Summary:

Gabriela finds Bruno on the roof.

-o-o-

Written in Gabriela's POV.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

"Bruno?" I whisper. Casita leads me upstairs and away from the prying eyes of the other guests. I move around quietly, trying to recall where Bruno's door is when Dolores pops out of nowhere, scaring me. I fall and land on my behind.

"Lo siento, Tía–" Dolores squeaks, reeling herself when she realizes she almost called me Tía. I pretend not to hear it. "Señorita Gabriela! What are you doing here?"

"Dolores, just the Madrigal I wanted to see," I sigh. She holds out her hand and helps me up. "Are you okay? I'm sorry I scared you."

"No, it's fine. I wasn't looking where I was going. Anyway, why aren't you downstairs with the rest of the family?"

Dolores makes a nervous squeak. "Are you here to get Tío?" I nod. "Where is he, Dolores? Is he in his room?"

She shakes her head. "No, I heard him leave his room an hour ago. He's on the roof over there, but you can't get up there unless you climb on to the side of the house."

I gulp. Sounds dangerous. "What's he doing there?"

"I don't know." Worry settles into Dolores' face. I sigh. "Alright. Where's the railing so I can climb up there to get your Tío?"

"Are you sure?"

I wave the gift I'm holding at Dolores. "Well, I have to give this gift to your Tío Bruno, so I need him too." Dolores lightens up. "Oh, okay! Just go right past there, then turn left. Climb out into the railing and you'll get to the roof." I thank Dolores and head on straight towards the direction she's pointing at. "Please be careful, Señorita Gabriela!"

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

It's not a high climb, but I almost feel sick knowing one wrong step and I'll end up seriously injured. True to Dolores' words, I find Bruno sulking, and to my amusement, talking to a rat. This must be the pet everyone's been telling me about. "...and I feel so guilty for everything, Jorge. Like, how am I going to tell her?"

"How are you going to tell her what?" I ask, and he almost throws the rat up in the air in shock. "Wow, um, sorry to surprise you. You don't have to hurl the poor thing twenty feet off the house."

"Ga-Gabriela! You're here!" Bruno coughs. The rat escapes from his grasp and quickly scampers off, no doubt relieved to not be flung into the ground. "How much have you heard?"

"Just that. Why?" I carefully walk towards him, trying hard not to look down. My nerves kick in and I slip, almost losing my balance. Bruno catches me in time. His hand is warm. I blush, hard. "That was close. Thanks."

"What are you doing here?" Bruno pulls me up a little too fast and we bump into each other, our faces too close. His eyes widen and he lets go, embarrassed.

All I can hear is the sound of my own heart in my ears.

"Um…" I manage to say after a minute. "I'm here to bring you downstairs. I think you're about to blow the candles?"

He frowns at me and slumps back down. "I'm not going down there."

"Why not? It's your birthday." I sit down next to him, urging him to look at me. "It's supposed to be a celebration."

"I don't feel like celebrating."

I sigh. My lips purse into a thin line. "Why not?" Bruno doesn't dare look at me. I nudge him. "Come on, Bruno. Why not?"

He buries his head in his arms. "You shouldn't be here, Gabriela."

"I don't understand."

He turns to look at me, his eyes shining with unshed tears. "I mean what I said. You shouldn't be here with me."

I blink, unmoving. He sighs. "It's terrible to be seen with me. Tengo mala suerte, Gabriela."

"¡Basta! You're not bad luck, Bruno!" I huff, clutching his gift close to my chest. I start telling him things I like about him. "You're…you're the kindest, sweetest man I've ever known! You do what's best for the community, day in and day out, without any reward, without any thanks, despite it being exhausting, you do it anyway! You care so much about your family that you'd do anything to make sure they're safe and happy…you're the best Tío to your nieces and nephew, you're the best brother your sisters could ask for, the best son…"

"That's high praise, but I don't deserve it. Especially from you."

I gasp. Bruno ignores the shocked look on my face. "I break everything I touch. I know my family loves me, but I keep failing them, day after day after day, with every terrible vision, with every bad fate. Some mornings, I find it difficult to get up and work, but it's my duty because I'm a Madrigal. And I feel so guilty whenever I hear about your family from mine…I could've…" He's shaking now, broken sobs vibrating through him. "I could've saved Señora Elena. I could've done something right when I came to warn her. I could've…"

I wrap my arms around Bruno. "Bruno, no, no, no. It's not your fault. You've done so much…"

"No, Gabriela. All I've done is put your family through pain. Put my family to shame."

I sigh. I have to tell him the truth. There's a reason Mamá made sure to get her final message across to me, and only me. It's as if she knew Bruno would act this way. I silently whisper a prayer for her to guide me on this. "Bruno, I…I'm sorry."

He peeks at me, his eyes are red and I notice that he has very dark bags under his eyes. He looks like he hasn't slept well at all. My heart melts as I wipe his tears away. His cheeks heat at my touch. "I haven't been completely honest with you."

"Wha-what do you mean?"

