#clv

Julieta finished packing lunch for her family, with a lightness and happiness she hadn't felt in a long time. She still teased Félix about telling her siblings about her kiss with you, using it as an excuse to leave him in charge of dinner while she went to see you and Laura, but they both knew it was just an inside joke, with no real resentment behind it.

She was actually deeply grateful for that little betrayal of their secret, because from that day on, it seemed she was slowly rebuilding her relationship with her mother and siblings. Alma made an effort every day to spend at least a few minutes with her while she made breakfast; sometimes she helped, other times she simply chatted quietly with her.

Pepa and Bruno were noisier, constantly vying for her attention with jokes and innocent squabbles, just like when they were children, except this time, the grandchildren themselves joined in from time to time, even though they didn't know the underlying reasons (or so she wanted to believe, because she was sure Dolores' knowing smiles weren't a coincidence).

She felt seen again, and although it wasn't a real solution to the tangle of feelings she had for you, it gave her hope that, perhaps, the future wasn't so bleak after all. All she had to do was gather the courage to talk to her daughters and confront Agustín.

Easier said than done, though. Agustín was becoming increasingly strange; his jealousy was more intense, but his absence, paradoxically, more noticeable. She rarely saw him for more than a few minutes a day, and during those minutes, he would simply fill her with cheap compliments or passive-aggressive remarks, sometimes both one after the other, and it was a real headache.

"Mi amor"

Speaking of the devil.

She sighed before turning to see the man standing in the doorway, arms crossed, with a determined look she had rarely seen in him throughout her marriage. So this was one of those days, huh?

"Agustín" she said simply, acknowledging his presence.

"We need to talk" he said firmly "now"

"I thought you were going to help the family with the construction" She raised an eyebrow.

"This is more important"

The woman didn't have time to react before he grabbed her arm and pulled her out of the kitchen without waiting for a response, dragging her toward one of the bedrooms. Her stomach churned for a moment, thinking the worst, but she calmed down a little when he let go of her as soon as he closed the door and made no move to approach her like that.

Good, because the carnal “duty” of marriage had long since ceased to be appealing to her.

"What do you want to talk about, Agustín?" she asked, crossing her arms and standing near the door.

"About us" he said.

For a moment, she was tempted to say that there was no longer an "us" between them, but she decided not to start a fight without hearing from him first. At least she owed him that much, if only because he was the father of her daughters.

"We need to work things out, Julieta" Agustín sighed. "I've tried everything, but you won't cooperate."

"Excuse me?!" She frowned, feeling her blood begin to boil. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Don't play dumb" he rolled his eyes. "Every bouquet of flowers I've brought has ended up in the trash, every box of chocolates straight to the children. Can't you show some gratitude for once?"

"Gratitude?" She scoffed "Gratitude after calling me useless? After refusing to even tell me where you're going every day so the girls can at least know where to find you if they need you?"

"I already apologized for that, what else do you want?"

"Nothing" she said firmly "I don't want anything from you anymore"

That stopped Agustín in his tracks and he stared at her silently for a moment. This wasn't the woman he had married. There was no trace of the warmth and kindness that had characterized her, her eyes didn't reflect love, but a weariness and exasperation that shouldn't be directed at her husband. He didn't find that compassion, almost bordering on submission, that he had relied on when he started...it. It was clear he had underestimated how much she could stand on her own two feet.

"Listen, I don't want to fight" he said, trying to ease the tension that was beginning to build. "I just want us to work things out between us, Julieta, for the girls' sake."

"There's nothing to work out, Agustín" she said without hesitation.

There was another tense and awkward silence between them, heavy with the pain and grievances they had tried to bury over the years, hoping they would fade away on their own, unaware that they had only been festering all this time.

"...So it's true" he said simply.

"What?" the woman frowned, confused.

"The rumors."

"What rumors?"

Agustín scoffed and shook his head, pacing slowly around her with his arms crossed. Julieta felt a chill run down her spine, but she tried to keep a straight face. He wasn't a violent man; she trusted he wouldn't hurt her, and even if he tried, she was stronger thanks to years of lifting sacks of flour and heavy things in the kitchen. That wasn't what worried her.

It was the way his eyes looked at her, as if he knew her deepest secrets, and an emotional blow...that he could do.

"I've noticed you've changed lately" he said. "You don't reproach me, nor do you seek my arms in the early hours"

"You decided not to sleep with me anymore" she reminded him.

