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⚠︎ᴄʀɪɴɢᴇ⚠︎ᵖʷⁱᵈᵏˢᵏᵃˡᶜⁿˢⁿⁱⁱᵈʲˢᵒʳʳʸ ᵃᵇᵒᵘᵗ ᵗʰⁱˢ ᵍᵘʸˢ, ᵇᵘᵗ ˡⁱᵏᵉ ᵃ ʷⁱˢᵉ ᶠʳⁱᵉⁿᵈ ᵗᵒˡᵈ ᵐᵉ, "ᵃˡˡ ʳᵒᵐᵃⁿᶜᵉ ⁱˢ ᶜʳⁱⁿᵍᵉ".

"Suck It Up, Buttercup"

"Mirabel?" Enrique lets out, surprised to hear and see her there. Laughing amusedly, asking "What are you–?" before he cut himself off, figuring out by himself why she was here.

"Estella," He says instead while she nods at him. "Speaking of Estella, where is she?" Mirabel asks, eager to know where her friend was.

"Ah, well, Ines – my cousin's wife, said she went to buy something from the market. Maybe she's still there," He claimed, the two of them agreeing to go look for her there.

"Are you alone?" Enrique asked as they walked together. "No, I'm with Camilo and Isa," She answered, surprising him a bit.

"Your sister, Isabela?" He asked, a bit of disbelief present in his voice.

"You guys aren't the only ones who crave adventure," Isabela chimed in, popping up and blocking their path.

"Good news," She says before any of the two teenagers could get a word out, "Camilo and I found Estella."

"Not so good news," She then added, making Mirabel and Enrique furrow their eyebrows. "I think he's gonna start being a jealous wreck and I don't have enough money to buy that delicious-looking thing called popcorn to watch the drama unfold!"

★ ★ ★

Estella was just on her way back after buying the one thing Ines somehow forgot to buy – garlic, a small bag full of it.

"Does she like garlic as much as she loves potatoes?" Estella asked herself, muttering as she eyed the bag she was carrying.

Stopping, Estella finds herself in front of the gigantic window that displays different knickknacks again – the one she saw just yesterday. She smiles as her eyes land on the same thing she saw yesterday.

I'll buy that later. She says to herself in her head, putting up a mental note before turning around to march back to Ines.

"Oop–" She squeaked, bumping into someone. "Sorry! I'm so sorry!" She exclaimed before noticing how the person she bumped into was the same one as yesterday.

"You!" They both said, pointing at each other surprisedly at the same time.

"Sorry, I really need to look at where I'm going," Estella laughed awkwardly, trying to make a joke, and ends up lighting a conversation that two certain people seemed to have seen.

Camilo ended up catching up to Isabela to exchange photos – not that he doesn't trust her with it, he just really wanted it back. And since Isabela was going to try asking somewhere near the market, the two of them ended up seeing her as she stood in front of the shop she was at just a moment ago.

"Wait, there's Mirabel!" Camilo pointed out, catching Isabela's attention, seeing her walking with Enrique. "I'll call them," Isabela said, about to start walking towards the other two before they end up going further away.

"I'll go get–..." Camilo trailed off, as soon as he turned his head his eyes landed on Estella conversing with a boy. She looked happy.

Isabela had a glance at his reaction before continuing to walk and fetch her sister, amusedly talking to herself in her mind, I am so going to tell Dolores about this when we get back.

"I guess I'll see you around," The stranger said to Estella, bidding her goodbye with a wave and a smile as she did the same. Estella sighed in relief, glad she didn't make everything all awkward since she rarely even knew what to say or talk about.

She turned her head, feeling like someone was watching, and ended up meeting eyes with someone she didn't expect to be there.

Camilo smiled as he walked toward her, finding her surprised expression cute. "Did you miss me?" He asked, stopping right in front of her and making her scoff.

"Maybe," She replied, not wanting to admit she did, knowing how confident and smug he'd probably be if he heard her say that.

