It started with a man in the river.

The scenario played out like something Mirabel would see in one of Bruno's silly dramas. A young man, surrounded by friends, dropped something in the river. He went down to get it and tripped, falling, momentarily incapacitated. At the same time, from above, by sheer awful coincidence, a portion of the stone bridge that had needed fixing for weeks finally came loose when a donkey cart bumped into it. In slow motion, she watched in horror as the debris came down, big and heavy, surely about to crack the man's skull open and kill him.

Mirabel was out with her two sisters at the time, but next thing she knew, she was alone. She didn't know how, or when, but both of them had reacted like Tía Pepa's lightning. Luisa had thrown herself between the man and the rocks, catching the most dangerous one and holding it high above her head before it could harm him. Isabela, afterwards but not a second too soon, summoned a pair of vines from the ground to pull him away. And all the while, he just stared upward with his jaw slack, as if only now comprehending that he'd almost just died.

"Phew," Luisa said, relieved. She was still holding the rock and looking down at the man with concern. "That was close. Are you okay?"

"Uh—uh-huh…"

"Look at me," said Isabela. She knelt down next to him, her vines disappearing, and turned his face to look at her. He was mostly unhurt, but there were still some wounds from his initial fall into the river, and she didn't miss how his eyes weren't quite focusing on her, probably from the shock. So she waved to her youngest sister. "Mirabel! Do you have any extra food in your sack?"

Mirabel finally snapped out of her daze and stepped forward. "Uh—yeah. Emergency supply food, coming right up." She tried not to dwell on the fact that she'd been too frozen to help save him. At least now she could help by giving him food for his existing wounds. He did have a pretty nasty cut on his arm, one that thankfully disappeared as he ate from her mother's cooking. Thank goodness she'd remembered their emergency supplies.

Luisa had put the rock down, and was currently holding off a crowd of people. The man's friends from before, along with others who had come to see the commotion, crowded around in concern. "Everybody, back up please," Luisa told them gently. "He's okay, he just needs some space."

Mirabel got a better look at the man as she and Isabela helped him to his feet. He was a newcomer, one of the people who had come into town after the mountains opened. He seemed young, about 20 or so, with tanned skin and warm brown hair. Quite handsome, but that was undercut by how dazed he still looked. Poor guy. As he made it back to the riverbank though, the other people started ushering him away from the sisters, and that seemed to be the end of it.

The incident was mostly forgotten by the next morning. Mirabel and her sisters were in front of Casita, taking a moment to hang out before the family went into town for the day. Local family friend Osvaldo Ortiz arrived with a basket of deliveries, and he happily waved to them.

"Morning girls! It's a beautiful day, isn't it?" Osvaldo greeted with his signature grin.

"Sure is, Señor Ortiz," Mirabel replied. "How's it going?"

"Good, good, getting a fresh start to the day. Oh, by the way, that was some daring rescue you three pulled off yesterday, huh?"

They all laughed sheepishly. "Oh, that was nothing," Luisa said.

"Just doing our civic duty," Isabela added.

"Aww, give yourselves some credit!" Osvaldo insisted. "You guys were amazing! Luisa catching that rock, Isabela with the vines, and then Mirabel coming in clutch at the end with your mom's healing food. Sister powerhouse dream team, am I right?"

They giggled. "Well, it was pretty cool, I guess," Mirabel replied, crossing her arms with mock smugness. "They don't call us the Encanto's heroes for nothing, you know."

"Nobody calls us that," said Isabela.

Osvaldo turned to grab his deliveries, when he suddenly whirled to face them again. "Ooh, and another thing. I actually talked with the young man afterwards—Andrés, his name is—and he seemed to be quite taken by you, Isabela."

Isabela's smile waned ever so slightly. "Oh, uh—did he?"

"Oh yeah, yeah. I mean, he was still kinda spacey from the whole thing, but he said to me, and I quote, 'whoa, that girl who saved me in the river…she was gorgeous.'"

Isabela laughed awkwardly. Luisa and Mirabel exchanged a glance.

