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The moment Julieta got her gift at the age of five, it was her duty to become useful to the town in healing everyone’s injuries. The moment they had actually figured out what her gift was, Alma taught her how to cook the most basic of foods as a starting point. And most days, she and her mother distributed her food to the townspeople.
The young girl had quickly started recognizing faces, seeing that some people in the Encanto were more accident prone than others, coming to her way more often than the usual one time every other month. One extremely particular accident prone person was a boy her own age with short black hair and a pair of glasses that had yet to grow into his face. His name was Agustín, and he ended up needing to be healed almost every day, sometimes several times.
Bee stings, other allergic reactions, broken bones, burns, she has healed him from everything, and from that young age Julieta had been wondering how the boy was even still alive with all of his bad luck. It truly seemed like a miracle.
As Julieta grew older and everything changed around her, Agustín was always a constant. Her cooking improved and she kept feeding the town, including Agustín. The young boy would usually stay and talk with her for a bit after she healed him, helping her handing out the food to the others in need as they laughed at some of his bad jokes. When she was free, Agustín could often be found together with the Madrigal triplets, playing games like football together, or tag. Most of those games usually ended in Julieta having to hand Agustín an arepa or two, either from an injury from slipping or by being hit by lightning by an angry Pepa after she lost a game.
Agustín was a nice, extremely kind boy, so Julieta had no problem with him spending so much time with her. By the age of ten, it was pretty much known across all of town that the very accident prone boy was her best friend. He could often be found sitting on a chair in the Madrigal kitchen, chatting with her as he watched Julieta prepare her food. He had been banned from helping in the kitchen a long time ago, after the third fire in a week and a ton of arepas having turned into what looked like pure coal.
His company always made the young girl happy, she smiled and laughed, and Agustín never seemed to be bored of her. It was nice. Julieta was often alone in the kitchen, both of her siblings thinking that watching her cook was boring, but not him, not Agustín. And it made everything much easier when he was close to her, because she could always feed him the moment he accidentally injured himself, which was often.
She couldn’t keep the laughter to herself the moment the chair Agustín sat on simply broke down without warning, making him fall backwards and sprain his ankle. He had given her an embarrassed smile as his whole face had lit up red before he began laughing too, and Julieta had placed an arepa in his hand before ruffling his hair, telling him how impossible he was sometimes.
Years go by.
Julieta was the first to turn thirteen, along with her siblings. Agustín’s birthday was a month and a half later, and Pepa had teased Agustín for still being twelve. He shrugs, saying he’ll turn thirteen eventually.
Then Pepa makes fun of the slowly darkening peach fuzz on his upper lip, saying he looks weird and stupid with it, and that his cracking voice made him sound dumb. Even if he didn’t look bothered by it, Julieta had told her to stop, and Pepa became mad in the process, beginning to thunder. And thunder leads to lightning, and with a literal magnet of bad luck in the room, it’s easy to see what happens next.
The aftermath of it all was Julieta screaming at Pepa in anger before grabbing Agustín’s hand, dragging him into the kitchen to get a buñelo after getting electrocuted. He gives her a reassuring smile, telling her it’s not as bad as the bees and that he will manage. She gives him a skeptical look, reminding him how she has already had to give him buñelos twice that day already.
He makes a joke that he really needs to spend all of his time with Julieta to ensure his safety. The idea doesn’t sound too bad.
They continue to grow, and soon both of them are sixteen. Agustín seems to properly hit puberty over a night, and suddenly he is taller than Julieta for the first time in their lives, and his scruffy peach fuzz had turned into a well kept moustache, which was really impressive for his age. He seemed to have grown into himself, while still being lanky. Lanky in a very handsome way, if Julieta was the one to describe him. Not that she would say that out loud, that would just be weird as his best friend.
And of course, he was as accident prone as ever, at this point everyone in the entire Encanto knew it was nothing the man would ever grow out of.
Pepa, who had long ago stopped teasing Agustín and instead also became a very good friend with him, since he was one of the very few people that didn’t make fun of her, suggests that Agustín should date Julieta.
“You’re practically already tied to her hip, it makes sense.”
Julieta spat out the water she had been drinking, and Agustín looked like his face had turned into a beetroot, if she didn’t know better she would have thought it was another allergic reaction.
“We’re just friends!” both of them blurt out at the same time, and Julieta feels her heart beating quickly from embarrassment. Yet, she thinks about it. They had been best friends for as long as she could remember, and Agustín was such an amazing guy, she really liked him. Yet, stuff like love confused her.
