"Again, Osvaldo?" Bruno sighed as the big man approached him in the middle of the marketplace.

"Well, your mother told me you can give me one last prophecy." The man wrapped his strong arm around Brunos comparatively small shoulders, and in a lower voice, he added: "You know, for the ladies!"

Only now, Bruno noticed that almost half the town -especially all single women- gathered around them. The young Madrigal was tired. Yes, he knows that Osvaldo Orozco Ortiz was a good friend of the Madrigal family and that the "donkey delivery guy" like his nieces liked to call him was one of a handful of people in the whole Encanto that never said one bad word about Bruno. He was also very aware that it was only because he never got one lousy prophecy: No matter how many times the Madrigal saw into the future of the delivery man, it always ended with a great fortune and a healthy future.

"Ok, fine!" He finally gave in, his fingers massaging his forehead." One LAST prophecy. And you are not running to my mother if I see something you don't like, right?"

"Of course not! Did I ever let you down, my friend?" Bruno rolled his eyes as Osvaldo began to jump from one foot to the other like an excited toddler. The curious townspeople gathered even closer while Bruno prepared the marketplace for the ritual. From the corner of his eye, he could see that his sister Juileta stopped giving food to the sick and injured and how she brought her cauldron into the church. Both triplets hated it when he had to give someone a vision out of his tower, but even though he was a grown-up man, Bruno feared the scolding of his mother more than the townspeople.

"Alright, everyone, move! Keep your children away, and NO ONE IS STEPPING INTO THE CIRCLE! We don't want to get anyone hurt like last time." He glared a the crowd; some people nervously looked away, fully aware of what happened last time.

"Are you ready?" Bruno grabbed Osvaldo's hands, which were two times bigger than his.

"Yes! I mean, yes, I am ready."

Bruno sighed as he sensed how the ritual slowly began.

"It's like always, Osvaldo," He said, his eyes shining in a bright green. "You will stay strong and healthy until you reach a very high age, and your fortune will grow with every year."

"What about my muscles? Will I still be able to lift my wagon?"

"You will stay the second strongest person in town after Luisa until you finally close your eyes at a very high age. And you will be respected in the whole village for that."

"See, I knew it!" Osvaldo screamed, and Bruno could bet that some of his friends applauded.

"So why are you asking me the same question over and over again?!" The prophecy finally ended, and Bruno protected himself from the falling sand with the green glass plate. Nobody seemed to listen to him while Osvaldo bragged about the positive outcome of his prophecy.

"I will stay strong!" He shouted, and the townspeople started clapping. Bruno used the ongoing confusion to slip away from the crowd.

"Do you really think having a prophecy in the middle of the town is the brightest idea?" Bruno didn't see his sister at first, so he bumped head first into Julieta.

"Can you stop scaring the heck out of me? And it wasn't my idea, mamá said that…. "

"I know, I know, mamá said you have to give Osvaldo as much prophecy he wants as long as he gives us a reasonable price for the goat milk." She sighed, fully aware that her brother would never voluntarily see into the future. "Still, you should stop doing it in the middle of the market square; you know what happened last time…."

"I KNOW! Don't tell it to me, Juelita; tell it to them!" He pointed at the nosy townspeople who were still gathering around Osvaldo. "Also, I wish I don't have to…."

"Excuse me?" Bruno almost jumped when a woman, some years younger than the Madrigal siblings, approached them. Elena gave him a small smile, making him blush. He didn't have the opportunity to thank her for saving him a week ago yet, and he was confident that his sister would tease him for weeks if he would now.

"I know it might be inappropriate, but my father broke his wrist, and I …."

"Don't worry, no further questions asked." Julieta said warmly while her hand reached in her apron. "Just put some drops in every meal and drink you make for him, but not too much, or he will notice it."

"Thank you." Elena smiled as she grabbed the little bottle the Madrigal handed her, quickly making it disappear in the pocket of her skirt. But, unfortunately, she wasn't as unnoticed as she wished.

"Why do you even help her, Julieta?" Osvaldo snarled, still gathered by his friends.

