·44·

"I love you"

It was another beautiful morning in Encanto. Camilo was buttoning his shirt, getting himself ready for the day.

Going out of his room, he catches a glimpse of his little brother, Antonio by the hallway along with his feathery and furry friends. "Mornin', Antonio." He greeted him, ruffling his hair as he approached him.

"Morning," The boy greeted back with a smile.

The two boys walk down together, a bit of sourness present on Camilo's face realizing how his little brother is slowly growing up.

Mierda, I'm not ready!

"Hey Antonio," Camilo said as they reach the bottom floor. "Yeah?"

"Give me a hug – a big one," He said opening his arms as he urges him to come closer and give him some sugar.

Antonio was a bit confused, but he still hugged his brother. "Tighter, man. Put some strength into it!" Camilo laughed, suddenly lifting Antonio up, right as soon as he felt the little boy's grip get tighter.

The little boy got surprised by his older brother's sudden actions, but he did like it.

The two of them proceed to goof around a bit, with Camilo saying that it was to help them work up an appetite for breakfast right when their Abuela caught them making a lot of noise so early in the morning. Although it wasn't in a scolding way, more like a confused, curious, happy one. If that makes sense.

After having a delicious early morning meal together with the whole fam, and helping with washing the dishes, Camilo walks out of the kitchen and crosses paths with his Tio.

Not Bruno. His other Tio, Agustin.

"Oh, Camilo, have you seen Mira? We're supposed to play a really cool board game later with Luisa but she's the one who hid it away last time," Agustin explained, doing a little excited dance along with it too. "Wanna join us?"

"Thanks, Tio, but maybe next time," Camilo said, politely declining as he slightly waved his hands. "Mirabel went out earlier, I'll be sure to tell her to come back in time for your game though."

"Gracias, Camilo," His uncle said, putting up a thumbs up before heading towards the kitchen, most likely to his wife, Julieta since she was still tidying up a few things there.

A few steps from the doorway, onto the path, Camilo could spot his short-haired cousin with glasses from a mile away. Seeing the direction she seems to be heading toward, it's most likely she's planning on giving her little Romeo a visit.

He scoffed, wondering why what she was doing seem so familiar before heading off to pester his own Juliet. That's if she's not busy doing anything important. Otherwise, he'll just have to come back later after he slacks off a bit from his chores.

Not a lot, just a bit. A teeny weeny, itsy bitsy, little bit of chore procrastinating never hurt anyone, right?

And in Casita, there was Alma, the head of the Madrigals, walking out of her room. In the halls, she could hear her second oldest granddaughter, Dolores with her husband, Mariano Guzman as they go down the stairs. She could hear them talk about having dinner over at the Guzman's house so they could check on Mariano's mother a bit and entertain her for the night.

On the other end of the halls, over by the balcony, Alma could spot the backs of her second eldest daughter herself, alongside her own husband, Felix.

"Ay, forget about Camilo. We already know where he's headed," Felix said, waving a hand to dismiss the subject. "If anyone's going somewhere, it's Mirabel."

"She's been going to the library so often now, and it's not like comes home with a new book every time she does," Pepa mentioned, the two of them grinning at each other.

Alma simply shook her head at the two, it seems that even though they continue to age, they still don't change.

Even Julieta was laughing with her husband downstairs as they leave the kitchen.

Stopping by her deceased husband's photo, Alma looks at the eyes of the picture and mumbles at it. "I guess the apples really don't fall far from the tree, huh, Pedro?" She said, a bittersweet smile finding a way to be present on her face.

Alma flinches in shock, hearing a loud thud and clattering objects from upstairs, causing her to go back up to see what the cause of the commotion was when she heard; "Hermanito, are you okay?"

"Did something happen?" Julieta asks concernedly, craning her neck from below.

Clumsy Bruno chuckled nervously, picking up the things he accidentally let go of after accidentally forgetting a step down the stairs from his door. "Yeah, yes. I'm okay," He smiled sheepishly, putting up a thumbs up and even moving forward towards the railings a bit so Julieta can see his actions from downstairs.

