It Was You All Along (An Iker Casillas Story)

Chapter 5: Blessing in Disguise?

“Mina,” I heard a voice call out. It was dark, I realized that my eyes were closed. The voice repeated calling my name, “Mina.” My eyelids were unusually heavy that it took a tremendous amount of my effort and strength to open them and see that I was laying on the cold concrete of a sidewalk. I turned around but bright lights limited my view of the surroundings. I could hear the honks of cars and the inaudible chatter of people. They were talking rapidly and shouts and yells could be heard from the constant noise that enveloped me. But one voice rose from the rest. “Mina,” it called again. I darted my head around looking for the source of the familiar voice. “Mina,” the familiar voice started to call out louder. I began to sweat heavily. My eyes searched and searched until I saw her. My mom was standing, in the flurry of people, looking like an angel in her green and orange apron that covered her white top and blue skirt. She was staring at my direction but she was not looking at me. She kept on yelling my name out. She yelled and yelled until it drowned out everything. I covered my ears and closed my eyes.

I awoke to a view of a setting sun. My room looked different in the dim lighting but the bags filled with clothes and half-opened drawers were familiar enough to calm me down.

I looked for a clock and found one sitting on a nightstand that stood between my bed and the sky-blue wall of my room. 6:45. As I was made aware of the time, I suddenly realized that I missed lunch. I felt my hunger as I heard Aunt Rosa's voice.

“Mina,” I heard her cry out before footsteps started marching up to my room.

I sat up on the edge of my bed and started to fix my wavy, brown hair into a bun. Aunt Rosa knocked thrice on the door before striding into the dimly lit room.

“Ay Mina, you're up! I thought I had to shake the sleep off of you. And look at this, you haven't even spent a whole 24 hours with us and you already made a mess!” She smiled at me and started picking up my clothes. I sat on the ground next to her and began sorting my clothes out while she talked.

“You must be hungry, you slept the whole day!” she said.

“I think it must be jet lag,” I told her half the truth. I didn't want to tell her that seeing Iker made me... Iker! I suddenly remembered him and I had the urge to ask Aunt Rosa all my questions about him.

“Mina, are you all right?” she asked, breaking my train of thought.

“Huh? Um, yeah. Traveling is just tiring for me, and jet lag sucks.” I smiled. “Anyway, I'm so hungry Aunt Rosa. It's a good thing we'll be having dinner soon.”

“Dinner? At 7:00? Oh Mina, you forgot how we eat in Spain, do you?” she stopped folding my shirts and chuckled.

The hunger I felt worsened as I came to the realization that Spanish dinners are eaten way later in the night than what I was accustomed to.

Aunt Rosa saw the hunger in my face and chuckled before standing up. “Let's fix this later. I need to check on your Aunt Dolores, she came down with a fever a few hours ago. Come down stairs and have a piece of bread.”

She started going downstairs before adding, “And don't stuff yourself! Iker will be treating us to dinner tonight.”

I quickly followed her and shouted, “Wait!”

She stopped, turned around at the bottom of the stairs, and waited for me and for what I had to say.

I gulped and asked, “I-Iker?”

She smiled and sighed somewhat of relief. “For a second there, I thought something was wrong!” She said before answering, “Yes. Iker. Mina, you sound like you've never heard of him!” She chuckled away leaving me with more questions than answers.

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Waiting for Iker to arrive was horrible. Since my half-hearted attempt to find answers from Aunt Rosa have failed, I haven't mustered up any kind of courage to tell them that I have no idea who Iker is. My line of thoughts were broken by two honks of a car.

Panicking, I started to pace around the room. Glancing around, I caught my reflection on the living room mirror and examined myself. I had put on very light make up and let my brown waves flow down to my shoulders. I thought that I looked casual yet still elegant with my black fitted jeans and boots outfit that I topped off with a maroon coat.

Pleased, I smiled at my reflection and grabbed my brown shoulder bag. As I was checking to see if all my valuables were in place, the doorbell rang. Slowly, I reached for the door knob and opened the door. A tall figure stood on the other side of the doorway. I looked at his face and saw that he was beaming with joy.

“Hola,” said Iker. “May I come in?” He flashed a smile and looked me straight in the eye.

Feeling uncomfortable with the eye contact, I lowered my gaze and answered, “Of course, please do come in.”

He let himself in and followed me to the sofa. He sat next to me, making the room feel awkward and uneasy. The uncomfortable tension was broken by Aunt Rosa rushing down the stairs.

“Iker! I knew it was you,” she came over to Iker and kissed him on the cheek. “Well I've got some bad news.” She said, addressing both of us. I looked at her in worry. “Your Aunt Dolores is still ill and she's not getting any better. I'm gonna have to take care of her for tonight.” She then turned to Iker and apologized, “I'm very sorry Iker but we just can't come tonight. Maybe next time?”

Holding my Aunt's hand in his as an act of comfort, Iker answered, “Aunt Rosa, don't you worry! Nothing's more important than your health, we can always dine out next time.” He smiled at her and I felt myself smiling too for two different reasons. One is because I found Iker's smile very contagious and two, I'm not going on a date with him! Okay, maybe it's not branded as a “date” but we're still eating out, and that's a date in my books, whether or not involved my Aunts.

I started making my way up the stairs when Aunt Rosa asked me, “Mina, where are you going?”

Confused, I told her, “Upstairs. I thought we weren't dining out.”

She laughed, “No. Your Aunt Dolores and I are staying. You, pretty lady, are eating out with Iker!”

I felt the color from my face drain out. My mouth felt dry and finding the words of disbelief were nearly impossible. I looked from Aunt Rosa chuckling face to Iker who was clearly amused of my reaction to the situation. He was looking at his feet but the smile that was carved into his face and the lines it made told me that he was enjoying the moment.

Aunt Rosa took my hand and led me to the door. “Ay Mina, don't worry! I'm sure it'll be fun. I know you and Iker haven't seen each other in a long time. I'm sure tonight is the best way to rekindle old interests!” She turned to Iker, “Isn't that right, Iker?” She winked at him and immediately, color flooded to Iker's face. He turned red, making me smile and making Aunt Rosa laugh out loud.

She brushed us outside and started closing the door before having a final say with Iker and I, “Mina, remember to have fun and Iker, remember to bring her back by 2. Have a good night!” And with that she closed the door.

I looked at Iker and thought to myself, Great going Mina, you ended up in an actually date. Now what are you going to do? I absolutely had no idea what to do or what to feel. All I knew was that I'm going to spend time with this man, I guess at least some of my questions should be answered by the end of the night.