Samuel could not believe what he was seeing. 

His palms were growing sweaty by the second, his heart was racing at a dangerous speed, and he felt himself losing his breathe.

There, right in front of him was Lucrecia who was tangled up in Guzman's arms, kissing more intensely than he'd ever seen before, and he didn't know how to feel. 

Guzman was in a relationship.

But then again, Samuel knew that he'd seen the signs not just at Marina's house, but more than once in school. He really didn't know how to feel as the two barely saw him just standing there, awestruck at the sight of them, the brunette turned and leaned  back on a barrel shutting his eyes, and began debating all the options he had:

1. It was fairly dark, so there was a slim to none chance he'd be caught if he he just crossed over and kept walking, but that's if he didn't make any noise while walking, and the only way to do that was to tip toe, which was too slow.

2. He could make his presence known, just for once, to see them both cower where they stood the same way they had been doing to him since they first met.

3. Maybe if he turned around and just left to go back outside-

"Samu?"

A voice whisper-yelled from behind him, which immediately broke him from his train of thought and his eyes went wide, hoping that Lu and Guzman didn't hear him. The brunette turned around, looking for who it was calling him, even though he already had a suspicion. 

"Samu? . . . Samu!" Christian kept calling out in a whisper, looking for Samuel. After about thirty minutes of waiting for their friend to show up, Samuel hadn't yet, and his absence was beginning to worry the whole table. As Marina was the one who told him to go in front he back, she volunteered to go and look for him in the cellar, but Christian said he'd go instead, because he was already on his way to the washroom, so he'd pass by. 

Now he wished he never did.

It was almost impossible to find anything let alone anyone, in the dim cellar lit with wall mounted candles and the occasional bulb. 

"Samu-" Before he knew it, a hand clamped over his mouth and dragged him behind one of the barrels. Christian's eyes went wide, thinking the worst on what could have been happening in that moment, up until Samuel made his presence known. With a hand still clamped, the darker haired brunette whispered:

"Relax it's just me- Christian relax!" he whisper yelled back as Christian continued to struggle.

Realising who it was, Christian broke free and looked at Samuel, bewildered. 

"Que coño haces, Samuel? Are you crazy?" 

Samuel quickly rushed to quiet him down once more, instructing him to be quiet, and this made Christian look at him with confusion. 

"Why?" Christian whispered again, more quietly this time.

Samuel motioned him to be quiet with his hands, not knowing how to explain what was going on the other side of the isle they were at.

"Do you hear that?" Another voice sounded in the vicinity, only this time, the voice made Samuel's heart drop knowing it was from neither him or Christian.

Christian's eyes widened as well, looking at Samuel in even more confusion.

"It's probably nothing, don't worry about." Lu responded, joining her lips with Guzman's once more.

'Look', Samuel mouthed, slowly bringing Christian closer and closer to the edge so he could peak on the other side to see what he was struck by less than ten minutes prior. 

And Christian had the same reaction, watching Guzman leave soft bites on Lu's throat as she ran her hands in his hair, and her eyes shut. But the only difference between Christian and Samuel's reaction was that in a heartbeat, Christian was ready to confront the pair as he felt his heart breaking for his friend upstairs. In a rush to quickly look back to Samuel, Christian's elbow thumped against the barrel, making a somewhat loud enough thud that both Lu and Guzman both heard this time.

"That wasn't 'nothing' Lu, get up." Guzman said, pushing the brunette's hands off his shoulder's and grabbing his blazer from behind her. 

Lu groaned in frustration, rolling her eyes and hopping off the barrel, knowing it was time to go. 

"That was definitely well needed." Lu smirked, telling Guzman.

He simply grumbled in response. 

The two put on the remainder of their clothes in silence and walked out of the isle, making their way out of the wine cellar. Before leaving the area though, Guzman turned round just to make sure that no one was there, let alone seen them. 

But little did he know that the only two had had caught them were long gone. 

