·41·

"Kiss"

After months of preparations and excitement, today is finally the day of Mariano and Dolores's Wedding Day.

It's still pretty early in the morning and the ceremony starts exactly at one in the afternoon, but everyone couldn't help but be so busy already.

Quietly, opening the door to her siblings' nursery, Estella takes a peek just to see if they were still asleep, and to her surprise, sees how her little brother was already standing up by the railings.

She chuckled softly, going inside to go check on him. "Good morning," She whispered at him, picking him up and turning him around to check for. . .

Well, poop.

Fortunately, he hasn't taken a massive dump yet. After successfully changing him, Estella takes him out of the nursery so he wouldn't make any more noise that could wake la princesa, Lorena.

"C'mon, let's go hombrecito," The girl smiled, putting her hair on one side so she could carry her brother on the other. "You know how cranky she gets whenever she wakes up against her will," Estella tells him, sighing at how he's already trying to grab on her hair.

"Lorenzo, hair isn't food," She said, trying to move her head and her hair away from his baby hands. Heaven knows how far that just goes.

Benito greets them in the hallway, clapping his hands at his son and gesturing if Estella would pass him the child. Giving her father her little brother, Lorenzo, she hears him ask, "Is Lorena still asleep?"

"Si," She answered, making her father nod at her before the two parted ways with her, taking her brother downstairs so she could get ready or get some rest for a bit.

Hearing a thud and a grunt from outside her door, the girl shakes her head as she smiled, knowing how he was probably going to be on the other side as she comes in again.

Seeing Estella open the door, Camilo smiled at her sheepishly while her face changed from excited to confused.

"What exactly have you been doing?" She asked, walking towards him and picking out a leaf from his head.

Catching her attention by wagging a flower at her in his hand, he tucks her hair behind her ear and says, "For you."

Estella chuckled, taking the flower and putting it in a vase on her bedside table along with all the other flowers he gave her throughout the week.

"Could I ask for a small favor, amor?" He grinned, tilting his head so he'd catch her gaze. "Of course, what is it?" Estella asked, turning to him after fixing her growing bouquet.

Showcasing the gigantic rip from behind his ruana, Camilo places a finger on top of his lips, asking if she'd keep it a secret from both Mirabel and his mother since he already asked his younger cousin to patch it up just yesterday.

"Alright, alright, take it off," She sighed, already grabbing a needle and thread from one of her drawers.

Estella sat on her own bed, took Camilo's ruana, and started fixing it up for him as he sits beside her and watches her.

Caressing her long, dark, curly hair, Camilo pouts, asking, "Are you really going to cut your hair?"

Humming and clearly still hesitant about it, Estella shrugged, saying, "I'm still thinking about it."

Camilo mumbled something under his breath, his voice being a little too deep and hushed for Estella to understand.

"How short is it going to be?" He questioned, moving to her back and combing her hair with his hands as he starts tying it up.

"Just about above the shoulder probably, so I can still tie it up when it gets too hot or something," She answered, making a face when she realized she almost pricked herself.

After Camilo made a low hum sound as a response, the two of them eventually got too occupied with what they were doing to say anything else, letting nothing but comfortable silence envelope them.

"Your ruana's done," Estella tells him, afraid to move her head or make even the slightest gesture that'll destroy what he's been doing.

"Gracias, amor. Can I borrow your ribbon?" He asked, making her look at him from the side. She gives him her wrist where her ribbon was tied around most of the time, he takes it from her and starts tying it around her hair.

"Huh," Estella let out, looking at her beautifully braided hair in the mirror while Camilo puts his ruana back on.

"Would you tell me when you're cutting your hair?" He asked, causing her to laugh. "Why do you keep asking me about my hair? Stop wasting time and go get ready," She says, ushering him away.

"You never know how many musical numbers could happen while you're away," Estella tells him in a sing-song voice, making him smile in amusement.

"Okay, okay, I'm going," He said, turning to her and grabbing hold of her hands to stop her from pushing. "See you later," She says, looking at him with a warm smile, making him let out a short sigh, looking at her.

"See you later," He says back, climbing over her balcony's railings. "I promise to pay you back for this, by the way," Camilo mentioned, raising his ruana from the side.

"Take your time to figure out how," She tells leaning forward with a smug smile only for it to instantly drop down, her eyes widening in surprise as she felt his lips touch hers for a brief moment.

"Consider it as a little down payment," He winked, jumping off and landing on the ground on his feet with a grunt, looking to the side and noticing how he caught the attention of her family members downstairs.

"Ah," He stiffened, dusting himself a bit before waving at her parents with an awkward smile and greeting them, "Good morning."

★ ★ ★

Excited chatters from different voices overlapped with each other as people crowd the outside of the church.

"1," Dolores said, turning her back to the people with an excited smile, hearing the ecstatic squealing and excessive laughter and giggling as she clutches her bouquet of flowers.

"2," She counted, readying herself, before throwing the bouquet, yelling, "3!"

