Valeria did not sleep well that night. Manu woke up coughing and with a fever around midnight had trouble going back to sleep. His temperature only went back to normal after uncountable cold compresses and a promise from his mother that she would stay by his side.Every time she closed her eyes, however, the worries piled up on her mind. Luz’s incoming message did not help either.[So I was speaking with Mario about our trip to Barranquilla. He thinks it’s okay for you and Manuel to join. So what do you say? Are you coming?][Why are you texting me at these hours?]Valeria thought about it a bit more.[Forget it. I don’t want to know.]

Valeria didn’t let go of her chance to tease her mother, who’d finally be free of them for a few days. “Tell Diego we say hi. Or maybe he can also take you somewhere on vacations since you are a free woman again.”Maybe this was a chance to spend some quality time with her son and have them get used to the changes they’d have in their lives.Her mother had recently talked about moving in with her boyfriend. Diego Ramirez lived in the same neighborhood, just 15 minutes away, but as it had always been just her and her mother in that house, Valeria still felt weird knowing this was about to change. It didn’t mean she wasn’t happy for the woman she loved the most in the world. Diego made her mother laugh and feel young again, that was enough reason to like him. He also had grandchildren and treated Manu as one.

The dark bags under her eyes when she greeted her reflection in the mirror that morning spoke for themselves. Valeria did get some sleep, but only after Luz came back (and her friend came back not long after Daniel had left, worried about what was going on too), and the two of them sat in the kitchen for what felt like hours. The chamomille tea helped, too.“I can’t believe it.” Luz was startled when Valeria told her the man who’d been asking for her earlier was Manu’s biological father. “So you’re going back because you think he wants to meet Manu? If you say he’s never shown interest in meeting his child before, why would it change now?”“I don’t know, but I’m not going to risk it.”“Is he that bad?”

The locksmith finished his work, and he heard Emilia under her breath.“All good now… I just have to start looking for an apartment I can afford to pay.”He wasn’t sure why he was still around, he’d only come back because he forgot his wallet on the couch of her living room after the three of them crashed into Emilia’s apartment barely able to walk straight. But she invited him to have breakfast and it did not seem right to leave her alone when she was evidently not okay, despite everything she could have said the night before.“I have a friend who works as an agent and can help with that. I’ll send you his contact.”She walked to the kitchen, and he followed behind, sitting at the counter and feeling a bit unsure of

“You look tired. Are you eating and sleeping well these days?” Until the moment she saw his face again, even if it was through a screen, Valeria hadn’t realized just how much she missed him. Daniel only needed to smile at her and show some concern for her well-being, and she already felt the much-needed comfort she wasn’t finding anywhere else in the past month, which made her question why she’d been avoiding him at all.Ah, yes. She still could not bring herself to tell him the reasons why she was losing sleep recently.[Can we meet up?]Just as she hadn’t replied to that text either.“It’s just that I have tons of assignments to check. But that’s nothing to worry about. How are you doing?”“Hmm, same as always.” He paused, looking down and muttering something she could not hear. “Actually, I was a bit worried I said something that upset you the last time we