-

"There you are! Where have you guys been?" Was the first thing Marina said when Christian appeared with Samuel by his side, just about missing the distressed expressions. But this definitely didn't fly past Carla, who was watching from the bar behind the group. She knew something was wrong right away when Christian didn't have his stupidly cute grin on his face.

"W-We got  a little lost." Samuel stuttered, trying to keep his composure when his eyes set on Alaska who was laughing as Alejandro showed her something on his phone. 

"Well, now that you're here, welcome. It's a little dead but it's fine, we can leave later; I'm already over this." The redhead said, making Alejandro whip his head instantly.

"Hey now," he halted, "if we're stuck here, so are you." He laughed slightly. 

Marina rolled her eyes, turning to Samuel once more.

"If anyone gives you shit, tell me immediately. And by anyone, I mean my brother," she paused, looking around, ". . . who doesn't seem to be here; guys, do you know if he left?" Marina asked, turning to the table. 

Christian noticed how Alaska shrugged, going back to whatever she was doing, and the blonde was still feeling the slightest bit mad at him for his actions earlier in the night, but nonetheless pretty much over it. He felt sick. 

"It's for the best if he's gone, at least I know you won't be uncomfortable all night." Marina said to Samuel alone, quietly when they sat next to each other. All the while, Christian was angsty, looking back and forth between the cellar door and the main entrance to see which one Lu or Guzman or Lu and Guzman came out of; so anxious that he couldn't even sit down. Carla noticed.

"Christian, why don't you sit down?"Alejandro said, which broke the boy from his thoughts, when he realised he hadn't sat down since arriving. His nerves amplified when he saw that since Samuel had come, he had taken the previous seat beside Marina, therefore the only other seat was on the other side beside Alaska.

Everyone looked at him, noticing how he really hadn't sat down yet, and this pressured him to take a seat since he knew there was no way out. Sluggishly, Christian made his way to the seat, and the table went back to doing their own thing, while he was shaking his left leg aggressively with nervousness. 

"Christian." He snapped his head right to look at the green eyed blonde who was looking at him with slight concern. 

"Que?"

"I called your name like four times, are you okay?" She asked.

"Yeah, what's the matter?" 

And that's when Alaska knew something was wrong. This was the first time she'd seen the boy had been so unhinged, and he hadn't made one quirky remark in the past ten minutes, not to forget the fact that he evidently wasn't smiling. But she didn't mention it. 

"I just wanted to say that's a really nice suit, it fits you."

He chuckled nervously.

"Well this is the first time you're complimenting me, guapa, I don't know if I should be flattered or worried." He said with somewhat of a smile.

"Well we're friends now no? I guess I have to start being nicer to you or whatever." She joked.

"A si? Well then I want to hear how dashingly handsome I am everyday." He laughed.

"Well that's the truth so trust me to always tell you the truth." She laughed in return tapping his shoulder.

And just like that, he fell back into a state of agitation, the smile falling off his face.

Just when it couldn't get any worse, he noticed the oak door to the cellar open from the inside, and in walked Guzman with Lu following closely behind.

From the corner of his eye, Samuel saw the pair too and immediately looked at Christian who already had his eyes on him, both sharing an agitated look. 

Again, Carla noticed. 

What made matters worse was when the pair came closer and closer, almost as if they were coming towards them, but Lu sharply turned walking right past the group to the bar where Carla sat. Guzman continued to the table, ignoring everyone's eyes around him. Marina instinctively leaned closer to Samuel almost in a protective manner, while Alejandro felt himself tense ever so slightly hoping the blonde wouldn't start an argument and cause a disturbance. But Guzman only had his eyes on one person as he stood in front of the table and asked:

"Can I speak to you for a moment?" He asked, looking at his girlfriend.

No one spoke, glancing every few seconds at the girl in question. Alaska sighed, setting her clutch on Alejandro's lap and getting up to follow Guzman.

Right before she did, Samuel exchanged a look with Christian again, which Samuel didn't know what to think as to why he was calling her, but Christian hoped he was calling her to confess. 

"How are you?" Guzman asked, once they were alone at a bench beside one of the large flower pieces. 