Yes, he did make her feel warm and fuzzy. She was happy and he always made her laugh and smile, but that’s just how a good friend always made someone feel, right? Right?
As it turns out, that was not simply how a regular friend made someone feel.
The revelation didn’t truly hit her until a few months after Pepa’s suggestion. She had just gone to bed after spending a whole day in town with Agustín, the two of them handing out arepas and buñelos to heal everyone. Afterwards on their way back to Casita, Agustín picked a flower and gave it to her.
“For you,” he had said with a smile and had just been about to gently place it in her hair, until a bee suddenly emerged from it and stung his nose, making him scream and drop the flower in the process.
Like always, she took his hand in her own and dragged him to her kitchen as both of their laughs echoed through the air. He ate and she stands on her toes in order to ruffle his hair like they always did as kids, and he thanks her as he gives her a hug. She swore she had never felt as warm in all of her life, and the rest of the day she had spent feeling… weird, not knowing what was wrong.
The moment Agustín had left for the night, with an extra arepa to take home with him in case he injured himself during the night, Julieta had finally gotten some time to herself, to think.
As she laid in her bed, Agustín was all on her mind. His handsome face, his kind and cute smile, the way his hands felt whenever she took it and dragged him to the kitchen. His laugh, their hugs, the way he seemed to look at her. It made her feel warm, and whole, like she was dancing on a cloud.
The moment she realized what this meant, she cursed. She loved Agustín, and now it was impossible to deny it any longer. She guessed she had always loved him. He simply wasn’t a best friend, he was so much more, he was everything to her. She wanted him, all of him, accidents and all.
Yet, she was too afraid to say it. They had known each other for almost twelve years, and the young woman was terrified that a confession would ruin the amazing friendship they had, especially if he didn’t reciprocate.
Friend or more, she wanted to keep him in her life, even if it pained her. So, she kept her secret bottled up, for a good while more. Agustín was none the wiser, and Julieta kept cherishing the times they spent together, hoping for a change.
About two and a half more years pass by in the blink of an eye, years where Julieta swears she’s about to go insane. Agustín never seems to get bored of her company, and even though she is grateful for that, it is also extremely painful to have him by her side almost daily when they’re nothing more than friends.
To be honest, he confuses her. It was very clear that she liked him, and it was also very clear that he was way too oblivious to get it. However, how Agustín felt? Julieta had no idea, he was like a blank card that Julieta couldn’t make any sense of. And that frustrated her, because she wanted to know how he felt, if he liked her back, or if he didn’t. If she got a solid answer, she could either become happy and stay by his side, or finally try to move on when everything was out in the open.
But when she was left in the dark, it was impossible to move on.
Both Bruno and Pepa had told her to simply tell him and wish for the best, but she just couldn’t. Whenever she tried, it was like her mind stopped working and she forgot how to speak.
He was just so confusing . Sometimes he seemed to flirt with her, giving her comments that a clearly platonic friend probably didn’t give to another. Sometimes he gave her flowers, often filled with bees and accidents occured. But other times he patted her on her back and clearly acted like there was nothing romantic going on. He called her a great friend with a smile on his face and helped her with her daily chores.
It was like he was switching back and forth, and it confused her to no end, making her frustrated. She wanted a clear yes or no, not these frustrating mind games that Agustín probably wasn’t aware were torturing her. He was such a sweet goofball, and all she wanted to do was to kiss him.
A few more weeks pass, and Pepa gets broken up by her latest boyfriend and destroys about a third of the town with one of her worst hurricanes in years. Julieta finds herself cursing at the boy and refuses to give him food after he broke his arm in the middle of the worst of the hurricane.
After the second day of the hurricane, Agustín practically moves into the Madrigal household, temporarily staying the night until Pepa’s weather stops. It seemed like the most obvious suggestion when she had already fed the man five buñelos and three arepas the following day, as he always seemed to be caught in the worst of the storm whenever he tried to go back to his own family.
Alma lets him stay, since she too realizes that he will eventually be killed by his bad luck if he’s left on his own in the village, and lets him sleep on the couch in the living room. Julieta’s room is forbidden ground, Alma makes that clear. Even if they weren’t together, she wouldn’t tolerate an unmarried young man and woman in their prime age alone in her daughters room over the night. She wants Agustín where she can easily see him.
Her explanation to her reasoning makes both of them red, and Julieta can’t look the man in the eyes for over a straight hour, while she can hear Bruno laugh in the background at how embarrassed they are.