"Her father and grandfather don't appreciate the help of your family, so they shouldn't get it. That's why her mother died. So just let the Moreno rot; at least we would have one less problem."

The people around him laughed, but Elena's body hardened. "I thank you for your help, Julieta, but I think I have to go. Goodbye." She turned around, and while she tried to keep her head up and proud while she passed the laughing people around her, Bruno knew that she had to fight back her tears.

"Someone has to put him back in his place. " He frowned.

Julieta knew her brother well enough not to understand what he meant. "Bruno, no. Don't even think about whatever is going on in your head!"

But her youngest sibling didn't even listen. His plan already formed in his head, and he would gladly accept his mother's anger when he could only make Osvaldo pay back for once. Julieta couldn't stop her brother when he directly went to the delivery man, secretly praying that whatever Bruno planned wouldn't get him killed.

"Here he is, my good friend Bruno Material!"The large man grabbed the Madrigal by the shoulders who, compared to him, looked like a little schoolboy. "Nobody should EVER say again that Bruno Madrigal means bad luck. I will make sure about it!"

"Well, about that…." Bruno took a deep breath before he continued with his plan. "You know, I just got a small vision regarding your prophecy. And I thought you should hear it."

"So what! Just tell me, there is nothing you can not tell me in front of my friends!" For the part of a second, Bruno couldn't hide his grin. His mother would totally kill him, but right now, he couldn't care less.

"You will stay healthy, but at one point you will grow…" he whispered the last part into Osvaldos ear, but their audience could tell that something must be terribly wrong just by the white face of the delivery man.

"A GUT?!" He cried in disbelief. "Bruno, you must be wrong, you never… Please tell me it was a mistake!"

The Madrigal shook his head with false sympathy. "I am sorry, Osvaldo, but there is nothing I can do for you."He could see how Elena had already turned her back to the angry crowd, heading to a small broken wall away from the marketplace. Bruno hesitated first but finally decided to follow her.

"Why did you say that to Osvaldo?" Bruno might be quiet on his feet, but there is no way Elena wouldn't notice him.

"I had a vision, and Osvaldo should know…."

"Stop it, Bruno! We both know you didn't have a vision!" She didn't want to sound that harsh, but she had no control over her feelings right now. Elena turned her head away, too proud to let him see how much anger was still inside her. She was surprised as the shy Madrigal sat beside her.

"No matter how much happened between our families, no one should ever say something like that. It was cruel, and it was thoughtless." He frowned, fully aware that his little acting from before was somehow out of character. However, talking like that about a dead parent was something the Madrigal could never tolerate, and if he had to use his acting skills like this to put someone back in his place, it must be. Besides, growing a gut wasn't the worst fade he predicted. Bruno could see that the woman beside him still hold back her tears, so before he could hold his tongue, he added:

"Besides, I have seen him eating two chickens in less than half an hour. You don't need a vision to know that he might grow a gut."

Elena laughed. A real laugh, not that half-hearted smile she used to wear day in and day out. There it was, Bruno's goofy personality she knew exits deep inside him. "So it was more a bit of good advice to overthink his diet and less a prophecy?"

The Madrigal's face slowly relaxed when he understood that the woman beside him didn't bother for his thoughtless joke. It was like he could hear his mother's scolding voice inside his head: "Just because it pops in your head doesn't mean it should come out of your mouth! You just assumed that the town is angry with you again, and for what?" For once, Bruno didn't care what his family and the Encanto thought about him. He knew that he would get into trouble for his reckless actions, but seeing the beautiful girl beside him laughing made it worth it. And Elena Moreno was beautiful: She was a petite young woman, even shorter than him. Her long brown hair fell in a loose ponytail down her left shoulder, almost touching her waist. She almost looked like a younger version of her mother, but to Bruno's relief, without the illness's constant presence, that costs Marina Moreno's life way too early.

"It must be five years from now, right?" Bruno winced as he noticed that his question might upset her.

"It is," the young woman interrupted him before he could start to say his apologies. "Five years since my mother died." Her gaze went up to the sky, still sad, but her tears were gone.