"Don't stall." Was all Alaska replied with, crossing her arms and her legs. 

Guzman nodded slightly, 

"I'm sorry." 

"Guzman, you're not sorry." Alaska responded, rolling her eyes slightly, "You're not sorry. I know you, so I know you're not sorry. You know I don't like it when you bully those guys, but you do it anyway and then when I get upset you say you're sorry, not because you are, but because you think that's what I want to hear. Am I right or am I fucking right?" She purposely asked, knowing she wasn't wrong.

Guzman didn't respond.

"Are you not going to say anything?"

Silence.

"I'm sorry." He repeated, "You're right, I'm not sorry for treating them the way I am, but I'm trying to stop, I do try to stop, Ala. It's not until I do the action and see your expression before I feel horrible and feel the need to apologise to you for making you upset with me." He explained quietly, not being able to face her. 

He wasn't lying. Anytime he saw how she would react to his actions, he felt like he wanted to take them back, but it was too late. This time round, her reaction was the worst it's been and it didn't make him feel the best. 

"Guzman, but I'm not even trying to get you to be friendly with them, I'm asking you to leave them alone. Don't talk to them, don't look at them, and you can't even do that? That's not you. And frankly, at this point, it's embarrassing. Tell me that Samuel deserved how you humiliated him tonight." She said, looking as he still couldn't meet her gaze. 

"It's not that simple."

"It's not fucking rocket science either. Do you think it's easy for me when I have to look Lu in her fucking eyes everyday knowing that she's your "best friend" and I heavily despise her?"

"Ala, don't use that example because you say some things to her which aren't all that nice sometimes." He said, lifting her head up to face her finally.

"Lu can defend herself Guzman. She can hold her own while they cannot do that all the time. And like you said, this is sometimes. You do this all the time, so what's this really about?"

"It's not about anything," he paused softly reaching to hold her palms, "I just don't want to fight with you. I'm sorry that I broke my promise and said I would be nicer to them when I clearly haven't been. Believe it or not, I'm ashamed of my actions tonight-" 

"As you should be," Ala interrupted.

Guzman sighed again knowing she was talking about how he treated Samuel, while he indirectly meant the Samuel situation as well as how he fell back on Lu again. To make matters worse, right before he had come upstairs, he had seen a sight he never wanted to; his father dabbling with drugs. 

" . . . as I should, you're right. I'm sorry for breaking the promise but believe that I'm trying my hardest and I will continue to try. I'm going to mess up sometimes, that's the truth, but I know that if you keep pushing me, I'll be a better person. Please forgive me, I don't want us to argue." 

And he was being sincere. Even more sincere as he told her what he'd seen.

From a distance, Christian clenched his jaw as he watched Alaska lean towards Guzman to give him a hug and they held onto each other tight too. He couldn't hear the conversation, as they were so far away, but it was clear that no confession had taken place.

That's when he felt so much anger and balled his fists under the table getting up suddenly. Everyone turned to him in suspicion, but Samuel quickly jumped up too, intervening.

"Christian, finally. Are we going to go get something to eat from over there?" He signalled to the food table, glaring at him deep in his eyes. 

Christian inhaled and walked around the table to join Samuel and the two continued to the food table. 

"What the hell do you think you're about to do?" Samuel asked, shoving him angrily.

"You must be out of your fucking mind if you think I'm going to sit here when my friend clearly is being lied to." Christian replied, pointing haywire.

"Listen, you need to be smart about this. You can't just go up there and just confront him when we have no evidence." Samuel tried to reason.

"I saw them, we saw them. Our eyes are the evidence."

"Christian, Guzman already makes our lives hell so how do you think he'll react if we accuse him of that right here?"

"I don't give a rat's ass, I'm going up there now and you can't stop me, this isn't right."

"Just relax and let us strategise, okay?"

"Samuel's right, Christian." A new, lighter voice intervened. The two boys turned back to see Carla standing there, looking only at Christian, who looked at her with wide eyes.

"You know about this too?" 