Agustín sleeps on the couch, and Julieta sleeps in her room, like always. But in the middle of the second night of his stay, she wakes up to a soft knock on her door. She checks the clock on her wall, it’s two in the morning, and then opens her door. Agustín stands there, clearly embarrassed, holding his left hand with his others like he’s in extreme pain.
“I’m really really sorry for waking you up but I fell off the couch and I think I sprained my wrist of something and it hurts really bad, and there’s no food in the kitchen, I couldn’t find any and then I accidentally hit myself in the head with a frying pan and it’s a mess and I just made it worse and I don’t want your mother to kill me and…”
She cuts him off with a laugh and ruffles his hair as she takes his hand and leads him into the kitchen. It truly is a mess, it looks like there has been a war fought there with pots and pans everywhere.
“Well, you certainly weren't kidding. This is exactly why you’re banned from helping in the kitchen.”
“I know, I know. I’m really sorry.”
“Don’t be, I’m used to it. Just sit down and I’ll clean this up and make some arepas for you.”
“I’m really sorry for waking you up in the middle of the night.”
She laughs.
“Don’t be, you need my help,” she begins, and then rolls her eyes as she sees the embarrassed distress in his eyes. He is adorable, and all Julieta wants to do is to walk up to him, grab his collar and kiss that embarrassed little face. It should be impossible for someone to be as amazing and as attractive as him, so cute and kind even in the middle of all the accidents. It was part of his quirks. “I live with Pepa and Bruno , do you think I’m never woken up in the middle of the night or something?”
“Ah, right.”
“Yeah, so just sit there and try not to break anything else, okay?”
He nods, and she quickly makes some arepa dough and puts it in a pan. Soon Agustín has a freshly made one in his hand, and she sees how his injuries disappear in an instant, like always. Hopefully he would be free from accidents until the morning.
“Thank you,” he says as he gets up from the chair, and she follows him into the living room and sits down on the couch beside him. She won’t be able to go back to bed for a while, suddenly filled with energy, and she didn’t want to be alone. Agustín was right there, and she had to do it.
Now was as good of a time as any, when she was sure the two of them were alone and away from prying eyes. She couldn’t keep it bottled up anymore, and she needed to let it out. It was now or never. They were best friends and saw each other every day, she couldn’t keep this a secret, it wasn’t right. It was painful, like she was living a lie.
Agustín once again thanks her for making him food, and tries to apologize for being an inconvenience.
“You’re never an inconvenience to me”, she answers and takes a deep breath, trying to be brave. She lets her hand quickly run against the palm of his, but only for a second before she moves it away, trying to make it look like a swift accident as her face heats up. She wasn’t a stranger to holding his hand, of course she wasn’t, but most of the time it happened because she was literally dragging him to the kitchen, healing being the main focus.
She swore she saw all of his body tense for half a second, and she carefully braved the water by letting her hand touch his once more. This time she grabs it while looking away, too embarrassed to look at his face. His hand is warm and slightly sweaty, and her brain is screaming inside of her head, telling her to just say something .
“You’re amazing, you know that right? Accidents and all.”
She scratches the back of her head with her free hand. Her heart is beating quickly, and she feels how Agustín’s grip around her hand tightens in surprise.
“Julieta?”
There’s a confusion in his voice, a sort of awe. Wonder. She turns around shyly, afraid of what she might see only to see him look at her in confusion with a small twinkle in his brown eyes. She loves him so much .
“I like you, a lot,” she continues. “And, I was wondering if, if you’d like to go on a date with me some day when you’re free? But only if you want to. It’s fine if you don’t.”
A part of her expected confusion and rejection, but instead Agustín’s eyes go wide, his mouth is wide open as he keeps staring at her in pure awe, like he had just experienced the meaning of life. Was that a tear in the corner of his right eye?
“Julieta, do you love me?”
She nods as she bites her lower lip.
“Yes,” she answers, barely above a whisper as she looks down on the ground. Agustín takes her other hand and holds it tight, and she feels the warmth spread across her face as she sees the big happy smile on his own. She would die for him.
“How long?”
She swallows
“For a long time. I guess I really realized it at around sixteen, almost seventeen?”
“That’s… almost three years ago…”
She nods.
“Yes it is.”
“I’ve loved you longer than that,” he confesses. “Since we were fifteen. I’ve been trying to ask you out for years but I’ve always backed off at the last second every time I tried. I was scared I suppose, of losing you. I mean, what would someone as great as you see in a walking disaster like me?”