"I never had the chance to apologize," Bruno sighed. "I was the one giving you hope that Julieta might be able to save her; you were even able to convince your father and grandfather to bring her to us. But, unfortunately, I couldn't warn you when I had that vision…."

She gaped at him in disbelief. "Bruno, stop it. You and your sister tried your best to save mamá; it was not your fault that she died."

She could see how Bruno relaxed just by a little bit. Then, suddenly, he seemed to remember something as he grabbed for something in his pocket.

"Oh, would you like an arepa? Julieta makes the best ones in town, not that I tried much other food, but at least those also have some healing powers," He rambled as he handed her one of his sister's arepas.

"Do you always carry food around?" She questioned as she took a bit.

"Well," he muttered, "It always comes handy to bring some food with healing power when you are the most hated person in town." He chuckled nervously, pointing on his left eye that only a week ago had a painful encounter with Osma's fist.

"The town might not understand your powers or your visions, but they don't hate you," Elena mumbled. "Just be the only child of the only family that hates the Madrigal. THEN everyone in town hates you." She pulled her knees towards her body, trying to comfort herself.

Bruno wanted to say something, he wanted to tell her that nobody could possibly hate her, but he shut his mouth, remembering all the time his family told him the exact same things. He knew they were right: The town never feared him but his power, making it even harder for him when he was just a kid. Nobody hated Elena, but her grandfather held a deep grudge against the Madrigal family. Like Osvaldo, most of the town stayed loyal to the Madrigals, not knowing the reason behind the old family feud. It was a dispute between Alma Madrigal and Samuel Moreno; not even Bruno's sisters and Elena and her father knew why Samuel despised the magical family so much. In one of his rare visions regarding the past, Bruno found the reason only days before Marina's death, and as a desperate try to save the poor woman's life, he somehow blackmailed Samuel with it. The event's pictures still haunted him, but he would never share the vision with his sisters or Elena. It wasn't Bruno's story to tell, but at least it helped him to understand the reason behind the older man's actions.

"So...you play the guitar?" Silently, Bruno scolded himself for his poor try to change the subject of their so-called conversation, sheepishly rubbing his neck as he saw the confusion in Elena's eyes.

"Oh, you mean that." She chuckled, finally remembering their strange encounter only a week ago. "I can't play it, but I am trying, though. I have enough of being the well-behaved princess my grandfather wants me to be."

"So, you are done with always smiling and sewing while you silently curse everyone who gets on your nerves?" He teased, remembering the day he accidentally heard Elena yell all the swearing words his mother would still pull him to the church for. "Secretly playing the guitar must be the most harmless rebellion I have ever heard of."

"Baby steps, Bruno Madrigal, baby steps." She grinned at him, somehow making his heartbeat even faster. He wasn't used to holding a conversation with a woman outside his family for longer than a few sentences. Still, even Bruno Madrigal wasn't obvious enough to believe that that was the only reason for his sudden unlikely behavior. He knew that he was attracted towards her, maybe even more than he would like to admit himself. It wasn't like he meant to do anything about it: Every single man (and even some who were not single at all) in the Encanto would gladly take Elena as his wife; even Osvaldo Ortiz wouldn't hesitate to fall on his knees if she only gave him a chance; her good looks and her charming personality could easily make up for all the things her grandfather said about the Madrigals.

Regarding the ring around her neck, some lucky guy must found a way to conquer her heart finally. Bruno only hoped that she didn't give in to one of Pascal Perez's proposals. He knew how much all the women loved that guy, but he also knew how he talked about his latest "conquests "when nobody was listening. Of course, it wasn't Bruno's business who Elena was going to marry, but just the thought that she could be with that misogynist made him sick to the stomach.

"I have to go." She finally sighed, and before he knew what was going on, she gave him a quick kiss on the cheek.

"Thank you for your help." With that, Elena ran off, not seeing still confused Bruno grinning like an idiot. Yeah, none of his sister's arepas could save him from their mother's yelling, but as far as he could tell it, everything was totally worth it.