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FELICIA MADE SURE to have a productive morning by first waking up slightly more earlier than usual and making her way towards paulina's painting parlor.

     "buenos días señora paulina!", felicia greeted, as the woman had said good morning back.

"ah, lucky for you, the boy was in a hurry, so he already left. and I must say, his artwork is quite...peculiar...", the middle-aged woman commented.

     felicia lightly chuckled, as paulina pointed towards the covered painting that was propped up against an easel.

uncovering the canvas, felicia saw the madrigals' house — poorly painted — with the navy blue notebook right next to the painting.

though instead of being repulsed, she had only smiled with proudness, as she traced over the squiggly lines that were supposed to be the outline for casita.

     taking both the book and canvas, felicia had bid paulina a good day. arriving back home, where her mother was too busy with customers to actually notice her eldest daughter, felicia had propped the canvas against her wall of hung up photos.

the oldest diaz had then flipped open the book, seating at her desk as she devised a response before preparing for her date.

'dear mariposa,

first of all, I must admit that I might've rushed the painting a little, since I was pretty occupied this entire week. however, I did try my hardest. can you tell which building it is? no? understandable.

but if you guessed correctly, well then, bravo! because even I struggled telling what I was painting'.

     felicia slightly shook her head with a short chuckle, as she continued reading.

     'anyways, moving onto our game: truth or dare? I won't judge you if you pick truth again this time ٩(˘◡˘)۶'.

     the oldest diaz hummed to herself, already knowing the answer to his question.

     'second of all, the girl that I had previously mentioned has agreed to go on a date with me. as embarrassing as it sounds, it happened by accident, but nevertheless, happened. I'll let you know how it goes in my next reply.

signed by camaleón'.

"a date?? how coincidental! I'll be sure to write back to him about mine as well then", felicia mumbled, leaving her seat, as she went back downstairs to help her mother before changing for the occasion.

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as camilo made his way downstairs, he suddenly heard his sister softly alert the others by creepily announcing, "he's ready".

     immediately, julieta had stuck a basket full of food and drinks into camilo's left hand, meanwhile isabela created a bouquet of flowers — shoving it into camilo's right hand.

     mirabel had checked for any last minute seams that might've escaped her eyes the previous night, and the boy's parents were already waiting for him at the door.

     casita's tiles pushed camilo towards pepa, who pulled her eldest son into a tight hug and placed kisses all along his face until camilo had started attempting to pry away.

     "ay, stop it mamí!!", camilo laughed.

     "awww, my baby's growing up!! he's even wearing cologne now", pepa cried, as félix just patted his son on the shoulder.

     "HAVE FUN CAMILO!!", antonio shouted from the top of the stairs.

     the rest of the family had chimed in with some encouraging statements, and some leaning more towards the teasing side.

     as camilo headed off to daniela's café, he checked his appearance once more while passing by a glass window of a random building.

     he then paused in his steps and took in his reflection.

     camilo's excitement dimmed a little, wondering if his hair was always this long, or perhaps it was a leftover feature from the woman — with a child — that he had helped babysit.

     straying away from the negative thought, camilo continued on his merry way, his excitement flaring up once again once he reached the front of the coffee shop.

     felicia, who was anxiously waiting by sitting behind the counter, was listening to her mother rant about how everything will work out perfectly.

"mamá, maybe I should just say that I feel unwell, because I really—"

"he's here", daniela stated, gesturing for the boy to step in, as camilo complied.

abruptly standing up, felicia felt her head spin a little, as her eyes fell upon the smiling boy who wore his usual black slacks and a white button up that was for sure not buttoned up all the way.

     no yellow ruana was draped around the boy's shoulders, but he did have a bouquet of cattleya trianae orchids laying across his right arm.

"well go on; don't keep him waiting", daniela urged, gently shoving her daughter towards the middle madrigal.

penelope and phoebe — who were sneakily climbing down the stairs — had gasped at the image of their sister reviving the whitish-purplish orchids.

"CAMILO, HI!!", penelope yelled, aggressively waving to the boy, who just reciprocated the action.

the twins had then ran towards camilo, admiring his clean up, as penelope had exposed her own sister.

"you know, felicia spent almost the entire morning just trying to pick out the PERFECT dr—"

     felicia covered her younger sister's mouth, as she whispered something about being no more dessert after dinner. camilo lightly chuckled, as he shrugged.

     "well, seems like your sister did end up picking the perfect dress", camilo smoothly complimented, earning a few giggles from the bolder diaz twin.

     felicia had then straightened out the silky azure fabric of her dress that had sheer puffy sleeves reaching down to her wrists. content with her choice of fit, phoebe had then surprisingly spoke up.

     "since you call felicia princesa, does that make you the príncipe?", she asked.

     daniela, who was observing from afar, had snickered at her embarrassed daughter. camilo's lips twitched, as he simply nodded.

     "indeed, which is why it is time for our to board onto our golden carriage and head off to our date. after all, we wouldn't want to be late, isn't that right, princesa?"

felicia hesitantly agreed with a nod, as she grabbed her bag and kissed her sisters and mother goodbye.

"see you guys later!", felicia called out.

camilo had then extended his arm out, offering as if they were truly a prince and princess. the oldest diaz displayed a confused expression, as camilo's eyes quickly flickered towards the girl's twin sisters, who were looking at them with great anticipation.

understanding the hint, felicia encased camilo's arm with her free hand, walking out with the boy and towards the nearby forest.

     once they've arrived at their destination with felicia thankfully bringing a large enough blanket for the both of them to sit on, camilo cleared his throat to gather all of felicia's attention.

