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     FELICIA'S PALMS WERE sweating profusely. not only were all the madrigals present, but so was mariano, which wasn't weird at all, but felicia was just easily overwhelmed.

luckily she was sandwiched between the madrigal "twins", which meant that mirabel could talk to her if not camilo.

"ah, you must be felicia — mirabel and camilo's friend", alma noticed.

"it's nice to meet you, señora alma", felicia greeted with a smile, glad that her voice didn't crack.

"say, where did you and your family move from?", alma asked, trying to make conversation with the guest.

     "oh...we moved from the west — valle de venecia", felicia answered.

     "why move from such a lovely village? I heard that their coffee beans are the best all around".

"ah, well...", felicia hesitated. she didn't really want to share her personal information with others, but it wasn't like it was unspeakable.

     "my father died, so my mother thought that it'd be good for us to have a new start", felicia blurted out, causing the entire table to just silently gawk.

'great going, felicia. now you've done it! what's more awkward than telling your crush and his entire family about your past trauma?! now they're staring at you weirdly; they're speechless!', felicia internally cried.

     'should I laugh?? should I cry?? no, definitely not cry. maybe I should say just kidding??'

     "b-but he died a long time ago, so it's ok—"

     mirabel immediately pulled the girl into a tight hug, as luisa displayed a visible pout. despite her strong exterior, the nineteen year-old had a heart of gold.

     "aw, I'm so sorry, felicia. I didn't mean to bring it up", alma apologized, completely understanding how it feels to lose a loved one.

     "no no no!! it's okay! it's not your fault, señora. and plus, it happened three years ago, so I've been given enough time to heal", felicia quickly added on, to which alma had refused to believe the girl's comforting lies — because she knew damn well that a loved one's death will forever reside in one's heart and mind.

     camilo just stared, as felicia glanced over at him, raising a brow. it was as if she were asking him, "are you okay?"

     snapping out of his trance, he had mindlessly blurted out a suggestion that had caused the rest of his family to erupt into incessant laughter.

"you can always borrow my dad".

félix made an addled expression, meanwhile bruno and agustín had sipped their coffee.

"p-pardon?", felicia squeaked out.

"camilo, don't you think you're skipping a few steps?? shouldn't you ask felicia out first?", isabela teased, causing the boy to realize his mistake.

"n-no, wait!! what I meant was—like...papa likes to read, and so do you, so like...you two would get along...??", camilo attempted to explain.

"read? since when does your papa read?", pepa questioned.

félix started sweating bullets, as he cleared his throat and roughly patting camilo's back in a warning manner.

"I thought I told you to keep this between us?!", his father harshly whispered, outwardly displaying a forced smile.

"but yeah, I do a little light reading here and there. if you'd like, you're welcome to talk about it with me. only if you'd like though; no pressure!", félix lightly chuckled, meanwhile isabela and mirabel were snickering at their embarrassed cousin.

"a-ah...I'll keep that in mind then", felicia nicely replied, as she was trying to keep her head from spinning.

once an unpleasant silence had fallen amongst the diners again, alma had cleared her throat and insisted that felicia try julieta's special arepas.

as felicia nibbled on the food, refusing to make eye contact with camilo, she was caught staring at bruno, who was feeding his little rodent friends.

"o-oh, um, sorry about that! they're clean, I swear!!", bruno informed, to which felicia had just smiled.

"they look friendly".

"they are!! would you like to—"

     "ahem, bruno", alma interrupted, to which bruno had immediately stuck his rats back under his ruana.

     "apologies about that, felicia. anyways, if you ever need any help, just know that all you need to do is ask", the elderly woman offered.

     "thank you, señora alma", the sixteen year-old replied, as the rest of dinner went smoothly with small talk happening here and there.

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after dinner, felicia had strongly insisted on helping with the dishes, but julieta had politely refused, as she explained that her husband would help her.

"thank you for dinner then, señora julieta", felicia said, as julieta had given the girl a warm embrace before watching her leave the kitchen.

"ah, señor bruno!", felicia called out, as camilo, who was waiting by the front doors, had slightly tilted his head to the side.

"y-yes?!", bruno flinched, as he had paused in talking to his rat friend.

"can I pet him or her?", felicia mumbled, hovering over bruno's pet that was just sitting on the man's palm.

"oh, sure!! yeah, he — alvaro — doesn't bite or scratch", bruno timidly notified, as felicia's pointer finger rubbed the top of alvaro's head.

the hazel-colored rat squeaked in response, as felicia softly giggled at his reaction.

bruno was just glad that the girl didn't run away screaming.