Estella noticed three more figures popping out of the crowd behind Camilo, getting even more surprised as soon as she saw Isabela being one of them.

The boy figured Mirabel was probably right behind them after seeing Estella's gaze on something in the distance. He noticed that she was carrying a basket and didn't hesitate to carry it for her, snatching it away from her hands before wrapping his arm around her shoulders and walking with her.

"Really? No drama?" Isabela asked in disbelief and disappointment, crossing her arms.

The five of them walked back towards the Marquez' house, both Mirabel and Enrique trying to explain each other's side of the story while Isabela let her eyes wander around from the people to their clothes to the buildings and the shops. And even though Estella was blushing a bit at how Camilo's arms were still wrapped around her shoulders, feeling like there was something off about his silence. 

"We're here!" Estella said in a sing-song voice as she came in the door, making Ines smile as she walked out of the kitchen, but ends up dropping her jaw on the floor as soon as she saw the number of guests multiply by three.

"Hehe," Enrique chuckled nervously, knowing how he'd probably get in trouble if his Tio came back with four strangers sleeping in their house, and since Bubo was there, he knows he was already getting a bit of scolding later.

"I can explain?" He said, almost shrugging.

Ines and Isabela immediately clicked with each other, making Mirabel joke about who was Isabela's real sister – Ines or her, since the two of them look alike, and have the same taste in fashion. Plus, they've been talking non-stop about all kinds of things for the past three hours.

Enrique was busy fixing up his room and looking for extra sheets since he and Camilo will be roomies again while the three girls share their guest room.

Thank goodness that room was spacious.

Bubo left a few minutes after breakfast and headed off to work for the day.

Estella was upstairs in the guest room, rummaging through her things since she just found out that her little money bag had a rip and now they're all scattered in her bag.

Camilo and Mirabel on the other hand were just sitting in the living room, watching some telenovelas.

"Tio Bruno's rat show has a better plot," Camilo said, even though his eyes were still glued to the television.

"He did mention his real gift was "acting" once, maybe writing is another one of his talents," Mirabel mentioned, scootching over and clearing her throat to ask about what juice she just missed from earlier.

"So, care to tell me why Estella looked like she was a tomato that was about to faint or...?" Mirabel grinned, wiggling her eyebrows at him.

"It was nothing," He simply said, still stuck watching tv, secretly not wanting to let Mirabel figure out that he was being a jealous guy again.

He isn't even her boyfriend, so he figured that he should just suck it up as a real, jealous boy should.

"Pft, "nothing". It's always nothing," She pouted, crossing her arms and slouching on the sofa. Disappointed in how her cousin always dismisses her whenever they talk about his romantic feelings. It's not like she'd tell Estella about it.

Just Dolores and everyone else probably.

"Suck it up," He told Mirabel teasingly just so he won't be the only one, making her roll her eyes at him.

The two of them turned their heads, hearing fast thumping as a person quickly makes their way down the stairs.

"I'm just going out, I won't be long," Estella yelled in case anyone came looking for her again, feeling excited as she walks out the door carrying almost all of her money.

Camilo and Mirabel looked at each other, both sharing a puzzled look, wondering why their friend was in such a rush.

Estella clutched her little bag of money, hoping it was enough to buy the sea shell she keeps looking at from a shop window. Giddy and excited, she immediately runs down the stairs and marched straight towards the direction of the shop.

At first, she didn't quite pay attention when she thought someone was calling out to her faintly, not until the voice got louder and a bit cut off.

Turning her head, Estella looked for the person who was calling her out only to find Camilo talking to another girl.

She hesitated, wanting to go towards them and possibly interject in their conversation but ended up not doing anything and turning back to where she was initially headed off.

Frowning, she starts scolding herself in her head, So what if he's talking to a different girl, smiling and all that stuff? Sure they're probably flirting or something but so what?

S'not like I'm jealous or anything, she sighed, trying to brainwash herself again.

"Oh, suck it up," She hissed under her breath, getting angry at herself.