Felíx stood in front of his mirror and slipped into his favorite yellow shirt. He combed his fingers through his hair and tried to straighten his curls, which annoyed him more in the last few minutes than ever before in his life. Normally he had nothing to complain about his hair, but today was not just any ordinary day. Today was a very special day and he really wanted to impress Pepa, but that wouldn't work if he didn't get ready.

He heard soft footsteps down the hallway before a gentle knock ripped him out of his thoughts. "Hey." Felíx hesitantly turned around, only to see his older brother standing in the door. He looked perfect as always. Especially in his red shirt, which he had chosen especially for today, made him look stunning.

Felíx sighed as he turned back to the mirror. He loved his brother, but he hated being in his shadow. In the past, it had never bothered him, in fact he had even liked not always to be the center of attention, but at most since he had come to the teenage years, sometimes self-doubt spread in him.

"Are you okay?" Felíx did not intend to answer, but he could clearly hear the worrying tone in his voice, which made him doubt. He turned his gaze to a nearby small package carefully wrapped in yellow wrapping paper and decided to initiate his brother into his plan.

"Not really... I want to ask Pepa today if she wants to be my girlfriend and I'm afraid of rejection." He replied hesitantly. He didn't know exactly what he expected, but his brother's reaction hurt him. A slight laugh echoed through the room and Felíx felt his cheeks burn with embarrassment as he turned back to his brother. His brother must have noticed his feelings, because he immediately stopped laughing.

"Sorry. It's just... what are you afraid of? Pepa really likes you and I know you love her more than anything and more than that, she can't ask of you." His brother had meanwhile walked through the whole room and closed him into a fraternal embrace. Felíx had to start laughing. The situation was really ridiculous. He was worried here, but if he had to keep hiding his feelings from Pepa, it only drove him even more crazy.

"What?" His brother gave him a questioning look, after which Felíx only had to laugh more. "How do you always know exactly what to say?" His brother shrugged his shoulders and threw him a challenging smile. "Call it fraternal intuition."

Felíx cursed when he felt his older brother swirl through his hair and destroy all his hard work. "Hey!" He tried to sound threatening, but it didn't work at all. Rather the opposite was the case when his brother began to laugh. "If you need even longer, you don't have to come to the party anymore."

A cool breeze blew towards Felíx as he closed the door behind him and stepped outside. It was already dark when Felíx finally reached the market square, where the festival was already in full swing. It was "Día de las velitas" (Day of Small Candles) and as every year a huge festival was celebrated, especially in Encanto this day was considered one of the most important in honor of the Madrigal family. It was a truly perfect sight. Not a single cloud was in sight, the night was pleasantly cool and there was an excellent atmosphere everywhere.

Felíx smiled when he saw Pepa among the dancing guests and he couldn't tell how stunning she looked anyway. She wore a long yellow dress that perfectly framed her figure and rotated with her on each of her turns.

"Pepa!" She turned around as soon as she heard someone calling her name. A big smile crept up on her lips as she saw Felíx waving happily at her. They had been friends for a while now and she found it remarkable how happy he made her every day. She hurried towards him and closed him in a firm embrace, which he immediately reciprocated. She let out a sigh of satisfaction when she smelled the gentle scent of Felíx's perfume. She had missed him, even though she only saw him at school last Friday and that was only two days ago. "I missed you."

It was just a whisper, but her words made Felíx even happier and a warm feeling spread throughout him. He briefly broke away from Pepa to look directly at her when he replied to her confession, but he forgot what he wanted to say when he looked at her more closely.

The dress she wore wasn't the only thing that made her look stunning. Her make-up was... Wow. She didn't wear much makeup and it was rather subtle, but it highlighted her natural beauty even more. That was perhaps the first time he saw her wearing makeup and he couldn't describe how beautiful she looked.

But before he could say anything about her appearance or confession, she grabbed him by the hand and led him to the dance floor, where the music could still be heard loudly. Felíx looked at her. In the soft light of the candles, she almost seemed to glow and he couldn't help but notice how happy he was.

To the sound of the music, Felíx put his hand in Pepas and the other on her waist. Pepa grins. "Are you ready?" He gave her a determined smile. With precise tact, Felíx' sets off and led Pepa into a perfect dance number. A group of spectators began to form around them when Felíx turned his challenging gaze to her. "Looks like I've got to put something on top of it now."

He put his right hand ohn her back and turned her out as the two put down a completely synchronous step combination. A murmur went through the crowd and Pepa decided to turn things around to make the dance a little more interesting.