"well, thank you for letting me pet him. you have a nice evening, señor bruno", felicia said, as bruno wished her a nice evening as well.

"sorry for the wait. you really don't have to walk me ho—"

     "of course I have to, princesa! you think I'm just going to let a girl walk home by herself at this time?", camilo interrupted.

     "the sun's just setting", the diaz reasoned.

     "after you, princesa", camilo gestured, as he swung open the door and ignored the girl's concerns.

     felicia sighed, shaking her head with a small smile, as camilo pridefully slammed the door shut, which caused casita to purposely (almost) trip the boy on his way out.

     "you okay?", felicia asked, spinning around, as camilo just nodded, stumbling his first few steps before steading himself.

     the two had then started heading back towards felicia's house, meanwhile dolores and pepa were hiding behind a nearby bush.

     "okay, are you sure that this'll work?", pepa murmured.

     "camilo was saying how he wished that it was cold before dinner. if this doesn't, then I don't know what will", dolores quietly answered.

     sighing, pepa had started faintly chanting, "chilling breeze, chilling breeze, chilling breeze, chilling breeze..."

     "is it just me, or is the weather suddenly getting colder?", felicia asked, wondering if it was because the sun had set, so the warmth had left as well.

     camilo just shrugged, as he then noticed that the sixteen year-old was only wearing a pollera and the usual white short-sleeved top.

     "let's hurry and—"

     "wait, felicia..."

     "yes?", the girl asked, her arms already hugging herself, as the wind was really starting to pick up.

     camilo hastily shedded off his yellow ruana, as he enclosed it around the shivering girl.

     "but then you're going to be cold", felicia stated, as she attempted to take it off, only for camilo to stop her.

     "I'll be okay. at least I'm wearing long sleeves", the middle madrigal retorted, enjoying the fact that felicia had indulged in her desires of wrapping the piece of clothing tightly around herself.

     "thank you, camilo", felicia bashfully smiled, "I'll return it to you after I wash it!"

     "ah, you don't have to wash it if it's too much work. and...you can keep it for a while if you'd like. I have lots of those at home!"

     "you're too nice", felicia admitted, as she aggressively rubbed her palms together, hoping that they'd warm up soon.

"not really", camilo muttered, refusing to break eye contact with the road, as he slyly extended his hand back, offering to hold felicia's.

surprised, felicia had taken a moment to accept the endearing gesture, causing camilo's heart to flutter.

being the awkward teenagers they were, felicia had stared at the lovely gravel, meanwhile camilo was enjoying the view of the husky night sky.

     though because felicia was more reserved, she had only connected their pinkies. camilo certainly didn't mind, for he was just glad that they were making progress.

     dolores squealed in excitement, as she spilled everything to her mom, who was so giddy that she had accidentally caused the breeze to cease and the weather to hastily warm up.

     felicia and camilo, who were still on their way home, could feel the dramatic difference.

     though none had mentioned anything about it, as felicia enjoyed the comforting ruana and physical touch.

     "mamí, the wind!!", dolores reminded, to which pepa had weakly shrieked and started manifesting the chilling breeze again.

     "this weather's really bipolar...", felicia commented, as camilo had immediately figured out what was going on.

     "right? anyways, don't think too much about it. we're here", the boy had lightly chuckled, finally meeting felicia's doe brown eyes, as their hands had unfortunately slipped apart.

"thank you for walking me home, camilo. stay warm", felicia stated.

"no worries, I'm sure this storm will...blow over", camilo uttered.

the two had then just stood there, as if expecting for the other person to say something first.

'come on, felicia! isn't this the whole point of bringing him the jar of honey?? to ask him on a second date?!'

'SPEAK, CAMILO — SPEAK!'

"um—"

"I—"

"you got first!", the two of them exclaimed in sync.

"no you!"

"no you!", they repeated.

     camilo snorted as felicia chuckled at their silliness.

     "no but seriously, you go first", felicia insisted, to which camilo had scratched the back of his head in hesitance.

     "umm...I was wondering if you wanted to go on a second date...look, I know I messe—"

     "I'd love to", felicia plainly stated.

     "what?"

     "I said that I'd love to, camilo".

     the madrigal swore that he was going to get lectured again, because he knew that dolores could hear how loud his heart is beating right now.

     "then...next wednesday! I'll come pick you up after chores and take you somewhere exciting", camilo promised.

     "I'll be looking forward to it then", felicia brightly smiled, gently clutching onto the edge of camilo's ruana, as she waved him goodbye.

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