“Why wouldn’t I want a walking disaster like you? Agustín, I've been waiting for you to ask me out for years .”
“What? Why?”
“Agustín, you’re smart, kind, amazing, always make me laugh. You make me feel safe and happy when you’re around, and I don’t know if you have noticed, but you’re literally so attractive that you’ve been making me slowly go insane as I’ve been trying to drop hints about that for years.”
“You think I’m attractive?”
“Agustín, I would sell my soul for you, that is how attractive I think you are. It’s literally painful to keep my hands off of you.”
“I…wow. I… just can’t believe it. I guess I never saw the signals, neither of us did.”
Julieta can’t help but let out a laugh.
“I know. We could have gotten together years ago but we both literally did the same thing. We’ve both been so stupid it’s ridiculous. Haven’t we?”
“Oh, absolutely.”
She doesn’t really know what to do with the new information. She’s sitting here on a couch with Agustín, staring into his eyes as he’s holding her hands tightly, right after a mutual confession. It’s like time had stopped, and there’s only the two of them in the whole world. He loves her .
Just thinking it makes all of her squirm in the best way possible.
It’s Agustín that makes the next move, after almost a whole minute of silence. He lifts her hands and kisses her knuckles gently, his mustache tickling her skin. If Julieta didn’t know better, she would have believed Pepa had suddenly used her powers to turn up the heat in the air by several degrees. But Pepa was asleep, this was all her, swooning over Agustín’s gesture as she probably looked redder than ever. She can barely believe what was happening, so the moment he looks up at her she quickly presses a kiss against his cheek.
Agustín lets out a happy, slightly embarrassed giggle, and she kisses him again, this time on the lips, just like she has dreamed about doing for so long. It was so much better than she would have ever imagined, with all of her body becoming flushed and warm. She embraces him and kisses him again, and again, all between soft happy laughs.
“I’ve wanted to do this for so long,” she tells him as he teasingly places playful kisses on her cheek, quickly, one after another. “Hey, that tickles!”
“I love you.”
“I love you too.”
He presses one last kiss on her cheek before returning to her lips. He let his hands run through her hair, and afterwards she lets her head rest on his shoulder as she holds him closely, enjoying the moment. They’re so close, she can feel his heartbeat, and she’s the happiest she has ever been. It’s like three years of longing finally gets to be unleashed all at once. She suddenly feels braver than ever before, gives him another kiss before she’s leaning closer towards him, and whispers a suggestion in his ear that makes him turn red. She sees the twinkle in his eyes, a mix of excitement, curiosity and slight fear of the unknown.
“Are you sure?”
There’s a single nod, as she holds him tighter.
“I’ve never been more sure about anything in my life.”
He nods back, and their lips are pressed against each other as Julieta pushes Agustín back onto the couch. He kisses her everywhere as she leans over him. She runs her hands over his back. They tell each other how much they love each other, and at one point she has to awkwardly beg for forgiveness when she accidentally kicks him off the couch. She quickly has to run to the kitchen to get a leftover arepa, with only a blanket covering her body. They laugh and continue. She’s warm and happy and whole, and feels the absolute joy about being this close to Agustín. This is something she’s wanted for years, and now he’s there in her arms, as they’re cuddling close to each other.
They fall asleep together on the cramped couch with Julieta’s face buried against his side, nude frames pressed together, and it was nothing short of a miracle that it wasn’t Alma that walked in on them in the living room in the early morning. Instead, it was Pepa, whose thunder of surprise woke the sleeping couple up, only for both of them to shriek in a confused, extremely embarrassed terror as Agustín makes sure Julieta has the blanket over her. The clothes spread across the living room floor is still a very embarrassing give away, and Pepa raises her eyebrow.
“About time,” she simply says before she turns around, ready to leave the room. “How long have you been a couple?”
Julieta awkwardly looks over at the clock on the wall.
“Eh… about four hours, give or take?”
Pepa lets out a laugh that makes both Julieta and Agustín turn beetroot red as they’re making sure they’re properly covered by the blanket.
“Julieta, I’m impressed, I didn’t know you had it in you,” she teases. “Please get dressed before mamá sees you and kills you both.”
They never speak of that awkward conversation ever again.
Agustín and Julieta quickly get used to their new dynamic. Everything was pretty much the same as before, with the inclusion of more hugging, kissing, hand holding and pet names. Agustín still spent all of his days by Julieta’s side, helping her in any way he could, and Julieta kept healing him after every accident.
Julieta loved every bit of it.