Pepa laughed heartily, teasing her little brother about how clumsy he is while their eldest sister asked them to come down just so she could check and be sure he really was okay.

Smiling at herself, Alma shakes her head, turning back to do what she was originally going to do, seeing as how things seem to be going on just fine.

"Mmm..! It's so..." Camilo hesitated, smiling. "Burnt," said Estella, finishing his sentence.

"I mean, it's not like you've spent a lot of time in the kitchen to go from zero to a hundred in a day yet."

Scoffing at his optimism, Estella echoed the last word sarcastically. "You overestimate me," says her.

"You just underestimate yourself," Camilo says back, swallowing what was left of her sorry, burnt, whatever that was supposed to be. 

"I'm pretty sure finishing something like that is bad for your health." Sighing, she adds, "but then again, you do live with an aunt who heals people with her food for a living."

The boy simply laughs and pats her on the head in an attempt to cheer her up, even though he thinks she looks cute when she pouts like this.

"I know what'll cheer you up," He says with overpouring confidence, making her arch a curious brow, interested in what he's got in mind.

★ ★ ★

"The waterfall?" Estella said in surprise, finding herself walking towards the Encanto's only waterfall that's very deep in the forest. Near the foot of one of the mountains too – probably the only few mountains Luisa hasn't moved.

"Yeah! Can you believe I just remembered how we had a waterfall not that long ago?" Camilo asks, his excited smile making Estella warmly return one back at him.

"To tell the truth, it slips out of my mind too," She answered. "But what're you even planning? I thought you said you'd show me something fun on the way here?" Estella wondered, curious about what he'll be showing her.

Walking closer to the water, Camilo urges her to follow him. "Fun fact, I think the waterfall is the only place where we can talk about anything freely since Dolores wouldn't be able to understand us properly 'cuz of the water," He says in a matter-of-fact tone, acting all smart and smug, taking Estella's hand so she'd get support and not slip by the rocks or something.

"Uh-huh," She says, "And?"

"You know, I actually went here the other day. If you look real close over here, you'd see something shiny down in the water," Camilo explained, crouching down and looking by the water as he did so.

Estella, fully invested, crouches beside him and does the same thing. "Really?" She let out in a bit of disbelief, eager to see what he was talking about when all of a sudden she felt his hand on her back right as he pushed her forward, making her lose her balance and ultimately fall into the water.

Gasping as she reached the surface, she immediately hears his booming laughter along with the rushing water going down from the falls. "Oh, you should've seen the look on your face when you went down!" He teased, laughing so hard that he was starting to fall on his back slowly.

"It keeps playing in my head in slow motion, help!" He says in between his laughs while Estella grumbled.

"You're lucky I forgot to bring my bag! If my notebook got wet I would've...!"

"Would've...?" Camilo echoed, wiping a tear from his eye, sitting up to look at where Estella was just a moment ago only to see that she isn't anymore.

"Alright, I get it. I'm sorry, you can come out now," He says, the smug smile on his face slowly fading into a concerned look.

"Estella?" Camilo called out, looking at the water. "This isn't funny anymore!" He yells, quickly taking off his sandals and his ruana, and when he was met without a response he jumped in without hesitation.

He dived deep into the waters and tried looking for her but eventually had to catch his breath. Camilo was already slowly getting consumed by the worries in his head when he heard her giggling as he rose up to the surface.

"Seriously. That wasn't fair, I thought you drowned or something," He said, swimming towards the girl who was now sitting by the rocks, her feet dipping in the water.

"You started it. I didn't even get to take my shoes off, now everything is drenched," She says, picking up the shoe she put down beside her to dry.

"At least you aren't frowning anymore," Camilo shrugged, taking it as a victory as he swam over to her.