The woman couldn't help but wince a bit from the loud yelling and screaming all the other women made, trying their best to catch the flying flowers, knocking them further away as they fail to reach them. Still, regardless of all the noise she was hearing at full volume, Dolores was still overjoyed because of the most perfect day she was having.

"I got it, I got it," A woman claimed, trying to reach for the flowers, only to let them slip away from her fingertips as she jumped, trying to grab them, making them fall into a distracted person's hands.

"So, I hear you're interested in Wendy, huh?" Camilo nudged, teasing Isabela as she rolled her eyes at him, the two of them a little too distracted and occupied to notice the bouquet headed their way.

Surprised to have unintentionally caught something in his hand, Camilo's eyes widened in surprise as soon as he felt what he was suddenly holding, and in a state of panic, managed to throw the flowers at the person beside him who was no other than Isabela Madrigal herself.

Also wide-eyed to have felt something get shoved into her arms in the matter of what felt like nanoseconds, Isabela blushes, noticing the people turn their heads at her – the person who caught the bride's bouquet of flowers, also known to be the next person to get married soon.

Isabela glares at Camilo, not knowing what to feel; impressed about the fact that he managed to act so swiftly to avoid the situation, or upset that he passed the flowers to her in one of the harshest ways possible.

It's not like he meant to shove it at her though, he just got flustered and miscalculated Isabela's distance from him.

I mean, c'mon, who's going to be able to calculate this and that when in a state of panic, right? I know I can't. . .

★ // Crying Narrator Sounds // ★

Shrugging as he smiled apologetically at Isabela. Camilo yelps in pain as he gets hit on the bum by a closed flower, the identical twin of what hit Mariano's nose almost about two years ago.

"Hey, at least you're getting married soon," He laughed, avoiding another one of Isabela's flower buds that suddenly pop up from the ground.

Giving out a tight, slightly forced but still good-looking and toothy smile, Isabela chuckled awkwardly, suddenly getting the other people's attention while she noticed Dolores grinning teasingly at her in the distance. 

★ ★ ★

"Congratulations!"

After the ceremony, almost or literally everyone in town was seen inside the Madrigal's house – celebrating Dolores and Mariano's beautiful and successful wedding.

Formally dressed and styled like everyone else, Estella was busy getting some food since, in every event, it's one of the things that people are guilty of having to look forward to. Only, the food wasn't for her, but for her parents. Though she did steal a few bites. . .

No one can resist Julieta Madrigal's cooking.

"Gracias, Mija," Tacita said, thanking her thoughtful daughter for bringing them something to eat. Although the twins already know how to walk, they still necessarily can't leave them be.

"Why don't you go grab something for yourself too? Your mother and I can manage these two rascals," Benito informs her, referring to her siblings, and saying it as a way of letting her know that she shouldn't worry about them.

"Well," Estella trailed off, "I mean, I guess I could get a drink or something," She said, hesitant to leave but soon did after her mother shoos her away with her hand, gesturing for her to go on.

"Estella!" Someone called out from the crowd, seeing her walking by and making her turn in their direction.

"Oh, Se–," She cut herself off, "I mean, Tia," Estella corrected herself, making Pepa squint at her. "Still aren't used to calling us something other than Señor and Señora, hm?" The woman asked, placing an arm on Estella's shoulders.

"Ah, well," She chuckled nervously, shyly looking down at the ground. "Is he still being clingy?" She asked, suspiciously leaning very close to the girl.

"No– Yes. Yes, I meant no," Estella answered, quickly getting flustered while noticing how the woman was a few inches away from her face, even confusing herself with her answer.

"Good," Pepa said, nodding her head once before suddenly becoming someone else. Gap-mouthed and in disbelief, Estella laughs at Camilo who had just successfully fooled her.

"I can't believe I just got bamboozled," She said, covering her embarrassed, smiling face with her hands. Laughing– no, more like, chortling, Camilo wraps his arms around her and sways her playfully.

"Gotcha," He said, chuckling as she grumbles, letting her hands fall back to her sides.

"Hey, 'Stel," Camilo said, the two of them separating from the embrace. "What?" She asked with a mix of an amused and an annoyed tone present in her voice.

"You saw Isabela catch the bouquet earlier, right?" He asked, placing his hand on her back to help guide the girl as he slowly starts to walk with her.

"Yeah, I guess so, after looking past a number of heads. Why do you ask?" She questioned, wondering why he was bringing it up, just noticing the fact that they were actually walking now; she was probably the only person who was unaware of the movements of their own body.

"To tell you a secret," He said, leaning closer to her ear to whisper, "I caught it first."

"Okay," She trailed off, slowly, hesitantly, nodding her head at him in confusion. "Sorry, I don't get it," Estella admitted, laughing at her slow self and amusing the boy.

Sighing at her obliviousness, the two of them sit by the stairs up front, by Casita's main doorway. "Why do brides throw their wedding bouquet?" He asked, giving her the chance to process what he was trying to say.

"Err," Estella let out, fiddling with her fingers as she doubts the answer her head is saying. "So whoever catches it is the next person to get married?" She said with a questioning smile, shrugging before finally piecing things together.

