all that pudding

3: i only have two hands!

The rest of the day was nothing but work and it was not a piece of cake. Isabela, Mirabel, and Julieta were all working on making Natilla together and Isabela and Mirsbel couldn't blame their mother for being tired. That was because they were also tired. Julieta didn't mind them taking a break, but they insisted as they wanted to get it done as soon as possible.

As Julieta only had two hands, there were only six hands with the help of Isabela and Mirabel working on the dessert. After came eight hands when Luisa finished her chores.

When Luisa came home and went straight to the kitchen to grab a snack, she was shocked at how a mess the kitchen was.

"So what's happening?" Luisa asked, confused.

"Oh, didn't Dolores tell you? Some townspeople have out of towners coming down to the Encanto and they've been told about mamá's dessert. There's so many out there," Isabela explained.

"Umm could I help?" Luisa asked.

"Luisa, I hate saying this to you because I know you shouldn't overwork yourself but please help! I only have two hands!" Mirabel complained.

"Well so do I!" Isabela replied.

"Luisa, you don't have to. You should rest since today has been by busy for you," Juliet's told her middle daughter.

"No no I insist! I'll gladly help! Also, I didn't have too much to do at the village today," Luisa replied, getting to work.

To be fair, Luisa also didn't have too much to do but she was a little more busier than her sisters were explaining why she came a little later to help.

It was nice at first as Julieta's daughters were bonding and doing something together without arguing. But then the townspeople started knocking on their door being demanding to bring over the dessert. That's where hell started breaking loose.

"Oh my god! If I hear another bang on the door I'm going to lose it!" Isabela exclaimed.

Mirabel sighed and dropped what she was doing to open the door.

"Look everyone! The dessert is almost ready! I promise we'll get it out to you shortly!" she announced as she was practically begging everyone to be patient.

Everyone in the crowd was whining about the Natilla taking "too long" and Mirabel didn't want to hear it so she shut the door.

"They're getting so impatient!" Mirabel cried.

"I know! I know! That's how they've been all day," Julieta replied, mixing ingredients.

Mirabel groaned in frustration as she sat at the kitchen table and put her head down. She was so tired and she basically understood how her mother feels. Mirabel felt bad for being tired because she knew her mom needed help and she was afraid she would make her mother feel bad she knew that Mirabel was tired.

Julieta then turned around for a split second noticing her youngest was exhausted. She dropped what she was doing and went up to her.

"Take a break mi vida," she whispered in her daughter's ear.

"I'll be up in a minute," Mirabel replied, as her head was still down.

"No no don't worry about it. You've been a big help already," Julieta told her.

Mirabel then got up from the chair, rubbing her eyes as Julieta kissed her head.

"Take a nap. I'll call you down when dinner is ready. If there's gonna be any dinner," Julieta ordered, while also muttering the last sentence to herself.

Julieta has not gotten the chance to think about what to make for dinner so it was another thing to add to her list. She was thinking that either there wasn't going to be any dinner made from her and the family will just eat leftovers as she usually makes an extra amount of food just in case of anything like this, or she would make dinner but they would end up having a really late dinner.

Julieta then brushed that off of her mind. She really could not think about dinner right now. Not when tons of townspeople were waiting outside for their Natilla. The poor woman was really stressed and she was on the verge of a breakdown. She couldn't show that of course. She was afraid of coming off as rude and disrespectful. It was the last thing she wanted to be.

Another bang on the door. Ugh! This woman couldn't catch a break. Julieta opened the door and thank goodness she saw Agustín at the door. He wasn't the one to bang on the door, but he yelled at a townsperson for constantly banging on the door.

"My wife is doing the best she can! She's making this dessert for you and your families! She cares about you guys and she wants you to be happy! And this goes to all of you! She's doing a nice thing for you guys and you're being disrespectful by demanding her to hurry up! Unbelievable!" he yelled.

Just then, Camilo jumped out of nowhere.

"Yeah! Unbelievable!" Camilo repeated.

"Camilo, where did you come from?" Agustín asked.

"I tried getting through this crowd and even when shapeshifting it's really hard," Camilo explained, as Agustín nodded in response.

Agustín turned to the townspeople.

"You know what? Go home! Go home! You all ruined it for her! Lastly, Feliz Navidad!" he added, as the townspeople were once again getting upset.

Although he was pissed about his his wife was being treated, he definitely didn't want to come off too mean this time around so he of course wished them a Merry Christmas. He felt really bad for yelling and getting pissed, but it was to stand up for Julieta.

"Aw come on!"

"What do you mean go home?"

There were many more complaints as more people were leaving.

While still in the kitchen, Isabela and Luisa looked at each other.

"Does this mean we're done?" Luisa asked.

Isabela shrugged in response, as Camilo came inside, grabbed a fork, and grabbed himself a piece of the Natilla.

From the hallway upstairs, Dolores heard all the complaints and everything that happened downstairs as she sighed. What a bunch of ungrateful people.

She knew Mirabel was taking a nap and she didn't hear her wake up yet so she decided to go into Mirabel's new room to wake her up. Since the rebuild, Mirabel finally had her own room and she was no longer sleeping in the nursery.

Dolores lightly tapped the door and it opened as Mirabel probably didn't close it all the way.

As Dolores entered the bedroom, she looked at Mirabel sleeping peacefully. As peaceful as she looked, Dolores really wanted to wake her up to tell her the news. It was a matter of if Mirabel would get upset.

If she didn't sleep well, Mirabel was known to be cranky and she wouldn't be her happy and bubbly self.

"Mirabel, wake up."

Dolores lightly shook Mirabel to wake her up. It took a few tries as Mirabel was kind of a deep sleeper. She finally woke up and she was confused as to why Dolores was in her room.

"Dolores? Wh-what are you doing in here?" Mirabel asked groggily as she was rubbing her eyes. She knew it was Dolores as she heard her voice.

"The townspeople are gone! They went home," Dolores replied.

As Mirabel put on her glasses, her eyes widened.

"Really?" she asked, as Dolores nodded.

"Well alright. Thanks for telling me," she added, leaving her room.

-Heyy everyone! I hope you enjoyed this chapter! The next chapter might not update on time because I've been focusing on finals and I'm trying to do well on them. It will for sure be uploaded next week regardless so stay tuned for that!
                                                                                                                                                                     -Aly