Osvaldo, oblivious, continued. "And I said, 'well, which one? There were three Madrigal sisters who helped you, you know.' And he said, 'uhhhh, the older sister.'" He smiled that wide grin again. "So, there you have it! Looks like you'll be getting a new suitor soon, eh?" He laughed, and nudged her with his elbow. "You must be happy after that thing with Mariano fell through. Hopefully it won't be a repeat of that, am I right? Wouldn't want your whole house falling down again!"

Osvaldo laughed, completely unaware of the discomfort he'd caused, as was typical for him. The sisters all forced some chuckles of their own. Osvaldo may not be part of the family, but he sure did have a gift for putting his foot in his mouth.

"Oh, that—that's nice, heh." Isabela cleared her throat. "Anyway, I think it's time for us to head out, right, ladies?"

"For sure," Luisa replied quickly. With that, they all hurriedly turned to leave.

"Later, Señor," Mirabel said.

"Okay, you gals have a good day!" Osvaldo called after them, still grinning.

Once they were out of earshot, Isabela let her smile drop, and she groaned.

"Ooh~" Luisa teased, clasping her hands together dramatically. "How romantic! His savior in shining blue-and-yellow splattered armor."

"Stop," Isabela snapped.

"Poor, poor Isabela," Mirabel added on with a snicker. "It must be so hard being beautiful and having men falling at your feet all the time."

"Stop it, you two!" Isabela huffed, as both her sisters just laughed. "You're both so immature. He's not my type, anyway. He's literally just some generic dude."

"Aww, don't be mean, Isa, he was kinda cute," Luisa replied. "Actually, I heard some stuff about this Andrés guy recently. Apparently he's becoming a bit of a heartthrob around town."

"That's even worse!" Isabela threw her arms in the air. "Look, there's no need to make a big deal out of it, alright? Next time I see him, I'm just gonna tell him that I'm not interested. That's it. Nip it in the bud. Done."

"Okay, if you say so."

By now, they'd made it to the town square, and people were starting to wave and greet them as they went about their day. The sisters greeted them back before turning back to one another.

"Anyway," Isabela began. "What plans do you two have for today?"

"Well, they're fixing the bridge," Luisa replied. "Seems like a pretty good place for me to be, all things considered."

"Tell me about it," said Mirabel. "As for me, I'm gonna go see Señora Rosario about some dresses for her new baby girl."

"Aww, she had a girl?" Luisa cooed.

"Yes! I get to design little baby dresses with tiny little baby measurements…"

While they were talking, Isabela suddenly stopped in her tracks. "Oh no," she whispered.

"What?" The other two followed her gaze and…well, speak of the devil. It was Andrés, standing several meters away but apparently having spotted them as well, if the stunned look on his face was anything to go by.

Andrés broke into a wide grin and started running toward them. "Ah! I-it's you! Mi heroína! Mi princesa!"

"Oh my God, hide me," Isabela hissed. She jumped behind Luisa and started dragging her sister by the arm to get away.

"Wait," Luisa said, confused. "But aren't you going to—"

"Not now, just please get me out of here, this is so embarrassing!" Isabela kept tugging on Luisa's arm. Luisa obliged, helplessly looking back once more at Mirabel, as they both made their escape.

Andrés, the poor man, was being slowed down by people in his way. "W-wait!" He cried, reaching out toward where Isabela had run. "Don't leave! Please, I just want to talk! Señorita!"

Mirabel let out a breath and shook her head. Isabela had disappeared, Andrés was calling after her like the hero of a melodramatic romance, and Mirabel was just left to watch the trainwreck go down. So much for nipping it in the bud.

Andrés managed to make his way over to Mirabel at last, desperately turning to her with his sad puppy eyes. "Where—where did she go?"

Mirabel stifled a laugh and shrugged. "How should I know? I'm not my sister's keeper. Better luck next time, buddy." She gave him a good-natured pat on the shoulder before heading away to see to her work. Perhaps it was wrong of her to laugh at her sister's misfortune, but she couldn't help it, this was endlessly amusing.