It only took Alma a few days to discover their relationship. It had been during a family dinner Agustín had been invited to, and Agustín had asked Julieta to pass the salt.
“Of course cariño,” she had replied out of habit before giving him a kiss on the cheek while handing him the salt. Bruno let out a wolf whistle and Alma had a smile appear on her face.
“I see you finally came to your senses,” she said between laughter, and Julieta grabbed Agustín’s hand under the table. “I’m really happy for the two of you, but after dinner the three of us need to have a little talk.”
The talk is exactly what Julieta expects it to be, and she wants to die of embarrassment as her mother explains the proper way to court someone to them. She tells them the rules, and then warns Agustín to not break her trust by breaking her moral expectations of them. Julieta wants to die at that very moment and disappear into the ground, because her mother currently has no idea that the two of them had already broken the most important rule she had set for them, on her initiative. It wasn’t always the man who was the most persuasive, after all, unlike what her mother seemed to think. Agustín would have been way too shy to suggest something of that nature that early. She’s doing her best to not give it away, and thankfully Alma seems to think that her and Agustín’s red faces are simply red because the topic is uncomfortable, and not because Agustín has defied the rules of the Madrigal matriarch by sleeping with her daughter, because Julieta had literally begged him too.
She can hear Pepa’s laughter from the other room, and at that moment she wants to strangle her sister.
Somehow, they survive that conversation, and they’re allowed to keep dating. They go on dates, picnics and fancy dinners. Agustín plays the piano for her often, trying to learn as many songs as possible to entertain her. She still has her favorites that she asks him to play every time, and she’s always impressed by how precise and careful his playing is. His music is clearly filled with love, and she realizes just how lucky she is to have him. Sometimes they take strolls across the town, hand in hand. Sometimes they hike in the forest, just to get away from prying eyes in order to share some more passionate kisses and some funny, crude jokes.
A good handful of their dates end in Agustín getting injured one way or another (because of course he does, he is Agustín, and it’s something Julieta always expects), so she now has a habit of bringing some extra food in her pockets whenever they go out so that they won’t have to cut their dates short by rushing back to Casita. That decision is a gamechanger, and they get so much more time for themselves that doesn't involve her having to make an emergency meal.
Julieta is living her best life. She makes Agustín his favorite foods from time to time to show him her appreciation, and in return he spoils her rotten with chocolates and bouquets of flowers.
Sometimes they go on late night dates, sitting on a hill as they watch the stars together, tightly huddled together as they make up their own constellations and meanings behind them since they know nothing of astronomy themselves. They share the occasional kiss, and each kiss feels as magical as their very first one they had shared on the couch in the Madrigal living room.
Alma always waits up after such dates, making sure that Julieta is home on time and that Agustín goes home. She has a careful watch on the two. Julieta usually ends those nights by giving him a few extra kisses before they part for the night.
Alma’s watchful eyes are also why it takes a solid three months until they sleep together for a second time. Julieta knows she’s playing with fire the night she sneaks Agustín into her room, into her bed, right under her mother’s nose, and it was a miracle no one caught them on the way up the stairs.
The couple barely get any sleep that night, Julieta making sure they make up for any lost time. And it is a wonderful night indeed, with kisses and hugs as the two show their devotion and love for each other once again.
He calls her his amor, his corazon, his angelita and his tesoro, among so many more words that make her swoon as she begs him to get closer. She whispers his name, kisses down his collarbone and calls him her media naranja, her other half.
As the early morning comes, there’s a knock on her thankfully locked door, and Julieta has to quickly slide into her night gown as she basically throws Agustín and his clothes out the window to not be caught.
He breaks a leg, and she throws an arepa out after him.
“Sorry, sweetie!”
Thankfully, they didn’t get caught. She still secretly invites him from time to time, how could she not? But it’s not as often as she would like, the fear of them being caught because of an Agustín-caused accident being too big. When they do sneak him into her room though, no one is disappointed, there’s a thrill with sneaking around.
More time passes. They turn twenty, and then they turn twenty one, and their relationship keeps flourishing. Everyone in the Encanto has gotten used to their relationship. It hasn’t been that hard, the two of them had basically been a package deal since childhood, but now the town no longer saw them as the very tight childhood friends, but a young, extremely lovey dovey couple that always seemed to be by each other.
Julieta or Agustín were almost always seen touching each other in one way or another. It was usually simple, holding hands, an arm around one’s shoulder, or a hand on a waist. Always something, but even in the little gestures it was easy to see how in love they were. People joked that it could be spotted from over a mile away, and sometimes Pepa made jokes that they were unrealistically sweet to one another.
