After everyone finished dinner, almost everyone went their separate ways. Luisa, Isabela, Dolores, and Camilo went to their rooms while everyone else stayed downstairs to talk. I sat on the floor beside my brother before he quickly ran over to Bruno once he entered the room and started pulling on his hand.

"Can I have my fortune now? Please?" He begged, shaking the fortune teller's hand back and forth.

"Well, only if it's alright with your sister." Bruno looked over at me as if to ask if my brother could have a fortune.

"Let me talk to Bruno first, alright Julio?" I said, quickly standing up to grab onto Bruno's elbow.

"Is it going to be the 30-minute-long talks mama and papa tell me they do every night?" Julio asked and I thought I heard Pepa and Felix whisper something before laughing.

"No…no Julio." I said, feeling my face turn a little red. "We'll be right back."

"That's what they tell me too!" I heard Julio yell before I pulled Bruno away from everyone and behind a column. When I turned him to face me, I could see his face was also slowly starting to turn red.

"Bruno, I don't know what Julio is going to ask of you, but I have rules before you tell my little brother anything." I said and Bruno started nodding his head. "One, if you see anything involving death, no you didn't. Tell him that person is enjoying a nap. Two, if you see anything hurting our family, no you didn't. Find a way to explain it in an innocent way. Three, if you see anything hurting Julio…" I raised my eyebrows to hint at what Bruno was supposed to say.

"No…I didn't?" Bruno questioned and I smiled at him. I patted his cheek and gave him a quick "Perfect" before pulling Bruno back to everyone.

"Alright Julio, your fortune awaits!" I said, making dramatic hand motions towards Bruno. Julio ran towards him before grabbing onto his hand, waiting for Bruno to lead the way. After asking permission from his mother, Antonio quickly raced after them shouting "I wanna see his fortunes too!". Even though Bruno already wasn't the tallest, when Antonio grabbed onto Bruno's free hand I noticed Bruno now had to hunch down almost to the boys' levels as they walked.

Once they were gone, I turned back towards the rest of the Madrigals and sat beside Alma.

"So, how was everything, Rosa?" Julieta asked.

"Everything was perfect!" I smiled. "One of the best meals I've ever had."

This earned me a thank you from Julieta as she placed a hand over her heart.

"We are certainly happy to have you in our house." Alma said, placing her hand on my shoulder. "After your father's spat with us, I didn't think this would be possible."

"Me neither." I said as my papa started coming into my mind. "If he knew I was here…" I thought. A knot started to form in my stomach as my thoughts shifted from this to what would happen to Julio if our papa knew we were here.

"I was hoping my rain would flood him out our house!" Pepa yelled and I quickly pulled out of my thoughts. "Coming into our house and yelling like he did. Pablo Castaño lost his daughter's proposal night, I lost my own brother!" As she yelled, a black cloud started to form above her and I thought I could hear thunder. But Felix quickly put his arm around her in an attempt to calm her down.

"He certainly has a little temper on him." Alma laughed. I could only nod in agreement at this statement.

"A big man with a bigger ego." Felix chimed in. I forced a smile on my face as Pepa laughed at her husband's statement. I wanted to say something back, but I couldn't bring myself to say anything against my father like they were. While I do know my papa has never been a quiet man, if someone in his family is hurting he's the first to defend them.

"Sometimes I wondered if it was Pepa's thunder I hear at night or Pablo yelling about something." Augustin chuckled.

"Where's my brother?" I thought, still smiling as everyone around me passed judgement on my father.

"His ego-" Pepa started before I quickly stood up.

"Hey, I think I'm going to find my brother and Antonio. See how the fortune telling is going, maybe get one read myself so…bye." I quickly sprinted out the room and toward Bruno's while their words rang through my ears. My father isn't a bad man. He has a temper yes, but he's been nothing but a great father and has always had his family's best intentions. Has this gotten him in trouble in the past? Many times. But in the end he never let anyone come between him and us.

I would never talk about a Madrigal like they're talking about my father, even though I know I had enough to do so. I could talk about Dolores knowing too much gossip, Alma and the pressure she's put on her family, Bruno running away from everyone and not sending anyone any letters or letting anyone know he's ok so everyone worries about him until their at their wits end thin-

"Rosa?" I heard a voice snap me out of my thoughts. I looked in front of me and saw myself standing in front of Bruno's door with him, Antonio, and Julio standing in the frame of it. I looked down at my brother and saw he was holding an emerald slab.

"Look Rosa." Julio said, smiling up at me. "I asked for a fortune for you too!"

I took the slab from my brother and looked at it. On the surface was the outline of me with a man I felt like I should know standing beside me. I was dressed up in a long dress with my family surrounding me. However, when I shifted the slab to get a closer look at it, the image changed and instead of the other man, a new man appeared with a new family in the picture. Bruno and the Madrigals.

Seeing this, I felt like something snap in my head and I slowly stepped closer to Bruno. He started slowly stepping back into the room the closer I got. "Julio," I said, keeping my eyes locked on Bruno. "Go downstairs with Antonio. I want to talk to Bruno."

"Ok…can I have the fortune back?" Julio asked, shuffling in his spot.

"Later." I responded. Julio knew something was about to happen so he quickly grabbed Antonio's hand and ran downstairs. While the boys ran, I walked closer to Bruno until we were all the way in his room. I closed the door behind us with a slam and kept my eyes on him. Behind Bruno was a large hourglass shaped archway with sand pouring over it that echoed throughout the room.

"Rosa," Bruno started holding his hands in front of him. "I did what you asked. I didn't see anything bad happen, at least it did-"

"What," I interrupted "Did my brother, ask you?"