The first time had been mildly understandable. Isabela had only just heard the news and panicked when she saw Andrés running toward her, shouting declarations of love. That made sense. But by the time it happened again, she should have composed herself enough to actually talk to him instead of running away, right?

The second time it happened was more or less the same. The three of them were out in town, when—.

"S-señorita! Please, if I could just have a moment—"

"Oops! Just remembered something really important, bye!"

And then Isabela summoned a giant flower to carry all three of them out of there. Mirabel would have to cut back on the Sisterly Quality Time effort if this was going to keep happening. Luisa caught Mirabel by the arm to keep her from falling, and as she did, Mirabel saw Andrés below, disappointed but still watching in awe.

This happened two more times. And they were getting absolutely nowhere.

Thankfully, however, the next time Mirabel saw Andrés, she was alone. He was standing by a store with some friends, and a gaggle of giggling girls that Mirabel could only assume were his admirers. He was talking with them, casual and easygoing, when he spotted Mirabel passing by.

His eyes lit up in recognition. "Ah, excuse me, Señorita—oh, sorry, everyone, I'll be right back—Señorita Madrigal?"

Mirabel stopped to face him as he jogged over, with a crooked smile. "Afternoon," she greeted, trying not to betray her bemusement.

"Hi," he said, out of breath. That tousled hair and lopsided grin really did make him look like the hero of a romance novel. No wonder he had so many admirers. "You remember me, right?"

"Of course, the damsel from the river."

"Hah. That's good. My name is Andrés, by the way. I never got to properly thank you and your sisters for saving me."

"It's really nothing," Mirabel replied. "It was the right thing to do. My name's Mirabel."

"Nice to formally meet you, Mirabel." He shook her hand, then hesitated. "Um…" he looked away from her shyly. "Listen, I know you've already done a lot for me, but I was hoping I could ask you a favor…"

Mirabel smirked. "You want me to put in a good word for you with my sister."

Andrés smiled sheepishly and nodded. "I suppose I'm pretty obvious, huh?"

"No, no, you just shout in the streets about how she's your beautiful angel princess, that's all. Very subtle."

Andrés gave an embarrassed chuckle. "Hah. Yeah. I guess I got carried away. I can be a bit of a romantic sap." He cleared his throat and continued. "Listen, I promise I have no bad intentions with her. I apologize if I've seemed too, uh, persistent. I just want to talk to her." He sighed, a far-off look in his eyes. "It's just, ever since I saw her, I haven't been able to get her out of my head. I've never seen a woman so enchanting before."

Mirabel resisted the urge to roll her eyes.

Andrés wasn't even looking at her anymore. "So brave, and kind, and beautiful. Like the warrior princesses I've heard about in fairy tales. I've wanted to meet someone like her for as long as I can remember. If I could just speak to her one more time to express my gratitude, I could die a happy man. I wouldn't need anything more than that."

He actually sighed dreamily with a dopey grin as he stared off into the distance. Was this guy even real? Mirabel didn't know real people actually acted this way.

"…wow," she said at last. "You sure are smitten, huh?"

Andrés blinked out of his trance, flushing a bit. "Oh, sorry. Y-yeah. Um. No pressure or anything, I-I just…just wanted to talk to her, that's all. If nothing else, at least to thank her."

Mirabel searched his eyes for any trace of ill intent. But all she saw was the earnest, hopeful expression of a guy longing to meet the girl of his dreams. So, she sighed and relented.

"Okay, I'll talk to her," she said. "Maybe we could arrange for you two to meet in a public place, and you can both say whatever you gotta say to each other."

Andrés beamed. "Thank you so much! I owe you big time. I'm usually in the town square most afternoons, so just find me there!" With that, he waved goodbye, and headed back to the group of friends he'd been with before.

Mirabel waved back, smiling and muttering to herself. "Oh, I hope Isabela doesn't kill me for this."

"You did what?"

Yep, Isabela was mad. She, Mirabel and Luisa were sitting around a small table in the courtyard, and Mirabel had just dropped the bombshell.

"Look, Isa, you can't just keep running away from him," Mirabel replied. "You're the one who said you were going to nip it in the bud, but you keep putting it off. You need to talk to the guy, like an adult. Why am I the one telling you this?"