"And you never came looking for me"

"I don't beg for love"

"We both know it's a lie" The man rolled his eyes. "You simply changed providers"

"Excuse me?"

"I've been noticing it" he continued slowly circling her. "Jealousy is killing me, what I'm thinking is eating away at my soul"

Julieta shuddered. She felt like prey, although she knew she wasn't entirely defenseless, but knowing this did nothing to alleviate the anxiety that was beginning to build in her stomach.

"Is it that when you're alone you find a new friend?" Agustín blurted out. "Someone who takes my place, and when I'm away you have a friend who occupies your life, who occupies your mind?"

She tried with all her might not to show any signs of vulnerability; she couldn't give him the satisfaction, not even when your face came to mind.

"Agustín-"

"You're throwing away everything we are?" he interrupted.

"...Lately, I've noticed you've changed" She lifted her chin defiantly. "Could it be that I'd grown accustomed to your absence and indifference?"

"Don't try to use my-"

"I've been wondering" she crossed her arms. "Do you love me, or is it just your pride that I'm hurting?"

They stared into each other's eyes in silence, a thousand questions, attacks, and challenges swirling between them, neither willing to back down. It had become a battlefield, and neither wanted to lose, however painful it might be. Finally, Agustín scoffed again, resuming his slow, deliberate circling.

"People are saying something important" he said in a low, cold voice, stopping behind her.

"I'm not interested in pointless rumors" she muttered, even though her heart was pounding.

"You should be interested in this one" he said, leaning in to whisper in her ear. "People are saying someone in town has a new lover."

Julieta froze, feeling her soul leave her body. No, he couldn't—he couldn't know. No one had seen, no one had…Félix couldn't have told him. He hated him more than she did, and her siblings and mother would never do something like that to her. So how—

"Cat got your tongue?"

"You're nobody to come here and accuse me of this" she finally found her voice. "Do you think I'm stupid? Your flowers reek of guilt. You're trying to compensate for whatever it is you're doing with cheap gifts and fake smiles"

"At least I'm trying" he retorted "unlike you."

"Trying to do what? Save what you yourself started to let fall apart?" She rolled her eyes. "You're not even subtle, Agustín...why don't you just go back to the other woman and leave me in peace?"

"Which one?"

That took her breath away, like a punch to the gut. How could he say it so easily? How could he admit that he had cheated on her not just with one woman, but with several? How could the man she once thought she loved, the father of her three wonderful daughters, be so cynical? It was like seeing a completely different person.

"You're a coward" she said angrily "How can you talk like that, admit it as if it were trivial, and have the nerve to accuse me for mere rumors?!"

"What I had was never serious" he shrugged. "They were just physical encounters to satisfy what you no longer gave me. There were never any feelings involved"

"And you think that makes it better?! That it justifies it?!"

"I'm not going to argue with you about morals, Julieta" he said firmly. "This isn't about that! It's about our daughters. I can stop at any time, but you? You're getting involved with something much more serious."

"And how are you so sure about what I do or don't do?" she lifted her chin defiantly. "You don't even spend more than 10 minutes a day with me. How could you possibly know anything about me anymore?"

"Because I'm not blind" he growled "and neither is the town"

"You want to treat rumors as if they were the same as the infidelities you've just openly admitted?"

"It's Y/N, isn't it?" Agustín said abruptly, tired of beating around the bush "Those supposed little classes are nothing more than excuses, aren't they?"

She froze again. She didn't want to give him the satisfaction of being right, but either he'd gotten very good at his predictions, or he was telling the truth, and the change in her feelings and heart was obvious to everyone.

"I don’t even care if she’s another woman, but with someone more than 20 years younger, Julieta!" He continued when he didn't get a response. "At least the women I've been with are our age! What are you doing robbing cradles?! Do you think she loves you? For God's sake, what could she possibly want with someone in her fifties?"

Oh, that was it. She didn't care much about the comment about her age; it was something she'd already wondered anyway. But trying to lump together what she felt for you with what he was supposedly doing for mere carnal pleasure was something she wasn't going to allow.

Anger clouded her judgment for a moment, and she didn't think much about her words or the consequences they could have, not only for her, but for you as well. She simply blurted out half-truths and lies disguised as truth.

"...Alright" she said dangerously calmly "I'm going to make it perfectly clear what happened."