"I do, and you're completely correct. Guzman and Lu's relationship is unfair on Alaska and she should know-"

"Gracias!-"

"However; it is not your place to tell. You haven't been in this school long enough and known Alaska long enough to know her like I do. She's a ticking time bomb Christian," Carla paused, nearing the two of them, "she's ticking more and more everyday, but Guzman is what keeps her from exploding, trust me. Not Alejandro, not you guys as her new friends, not even us as her old friends, Guzman. He needs to be the one to tell her about his relations with Lu because you do not want to be the one who cuts the wrong wire." 

Christian felt chills down his spine, realising what was happening.

"Samuel, can I have a moment alone with Christian, please?" 

When the brunette left back to the table, Carla continued:

"You want to be with me right? Well to do that, I need to know I can trust you Christian, can I?"

"Of course, but-" 

"No buts. If you want me, there are some secrets you'll have to keep." She said, coming so close to him that she he could feel her breath on his neck. Carla lifted her index finger and traced it lower and lower down Christian's chest until it reached his belt buckle.

"This is the first secret that you'll have to keep, can you do that for me?" She asked, whispering in his ear.

And just like that, Carla had gotten her way for the first time out of many.

-

After their conversation, Alaska and Guzman had decided to move on from their argument and put it to the side only if Guzman went to apologise to Samuel for ripping his blazer, which he agreed to. 

Guzman gave the girl a peck and got up to go and find Samuel immediately. While waiting, the blonde was just about to get up to return back to the table when a body came to join her on the bench.

But it was only Ander.

"Hola." He beamed.

"What's up?" she replied, laughing slightly.

"I haven't seen you all night, where've you been hiding?" 

"I haven't been hiding, you just haven't seen me yet."

"Well I just got here like ten minutes ago."

"Clearly."

The two laughed slightly, and the silence took over again much like the time at the restaurant when they didn't have anything to say, so sat in a slight uncomfortable silence. But thankfully, Ander broke it.

"You look stunning by the way." He complimented, pointing at her dress.

"You mean, my dress looks stunning." She corrected.

"I mean you look stunning."

Alaska felt herself blushing just a little bit. It had always been a quality of his; even if she looked like she had been dragged through hell and back, Ander always gave her some sort of compliment anytime he'd see her back when they were closer, and vice versa. 

"And you look very handsome." 

"Gracias. Where are you sitting at? I know you came with Ale-"

"Ander? Dios mío. You've gotten so big!" A new voice intervened.

Alaska scowled.

"Hola, tía Mariposa. Thanks, I've been eating my broccoli." Ander joked, smiling at the older woman.

Mariposa couldn't resist as she held out her arms, beckoning him for a hug, which Ander got up to accept. This time round, although she'd glanced quickly at her daughter's dissatisfied expression, she still embraced Ander because he used to be in their house everyday when the twins were younger, hanging out with Alejandro playing tennis or video games with or without the other boys, or with Alaska, forcing him to applaud and rate her makeshift fashion show with or without the other girls or even sometimes boys.

She missed him.

"Please, come by the house sometime, okay? It's been a long while." She smiled, scruffing his hair a little.

"I will." 

Alaska's frown deepened, as the woman talked to him, hugging him one last time before leaving.  Before Ander could turn back, Alaska tried her best to mask her facial reaction as fast as possible, but Ander was faster.

"What, you don't want me to come visit?" he joked.

"It's not that, it's a complicated long story." Was all she said.

"Then maybe you can uncomplicate it to me in detail when I come over." Ander smiled.

For once, Alaska didn't even want to ignore his request as her heart warmed.

"Deal."

A/N

Serious question: What would you do if you were in Christian's position? I already have plans for how he develops so it won't change anything, but what would you do?

HELLLOOOOOO. I'm so sorry this is a week long but I've been hella busy with some work, believe It or not. But I'm back. This chapter is kind of like a filler, didn't wanna make it too bad, but the next one is already in the making so don't worry about it. The thing is, we already know what happens in the rest of this so I didn't want it to continue to make it long and boring. But I will be filling in the events briefly in the next chapter.