Isabela groaned and rubbed her temples. "Ugh, Mirabel, you just don't get it."

Luisa spoke up. "Why not hear him out, Isabela? He seems like a nice guy. Maybe you should give him a chance."

"That's not it." Isabela sighed, running a hand through her hair. "I just…I don't want a relationship right now. I'm not ready. I've just barely begun to start feeling like my own person."

Mirabel frowned and tapped the table thoughtfully. "Why can't you just tell him that, then?"

"Because…" Isabela bit her lip, hesitating. She took a moment before speaking again, quietly. "I-I'm worried that if I try to face him, I'll…fall back on my old habits. Try to please everyone again. Even now, I-I still don't like…disappointing people."

Mirabel and Luisa exchanged a glance. "Well…what if we went with you?" Luisa asked. "For moral support."

Isabela looked up. "Would you?"

"Sure, if it'll help you," said Luisa.

"You shouldn't have to feel like you need to put yourself in an uncomfortable situation, to make someone happy," Mirabel added. "We'll be there to back you up so you can feel confident enough to be honest with him. I'm sure he'll understand." She paused. "And if he doesn't, we'll beat him up."

Luisa cracked her knuckles for good measure.

Isabela finally cracked a smile. "Aww, you guys…thank you so much." She took a deep breath, looking more confident now. "Okay, you're right. Let's finish it for real this time."

They made an arrangement via letter to meet Andrés at the edge of town the next day. There was an air of nervousness between them as they waited for him to arrive, but Isabela's sisters made sure to pump her up in the meantime.

Finally, they spotted him turning a corner, a huge smile on his face and a bouquet of flowers in his hand (did he seriously bring flowers for the girl who can create plants from thin air? Was it meant to be funny? She honestly couldn't tell). He waved enthusiastically as he quickly headed over.

"Here he comes," Luisa breathed.

"You got this, Isa," said Mirabel.

Isabela shot them a smile before taking a step forward, waiting for him to get there.

"G-good morning!" Andrés called, still eagerly walking toward them. "I'm so glad I finally caught you, mi princesa. I feel like I've just been missing you for days."

Isabela cringed at the nickname but kept up a smile. "Hah…yeah. It's good to see you Andre, and I'm glad you're okay. But, um…I think we need to talk about this whole…thing. You see, I'm not—uh…?"

He wasn't listening to her. He wasn't even looking at her. He was…he was walking right past her—what?—and he was stopped and knelt down in front of—Luisa?

"Wh-wha—huh?"

"Th-these are for you," Andrés said, holding out the bouquet. He was the only one who didn't seem to notice anything amiss. "To thank you for saving my life. I kept meaning to do it before, but I never got the chance. Your flower sister kept dragging you away every time I tried to talk to you—ah, but that doesn't matter. The wait makes seeing you all that much better. Please, accept this."

Nobody moved. The girls all stared at him with eyes wide and jaws hanging open.

"Wh—wait, wait, wait, hold on!" Isabela said, when she finally found her voice. "You like Luisa? But I thought you were interested in me!"

Andrés blinked, looking back at Isabela as if he was just noticing she was there. "Uh…no? Who told you that?"

"You did—" Isabela groaned in frustration. "You told Osvaldo that you were interested in the oldest sister. That's me!"

Andrés was up on his feet again, eyebrow raised in confusion. Then, suddenly, he broke out into a smile. "Oh! No, no, I didn't say that. I said I was interested in the big sister."

Mirabel burst out laughing. Isabela smacked herself on the forehead. Andrés whirled back to Luisa, eyes wide.

"I-I mean—that's not offensive, is it?" he stammered. "I'm sorry, I was—still out of it at the time, I wasn't choosing my words properly—b-but big is good! I like big! Big is beautiful, and strong, and—oh, geez."

Mirabel wasn't sure what was funnier—Andrés falling all over himself to absolve the absolute trainwreck of a confession he'd just made, and now hiding his face in shame…or the fact that Luisa's face was currently as red as a tomato. Either way, she made no effort to hide her giggles. Even Isabela, now that she understood the truth, was covering a smile with her hand.

