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Every day, she tells me how much she loves me, makes sure we spend time together, and treats my friends as her own kids. She never minds me constantly helping out Octavius and sometimes staying in his greenhouse, as his stepfather is a monster who even refuses to feed him.
He doesn’t want to report him, so they are stuck with him until Octavius turns eighteen and gets access to his inheritance so he can get custody of Estella.
In the meantime, it’s my job to provide him with everything he needs, and our bond has only grown over the years.
But every time I come here, I hurt.
As my best friend…the one who was meant to be by my side my whole life, is gone. He’s gone, and almost no one believes he’s coming back besides his desperate parents, who are using all their resources to find him.
Thank God Dad took over their empire; otherwise, they’d go bankrupt. Uncle Lucian is almost never here, and whenever he comes back, he’s all scarred with several new bullet wounds. Poor Grandpa had to go back to manage our business, and although he hates it, he did it for the Cortez family.
For me, the friendship between Dad and Uncle Lucian will always be something I admire the most and strive to have myself.
“We can name the baby after my dad if it’s a boy.”
“Over my dead body, love. I’m not naming my kid after a man who still calls me an asshole for stealing his daughter whenever he sees me.”
Mom laughs just as the car stops, and I get out, running toward Octavius and Remi who wait for me by the entrance. “Hey, guys!” I shout and jump on them, wrapping my arms around their shoulders, and they huff. “I’ve missed you.”
“We saw each other at school.”
“Forever ago!” I exclaim dramatically, and Remi elbows me, so I let them go. I scan Octavius and exhale in relief internally when I don’t notice any new wounds on him or a pained expression on his face. Then I shift my attention to Remi and don’t find anything on him either.
Although his clothes are smeared in dirt and he has new blisters on his hands, which means he’s been working in the garden to pick up the slack from his alcoholic father. My godparents don’t fire his father to keep Remi around, and even though they told him countless times to focus only on school, he still works in the garden, despising any charity.
They pay all his expenses—clothing, school, tutors, and everything in between—and he feels really bad about it, so he spends all his free time working.
When he can resist my stubborn self, that is, because I always drag him with us whenever we go somewhere.
“Have you seen her?” I ask him, and he shakes his head, so I frown. “Why not?”
He shrugs. “I thought we could do it all together.” The lie slips easily from his lips, but we can read him well.
He felt it was wrong to look at her without Santiago, and we all grow silent.
For the past four years, everything we do seems and feels wrong and like a betrayal to Santiago.
Our friend group is not complete without him. It’s like an important puzzle piece is missing.
Whenever we go out, we still automatically buy four tickets, ice cream, or any other stuff. Whenever teachers ask how many people will work on a new school project, we say four.
To us, he’s around, and we never voice our greatest fear.
That he’s dead, because how are we supposed to exist without him in this world?
There is no us without Santiago, so we pretend he’s around.
My parents got us all a therapist who did group sessions with us, which helped somewhat, but still, we can’t accept a reality without him. Not knowing is the worst thing in the world because it keeps you in limbo, where you don’t move forward.
“Hi, Aunt Calliope.” Octavius and Remi greet and hug my mom before going to my dad. “Hi, Uncle Jacob.”
“Hey, kids. Let’s go inside.”
We rush to the house, where I see a gaping Pablo. “Where is Jimena?”
“Upstairs. Your godparents are in the living room. Do you want to see them?”
“Could you give this to her, please? We’ll go see the baby first.” I practically shove the flowers at him as we race to the second floor and then turn to the right wing where there is a huge room dedicated for Jimena.
