Julieta was pleased that Bruno was visiting Aya more often. Her smiles motivated Bruno to keep visiting Aya—not that Bruno had any reason not to.
When they were nineteen, Aya and Bruno started working together on a project. A natural hurricane recently swept through the region and damaged the book containing medical information logged by Aya's ancestors. The book's contents were salvageable, but they needed to be copied soon because the original would not last much longer. Aya and Bruno bought a typewriter and a stack of paper. Aya requested for Bruno to illustrate the pages. "I'll pay you with kisses," she boldly promised.
"Why kisses?" Bruno asked with a mischievous grin.
Aya pouted as she scanned the crumpled pages of her family's medical encyclopedia. "I'd give you medicine for your sickness, but this book says you're not old enough for it," she explained.
"You mean, my migraines?"
"No. Melancolía," Aya declared in her medic's voice. "Persistent sadness, turbulent moods, negative thoughts, irritability, insomnia or hypersomnia, loss of appetite, feelings of hopelessness—all culminating in self-harm and suicide. If you remember, the first deaths in the Encanto were mostly suicides—members of the founding generation that lost their loved ones to the war. They had similar symptoms. My family had difficulty treating them. I had barely started studying my family's work; that's why it took me so long to figure out what your problem is." She smiled apologetically.
"So that's what it's called," said Bruno. In the last week, Bruno had confessed to her about his recent suicidal ideation. He had been in the middle of a migraine when he went to the top of the stairs of his room and thought about jumping.
With a tender gaze, Aya said more gently, "I'm glad you're still here. What made you stop?"
"Strangely, the future," Bruno said with a shy smile. "A few years ago, I had these series of visions, of children I have never seen before. Those were some of my most vivid visions, too. Like, I could almost feel their hair and their hands. And I am just enamored of them. And I want so badly to meet them someday. I knew without knowing that they're family. When I stood on that ledge, I saw—Mini Julieta—and I couldn't do it."
"Mini Julieta?"
"There's one girl that looks just like her but with glasses."
Aya mimicked eyeglasses with her hands and spoke in a baby voice, "Tío Bruno, don't leave me."
They laughed together and hugged. "I really am glad you're here," said Aya.
"You are the reason that I'm here." Bruno kissed her on the cheek.
Aya kissed him on the lips. "I meant what I said before. Te quiero, Bruno."
Bruno still couldn't understand what made Aya love him. But at least he understood something else:
"También te quiero, Aya."
