Chapter 23

KEVIN

At this moment I'm too angry, it was seeing the guy standing there and my wires crossed, and no wonder, he raped my cousin four years ago, and despite having seen him only once in my life and not by much time, his face had remained engraved in my memory, if it weren't for Gabriela I would have sent that guy to the hospital.

"Kevin, wait." As soon as I heard her I stopped, but I didn't turn around, because I'm partly angry with her for not letting me finish what I had started. "Hey, look at me." Gabriela asked, "Forgive me, but right now I can't." I said through clenched teeth, trying to contain my anger and not explode. "I know you would have liked to punch him more, but that won't fix things, Kevin."

"I know this won't fix things, BUT THAT GUY DARE TO TOUCH YOU WITHOUT YOUR PERMISSION. I DON'T UNDERSTAND HOW YOU'RE SO CALM." I finally shouted, frustrated with the whole situation. "Because it's what I had to do, I don't want anything to ruin my day anymore, and seeing him makes me angry." Gabriela said, "Well, I couldn't tell." I responded rolling my eyes "Well Kev, I was. HE DARE TO COME HOME KNOWING HE WOULD BE THERE. I'M AFRAID HE WILL DO SOMETHING TO ANA OR NEREA, TO ANYONE. MOREOVER, HE DARE TO THREATEN ALEX TOO… EVERYTHING… EVERYTHING IS SHIT RIGHT NOW… BUT… I MUST BE WELL, FOR THE OTHERS, FOR MY DAUGHTERS…"

At that moment I turned in her direction because I know well she's about to start crying, she's overwhelmed by the situation occurring in her life at this moment, and it's no wonder, I see it from the outside and I don't have to live it twenty-four hours a day, it seems to me she has a complicated life for being Gabriela. "Come on, don't cry. I'm sorry for yelling at you, I'm an asshole, but you'll see how everything is going to be okay, I won't let that guy get close to you or them, anyone in the family, I promise."

"I'm going to be fine, I just… I just don't want anything to happen to the others… that's all." Gabriela said between sobs, "I won't let anything happen to them, but let me tell you over time you get better at managing your emotions. You would be good for an actress." I said, trying to cheer her up again, at least a little. "Don't say stupid things, you know I hate attracting attention, and I'd be embarrassed to do so." At least I had gotten her to smile a little and stop sobbing, at this point I was content with that.

"Do you want to go for a walk and we can both clear our heads?" I asked with a small smile on my face. "I would like to, but I promised Nerea I would spend the afternoon with her." She pointed out "Okay, your duty as a good person calls you." I said, "Are you calmer now?" My cousin questioned, "Yes, but that doesn't mean I liked you stopping me from hitting that asshole."

"I wasn't going to let you make the same mistake I made the day I hit Paula in front of Santi, you shouldn't spend hours in the cell." She informed while I rolled my eyes "I wouldn't have a problem, I don't understand how he put you in the dungeon, in theory he's your friend." I pointed out "He is, and warned me if I did it he would put me in jail, but I ignored him."

"Because you didn't care, all you wanted was to protect Ana." I responded, "Obviously, that bitch dared to poison my little girl, I'm not going to allow anyone to hurt her, much less her. It's with me she has the problem." She said, rolling her eyes. "That girl is crazy, that's what."

"I don't know, I think something had to happen to her to do the things she does." Gabriela responded, "And you still defend her." I snorted, because even though Gabriela tended to do things like that, in this case she didn't have to, that girl wants to end her life. "It's just hard for me to believe she was always like this. We got along well when we were little."

"You're a great person, no matter how hard it's to believe it." I said sincerely, "I'm not, there are things I can avoid doing, and still do, or I should regret doing, and I don't." She pointed out, "What should you regret?" I asked curiously. "A lot of things, but I don't want to talk about that. Let's go home."

"I imagine they must be worried and wondering what has happened. I'm sorry I said too much." I apologized when I realized what had I done. "It's nothing, we'll fix it as soon as we get home, don't worry." She assured, "Well, I have no idea how we're going to do it, because I don't think they will be convinced of something so easily."

"I don't know what to do yet, you'll just have to humor me with what I'm going to say." reported my cousin "Wait, you don't know what you're going to tell them?" I asked, surprised. "I think about what I say when it comes to excuses, what comes to mind at that moment is what comes out."s he said, shrugging her shoulders. "Smart, improvising, you've got it all, cousin."

"That's something everyone can do." Gabriela pointed out "I'm not capable of doing it. Now answer me a question." I asked, "I'm not going to answer it, Kev." Gabriela replied, "No, it's not about that." I assured, since the last thing I wanted was to upset her and make her more uncomfortable. "Then say it."

"When did you learn Italian?" I asked curiously, "With Camila, when we were little we used to talk about it among ourselves, but I perfected it in Holland." She reported, "That's why you spent all your time studying." I said, realizing now things made more sense. "I already told you the reason why I spent all my time studying, I'm not going to repeat it."

"Okay, I get it. But then, what else did you study apart from Italian? Are you going to tell me you know more languages? And how does that little devil know Italian?" I asked curiously again, because it's something I could expect from Gabriela, but not from Camila. "Yes, I know more, and she knows Italian because her mother was Italian. At home they practically only spoke Italian, and then her grandmother started teaching her when her parents' accident happened."

"What languages do you know?" I questioned "I know some German, Italian, Dutch as you know, English obviously, Spanish and for now that's as far as the list goes." said "DO YOU KNOW FIVE LANGUAGES?" I asked, half shouting, "Well yes, I still don't fully control German, but I know a bit."

"Why do you want to know so many languages?" I questioned "I like those languages." My cousin said as if it were no big deal, "I'm excited you're telling me something in Italian." I asked "What?" She questioned, raising an eyebrow. "Anything, just tell me something." I insisted "Sei un bellissimo ragazzo a cui voglio molto bene, sei il mio cugino preferito e spero di averti sempre al mio fianco ​(You are a very handsome boy who I love very much, you are my favourite cousin and I hope to always have you by my side.)"

"What did you said?" I asked curiously "I'll leave that for you to investigate, now let's go before they think about it too much, I don't want ideas that shouldn't get into Alex's head." She said, "I'm sure he already have them, it's difficult to get something out of his head when he think of it, isn't it?" I asked even though I had the idea it wasn't easy to get an idea out of his head when it came to Gabriela. "Yes, but it's not something I can't handle."

"You can do everything, especially when it comes to convincing that boy, he's blinded by your beauty." I said with a smile on my face "That beauty isn't that big a deal, I'm a normal girl." he responded, rolling his eyes "Je hebt dezelfde normal intelligentie als ik. (You have the same normal intelligence as I do.)"

"Je bent Slim als je wilt, dus stop met domme dingen te zeggen. (You're smart when you want to be, so stop saying stupid things.)" We laughed and a few minutes later we arrived at the house. When we arrive and enter the garden, everyone turns in our direction with an angry face I suppose was directed at me and concern at Gabriela. "Now you are both going to sit down and explain to us what happened four years ago. And there will be no excuses that will serve us."