ʜᴇʀ ᴘʀᴏᴛᴇᴄᴛᴏʀ | ᴅᴇʀᴇᴋ ʜᴀʟᴇ

ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ᴛᴡᴇɴᴛʏ-ɴɪɴᴇ

......

"Do you think it's a good day to finally talk to them?" Luna asked as she approached Alejandro in the sink who was doing the dishes. It had been one week and more after the argument they had and they still hadn't discussed the whole thing and tried to find a solution. They wander around the house like all of them are strangers or in different teams trying to avoid the enemy. "I mean it's been one week and more for how long will we act like this?"

"Well, we had agreed to talk to each of them separately but–"

"But we never did, I know." Luna interrupted him "But not because we didn't want to, because that's not what a family does, or whatever it is called now. We are supposed to communicate with each other, and discuss our concerns all together, remember? You were the one who had told me that."

When Alejandro and Luna first moved together with their kids, there were a lot of difficulties they had to overcome, but none of the members talked about them. Thus, Alejandro set a rule "In case we want to get along and live in a healthy environment we have to express all our concerns, even the stupidest ones, and discuss them all together. For everyone, it is difficult to make such a change but with no communication, everything is harder. Understood?"

That day and every time then something bothered a member of this family they gathered all together in their free time, on the kitchen table and discussed it. Was it because Amelia annoyed Derek all the time? They talked about it. Was it about Derek being abrupt against Amelia and Luna? They talked about it. Was it about Alejandro and his fears to see that family fall apart? They talked about it. And like that, until a few weeks ago they lived all happy and under healthy circumstances, without tensions and other things that affect any of them negatively.

Even when Amelia and Derek two months ago were like complete strangers, she might not have chosen to discuss it with all the family present, but she had talked to her mother and Alejandro trying to find a solution or what was causing Derek to act like this. She had even talked to him too, but that period –even though now everything was good– was pretty difficult or weird for him. However that didn't excuse his actions, and of course, they promised not to break that rule again.

"Yes you are right," Alehandro admitted as he finished with the dishes and placed them on the cupboard above him "It's just that I am afraid that it will lead nowhere and it will turn again into an argument and–"

"If both of us try to stay calm I assure you that it will go perfectly, trust me." Luna tried to comfort him. "We both know that when we argue every teenager argues back, so if we are calm they will be calm too." She was right, in a conversation the best thing someone could have was patience no matter how ironic the tone of the other person was, or else, if you started to argue you had already lost without even knowing it.

"Right okay," he smiled softly and took a seat on the table "God, teenagers. Sometimes it is so hard to handle them." Luna laughed softly at his tone like he was cursing himself for having two teenagers in the house. Derek was always a difficult personality, but never to Alejandro. The moments they argued were so much less than Luna and Amelia. But still, it is always hard to handle a teenager because you never know what is happening inside their head and how they think or see the world in general.