Sunflower | C.M

II

The Castro household's atmosphere turned gloomy as Francesca sat on their dining table,with her sour expression, as if Juana's hot and delicious huevos pericos turned into cold and distasteful.

Since last night, they bombarded her with questions, but the girl stopped them and went to her room. Karlos somehow heard the silent snifflings of his daughter, and it made him broken inside. Now that she's here beside him, he cleared his throat before saying the questions, the same questions he asked all over again last night.

"What happened last night?"

Francesca put her spoon down.

"Did something bad happened?"

She pushed the plate away and was about to leave-

"Is this about your flowers? I don't see you giving your boquet to Antonio last night. ", Francesca stopped herself and stared at her abuela,who was the one asking the question.

Juana knew her granddaughter have barely friends and barely interacted since she started studying about flowers and plants. Some heartless kids have the guts to make fun of her, including her ex-friend, making Francesca distanced more herself from the kids. Juana encouraged her to make friends and socialize, but all Francesca can do was shake her head and continued studying. Juana knew plants and flowers hold Francesca so dearly in her life.

The said abuela sensed her beloved granddaughter uncomfortably shifting in her chair. She sadly smiled, "Let's talk about that later, okay? My bones are not waiting for me to move and work, you know. " Francesca snorted and nodded. There's my girl, smiling again, she thought.

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One of the things that Francesca does when clearing her mind is to go to her garden. But the event last night and Camilo himself lingered to her mind everytime she looked at her flowers. Groaning, she got her hat and the basket to go to the stores, another ways to clear her mind. Just thinking about that shapeshifter made her eyebrows creased.

She needed to get out of his sight.

Until he apologized for what he have done to her flowers.

With a sigh, she get out of her house and started doing errands.

It' ll be a normal day, hopefully.

It was not.

While running errands, she bumped into Luisa, who apologized before walking towards the priest and the church . Later on she bumped into Mirable, who muttered sorry and screaming Luisa's name. Strange, she thought. But she shakes her head and continued doing her errands.

She bumped into someone else, again. It's a Madrigal, again.

Francesca groaned, but she realized it's Antonio with a toucan in his left shoulder, who looked at her with worried eyes. "Hola, Antonio." "H-hola." He sounded nervous, she thought.

"Are you l-lost or anything?" She asked worridly. She knows his sister, Dolores, has superhuman hearing, but it slipped from her mind.

"You're Pablo's hermana right?? My toy stop moving."

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Unknown to them, Camilo was panting. He looked every corner of every house, shouted his hermano's name, but he can't find him.

I can't go back to the Casa and asked for my hermana's help. She's busy and I can't bother her.

He heaved a sigh and continued looking for him, shouting his name.

Every stall and store he went, every children and adults he asked, there's no Antonio in sight. The mixed feeling of regret and fear swallowed him, and he stood helplessly beside a fruit stall. He noticed the owner, looking at him. "Hola. Have you seen Antonio?"

"I actually saw him talking to a girl with a flower hat beside the vegetable stall. Then they walked to that path." The owner pointed a path, which made Camilo swallowed a lump. I hope he's okay. "D-do you know who she is or?"

"Ah yes! She's from the Castro family-", hearing the last name 'Castro' made him run to the path where the owner pointed. The owner was too stunned to speak by his actions, and shouted that if he knows the address.

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Happy valentines day everyone!!