"Where on earth have you been?!"
Julieta felt her mother yank her towards the bathroom.
"Go, get cleaned up! The Guzmans will be here soon and you need to look your best!"
She didn't protest, knowing full well that she'd been the one to screw up here. And as she bathed, washing the dirt of the woods off her, her mind drifted to Agustin. He seemed so… nice. So kind and gentle. Not to mention he was handsome—that was a bonus. But he was stuck in her head now and refused to leave, no matter how many times she tried to focus on pleasing the Guzmans and her mother once she'd cleaned herself up and their guests arrived.
Romeo Guzman, as she'd expected, endlessly chatted about what he'd do as a Madrigal. He didn't ask her much about herself, instead using the stupid lines she'd assumed he'd use about Romeo and Juliet in such a way that she knew he hadn't actually read the play.
Like all stories of star-crossed lovers, it ends in tragedy.
And her mind once again jumped to Agustin.
Would she be willing to carry on a romance with him, to marry him in secret and betray her family for the sake of love? She wasn't sure. She'd only met him once, and that had been without knowing who he was. It had created this sort of longing, this tugging in her chest that made her want to be near him.
It wasn't until after the Guzmans had left that she was yanked into her brother's room by her fellow triplets and Pepa fixed her with a stare.
"Why didn't you tell Mama you had a boyfriend?" she asked.
"I don't! Bruno was lying!"
"I didn't lie, and I didn't call him your boyfriend!" Bruno protested. "I just said you ran into him without knowing who he was when you both got lost in the woods."
"But you also said she kept staring at him—"
"—and he was staring at her, too, but it doesn't mean they're together!"
"So, how exactly did you get lost in the woods?" Pepa inquired, shaking her head.
"I just wanted to explore them. Just once before I get married. He saw me and knew I was going into a dangerous area, so he tried to get my attention and I ran off because…"
Her face heated up and she tried to cover it in embarrassment.
"…it doesn't really matter. What matters is that we got caught in that weird storm yesterday and we spent the night in this random cabin before Sor Sara found us."
"It's her cabin, actually," Bruno corrected, shifting so he was sitting cross-legged on his bed. "We hang out there sometimes when I need to hide. And she takes care of some of my rats."
"Ah, so that's where you disappear to!" Pepa snickered, before becoming serious again and looking at her older sister. "Julie, you swear there's nothing between you and Agustin Montez?"
"Nothing at all, I swear."
Liar. Liar liar liar liar liar—
"Good. Because one of you pining over a member of the Montez faction is enough," Bruno scoffed.
"I'm not pining!" Pepa whined.
"You're completely head-over-heels for Felix Rodriguez, don't deny it."
"Who told you that?!"
"Nobody. I just see you staring at him sometimes."
"I don't stare! You need to get your eyes checked! Or are you too busy making eyes at Sor Sara?"
"Excuse me? I'm making eyes at who?!"
"She's a nun, idiota!"
Julieta had to stifle a laugh, but her thoughts still drifted to Agustin.
How was he dealing with the fallout from this?
The slow-clapping from Felix was wholly unnecessary as they walked towards the Montez residence, heading to face the music from Agustin not having come home all night and pray that his mother hadn't become bedridden with worry again.
"Please stop."
"No, I'm impressed! All our talk lately about getting married and you spend the night with Julie—"
"—it wasn't like that, don't listen to Sara—"
"—and then you get on Bruno Madrigal's bad side."
"I swear, it wasn't like that. We were just… stuck together, kind of."
"What do you mean, kind of?"
"I ran after her because she was heading too deep into the woods and she ran away from me because I was a man chasing after her in the dark. Then we got lost and there was the storm and—"
"Ah, I see." Felix grinned. "So, you've finally met two of the Madrigal triplets. What do you think?"
Agustin hesitated.
"Sara mentioned you kept staring at Julieta."
"So what if I did? She's… pretty. Really pretty."
Felix raised an eyebrow and Agustin sighed.
"She's more interesting than most of the other girls I've met. But it's not going to happen. She's a Madrigal and I'm a Montez and if my father finds out he'll either kill me or send me to live in San Cristobal."
"Not at the risk of Tía Lucia getting upset and being bedridden."
"Then I guess I'll just stay here and… wait for someone else to come along."
The heir to House Montez let out a sigh as he leaned against a nearby wall.
"I just wish I could get to know her better. Without worrying about our families finding out. But like I said, it can't happen. It's better for me to forget it ever happened."
Needless to say, forgetting did not seem to be possible for Agustin.
Julieta had wedged herself into his mind and she had no intention of leaving. For a week, he found himself thinking of her almost constantly—her smile, her laugh, the way her eyes lit up when she talked about cooking… all of it was a part of who Julieta was and it was something he very much wanted to be near. But it wasn't possible, not as long as their families were feuding.
Then Sara dropped some news for him and Felix, news that very much gave him a way to see Julieta without anyone knowing it was him. And he knew she'd done it on purpose; she outright stated so.
"I am sick and tired of watching you mope around, you lovesick puppy. So you're going to see her if only for the sake of my sanity."
If it weren't for the fact she was practically his sister and he was in love with Julieta (because he was, he'd come to accept it), he could've kissed her. But he refrained because he was going to see Julieta.
He only hoped that she would recognize him behind his mask.
A masquerade seemed an odd theme for a birthday party, but Pepa had to admit Bruno's idea had been a good one. Especially since it would allow them to walk around the party without being recognized as the Madrigal triplets for once. They only turned twenty-two once, after all.
She also hoped that this party would help Julieta cheer up. Ever since her impromptu meetup with Agustin in the woods, she'd been moping around the house when she was out of sight of their parents. In front of them she put on a figurative mask of happiness at her courtship with Romeo. But Pepa knew better, and she knew better than to believe that her brother wasn't up to something when he came up with a birthday party theme for what must've been the first time since they were kids.