"so...my tía packed us some arepas, empanadas, buñuelos, cocadas, and cut up pineapple squares. which would you like to eat first?"

"perhaps the empanadas? I had them at the party, and they were pretty good", felicia muttered.

"and drinks? there's water and aguardiente", the fifteen year-old stated.

"water's just fine. oh, um...I hope you don't mind that I've brought my camera and some books for us. I've never really been on a date before, so I'm not quite sure what people do on them...", felicia explained with a timid smile.

     an arrow had shot through camilo's heart.

     "yes", he said.

     "p-pardon?"

     "ah, I meant...let's read together. after you're full of course! here, tía julieta specifically instructed me to have you try at least one of each item", camilo said, piling food up on a plastic plate and handing it over to felicia.

     the brown-haired girl happily accepted it, as she very much enjoyed the food and effort that was put into it.

     "your tía must really enjoy cooking. I mean...I know it's her gift and all, but sometimes I feel like it could be tiring. I'm just glad that she likes what she does", felicia casually expounded her opinion.

     camilo raised a brow at that, making sure to wipe his mouth with a napkin instead of the back of his hand like he usually does at home.

     "really? you think using our gifts tire us out?", he asked.

     "well...I wouldn't ever know what having a gift is like, but at some point, everybody gets tired, don't they?", the sixteen year-old logically explained, taking a swig of water, as she appreciated the cool liquid running down the back of her throat.

     camilo simply hummed, as he suddenly gained an idea. softly gasping, the boy feigned surprise, resulting in felicia to wonder what was wrong.

     "don't move, princesa. there's a butterfly that just landed on your head. let me take a picture", camilo lied.

     "h-huh? are you sure? okay wait, let me cover—"

     "don't move!", camilo demanded, slyly setting down his plate of food and grabbing the girl's camera, as felicia stayed as still as she could — like a deer who's been spotted.

     putting the kodak brownie up to his face, camilo quickly snapped a photo, to which felicia had sighed a breath of relief once the photo was taken.

     but then, another flash had went off; along with another, and another, and another, and another.

     "c-camilo!! what are you doing?!", felicia panicked, not used to having the camera pointed at her, as usually she was the one behind it.

     with a wide grin plastered across his face, camilo enjoyed taking random snapshots of the stressing girl.

     "it's for the memories, princesa! relax~", camilo replied, finally stopping with his little joke, as he handed the camera back to felicia.

the diaz had then pouted, causing camilo to lean forward and poke the side of her cheeks.

"keep frowning like that and you mother's going to think that I'm bullying you", camilo teased.

"well you certainly aren't straying far from her supposed assumption", felicia sassed back.

camilo playfully gasped with his hand pressed against his chest, as he then shook his head and offered to read one of felicia's books as compensation.

"hmm...which one should we go with?", felicia mumbled, spreading out all three of her books across the blanket.

camilo immediately recognized one of them, pointing to it with great pride.

"you can never go wrong with one of patricia woodward's works".

     felicia glanced up with disbelief.

     "you read her books as well?"

     "well...the first book I've read of hers was 'a pineapple that connects us'. and then it turns out that my papá also read that and loves her books too", camilo explained.

impressed, felicia had immediately handed the novel over to camilo, prompting him to flip open the book and support the spine of it with his left palm.

"it makes me happy that you enjoy reading as well", felicia smiled, as camilo made a mental note to thank notebook girl for forcing him to read as one of his first challenges.

dramatically clearing his throat, camilo had started reading, adding in a sprinkle of his personality by acting out some of the lines.

enthralled, felicia simply listened and watched every little motion, every little flicker of movement — like camilo's tendency to evilly grin when reading out a character's wicked plans.

all was well until the sun had coordinated itself between the crevice of the valleys, illuminating only parts of the land and most importantly, camilo.

camilo was glowing. the boy looked ethereal, and felicia felt almost envious of how pretty the madrigal looked with the sun playing as his backdrop.

camilo had his left elbow propped up against his left knee, meanwhile his right leg relaxed beside his corresponding arm that helped prop up his tilting weight.

not only was his white button up flattering against his golden brown skin, felicia found his round curly strands of hair maintain the absolute perfect amount of bounciness.

though camilo's voice was certainly entertaining, felicia found herself zoning out and focusing on how his brows were neatly shaped, how his freckles were more prominent under the sun's glimmer, and how his eyes — oh, his shadowed emerald eyes that were so focused on the pages before him.

"—cesa?? princesa?!", camilo called out, waving his hand in front of the teenage girl, who had finally snapped out of the enchantment.

"ah, s-sorry, could you repeat that paragraph again please?", felicia nicely requested.

camilo debated on calling the girl out on her daydreaming. however, he decided against it, and simply agreed to allow her to admire him more.

though just as he was about to continue, felicia had interrupted him with a flash of her camera, earning a cock of his brow.

"apologies, I couldn't help myself", felicia murmured, her eyes boldly meeting camilo's.

"it's just that...you reminded me of helios, you know, the god?"

camilo softly snorted, befuddled by the comparison.

"how so?"

"the sun is at your mercy. you most certainly hold the reins, for it serves as your chatoyant".

     'chatoyant...the word that fernando used to describe cecilia in the novel. what did it mean again? ah right, light reflecting through a cut gemstone...'

     camilo had then realized why felicia had said what she said, and why fernando had made the same comparison about his lover.

     it was because he — like cecilia — was the cut gemstone. and the light, or rather the sun, in camilo's case, was there to enhance their true beauty.

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