Speaking of Pepa, she recently got a new boyfriend. A handsome man named Félix that seemed to be really good for her. Both Julieta and Agustín liked him a lot, and once the two of them had gotten out of their honeymoon phase of their relationship where they only wanted to be in each other’s presence, Julieta wanted to invite them on a double date.
After one very suspiciously warm day, she stumbles upon Alma trying to interrogate Pepa after she has missed dinner, asking why her door was locked. Julieta immediately gets it as she looks into Pepa’s panicked eyes and covers for her.
“Mamá, it’s my fault,” she swiftly lies. “We had a fight after you went out into town and I screamed at her to go to her room because I didn’t want to look at her, so she locked herself inside.”
Alma buys it, and says she’s disappointed in them for fighting. Pepa (and Félix) are saved from Alma’s wrath, and her sister gives her a big hug once their mother is out of earshot.
“Thank you, if it wasn’t for you I would’ve been digging my own grave right now. I owe you one,” she says before she blinks and gives her a smug grin. “Just tell me when and I’ll cover for you, if you want Agustín over. You know I know that I’m not the only one sneaking behind mamá’s back.”
She immediately takes her up on her offer without thinking twice. The sisters covering for each other becomes routine, even though Julieta covers for Pepa at least five times a week while Pepa only covers for her and Agustín about once, maybe twice if they feel brave enough to play with fire and challenge their luck. She has no idea how Pepa does it, but she wouldn’t dare to try it herself. With such an accident-prone, bad luck boyfriend as Agustín, it would simply be a when , and not an if they got caught if they tried to sneak him in as often as Pepa snuck Félix in. She does appreciate Pepa having her back, a lot though, since it means she feels brave enough to have Agustín over way more than once or twice a month. They make up for it though, with lots of kisses and hand holding, and no moment feels dull.
Another year and a half passes by. Félix proposes to Pepa, and Julieta immediately feels a longing for the same to happen to her. She sees how happy Pepa is, there hasn’t been a cloud in the sky for weeks, and all she can do is imagine herself in the same situation, thinking about how happy she would be. She thought about her and Agustín and what their future could be like.
She gets skittish, unable to wait any longer and decides to say “screw you” to traditions and take matters into her own hands three months after Pepa’s proposal.
Julieta simply walks up to her mother one day, confidence in her steps.
“Mamá, I want to marry Agustín.”
Alma looks at her confused.
“He proposed?”
“No,” she answers and shakes her head. “I’m going to propose to him, I don’t care that it isn’t tradition, I love him and want to marry him. I just wanted to tell you in advance so that you won’t rat him out for not asking for your blessing once the engagement is revealed. I’m going to be the one asking.”
Alma nods.
“Well, that is certainly unexpected, but I do see how you love each other, and I approve of the match. I see how happy he makes you, and you have been together for a long time. I really wish you the best in asking him, he will make a fine Madrigal,” she says before she embraces her daughter with a smile, and Julieta is happy to have her mother’s approval.
The next day, she sneaks into the village to meet with Agustín’s parents. She asks for their blessing, and happily gets it. The house fills with excitement, and she quickly has to shush them as Agustín enters through the back door, surprised at seeing Julieta there.
“Hello mi querida, what a nice surprise.”
She kisses him before she quickly grabs him and pulls him out of the house, and as she looks back she sees how Agustín’s mother gives her a knowing smile as she waves at them. There's pride all over her face.
She proposes the very same day, having already carried the ring in one of her dress pockets, hidden together with all of her herbs. They make a quick stop at Casita where Julieta fills a basket with food she had previously prepared, telling him she’s taking him on a surprise picnic. She could see that he was still completely unaware, and a smile spread across her face. She was determined to make this a day they would always remember.
They have a lovely picnic, Julieta kisses him over and over, Agustín gets stung by a bee and she heals him. Then she brings up the future, asking him where he’s seeing himself in five years time, what he wishes the future would entail. She tells him she wants to be part of his future for the rest of their lives together, and that she wants to spend every moment she has left by his side.
She takes out the ring, and he says yes as tears start running down his face as he embraces her and presses too many kisses to count onto her lips.
“Te quiero, Agustín,” she tells him. “I always have, and I always will.”
“And I will always love you.”
When Julieta catches the bouquet at Pepa’s wedding two months later, in the middle of a full blown hurricane, they couldn’t help but laugh, knowing that their wedding was already right around the corner.