"There it is," Camilo smiled, snapping his fingers at her look of realization.

"I mean," She started, laughing nervously, "Does it count if you give to someone else?"

"And it's not like we're a thing, thing, yet. Technically us being seventeen doesn't mean we're that young anymore right? But then again we're not even dating yet cuz I-," She blabbered in almost a whispering tone, feeling excited and nervous at the same time.

"Easy, then date me," He simply suggested, full of confidence and pride with his answer.

The girl blinked at him, his carefree way of asking her out not sinking in yet even though they'd done this multiple times already.

Leaning back with a light, disappointed sigh, Camilo mistook her silence for another semi-rejection. "Maybe next time," He said with a small smile, trying to hide the disparity behind his eyes.

Although it was not a rejection, he still couldn't help but feel down whenever she answers something other than "yes", or nothing at all. But, he's determined to eventually get a sweet yes sometime soon.

"All good things come to those who wait", after all.

Estella on the other hand doesn't necessarily want to keep on turning him down for the same old stinky reason. They're seventeen, what bad thing could possibly happen if they start dating now?

It's been almost two years since he started courting her too. She's surprised and relieved that he even lasted this long.

Seeing his reaction, she already saw right through him, noticing the slightly disappointed tone in his voice. "Err," She hesitated, the short sound that escaped her mouth making him straighten his back and look at her.

You'd think it was a meaningless sound, but to Camilo, it meant that she was thinking about it.

"You have been my suitor for a long time now and I really admire your loyalty and patience," She pointed out, trying to avoid his intense gaze and nervously playing with the hem of her blouse. "And I kind of like you a lot," Estella added, feeling herself blush as she kept her head down, trying to hide her face behind her hair only for her objective to fail since Camilo tied it up into a braid earlier.

"S-so," She stuttered, not knowing how the hell she was supposed to answer a question that was asked and dismissed literally two minutes ago.

Deciding to just F it, Estella inhales sharply, accidentally asking, "Would you kiss me?" The two of them were equally surprised, hearing the wrong words come out of her mouth.

Shaking her hands, "No, no, I meant date me! Go out with me?" She said, correcting herself but ending up sounding unsure if she was asking the right thing. "Be my boyfrie– mm!"

Feeling her heart fly up to the moon, Estella's eyes widened, feeling the boy's hands cup her face and his lips on top of hers. Closing her eyes, what was left of her brain cells dissolved into nothing as she feels herself melt into the kiss. Because just like Camilo, she kept on tempting herself to just kiss his irresistible lips.

She didn't know if it was the teen hormones or what, but she did try her best to keep it in which was the total opposite of what Camilo was doing – stealing kisses, giving out tight, passionate hugs, teasing, flirting, touching, etc.

Plus, she had no guts whatsoever to even attempt on stealing a kiss.

"Caramba," Camilo breathed out immediately after pulling away, knowing very well how he was probably blushing intensely right now. Her soft, warm lips felt so right under his, that the only reason he even pulled away in the first place was that he didn't want her to feel like he was rushing things.

Seeing her place her fingertips on her lips as she avoided his gaze embarrassedly, Camilo smiled warmly, thinking how cute she looks when flustered. The boy raises her chin to make her face him, asking in almost a murmur, "Could we do it again?"

Surprised to hear him ask that, Estella's body moved on its own again, her head nodding once for approval.

But just as the two were about to lean in, Casita starts moving them around, annoying Camilo a bit.

"Ugh, what is it Casita?" He asked with a bit of a complaining tone, being forced to stand up along with Estella. Not a moment later, the two of them turn their heads in unison as soon as they heard Mirabel's voice call them out.

"There you are!" Mirabel sighed, raising her hands. "The others have been looking almost everywhere for you guys. The two lovebirds are gonna slice the cake soon, wouldn't want you to miss it," She tells them, placing a hand on her waist.

"Right," Estella croaked out, glad Casita was there to spare them from having a witness to their lovey-dovey, semi-cringey kissing moment. "Right," She repeated, slowly nodding her head before slapping her hands together and saying, "We'll be right there."

"O-kay," Mirabel said in a sing-song voice, narrowing her eyes at the two, "I don't know about you but I'm not missing out on this cake," She shrugged, walking back inside, clearly excited to try out a piece of DoloRiano's mouthwatering, three-tier wedding cake. And yes, she calls the couple "DoloRiano" for short.

Letting out a breath of relief, Estella was just on her way to follow Mirabel inside, taking one step up from where she stood when all of a sudden a hand snakes its way to her waist, pulling her close to Camilo.

"We'll go inside after I get what I asked for," He grinned, making her blush as he raises her chin slightly upward and leans his head slightly downward just to get the kiss he wanted before they were interrupted.

Miercoles was the only word that entered Estella's thoughts as her eyes closed and her hands moved their way up to Camilo's face, cupping his cheeks and pulling him close while she felt both his hands travel down her waist, their bodies being as close as they could get to each other.

This time, she was aware of her own movements.