Disappeared once or twice

27. Calm & collected

First of all, happy valentines day! I'm lonely, so if ur lonely too. Will you be my lonely-valentine?
If ya ever wanna talk, my dc: cheesechicken#9654 
Second of all, let's get started!

"WHAT IS GOING ON." Abuela was furious as she marched upstairs, towards her family and Alberto. Who technically was family, it's just that Alma didn't know that yet. "You." She pointed a threatening finger towards the small boy. "You did this, didn't you. You ruined our family." Abuela was stopped by a firm voice, it belonged to Mirabel. "No he is not, he is a part of this family. The only one ruining his moment is you." 

In all of her days she had never seen Abuela so mad, angry, sad and defeated all at once. "He is no part of our family, he is an orphan. I won't accept him as one of us." "Mama, please think about it-" Julieta pleaded. Alberto could do nothing else than just stare into the distance, he wouldn't admit it, but tears were prickling behind his eyes.

It wasn't that he had expected to be accepted by this family, his family. However he had longed for a family for years and now that it was within reach, he could not achieve it. He felt hopeless, worthless and what more. Was he really that unlovable? He tried to mask his true feelings by using a mask, a happy mask. Every so often the true feelings outed themselves, just like his irrational jealousy when Giulia 'took away' his only friend. His unrelated anger at the world and nightly moments of silence, time he used to reflect on himself.

"I will not accept any homeless person, to step into my precious home and claim to be my grandson. I have plenty of lovely offspring." They all knew abuela wouldn't change her mind very soon. It took a lot of pursuing to ever change the stubborn ideas the woman had. "You can't just claim another person of our family to be invalid, you saw what you did to Mirabel with your own eyes." Camilo wasn't used to speaking up against the one who held the authority around here, but he felt like this was his moment to speak up.

He had been quiet all his life against the cruelty of his grandmother, he had let her drive him and his cousin apart. He had let her ruin his precious friendship with Mirabel. Since he got his gift he had been working nonstop, always needing to please the people in town. When Alma promised she would be less strict a couple of weeks ago, after the incident, it did not last long. Bad habits returned to the bitter lady, she was kinder towards Mirabel though. However pleasing the people of the town had become her top priority, at the expense of her familymembers. 

Abuela looked offended, Camilo's words indicated that she would be the villain all over again. Nevertheless she wasn't planning on changing her mind, she thought she had the right to think it over thoroughly before accepting a stranger into her heart. There wasn't much room in there after all. 

Alberto nodded softly, he understood what Abuela was trying to tell them. She could've worded it better, but the message was clear. She didn't want him here, she didn't like him enough to become family and Alberto understood. "It's fine guys, I'll just leave or whatever." He shrugged. "No big deal, let me go find Giulia and Luca."

"I'll help you!" Mirabel and Camilo yelled at the same time. "Thanks you guys." Alberto whispered softly, his emotion were barely containable. 

Suddenly someone barged into the hallway, Pepa came closer to the group. She had been alarmed by yelling and the overwhelmingly sad atmosphere. Rain followed her, she had been brutally woken up from her nap. "Pepa, your cloud." Alma said. "I know mami, but I can't help it. You know that." 

Abuela didn't reply, she was too shocked to find out that Alberto had left. A seagreen monster had taken his place, a long dangerous tail, longing eyes and sharp teeth welcomed her. Alberto grinned awkwardly, Bruno hadn't known yet that his son wasn't fully human. It triggered something inside of the men, Adelaide had been a fishmen too. She must've been. 

His thinking was stopped by a sudden thud, someone had hit the floor. He was about to cheer when he saw that his mother had fallen down, unconscious. But because he did still care for the woman, she was his mom, even after all she'd done. Julieta was on her knees, checking for serious injuries, there were none. She had just collapsed from the shock. 

"Oops." Alberto felt guilty as he saw the damage he had caused. It was never his intention to let the old lady faint? He couldn't say she didn't deserve it either. However everyone here deserved a proper explanation, from him as well as from Bruno.