I take a deep breath. Inhale, exhale. "Bruno, I was born…with a magical gift of my own. I can read minds."

He blinks at me, then frowns. "That's a terrible lie to tell me, Gabriela." He pulls himself up and begins to walk away from me. Oh no, not exactly the reaction I was hoping for.

"I can't bear to let her see me crying like this!" I blurt out. Bruno stops and turns to look at me. "What…did you just say?"

"I said," I grit my teeth. "'I can't bear to let her see me crying like this.' You were thinking that just now, weren't you, Bruno?"

His jaw drops. His expression changes when he notices my tears. "How…how did…?"

"I told you," Great, now I'm the one crying. "I can read minds."

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

We sit in silence, listening to the party going on downstairs.

"Hey, Gabriela?" Bruno says, all apologetic. "I'm sorry. I didn't…mean to make you cry."

I sigh. I hope my eyes aren't puffy. "You're lucky it's your birthday."

"Does that mean I'm forgiven?"

"Maybe."

Bruno chuckles. "You caught me by surprise, that's all." Another pause. "...so, who else knows? About your gift, I mean."

"Besides my family? Just Julieta and Pepa."

He raises an eyebrow at me. "My sisters knew about your gift? When?" I give him an embarrassed smile. "Well…remember my first Feria de las Flores here?" He nods. "...I slipped and they found out."

"They've known it for a long time and I just found out about this…now?"

I raise my hands in defense. "I didn't want our friendship to get weird!" Bruno's eyes immediately widen and he turns beet red. "Ha-have you ever read any of my thoughts then?"

"No, save for that one time when I ambushed you, but we weren't friends yet."

Bruno exhales, letting out a breath of relief. "Okay, just wanted to check."

"You're weird." I laugh. I suddenly remember why I'm up on the roof with him in the first place. "Speaking of which, I almost forgot." I hand him his birthday present. "¡Feliz cumpleaños!"

Bruno eyes the wrapped package. I point to it with my lips, urging him to take it. "Go on. Open it." He does what he's told. "It's…"

"A new ruana. I made it myself."

He holds his gift out to inspect it. I think I made it a little too long, but he's always trying to hide, and I thought that aspect, plus the hood, fit him perfectly. It took me a while, but I'm pleased with how it looks, especially the embroidered hourglasses that were painstakingly difficult to make. It's all worth it, for Bruno. "You know…" I begin. "Mamá saw the initial designs for these back then. She immediately knew it was for you."

"...I'm so sorry, Gabriela. I should've…done more…"

I reach out for his hand and squeeze it. "Don't. Don't go there, please. I've read Mamá's last thoughts before she passed. She kept your visit a secret from our family. For our sake. For the Madrigals. For…you."

Bruno gives me a sad smile. "So you knew the truth all along?" I nod. "My family could never hate you, not after what you've done for us. Mamá, even on her deathbed, made sure I understood that. Don't ever blame your gift, Bruno. It helped her prepare for the inevitable. It gave my family the closure we wouldn't get if you didn't intervene. For that, I'm forever grateful. Gracias, Bruno."

Bruno's lips curl up into a small smile. "No one's ever thanked me for my gift before. You're the first," He whispers.

I shrug. "Well, give credit where credit is due, am I right? So…are you or are you not going to put your beautiful new ruana on? I'd like to see you wear it."

Bruno rolls his eyes at me as he removes his old one and hands it over to me. I watch him as he puts on the new one, reveling in the fact that it looks good on him that whatever filter in my brain switches off and I say the first thing that comes to mind. "I like you, Bruno."

"Hm? Did you say something?" He blinks at me. I realize what I've just said. "I…I mean, I like how it looks on you, Bruno. Wow, I'm glad I made the right creative decision with the design…"

Bruno laughs and scoots himself a little closer to me. I can feel his body heat radiating off him and it's making me blush so hard. Maybe it's my imagination, but he's inching his hand closer. It becomes reality when he lays it on top of mine. "Thanks, Gabriela. For the gift."

"De nada, Bruno."

Another silence. I can hear ringing in my ears. Or maybe it's the fireworks. Fireworks? I look up to see fireworks going off. "Well. I guess your family got tired of waiting for us. Maybe your sisters have blown out your candles, huh, Bru–" I turn my head just in time to see Bruno staring at me, his expression unreadable. "Um…Bruno? Wh-why are you looking at me like th–"

What? I register something soft on my lips, but I'm too shocked to think clearly.

It ends too quickly. We both stare at each other. Something in Bruno's mind clicks, and his face turns red. Very red. "I…I'm sorry! I didn't know what…came over me…" My mouth hangs open. Did…did Bruno Madrigal just kiss me?

"...but you look so beautiful and I couldn't help myself and I–" He rambles. Oh, shut up, you. I grab him by the collar of his shirt and kiss him back.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Glossary of terms (in order of appearance in-text):

Tengo mala suerte- I have bad luck
Basta- enough (We also have the word basta in Filipino and it means exactly the same. It's part of the leftover Spanish words that made its way to our language from being colonized for 333 years by Spain. Hehe.)
De nada- no problem