Enzo

As we pulled up to the Perez family's house, I couldn't help but be impressed by the grandeur of the estate. The house belonged to my uncle, Javier Perez, a wealthy businessman known for his luxurious properties. The Mediterranean-style villa stood back from the road, surrounded by meticulously manicured gardens and a large wrought-iron gate.

The driver entered a code, and the gates swung open, revealing a long, winding driveway lined with perfectly trimmed hedges and vibrant flower beds. The house itself was a sight to behold, with its cream-colored exterior, red-tiled roof, and large arched windows. A grand staircase led up to the main entrance, flanked by two impressive stone lions.

As we stepped out of the car, my cousin Raphael, at 25 years old, emerged from the house to greet us. He was a few years older than me, and although we had only met once as kids, I immediately sensed his outgoing and charismatic personality. He greeted us with a wide smile and a warm embrace, making me feel welcome despite my initial reservations. Raphael was accompanied by his two younger half-sisters and his stepmother, who also welcomed us warmly.

The interior of the house was just as impressive as the exterior. High ceilings, marble floors, and elegant furnishings greeted us as we entered. The living room featured a large fireplace, plush sofas, and an expansive window that offered a stunning view of the garden. The garden itself was a masterpiece, with a large swimming pool, a beautifully designed patio area, and a well-maintained lawn stretching to the edge of the property.

This was the first time I had seen Javier Perez, if I remembered correctly. Pedro and Louis seemed to already know him and his wife, but I hadn't known that his wife wasn't Raphael's mother until now. Both half-sisters had golden-colored hair like their mother, while Raphael had dark hair like Tio Javier. Tio Javier also bore a strong resemblance to my Papa—no smile on his face, just a serious expression.

"Hola! Hola!" Tio Javier said, looking at us.

He hugged Pedro and Louis first, then came over to me.

"And who's this little Gerado?" he said, giving me a look like I was still a kid. He glanced at Pedro, who, along with Louis, just smiled at Tio Javier. Of course, he knew who I was; he was only teasing me.

"He looked exactly like Gerado at this age," Tio Javier said, shaking my face gently as he held my chin between his fingers. He let out a rich man's chuckle before pulling me into a tight hug and giving me a playful shake.

For a moment, I wondered if Raphael might feel jealous with his Papa's attention on another boy, but he only watched us, smiling. I had never seen anyone in our family smile like that. There was something odd about him—so happy and excited. Was he adopted?

"You guys look tired," Tio Javier said, putting an arm around my shoulders. It seemed he had no intention of letting me go.

"Not tired. But, you know, it's so boring to be on a plane for hours," Pedro replied.

"Get ready for the party tonight. All the relatives will be here," Tio Javier said.

"A party?" I asked, a bit shocked. I hated parties, especially family ones.

"Yes, little Gerado," he said, giving me that same amused look and squeezing my shoulder.

"My name is Enzo, and I'll be 19 this year," I replied, hoping he might feel a little embarrassed about treating me like a child.

"Oh! You're a big boy now," he said, laughing, and soon everyone joined in. What the hell? I glanced at Pedro, who just gestured for me to calm down.

So, maybe Tio Javier wasn't as strict as our Papa?

"Oh, Enzo, this is my wife, Élise. I think this is the first time you're meeting her. Your brothers know her since they come here occasionally on business," Tio said, introducing his wife. We greeted each other politely.

"These are my daughters, Adèle and Chloé," he said, introducing the girls. Though they weren't twins, they looked so similar they could have been. They seemed a bit younger than me. We greeted each other politely.

"Oh, the elder one is 18, and the other is 17. You can hang out with them," Tio said.

"Hang out with them? I'm not a kid," I replied, and Tio laughed. This guy seemed way too excited for no reason.

"Raphy, show our little Gerado to his room," he said with a chuckle.

"Come on, Enzo," Raphael said, smiling warmly. He was the kind of guy you didn't want to upset or say anything bad to. He looked at everyone like they were his friends. I couldn't understand how someone could be like that.

Somehow, Pedro and Louis had already disappeared. Raphael led me to a room on the ground floor. Perfect—I wouldn't need to climb any stairs.

"Is Tio Javier always like that?" I asked Raphy as we entered the room, which was about the same size as my room back home.

"No, not always. I think he's excited to see you because you look exactly like Tio Gerado," he replied.

"Do I?" I asked, surprised.

"Yeah, I've seen photos of him when he was younger. You look just like him," Raphy said. "By the way, don't smoke inside the house. You can go out to the balcony to smoke."

So this room had a small balcony, even though it was on the ground floor. That was pretty cool.