She turned Felíx in and leaned him backwards. She leans down to him while he just stares at her in surprise. He didn't expect her to turn the situation around, but he had to admit that he liked her taking control of the dance. He skilfully jumped back on his feet and whirled them around, so that Pepa suddenly lay in his arms and stared at him in surprise before she began to smile.

That's it. The perfect moment when Felíx wanted to confess his feelings. He was about to ask her out when a loud clap sounded from the crowd and he realized again that they had an audience. He quickly straightened her up and led her away from the clapping crowd to the buffet.

Exhausted, they let themselves fall on two chairs nearby and took a deep breath before Felíx decided to brake the silence. "Pepa?" She turned her gaze attentively to him and waited for his next words to find out what he wanted to say to her. He felt his heart start pounding in his chest and his palms starting to sweat.

"I have to tell you something..." He let out a brief sigh and lowered his gaze, hoping to calm himself down, but it didn't help a bit. As soon as he raised his head again to look at her, he met her curious look and his breath stopped. "I..."

At that moment, he heard a female voice calling Pepa's name and she turned away from him, just to meet her mother's reproachful look. Pepa turned her attention back to Felíx and gave him an apologetic look, whereupon he just nodded reassuringly and assured her that he would be waiting for Pepa here.

Pepa quickly hurried to get to her mother. She had completely forgotten that she had promised her mother that she would be present with her siblings at her mother's speech before she was allowed to celebrate with her friends. Since they were given a miracle, the festival has grown bigger every year, mainly in honor of the madrigals, at least in honor of Alma and Julieta. Pepa rolled her eyes at the thought. She didn't understand why all the members had to be present when Julieta got all the attention anyway. Julieta was the golden child, not her or Bruno.

She pushed the thought aside as soon as she reached her mother. According to her, it was necessary for all members of the family to be present and to appear in public. She somehow found it unnecessary, since they didn't do much anyway and she would much rather be with Felíx now, but if absolutely had to, she was ready to go public alongside her siblings and mother.

Alma stepped out of the crowd and Pepa joined her two siblings. But as soon as she arrived, she regretted having made this decision when she saw the knowing grins of her siblings. She sighed and leaned frustrated against the nearby wall behind her. Since the two had met Felíx, they have not been dissuaded from believing that they and Felíx were together.

"18 years ago, in our darkest moment this candle blessed us with a miracle..." Her mother began her annual speech and Pepa tried to listen attentively, but failed as soon as her brother's next words left his mouth and hit her unprepared.

"Pepa, how is it going with Felíx?" Bruno pulled out a pen and a notepad while waiting for her answer but Pepa only crossed her arms. Bruno had discovered his love for theatrical art, which didn't really bother her. Unfortunately, he always took her life as an example, because he think that der emotions practically pre-programmed a , her brother's questioning was nothing new to her, so he could have imagined what he would ask, but in her opinion it had happened far too often in recent weeks.

As always, she remained stubborn and did not intend to answer his question, but his hopeful look made it difficult for her to simply ignore him and so she sighed beaten. "It's going quite well, but Bruno, don't forget, we're just friends." She emphasized the word "friends" in the hope that the two, especially Bruno, would finally understand that they were not together, even if she wanted it deep down.

She sighed. Although she said that they were just friends, it hurt somehow to say it out loud. Besides, she didn't even know exactly what she was feeling. Was it really love or just a simple crush, like Trevor, her ex-boyfriend? Did Felíx like her back or was their relationship purely friendly and what did her almost kiss mean when she met him? So many questions went through her head and she could not find a meaningful answer to any of them.

Suddenly, she felt a hand grab her and pull her with her. "HEY!" She cried out when she recognized the face of her sister, who had stopped briefly. She laughed. "I tried three times to get you out of your thoughts. Must have been a nice thought." Pepa rolled her eyes. That had been so clear. The two would just never understand it, but she didn't have much time to think about it before she was moved on by her sister to her mother.

"... Tonight, we come together once more to celebrate the miracle."

Alma took a step forward and with her Pepa and her siblings, who had only been standing in the background until now, stepped by her side. Pepa had to suppress an eye roll as her mother continued the speech. She loved her mother, but in those moments it was quite annoying. Her mother gave the exact same speech every year and at some point it got boring.

She continued to try to maintain a radiant smile so that no one noticed that she was bored, but it was probably a very forced smile. She searched the crowd to see if Felíx was still there and indeed. He stood exactly where she had left him, looking kindly at her and her family. She saw his smile grow bigger when they met their eyes.

She let out a sigh of relief when her mother finally finished her speech. Pepa found it as unnecessary to be present for this as to give the same speech every year. She and her siblings had basically just stood by and done nothing, but they still had to be present. She shook her head as she walked back to Felíx, who was waiting for her as promised.