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Félix sips on his wine and finally looks up to Bruno. Bruno was a small man, but he is Pepa’s brother which meant he could be protective of his sibling. Julieta had been kind enough so far, but Bruno kept his distance. Perhaps Pepa’s brother wasn’t sure what to make of Félix yet or he had to prove himself as someone suitable for Pepa.
“So, you gonna give me the protective brother talk?” Félix teases.
“No,” Bruno shook his head. “You don’t have to worry about me.”
“Well, that’s good-“
“-It’s Julie you have to worry about,” Bruno cut him off. “She’s the oldest of us. If you hurt Pepa, she can break you and put you back together with her gift to do it all again.”
Bruno swirls his glass of wine and then chuckles to himself. He looks up with a smug expression before continuing.
“Honestly all I’d need to do is have a vision to know where to show up with a shovel,” Bruno then raises his eyebrows and thoughtfully looks down at his drink. “That is, if Julie leaves anything behind. Knowing how clean she keeps the kitchen, I’d be surprised if she even needed that from me.”
Félix felt his body go cold. He almost didn’t believe Bruno, but Pepa said he wasn’t the big jokester type. Besides, Bruno seems genuine and hardly concerned. This only cemented the fact that Bruno knew Félix wasn’t his concern. Félix is Julieta’s.
“Félix!“ Pepa calls, “We need your help in the kitchen.”
“Coming!” Félix shouts back.
“It’s nice meeting you,” Bruno reaches out a hand.
Felix hesitantly takes it, and is surprised when Bruno gives it a firm shake like Félix would expect from a body builder. Or perhaps someone who really could till the earth to bury something.
“Welcome to la familia Madrigal, Félix.”
Félix scurries off, nervous and shaken by what Bruno had said. Still, he is going to impress the family and especially Julieta now. Félix makes his way to the kitchen, stopping at the door.
Cracks of breaking bones welcome him as Julieta works on deboning and pulling apart a chicken for dinner.
“Can you cut this up for us?” Pepa says kindly as she held up some herbs. “Julie needs them for the pollo.”
“Of course! Consider it done, hermosa.”
Félix gives Pepa a kiss on the cheek. He tries not to laugh at the rainbow that blooms above Pepa’s head. Pepa turns to join her sister and boyfriend.
“Pepa!” Alma calls from upstairs.
“Coming Mamá!” Pepa shouts back before whispering to Félix, “I’ll be right back. Make friends with Julie, okay?”
Félix feels his stomach drop at the thought of being alone with Julieta, who has a large knife in hand, but did his best to nod. Pepa walks off and then he is alone with Julieta.
“I hope Bruno wasn’t too protective,” Julieta says with a smile.
Félix focuses on Julieta’s hands, which are cutting the chicken with surgeon precision. She slices the meat off the bone quickly, her knife gliding and cutting through muscle as if it was nothing. After hearing how she had already cracked the joints out of place so easily, he realizes Bruno was probably not kidding about Julieta being the real protector of the siblings. With how efficiently she could cut meat off a chicken, his imagination runs wild with what she could do to someone she saw as a threat to her little sister.
“Nope,” Félix winces at his voice cracking and fakes a smile, “I really think he likes me.”
Julieta giggles, “Good. I’d hate for there to be any problems for Pepa.”
Felix picks up the underlying message from that one. Still, it was best to get on Julieta’s good side by helping her prepare for dinner. He diligently cut the herbs as requested, and the two work in relative silence. Eventually the tense silence grew into a comfortable one. Félix felt more at ease. Maybe Bruno was exaggerating to spook him.
“You know,” Julieta says slowly, “Pepa is the middle child.”
Félix hums in acknowledgement and gives Julieta room to talk. She obviously has more to add.
“So that means both Mamá and I are very protective of her. I suggest you take good care of my sister, Félix. You seem like a kind man and I want her to be happy. She deserves sunny days and not rainy ones.”
“Of course!” Félix exclaims, “Pepa is a wonderful woman and I want to make her happy.”
“Good, then we won’t have any problems.”
“Problems?” Félix repeats curiously.
“Well,” Julieta slams her knife down onto the meat, cutting the meat clean in half, “you said you’d make her happy so that’s nothing to worry about.”
Julieta has a soft smile on her face, and slices quickly through peppers with a new knife. The speed of the blade is almost blinding, and Félix tries to hold back from gulping at the sight.
He really had worried about impressing the wrong Madrigal.