Agustín simply looked at her defiantly, as if he didn't think she had the nerve to admit it. Or perhaps, deep down, he hoped she would deny it, so he could feel unique in her life despite having broken his vows himself. And that thought made her blood boil even more.

"Yes, things happened, the same things the town already told you about" she continued. "And you know what? They weren’t wrong, I won't deny it, yes, we kissed, we gave ourselves to each other, but that's all"

Julieta could see that her words were hitting the nail on the head; there was pain behind her husband's eyes, but she was fed up with him, and she couldn't stop the words that his jealousy and shamelessness had caused to spill from her lips.

"I was overcome by the desire for her to be mine, there was flirting, and what was I supposed to do?" She shrugged, with the same coldness with which he had admitted to being unfaithful with several women. "Besides, if I was with someone else, what's it to you if you did the same? What right do you have to comment? In my case, it wasn't many, it was only with one woman, and it was your fault for killing what little we had left. You cheated on me when I still loved you; I fell in love with someone else when you stopped loving me"

The silence that followed was deafening. Her breathing was ragged, her cheeks red from the intensity of her outburst, her fists clenched at her sides. Agustín simply stared at her, as if he didn't know her, a mixture of anger and pain in his eyes.

It wasn't until he stormed out of the room that she finally came to her senses, and the wave of guilt and fear nearly overwhelmed her. She'd let her anger get the better of her, saying horrible things just to hurt him...and the worst part was, she'd dragged you into it. She'd said something more had happened between you, something beyond the kiss, when it wasn't true, just to try and drive the same stake through Agustín's chest that he'd driven into hers with his careless confession.

"What have I done?"

________________________

You took a step back, gasping softly as your back hit a wall. Well, shit. You were cornered, literally. You'd gone out to buy some blanket fabric for some embroidery projects when Damián had intercepted you again.

At first, it was just one of his usual cheap tactics, with fake smiles and flattery straight out of some cheesy romance novel, trying to get you on a date you were sure he wanted to end up somewhere else.

It was tedious and annoying, but nothing you hadn't dealt with before, so you simply declined again with as much politeness as you could feign, and ignored his rude comments about whether you were already seeing someone else or how your aunt and "the old lady" wouldn't let you go out.

You knew perfectly well that "the old lady" was Julieta, and you had to restrain yourself from punching him in the nose; you didn't want any trouble, after all. It's a shame the jerk interpreted your silence as weakness, and seeing that words weren't working on you, he dared to resort to physical intimidation.

He didn't even give you time to react before he pulled you toward him, smirking smugly. You punched him in the chest and pulled away, but that only made him laugh, saying it was adorable how you were "playing hard to get" as he approached you again with a calmness that shouldn't have felt so threatening.

"Come on, sweetheart" Damián laughed "you have nowhere to run now, and honestly, this little game of yours is getting old"

"Get away from me" you said, frowning.

"Or what?" he grinned mischievously "Stop pretending you don't like me, doll. Come on, give me a little kiss"

"Let go of me!" you growled when he grabbed your chin tightly.

"What if I don't want to?" He scoffed, bringing his face close to yours.

"It wasn't a suggestion, buddy"

Damián whirled around with a start, and you felt your soul return to your body when you saw Félix standing behind him, arms crossed, a face that clearly said he was furious and ready to throw whatever punches he needed to throw. You'd never been so glad to see someone.

"Hey, old man, mind your own business" Damián rolled his eyes, feigning indifference, but you could feel his hand trembling on your chin. "We weren't doing anything wrong. Didn't you ever kiss your girlfriend against a house when you were young?"

"She's not your girlfriend, and she doesn't want to kiss you" Félix said curtly "She told you to let go of her and back off. Do it. Now."

"Or what?" The young man sneered, but you could see a flicker of fear in him as his eyes searched for an escape route.

Félix didn't give him the satisfaction of a response; he simply approached you both, and despite his slightly shorter stature, his aura and determination, as well as the weight of his years and reputation, were enough to intimidate the idiot who had you cornered.

"Okay! Okay! Jeez, relax, old man" Damián said, hurriedly backing away from you. "I released her, okay?"

"Apologize to her, and then get out of here" Félix said, narrowing his eyes.

"...I'm so sorry for any inconvenience I caused you, Miss Y/L/N" the boy said through gritted teeth "Excuse me."

You simply nodded and tried not to laugh as you watched him quickly walk away, almost tripping over his own feet. Wow, he looked even more pathetic than usual, and clearly his arrogance held no sway against true gentlemen like Félix.

