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"The Day Before"

Estella carefully climbed down from the roof of their house and back to her balcony, her dark, curly hair getting blown to her face by the wind. "PFT," She sputtered, removing some hair strands that managed to get in her mouth as she heads to her Mother's sewing room to help out. 

She's a fifteen-year-old girl, the only daughter of Tacita and Benito Cortez - the famous tailors in their little village, however, the three of them are expecting a new addition to their family. With only 5 months left of waiting, soon, a new Cortez will finally be born. Estella has been doodling on her sketchbook since this morning, drawing her ideas for her new Chiquito or Chiquita's nursery.

She's always wanted to be a sister. 

Although, she admits, she used to want to be a younger sibling instead of the other way around. Still, a sibling is a sibling.

Estella was just an ordinary girl who was hard-working, talented, and like everyone in town, very fond of the Madrigals. She was even friends with the Madrigal's only chameleon. Yes, Camilo Madrigal himself. But then again, who wasn't he friends with? 

They've had a platonic friendship since they were children, but one day, Estella realized what she really felt toward Camilo, causing how she sees him to change. Literally. Every time they touch, her heart beats fast, her chest gets tight, and every time she sees him smile, she can't help but like him even more. 

"Estella?" Her Mother, Tacita, spoke, knocking Estella out of her own little world. She hummed in response, "Yes, Mama? Do you need help with anything?" 

"No, no. I'm fine, it's just that you've been staring at nothing for the past few minutes, Mija." She explains with a tender smile, making her daughter blush from embarrassment.

"I was?" Estella asked in disbelief, smiling back sheepishly as she scratched the back of her head. 

Tacita placed her hand on her daughter's shoulder. "Maybe you should go out and get some fresh air, you've been sewing with me since this morning." She suggested.

"It's alright, Mama. I already had time to rest." Estella reasons, "Besides, I'm not the one with a baby growing inside of me. You're the one who should be resting."

Estella's mother let out a chuckle as her daughter started lecturing her. "Alright, alright." Tacita replied, "Why don't we both rest? We could always continue this tomorrow." She finishes, standing up from her chair. 

"Okayyy," Estella trailed as Tacita dragged her along out of the room. "Is Papa still at nursery?" She asked, walking with her Mama to her room, her arms locked with Tacita's.

"Yes, but don't even think about helping. He's old enough to do it on his own." Tacita joked, lecturing her daughter back for always helping out when she should be enjoying her youth. 

Feeling her mother's hands pinch her cheeks, she groans, feeling too old to still get treated like a baby. "Mama," She whined, trying to stop her mother before her cheeks get sore. "Promise to actually rest, Mija, okay?" 

"Yes, yes." She answered, putting her hand on her cheek right after her Mama pulled back her hands. "I'll go rest." She says in defeat, walking away from her mother and towards her room to grab her carriel (leather satchel) since it had everything she needed to "rest". And by that, it means the book she sketches with multiple pencils and a lot of other things.

"Hola, Estella!" One of their neighbors greeted, waving at Estella as she fails trying to exit their house quietly.

"Hola, Señora Valdez." She greeted back, giving a small smile.

Noticing how the woman was carrying that looked heavy, Estella trotted toward her, asking if they needed some help.

"Gracias, Estella. What did we do to deserve a sweet angel like you?" The woman asked, letting out a relieved breath as Estella lightened her load by helping her carry a box that seemed to be filled with filled-up jars. Estella let out an awkward chuckle, feeling embarrassed about getting a compliment.

"Just doing what I can to help." She shrugged with a playful yet genuine smile.

It counts as resting if Mama doesn't know what I'm doing, right? She thought to herself, after putting down the box of jars filled with all sorts of things, and bidding goodbye to Señora Valdez.

Estella always liked helping people, seeing how even the smallest of actions can help a person's load get lighter gives her a sense of reason in life. "Teamwork makes the dream work," after all.

As Estella tries marching back toward the woods, she was interrupted once more by almost accidentally bumping into someone. "Camilo?" Estella jumped, surprised to see the famous Madrigal boy, known for his shapeshifting abilities.

