Family Problems

Esperanza Restaurant

“ Do you know a place we could stay for the night? “ Lucas asked Sarah, harboring a gentle tone.

“ Yes, I know a good place you could lodge in if you’re interested! ” Sarah replied affirmatively.

“ Take a seat and explain it to us in detail,” The princess said while looking at her.

Sarah drew a chair and sat at our table to discuss the details of our lodging.

“ You could stay in our village for the time being. My mother won’t mind if you lodge at our house. We will be delighted to have you” Sarah said affirmatively.

“ What do you say?” Lucas asked the princess’s opinion.

“ We don’t wish to bother you by barging in on you like that ”, The princess said to Sarah.

“ You won’t bother us. We will be happy to have you” Mrs.Evangelina said while heading in our direction. “ You can stay at our house! ” Mrs.Evangelina said affirmatively.

“ You convinced us. We will be in your care. ” Lucas replied.

“ What’s your name? I remember you haven’t told us yet”, Mrs. Evangelina said while looking at us.

“ Oh, my apology! We forgot to introduce ourselves earlier. I’m Lucas! Nice to meet you! ” Lucas said politely.

“ I’m Jennifer! It’s nice meeting you too! ” She said politely.

“ Now that it has been taken care of, we can continue to dine in peace,” Lucas said while returning to his plate.

After we have finished having our meal, we pay the bill. Lucas insisted on paying the bill, so I had no choice but to let him do as he pleased. We soon exit the Esperanza restaurant after that. While on our way to Sarah’s village, I thought about my family, especially Ricardo. How was he doing? I should send him a letter letting him know how I’m doing.

On that resolution, we continued walking and after several steps, we finally reached our destination.

“ I present to you the rain village. The reason why it’s called that is that it rains a lot here in this village” Sarah said informatively.

“ It’s a nice village! Not that extravagant but nice. It breathes happiness.” She said.

“ We’ll like it here!” Lucas replied.

“ Follow me! I’ll show you my house” Sarah said while directing us to her house.

“ Do you mind if I ask you a question?” Lucas asked Sarah suddenly.

“ Of course! Ask away! ” Sarah replied.

“ Why were there only a few people in your restaurant? ” Lucas asked Sarah questionably.

Luca’s question made Sarah stop in her tracks. I could feel the tension from where I was standing. Lucas asked a sensitive question, that was what I could understand seeing Sarah’s behavior. One could see that she didn’t want to answer Luca’s question which Lucas also noticed.

“ It’s none of my business! Sorry! Let’s keep walking” Lucas said disappointed.

“ I don’t mind answering your question,” Sarah said speechlessly.

“ You do? I don’t want to force you to answer my question. I understand that I asked a rather sensitive question earlier. Don’t force yourself!” said Lucas.

“As I said earlier, I don’t mind answering your question. You’ll stay in our village for a while, so you’ll eventually get to know the truth. I prefer you to learn the truth from me than any third party. “ Sarah spoke. “ The Esperanza Restaurant was the most famous in all the vicinity, but all that changed drastically a few weeks ago. “ Sarah said informatively.

“ Until a few weeks ago? Did something happen? “ Lucas asked Sarah questionably.

“ Several weeks ago, a restaurant opened near Esperanza. Since the new restaurant opened, things haven’t been the same. Our sales dropped rapidly and our clients decreased by half. Last week, we lost even more clients. That’s our family situation in a word ” Sarah said informatively.

“ Thank you very much for answering my question! ” Lucas said, smiling.

During our walk, Jennifer didn’t emit a single word. She was spacing out and I couldn’t guess what she was thinking. Our whole walk was quiet which got me a bit annoyed. I was happy when we reached our final destination.

“ We’ve reached our final destination. This is our house!” said Sarah.

Jennifer was still in the clouds and didn’t hear any of Sarah’s words. I wondered what she had been thinking about this whole time. I had to do something to make her come back to reality.

“ Jennifer, we’ve reached our destination. Jennifer? Jennifer? Earth to Jennifer! ” He yelled out calling her name repeatedly.