"He just asked some silly child questions." Bruno defended himself, panic starting to fill his voice. "How rich will he be, what's for dessert tomorrow, little kid-"

"This, is not a child's fortune!" I screamed, pushing the slab into Bruno's face. "Why are you and I in my brother's fortune?!" At this Bruno tripped over something on the sandy ground and fell backwards.

"He asked…" Bruno started before stopping himself.

"What did he ask? What did you make my brother ask you?!" I yelled. I tossed the slab to te side and towered over the man.

"He asked when he would see you at your happiest!"

At this, I stopped looking down at Bruno and slowly started backing away from him. "Happiest?" I thought to myself. "Why does…" I felt something form in my throat, but I quickly tried to swallow it. "I'm…" Another thing formed in my throat and again I tried to swallow it, this time having more difficulty. Soon, I felt a sound come out of my throat that I couldn't stop. It was a laugh. It started slow, but then got louder. A loud laugh that didn't seem to want to stop coming. I saw Bruno looking at me with a worried look, but he didn't move from his spot on the ground.

"See Bruno?" I said, looking back at the man. "I'm happy! I'm laughing. Why does everyone…why does my brother…" At this point tears started to form in my eyes, but I still couldn't stop laughing.

"Rosa?" Bruno asked, still staying in his spot.

"Why wouldn't I be happy?" I laughed again, feeling my knees start to be weak. "I have a great family. My father loves me. A mother who holds me. My brother, sister." More tears formed as I felt myself slowly start to sink to the ground. "And now you're back. My best friend is back. Haven't seen you in 10 years. But you're back. Didn't get any letters, letting me know you were ok. But now you're back and everything is great."

At this point, my laughter started into cries as I started choking back tears. Then, it started feeling like it was getting harder to breath, just like the first day I saw Bruno again. The sound of the sand pouring seemed to get louder, but as my heart started to speedup as well it suddenly seemed like the loudest thing in the room.

I heard Bruno say something before rushing over to me and grabbing my shoulders. When I went to push him away I didn't know where he was since the whole room started to spin around me the more I tried to breath.

"Rosa, Rosa focus on me. Breath." Bruno said, pulling me to face him. Whether it was from the tears or the room spinning around me I can't say, but suddenly there seemed to be a million Brunos around me and I couldn't focus on a single one. I felt Bruno gently put his hand on my cheeks and this seemed to make the room spin much more slowly.

"Rosa, we've done this before." Bruno whispered very slowly. "You're overwhelming yourself, focus on your breathing. You're in my room, I'm here with you. You've made it through this before, I know you'll do it again."

My heart seemed to slowly start beating at its normal pace as air started returning to my lungs. I opened my mouth to say something before Bruno stopped me and laid my head on his shoulder, quietly shushing me. Once my head felt soft texture of his ruana, my vision also seemed to slowly return and everything eventually stopped spinning. "Rosa, you're doing great. You're breathing better." Bruno whispered, slowly stroking his hair.

After we stayed like that for a couple more seconds, Bruno let me slowly move my head away from his shoulder to look at him. "Are you doing better?" he asked. I slowly nodded my head and mustered out a quiet thank you. We stayed sitting on the ground for a few more minutes before I slowly placed my head back on Bruno's shoulder.

"Bruno, where did you go?"

I felt him take in a deep breath and wrap his arm around my shoulder, pulling me in closer. He told me about how Abuela was worried for the family after Mirabel didn't get her gift and wanted him to look into the future. He saw Mirabel being the fate of the magic in the family and after Abuela saw this, she became worried and fearful. Bruno took this as a reflection of all the pain and suffering his fortunes caused. He felt his gift wasn't helpful to the family and believed the best thing for him to do was leave so he wouldn't cause any more trouble. Then he told me he never really left the house and instead stayed in the walls with the rats before Mirabel found him and brought him back to the family.

There was silence after this before I moved my head off his shoulder to look at him. "Why didn't you let me know you were ok?" I asked. "Send a letter, anything at all."

"I thought it would be better for everyone if I no longer exited to them." Bruno said, looking down at the ground. "You, my family, the whole town. Nothing good has come from any of my fortunes and I didn't want to make anyone suffer anymore."

After he said this, I slowly moved in front of him and started wrapping my arms around him. It took him a second, but he too started pulling me in for a hug and my head rested on his shoulder.

"I missed you, Bruno." I whispered.

"I missed you too." He said, burying his face in my hair.

"I wanted to hate you," I said, holding him tighter. "I wanted to hate you for so long, but I could never bring myself to do it. I tried to find something in me that would let me, but every time I did cursed myself for-"

"I'm sorry Rosa." Bruno interjected and I thought I heard his voice crack a little. "I'm sorry for running away. I didn't mean to leave you like I did. I thought it would be better for you. Then I saw you from the cracks in the house walking around the town, but it wasn't you. It wasn't the blooming flower I knew. Something wasn't there. Then I heard about the feud I caused between our families. Even when I'm not around, something still goes wrong because of me."

I pulled away from his shoulder and held him out from me. "Bruno, that's not your fault. My papa wanted to look out for the family, but he let his temper get the better of him. Everyone thought they were doing what was best, but they also did things without thinking."

I lightly reached out my hand and pulled Bruno gently up by his chin to look at me. "What was it you told me before? You can't take back the 10 years you were gone, but you can make the next 10 right." I smiled at Bruno and a saw a slight twitch at the corners of his mouth. "Well, why don't we make the next 10 years right?"

I stood up off the ground and held out my hand to help Bruno up to. He put his hands around my cheeks to wipe away the tear stains and held my cheeks his hands for a few more seconds. I gave him a small laugh and went over to pick up Julio's fortune. I stared at it for a little bit before putting it in my bag. "This is something for another day." I thought before going over to open the door. Bruno opened it for me with a gentle "After you."