He hates parties, especially if he has to help plan them.
Pepa refused to voice her suspicions out loud, but they were all but confirmed when she caught sight of Felix Rodriguez (in a mask) entering with a young woman and a rather tall and lanky young man. The young woman muttered something to the tall young man, who nodded and slipped into the crowd while she glided across the floor with ease.
"Hola, Pepa!" the young woman greeted her with a smile, and Pepa recognized that voice in an instant.
"Sara?!"
"Shhh, nobody knows I'm here. It'll look bad if there's a nun at a party like this."
"Why are you here, then?"
"Helping out a friend."
"You brought him?" Bruno asked, making his way over and lowering his voice.
"No, I purposely ignored your instructions so I could come get drunk." Sara rolled her eyes and Bruno groaned. "I'm joking, hombre rata. He's here. I just sent him off."
"Who's he?" inquired Pepa.
"A lovesick idiot who needs to stop moping before I actually take vows and go to a real convent."
Pepa ignored that last part, instead focusing on the lovesick idiot.
"If you don't mind me asking, could you give me a na—"
Sara shushed her and then gestured across the floor. Her companion was approaching Julieta, who seemed confused until a look of shock and joy came across her face. Then she started whispering something furiously, as if she was annoyed with her companion but overjoyed to see him.
That was when it clicked for Pepa.
"You two are evil."
"I am the evil triplet," Bruno remarked. "And Sara has repeatedly assured me that he's harmless."
"He tripped over sunlight earlier today," Sara snorted.
"How does someone even manage that?"
"He is legendarily accident-prone, thank you. And he's been that way as long as I've known him."
She took a glass of wine off a tray and held it up.
"Oh, and Pepa? Felix could use a dance partner." The wink that this false sister gave her made Pepa's heart leap upwards.
Part of her wanted to go pull Agustin away from Julieta, to yell for her mother and father to kick the Montezes out of the party, but… her sister looked so happy, and Pepa had the chance to dance with Felix for what might be the only time she ever got one. So of course she nodded to the false nun and her younger brother before making her way across the floor to where Felix was chatting happily with some other people their age.
"Um, excuse me," she spoke up, getting his attention. "W-would you like to dance with me, señor?"
He smiled at her, and god she just wanted him to be hers. But he was like a nephew to the Montezes and that meant he was very much Off Limits to her. Still, he held out his hand.
"Shall we, señorita?"
If she could only stop time, she could live forever in this moment as they swept onto the floor.
Romeo Guzman, despite his family's neutrality, favored the Madrigals.
Oh sure, his father Austin had made it clear that as things stood, the Guzmans would not take sides. They would be the peacekeepers. But he had never said that his children couldn't marry into those families, hence why Romeo was here now. He'd never been able to stand the tall and lanky and strange young man who was now the heir to the Montez family, and despite the fact that he harbored similar feelings towards Bruno Madrigal, he was willing to put up with it to marry the beautiful Julieta.
He stood on one of the covered walkways that overlooked the courtyard, sipping a glass of wine and glancing over the crowd. Once he married Julieta, all of this could (and would) be his. He just needed to play his cards right to get rid of her brother, who held all rights to being the heir of the family as the only son. But were he out of the picture, well, Romeo could take that title for himself.
Arturo will be the head of the Guzmans, I will take the Madrigals, and then Ramona can marry that insipid Agustin and we can end all this and take over the town.
It was foolproof, utterly foolproof.
There was just one problem, he realized as he caught sight of Julieta.
He recognized the young man she was speaking to. Despite the mask, he knew that physique and that voice that made its way into his ears as he crept closer to eavesdrop. It was Agustin Montez, and from the way Julieta was talking, she knew it to be him, too.
They were flirting.
When had this happened?! When had Julieta met this clumsy idiota whose only noteworthy trait was that he was the heir to House Montez? And when had she… no. He had to do something, anything, to get him out of the party, away from Julieta and away from Romeo's plans. It was the only way to salvage things.
So he took the opportunity to slip over to Alma and Pedro, who were laughing as they spoke to some people he'd never cared to learn the names of.
"Pardon me, señor," he spoke up, pulling the head of the Madrigals to the side.
"What is it, Romeo?"
"There are Montezes here. At least one."
He gestured towards Agustin, and Pedro pressed his lips together.
"You're sure?"
"It's unmistakable. That's Agustin Montez."
"Oh. Agustin?" Pedro let out a chuckle. "That boy wouldn't hurt a fly. As long as he doesn't cause trouble, he can stay."
Romeo opened his mouth to reply, but Alma called Pedro over to dance with her.
"I understand your concern, Romeo, but I refuse to make a scene on an occasion like this, and you'd do well to follow my example." He turned towards Alma. "Coming, mi amor!"
The middle child of the Guzmans gripped his wineglass hard enough to shatter it.
Nanny: Pepa (shut up)
Paris: Romeo
Okay, so I do have to mention the party scene from Romeo and Juliet, and that's because this always struck me as odd: Lord Capulet finds out the heir to the Montague family is at the party, dancing with his daughter, and he's just chill with it? Like, later he screams at Juliet and calls her a whore (not doing that to Pedro, don't worry) and threatens to throw her out on the street if she doesn't marry Paris, but he's completely fine with Romeo dancing with her at a party held by the Capulets. He thinks Romeo's a harmless kid who can stay.
I dunno, man, it's something that's bothered me for years now.
Also, on a funnier note, I'm just constantly giving Bruno moments of questioning why the hell Sara is his best friend. You'll see why later.
So long and thanks for all the fish!