"Hola, Mi Prinsesa." He said, smirking as his hands meet hers. Pulling them close to his face, about to kiss its surface, making Estella's eyes widen in surprise. She quickly retracts her arm, pushing Camilo's face away with her finger.  

"First of all, I'm not your prinsesa." She grumbled, taking a step back as she brushes her hair off her face, her heartbeat already accelerating. "Where did you even come from?" She asked, eyeing him suspiciously. 

"I helped the Rivera's hang their–," Estella gasped, the word hang making her remember something important. "The banner, I completely forgot!" She exclaims, rushing back to her house without knowing that Camilo was following her out of curiosity.  And the fact that he had nothing else better to do. 

Estella quickly runs into her Father's empty art room to grab the banner she was making for tomorrow's big event. Her Papa Benito was a gifted artist who liked painting in his free time, Estella's creativity came from him.

She promised to help with the decorations and this banner was the only thing she was tasked to do. Though it seems like a small and easy task if you're a busy person with a lot of things on your plate like Estella, you'd at least forget to do one thing, right? 

She climbed up the stairs, back to her room where she was surprised by Camilo's presence. "How long have you been in my room?" She dryly asked, laying down the banner on the floor along with multiple bottles filled with different colors of paint. "I thought you came here, you know you're surprisingly really fast when you panic right?" He joked, looking at his brother's unfinished banner. 

Estella bit the inside of her cheek, ashamed of the fact that he forgot Antonio's banner with Camilo himself as her witness. "Alright," She let out, "all I need to do is finish painting and then let it dry." She mumbled, trying to ignore Camilo's presence and failing miserably.

To her surprise, he was just leaning on her balcony's door frame, watching her quietly. She didn't find the fact that he was in her room watching her work uncomfortable. If anything, she actually liked the feeling of his presence. He always seemed to calm her down, make her feel at ease no matter the situation with just one look ever since they started being friends. Something like that doesn't change easily, regardless of her romantic feelings.

Trying to follow the design she made in her sketchbook, she needed green to paint the letter I in Antonio's name. "Camilo, could you pass me that bottle?" She asked, pointing to the glass bottle with green paint placed on her desk with her lips, remembering how she borrowed it from her Papa Benito yesterday.

"Sure," He replied, grabbing it and handing it to her. When Estella took the bottle from Camilo, she noticed that there was green paint on his hands. She opened her mouth to say something but before she could, Camilo scratched his nose, causing the paint to spread to his face.

Estella tried to stifle her laughter but ended up letting out a very unladylike snort which only made her laugh even more. "What?" Camilo asked, confusion flooding his face.

Struggling to even breathe, Estella wanted to tell him about his face but laughter was the only thing coming out. Camilo's face showed visible confusion, but as he had a short glance of himself on Estella's vanity mirror, he couldn't help but chortle. 

"Estella," He spoke, as she had just started to calm herself down. She tried opening her mouth to apologize when she felt Camilo's hands cup her face. Estella felt her chest tighten, seeing as how their faces are just mere inches away from each other. She could feel the heat rise up to her face, but she knew there was something suspicious about Camilo's sudden actions. Especially the way how he retracted his hands, his fingers sliding on her cheeks slowly.

"Oh, no, you didn't..." She laughed, seeing as how Camilo had a mischievous grin plastered on his face and was stifling his laughter. Estella dipped her fingers in the bottles of paint, wrapping them in different colors. Camilo backed away slowly, his arms raised halfway up but he was still laughing along. 

Their laughter echoed in each other's ears, and for some ridiculous reason, they managed to get more paint on themselves than the banner. The two were having so much fun goofing around and laughing that they didn't hear Estella's Papa Benito until the door suddenly busted open. 

"Mija, are you still using the green paint you borro-," Benito cut himself off, too baffled to even continue. "Papa," Estella spoke, letting out a nervous chuckle and breaking the short yet awkward silence that enveloped her room.

"Uhm, I can explain?" She said, grinning sheepishly, her shoulders involuntarily moving upward as if she were going to shrug.