Andrés took a moment to recover. He raised his head, blushing in embarrassment, and took a breath. "Um…let me start over. I apologize for the misunderstanding, but, it was always you that I was interested in, Luisa—which is a beautiful name, by the way."

Luisa rubbed her arm sheepishly, a hint of a smile forming on her face.

"But it's not just for your looks," he continued. "I mean, don't get me wrong, you're gorgeous, you're exactly my type, I love big strong women, but that's not the only thing I noticed," he paused to catch his breath. "I-I was just taken aback by your bravery and kindness, the way you jumped in front of a boulder to protect a total stranger. And even though you're strong, I've seen how you're so gentle and thoughtful, always helping others and spending time with your sisters. Oh, and I also like those cute little ribbons you wear in your hair. And, and, uh…yeah." He chuckled, shoulders tense. "I really hope I'm not completely messing this up."

"No, you're not," Luisa replied. "Um—I mean…" she laughed awkwardly. "Thank you."

"Thank you," Andrés said, his smile softening. Averting his eyes shyly, he started fiddling with the flower petals on the bouquet. "I, uh…hope I'm not overstepping my boundaries, but…I would be honored if you could…join me for dinner sometime. If you want to. No pressure."

Luisa squeezed her arm nervously. "Uh, well…" she looked up at her sisters, still a little stunned.

Isabela and Mirabel both shrugged. "Your call," Mirabel told her.

Luisa thought about it for a moment, then smiled. "Heh. Uh. Okay. Sure."

"Yes! Uh—ahem," he recomposed himself again. What a beautifully awkward mess. "That's wonderful. Are you free tomorrow evening?"

"Yeah."

"Great, I'll come pick you up from your house at, say, six?"

"Sounds good."

"Excellent. Okay. I'll let you get back to whatever you need to do now. See you then." He started to leave, backing away, when he finally remembered the bouquet and hurriedly came back. "Uh—and these are still for you."

He handed the bouquet to her and started to leave for real, the saccharine dreamy look in his eyes not fading away for even a second. "Goodbye for now. I'll see you tomorrow, mi valiente princesa hermosa."

Luisa giggled, cradling the bouquet in one hand and waving at him with the other. Once he was gone, she let out a sigh.

"Oooooohh~"

At the sound of her sisters' squealing, Luisa snapped back to reality and turned red once again. "Guys—stop—"

"Luisa's got a daaaate!" Mirabel cried, dancing around her and making kissy faces to tease her. She and Isabela started skipping around their bigger sister, chanting and clapping as they went. "Luisa's got a date! Luisa's got a date!"

"Please stop, this isn't funny."

"Oh, I have never been so glad to be wrong in my life," Isabela cackled. Then she suddenly frowned and pointed at her menacingly. "But! If he tries anything funny with you, Luisa, you have to tell me! I will destroy him!"

"Thanks, but you don't have to—"

"I'm serious, you're my baby sister. If he hurts you, I'll beat him to the ground and fertilize a tree with his corpse!"

"Not before I get a punch or two in for good measure," Mirabel piped up.

Luisa rolled her eyes. "Okay, thank you, but if you could please stop plotting my date's murder before I've even had a chance to go out with him, that would be great."

Her sisters' violent attitudes vanished, replaced once more by wide, cheeky grins. "Aww! I'm so happy, Luisa's going on a date!" Isabela squealed.

Mirabel chimed in again, "Luisa and Andrés sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S—"

"Alright that's it," Luisa finally pushed them out of the way and started stomping off. "I have things to do and I don't have to stand there taking this. Goodbye."

Isabela and Mirabel remained where they were, cooing and teasing and laughing as they watched Luisa go. As annoyed as Luisa seemed, however, Mirabel still caught her smiling softly one more time and cradling the little bouquet carefully in her arms.

In hindsight, maybe Andrés interest in Luisa had been rather obvious—but with her older sister right there, Luisa just wasn't used to being the one who was seen as beautiful and desirable. But, as surprising as the whole thing had been, none of them could say that they were unhappy with it.