I lay down on the bed, spreading my arms and legs.

"Do you have lots of girlfriends?" Raphy asked suddenly.

"No, why?" I replied, wondering why he'd ask that as soon as we'd met.

"You just look really handsome, dude. I figured you'd have at least 50 girlfriends," he said with a grin.

"Oh... my girlfriend was killed last year, and Papa said it was good she died because she wasn't rich and didn't match our status or some crap," I said. Raphy's face darkened as if he'd just witnessed something horrible.

"Oh... sorry about that, man," he said in a serious tone.

"You look so serious. What's wrong?" I asked, noticing his reaction. He was the only one in the family who seemed to care like this. "Don't take it the wrong way, but... are you adopted?" I asked, curious.

"So, you don't know?" he replied.

"Don't know what?" I asked, still curious.

"Well, everyone in the family knows this. My Papa dated my Mama, but she came from a normal family. Then Grandpa found out and insisted they stop dating. But my Mama was pregnant at the time. So, after she gave birth, Grandpa brought me here because I have Perez blood," he explained.

"Oh, so you have 'normal people's happy blood' mixed with Perez blood," I said, and he laughed. "Where's your Mama?" I asked.

"I don't know," he replied, avoiding my gaze, looking almost upset.

"What do you mean, you don't know?" I asked, puzzled.

"She disappeared, I guess," Raphy said, looking down.

"So... your Papa married your stepmother?" I asked. In the back of my mind, I wanted to ask if Grandpa had anything to do with his Mama's disappearance, but something told me to hold back.

"Grandpa made him marry her. Her father's a businessman," Raphy said, a hint of sadness in his eyes. It was clear he felt his mother didn't get a fair chance just because she wasn't wealthy.

"That's sad, man," I said genuinely.

"Really? You're the only one who thinks it's sad. Everyone else in the family believes it was the right thing to do," Raphy said, looking at me.

"What does your Papa think?" I asked.

"He doesn't speak about it," Raphy replied.

Wow! I had to spend time with a bunch of crazy Perez family members at once. This was going to be horrible.

"Enzo, you good?" Pedro came near the door without knocking, as usual.

"Yeah," I replied.

"Don't worry. I'll take care of him," Raphy said.

I wasn't a freaking baby to be taken care of. What the hell was wrong with all these people?

"Thanks, man. He's an 18-year-old baby. He must be taken care of by someone," Pedro said before leaving. Raphy smiled—a real smile, not a smirk or that rich man's laugh. Just a normal, genuine smile.

I stepped outside for a cigarette before the evening party. Afterward, I realized I probably smelled like smoke, so I decided to take a shower. I changed my clothes again for the second time since arriving.

Someone knocked on my door, and I knew it wasn't Pedro or Louis because those two didn't know how to knock before barging in.

"Come in," I said, and Raphy walked in.

"Hey, Enzo, are you ready already?" he asked.

"Yeah, I just took a shower," I said.

"Do you want to know anything about the relatives since you don't know anyone yet?" he asked.

"I know that witch," I replied.

"What witch?" he asked, surprised.

"Esmeralda," I said, and he burst into laughter.

"I don't like her either. But I've never said that in front of anyone. Or they'll..."

"They'll punish you?" I continued his sentence.

"Yeah," he said, looking down. "I always say what I feel, and they punish me."

I watched as he looked at me in shock. "You don't know how my Papa punished me," he added, as if he were sharing a secret.

"Dude, aren't you 25? Why are you so scared of your Papa?" I asked, surprised.

"Well, he doesn't punish me now. But he did when I was a kid—sometimes. Anyway, I never made those mistakes again to avoid getting punished," he explained.

"Did he beat you with his belt or something?" I inquired, and he nodded. Oh... so it's a family tradition.

"What about your half-sisters?" I asked.

"Well, they only get silly punishments, like detention or losing their credit cards for a week. But they have their Mama to help them escape," Raphy replied.

"You're a freaking sad guy, aren't you?" I asked, and he gave a silly smile.

"You can see that on my face?" he asked awkwardly.

"It's all over you, man," I said.

"Shit," he muttered, looking down.

"So, your Papa punished you too?" he asked, and suddenly, I thought he was referring to Papa (Manuel).

"You mean... oh... yeah... he punished me really badly, but finally, he stopped," I admitted.

"Really? What made him stop?" he asked.

"I tried to kill myself," I said, and he looked at me in surprise. "Maybe you should try it too. It might work."

"Dude?" he replied, shocked.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to do that again," I said, realizing I had shared everything with Raphy without hesitation. Normally, I wasn't this open. This dude is weird; he just takes everything out of me without me even realizing it. I think I like him. He's such a nice guy.

