a summarized way and trying not to worry her, trying to look strong and that nothing mattered anymore, but the truth was, that Bruno had suffered a lot throughout his life:: without father, grandparents, uncles or cousins. He had socialization problems from a very young age due his shyness, and he didn't feel very comfortable around many people. At first he was the star of the Madrigals thanks to his powers - but then the whole town, including his family, misinterpreted him and his gift thinking that he made bad things happen, which was not true. There were people in town who used him to scare their children into going to sleep, like The Man of the Sack. All that made him hardly speak to anyone, not even his family. He lived very tense and uncomfortable moments that drained him emotionally with the people to whom he gave visions about the future, when they were bad, which were the majority. Sometimes he felt so bad that he couldn't sleep at night, ending with dark circles. All this caused him a lot of anxiety and he developed a ritual before seeing visions, to focus, to cope and prepare himself for what he might see, and he ended up developing OCD. Trying to help, he ruined Pepa's wedding. He left home when he saw the strange vision of Maribel for fear that they would treat her the same as him, and his family hated him for it. He lived in terrible conditions within the walls of his house, without going outside, without sunbathing and air, without socializing with humans for 10 years, which affected his health, especially mental, no matter how shy he was - as human, he needed socializing, even a little. When he was reunited with his family, he couldn't get emotional and cry for not looking soft. And now that he was back, he wanted to make up for lost time and connect with his family, but he doubted if he could, specially with the older ones.

They both began to feel love for each other and were very happy, especially him, who had never fallen in love, had never experienced something like this, and for a long time had assumed that he would never experience it. Then came the kisses on the cheek, also with her initiative. Bruno was too shy and neither did he want to screw up and do something she didn't want to do or do it at a bad time or place. He shared the updates on his relationship with his family, and they (specially Félix, Agustín and Mariano) advised him to start being more daring and take initiative in things; however, if in the end he did want to marry her, sooner or later he would have to dare to take the initiative to kneel and ask her to marry him. It cost him, but he began to grasp her shoulders and then went to her waist.

When they took a nap together and snuggled up, he would sing Ernesto de la Cruz's songs in her ear, and on one of these occasions, while they stared into each other's eyes and then turned her away, smiling in shame and red cheeks, he dared to kiss her, without asking before. His heart was beating very fast, and perhaps it was normal to calm down when noticing that your partner corresponds, but for him it was not like that. The kiss was slow and a little awkward, but when they parted, they were both smiling from ear to ear.

Half a year passed and Bruno decided that it was time to ask his girlfriend to marry him (they never really asked each other formally or anything like that, but there was a kind of mutual agreement and unspoken understanding on the part of the two in that they were dating).

But how would he do it? And when and where? There were many questions in that man's head. In front of their families? Wouldn't that be very awkward? And that would be peer pressure, right? And alone? It would be less awkward without so many expectant eyes and ears for the moment and the answer, although he was expected to do it in front of them, but he really didn't want to do it like that, he wanted to do it his way.

He got some rings and organized everything: the day, the time, the moment, what he would say... It was a day when the Fernándezs went to the Madrigal house for dinner. The two of them sneaked out to watch the sunset. They saw it sitting, and in a moment, he took her hands, looking away from the sunset.

"______, you are a lovely girl in every way and I am very grateful to you that you gave me a chance. I have never experienced this feeling and everything I have experienced being with you, and I have never been so happy. These 6 months have been wonderful," she listened attentively with a smile on her face and her eyes slowly moistening "and I would like to spend the rest of my life with you, if you feel the same way as I do with the same intensity," he released his hands, to take a small box with the rings from one of his trouser pockets. "Will you marry me?"

"Yes!" She said, crying with joy. They kissed and hugged each other.

"I love you" Bruno said, trying not to cry.

"And I love you too" Bruno put a ring on her and then he put his on him. "I want to tell everyone about it now!" She said excitedly.

"So let's go!" They ran back to the house. The doors opened by themselves. "Family!" He yelled. "She said yes!"

Everyone, surprised as well as happy, ran towards them.

"Have you asked her to marry you!?" Alma was surprised that it hadn't been in front of everyone, but in the end, that didn't matter, because it had already happened and luckily she accepted.

"I'm so happy" said the mother of _______ while hugging the two fiancées.

"How it was!?" asked Pepa.

"It was lovely" she replied sweetly. You could see in her eyes that she had cried, and obviously with happiness. He blushed even more than he already was.

"We have to celebrate this!" Said Felix.

"This family don't stop receiving new members" Dolores said happily, stroking her belly. A few months ago she had married Mariano and they were already expecting a baby.

They planned and rehearsed the wedding for a month and the day came. They were both very anxious, specially her. She was very nervous in case something went wrong, because the whole town was going to see how she and Bruno get married, and to leave their home and family to go to another. The town was small and her house was close by, she could always go visit her family or they could visit her, but still, she was nervous, but the truth is, what bride doesn't get nervous on her wedding day? And more in those conditions.

Luckily for both, everything was perfect.

"Well, the baby for when?" Mariano asked, making the two newlyweds turn red, contrasting a lot with the white of their clothes.

author's note:
I can't believe I have to say this, but I suppose is because of cultural differences:
In the first half of the 20th century, at least in Hispanic cultures, at 25 you should be already married and with kids. Arranged marriages weren't weird, and a huge gap within a couple wasn't weird seen and a problem either. And I imagined this one-shot imagining just two adults having a healthy relationship, full with love and respect for each other.

If you all are gonna complain about your fictional age is half of Bruno age who is a fictional character and even when both are adults please touch some grass and go read something else. Thank youuu <3

Old author's note:
Anyway. I'm thinking in doing a second part about _______ experience being a new Madrigal and her pregnancy. And maybe I write smut, who knows!

Thank you so much for the support and I hope you all enjoyed it! <3

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