"Uh-uh-uhn," She says, wagging her finger as she pulled her feet up, reading the look on his face. "You're not dragging me down there, mister."

"Who said I was?" Camilo lied, lifting himself up and getting out of the water while she stood up and distanced herself just to be sure.

He scoffed, a few chuckles escaping his lips as he tried to find a way how to get her back in there. "What're you doing?" He asked in an attempt to distract her while he pretends to go grab his ruana.

Taking the bait, Estella lets her guard down eventually, answering him, "Nothing." When all of a sudden she sees him already ready to grab onto her and drag her with him to the water.

The two were already drying off themselves, laying down by the grass that was still near the waterfalls.

"Do you think Tia Pepa could also control the shape of her clouds?" Estella asked curiously, looking up into the sky.

"I don't think so," Camilo answered. "But it would be kinda cool if I found out Mami could do that," added the boy with a short chuckle.

"Why are you suddenly laughing?" The girl asked, looking at him with a confused smiling expression as Camilo only continued to chuckle.

Shaking his head he says, "Nothing." But even though he said that he still told her what his thoughts were. "I just think the things we talk about are so random."

"They are, aren't they?" She smiled, also realizing the fact. "Is it because we transfer from one topic to another, that "another" being something so far from the previous one?"

Camilo lightly chuckled, answering, "Nah, you're just odd." Estella still smiled, knowing how they both know how weird she can be.

"You'll stay inside most of the day then you'd go roam around the forest the next, trying to climb trees and mountains just to take a look at something," He says, turning his head to look at her.

"You're so odd that I can't help but follow you around and wonder what you'd want to do next."

"You sound so passionate," Estella murmured, speechless from his sudden words, and under his intense and serious gaze.

"I am passionate," Camilo said, turning to look back at the sky. "Passionate about you," He added, a bit of a playful smirk present on his lips as he managed to intertwine his hand with hers.

Estella scoffed, "Seriously." Covering half of her face with her other hand as she turned away, trying to hide her blushing face, Camilo didn't even need to look to know how she was probably looking as red as a tomato.

"You say weird things all of a sudden – it always catches me off guard," She says embarrassedly.

"You really need to stop using weird as a substitute for the words romantic and love," Camilo teasingly said, resulting in her lightly nudging him on the side and making him laugh.

"We gotta talk about why you keep using violence as your love language too, amor," He says, teasing her more.

"Do not tempt me," Estella huffed, glaring at him.

Camilo smiled, planting a kiss on the back of her hand. "Te amo, Estella."

After a short moment of silence, Estella also managed to try saying it back, her heart beating so fast and her lungs having trouble circulating air as they almost make it hard for her to even breathe.

"I–," She cut herself off, seeing how Camilo suddenly but slowly sat up. Doing the same, she faces him in silence, and as he turned his head, she could feel her heart melt from his heartwarming smile and tender gaze.

"I didn't say it to hear it back," He spoke, caressing her hair gently. "I just told you so you'd know." 

Estella's cheeks slightly blushed. He always knew how to please her ears and set her heart aflutter, but this time, it was as if she didn't know what to feel. 

"What about you?" She asked in a quiet whisper. "How would you know if I feel the same if I don't say it back?"

Camilo's tender smile sneakily turned into a cheeky smirk, raising her chin to face him properly as he murmured, "What about a kiss?" 

Saying that made Estella flustered, making her hit him as an auto-response, somehow. "Worth a shot," He shrugged, smiling. 

"Besides," Camilo spoke, "I'm pretty sure your love language is violence."

"Hey!" Estella laughed, hitting him lightly on cue before her moment of late realization. "Oops," She smiled sheepishly.

The two continued to joke around with each other in their undisturbed free time. But one could only wonder if they'd stay that way all the time. . .

Not to mention, Estella and Camilo's future has already been seen by a certain someone anyway. And, as the song suggests; "Your fate is sealed when your prophecy is read".

So, I'm pretty sure they're gonna do fine.

Even as the years pass by. . .