My yelling had its effect as she reacted to my words and returned to her senses.

“ Sorry, Lucas! I didn’t hear you calling me. I’m very sorry! ” She told Lucas sadly.

“ Welcome to my humble abode! Please, come inside! ” said Sarah while going inside.

“Are you coming, Jennifer?” Lucas asked her questionably.

“...Yes!... I’m right behind you” She said while following Lucas inside Sarah’s house.

“ I hope you’ll like it here! It’s not big, but I hope it’ll be to your liking” said Sarah.

“ Thank you very much for your hospitality! You have done so much for us. Thank you for that!” The princess said while thanking Sarah for the immense help she provided us.

“ Don’t mention it! I wouldn’t be here if not for you. Thanks again for saving my life. I have to go now. I have to go help out my mom around the restaurant. Make yourselves at home!” said Sarah while exiting the house.

“ It’s good here, don’t you think? ” asked Lucas questionably.

“ Yes, it’s perfect. We found a place to live. What else could we ask for? ” The princess said to Lucas while taking a seat.

“ Now that we’ve solved our lodging situation, you have to speak the truth. ” Lucas said while approaching the princess furtively.

“ Tell you the truth? What truth? “ The princess was confused as to what he meant. “ I’m not hiding anything from you.” She told Lucas while avoiding his gaze.

“ You won’t make me believe that, Jennifer! I’m not an idiot. I can clearly see with my own eyes what’s going on.” He spoke in an assertive tone. “ Since we departed, you have been in a daze. You didn’t hear me calling you. What have you been thinking about this entire time? I want the truth. Don’t think about lying to me, Jennifer! ” said Lucas seriously.

“ I was thinking about what Sarah told us earlier.” The princess came clean before Lucas.

“ What about it? ” Lucas asked questionably.

“ I don’t think she told us the whole truth. There’s something more she didn’t tell us” She told Lucas affirmatively.

“ What could that be? Do you have any idea what it could be? ” Lucas asked her questionably.

“ I don’t know what it could be! I’m certain of one thing though; whatever it is, it can’t be anything good ” She concluded her statement while harboring a worried tone.

“ You got a point! ” Lucas nodded in agreement with her statement. “ What could she be hiding from us? ” asked Lucas worriedly.

“ That’s what we’ll have to find out, but before that let’s rest a bit. What do you say? ” She asked Lucas questionably.

“ That’s a fantastic idea! I’m a bit tired, actually. “ said Lucas.

“ I’ll go rest now if you don’t mind. See you in a bit! ” She said while exiting the living room.

I visited the rooms one by one in the hope of finding an empty room and managed to find a spare one. I entered the spare room and lay down on the bed tired. I was so exhausted that I fell asleep in a meter of seconds.

Spare Room 2

Was it all there was to it? Who’s really Jennifer? Sometimes, she’s caring but other times, she acts mysteriously. Who’s the real Jennifer and is she truly Jennifer? That’s something I’ll have to find out. Just like you have suspicions about Sarah, in the same way, I also have some suspicions about you

Lucas was deep in thought about the princess's true identity aka Jennifer as he fell into a profound sleep not long after his thoughts were done processing.

The Esperanza Restaurant

“ I’m back, Mom! ” Sarah said while entering the restaurant.

“ How are our guests? ” Sarah’s mom asked her daughter.

“ They’ll be fine, Mom! They’re very pleased with their new lodging. There won’t be any problems” Sarah said to her mom.

“ Good! I hope you didn’t divulge anything to them.” Sarah’s mom asked her daughter worriedly.

“ Don’t worry, Mom! I haven’t said anything to them. Even though they saved my life from that man, I lied to them. I feel so horrible for lying like that. “ Sarah admitted sadly to her mother.

“ Don’t feel bad! It was for a greater cause. You had no choice but to act that way.” said Sarah’s mom.

“ I know, Mom, but it still feels terrible to lie. “ Sarah replied sadly.