"Are you alright?" the man asked, his friendly smile returning.

"Now I am, thank you" you smiled back.

"You're welcome" he said. "I hate it when brats think their charming smiles can get them to do whatever they want with ladies."

"I guess wishing everyone were like you is asking too much of the universe" you shrugged. "But damn, they could take a tip or two from your book"

"I take it as a compliment, girl" the man laughed.

"It was one" you chuckled.

You were about to ask him what he was doing on that side of town, since the Casita construction site was literally on the other side, when you both saw a very angry Agustín Madrigal walk by on the other side of the tiled path you were standing on.

Although you had only seen him a few times, and you barely exchanged a word, even you were surprised by the pain and anger on his face. He didn't even notice you and Félix, walking right past, as if he had a specific destination in mind that he was eager to reach.

"...something happened" Félix murmured beside you, more to himself than to you.

"Do you think Julieta is okay?" you asked, because, of course, she was the first thing on your mind.

The man looked at you for a moment, smiling slightly. It warmed his heart to know that you cared so much for his sister-in-law, even though things were a little tense between you now that you knew there were real feelings involved. You were a good person, and Julieta deserved such care and affection in her life.

"I don't know" he said "but I'm going to find out."

You nodded and thanked him again before saying goodbye, watching him hurry away down that road you knew so well. Inwardly, you prayed that Julieta was alright.

_____________________

"What happened?!"

Julieta jumped when Félix burst into the room. She hadn't moved from there since Agustín left, too upset, scared, and regretful for what she'd done. She didn't even know when she'd started crying.

"What did he do to you?!" the man asked, approaching her, his eyes scanning her for any bruises or injuries.

"...He didn't do anything" she shook her head. "It was me."

"What?"

Félix looked at her, confused, for a moment, before she burst into tears even harder, seeking comfort in his arms. He pulled her close, gently rubbing her back to offer some solace. He hadn't seen her like this in a long time, and he'd be lying if he said it didn't scare him a little.

"He's cheating on me" she sobbed. "With several women...he admitted it."

"He what?!" Her blood boiled at that moment. "That son of a bitch! Bastard, piece of shit—and he had the nerve to say it to your face?! Just like that?!"

The woman nodded, sobbing harder. She wasn't even surprised by the string of curses and threats that poured from her brother-in-law's mouth; she simply waited for his furious outburst to end so she could hug him again and cry on his shoulder.

"I'm going to kill him" Félix murmured.

Even though everyone suspected it by now, the mere fact that the idiot had the nerve to say it to Julieta's face, as if he could salvage some honor from it, was enough to make him sick.

"He said they were just carnal encounters" she whispered.

"...I'm going to cut off his dick"

Surprisingly, that made Julieta stifle a surprised giggle. She wasn't okay, she wasn't feeling well, but God knew how much she valued her best friend's knack for saying those unintentionally funny things.

"...he knows about the kiss" she sniffed, wiping her tears with the back of her hand, though she knew they would keep coming.

"How?"

"I told him"

"Why? Julieta-"

"He accused me of infidelity" she sighed. "He said there are rumors going around town about someone having a lover...he implied everyone thought it was me with Y/N, and in his jealous rage, he confessed his infidelities to me...he said mine was worse because he never got emotionally involved"

"Bullshit!" Félix growled. "He sleeps around with several women, tells you to your face without shame, and dares to say you're worse because of a simple kiss?!"

"I told him it wasn't just a kiss" she admitted, barely audible.

That made the man stop dead in his tracks, staring at her in disbelief.

"You did what?" He asked carefully.

"I was furious" she said, her voice breaking "I wanted to hurt him, and I told him there was more than one kiss, that I couldn't control the desire to make her mine and—I'm such an idiot." She started sobbing again.

"Juli—"

"I don't want to hurt her, Félix" she cried. "I don't want to drag her into a web of lies and judgments that aren't hers to bear. I had no right to tarnish her like this...and I don't know what to do to fix it now"

"Juli—"

"If anything happens to her, if people do anything to her, if she and Laura suffer because of me, I'll never forgive myself" she murmured against his shoulder.

Félix simply sighed and hugged her again, offering silent support as he gently rocked her, letting her vent. He wanted to reassure her, tell her everything would be alright, promise her they would fix it, they would find a way. But he knew this wasn't the time for words, that she wouldn't listen anyway.