"So, tell me who's coming today?" I asked. Maybe I could avoid them if I knew about them before they arrived.

"I think Tio Alejandro and his family are coming. He has four boys," Raphy said.

"Four boys? What the hell," I replied, not keen on being around so many people. Raphy laughed.

"Don't worry. They're okay," he assured me.

"Happy to hear that," I said sarcastically.

"So, the next Tio is Pablo," he continued. "His wife is divorced because he's a playboy. He has one son and a daughter. The son is a jerk, and he lives with him. I think he's also around your age. The daughter lives with her mama," Raphy explained. "And Tia Esmeralda will come, along with two other Tias: Maria and Isabel."

"Interesting! Do you think we have a chance to sneak out somewhere while they're at the party?" I asked, and Raphy looked at me in surprise.

"Dude, are you serious?" he whispered.

"Yeah, I'm serious," I whispered back.

"Maybe we could. We just have to show our faces in the first few minutes. We need to make an appearance for everyone. Then we can sneak out, but we must be back for dinner," he said. "If Papa knew about this, he'd get really mad."

It seemed like Raphy was still scared of his Papa, even though he was 25. What a miserable life he has.

"And we can sneak out after dinner too?" I asked.

"Yeah, it's not like they'll be paying full attention to us," he said.

"Yep," I replied, feeling a rush of anticipation.

Now, I couldn't wait for the evening so we could sneak out somewhere.

Finally, the evening came, and different types of cars entered through the gate. I made sure to face every single relative, even though I couldn't remember who was who. But I did remember Tio Pablo and his son Ricardo, who was my age.

"Hey! You must be Enzo," he said, approaching me with a big smile and looking me up and down.

"Yeah, I am. Who the hell are you?" I asked, and he laughed.

"You're a funny guy. Look at you, dude. What a handsome motherfucker," he said, taking a sip from his drink.

"Is that...?" I started to ask.

"This is just juice. They don't let us drink alcohol at family occasions until we turn 21. They think we're babies until then. Stupid, right? I hate these boring gatherings. Look at that fat Tia Esmeralda—she's yawning already," he said, pointing at Tia Esmeralda, who was sitting alone on the couch.

"So we have to drink fruit juice all night?" I asked.

"Well, I have some stuff if you want," he whispered.

"Yeah, I want some," I replied.

"Okay then. Let's wait a few minutes, and we can sneak out and drink," he said.

"Raphy would also like to come with us," I mentioned.

"Raphy? He's a coward," Ricardo said, surprised.

"But he said he'll come," I insisted.

"Really? Okay then. Let's bring him along. But if he starts to cry, you take care of him," he said, playfully hitting my shoulder.

"I guess," I said, feeling a mix of amusement and concern.

"How's school?" he asked, and my heart ached at the memories.

"It was good until last year," I said.

"What happened last year? Oh, are you sad because you had to leave school?" he asked, surprised. Well, yes. I was sad about that too because I hated being at home. At school, I could meet my friends. And Mia.

"Something bad happened," I replied, looking away.

"Okay, tell me," he insisted.

"My girlfriend was killed," I said quietly. There was nothing to hide anymore; I had already told everyone.

"Wait, wait, you had a girlfriend? Just one? Oh, shut up, dude. Only one girlfriend with those looks and that much money? Are you crazy?" he exclaimed.

"Yeah, surprise!" I shot back.

"Don't worry. I'll take you to the clubs, and we can have fun. You know what I'm saying, right?" he said.

"Yeah, yeah," I laughed.

"Hey Enzo," Raphy said, approaching us. His expression changed when he saw Ricardo talking with me.

"Hey Raphy," Ricardo greeted, pulling Raphy into a rough hug that left him looking confused.

"Hey, Cardo," Raphy replied in a low voice. He didn't seem as excited to see Ricardo as Ricardo was to see him.

"Enzo, your Papa is here," Raphy said, and an icy sensation slid down my spine.

"Papa," I said, my initial excitement fading as I realized he wasn't talking about the same Papa I had in mind. "Oh, my Papa," I corrected myself.

"Yeah, and your sister also came. I think your brothers' wives and their children are here too," Raphy continued, looking at me with confusion because of my previous reaction.

"They're all here. What the fuck?" I said.

"Exactly, dude. Exactly," Ricardo agreed.

"Come on. Let's talk to everyone and then vanish from here. Trust me, you're not going to miss anything with these people. They're the most boring people on this planet," Ricardo said.

"Maybe in the whole universe too," I added.