Chapter 13
"We must learn to navigate between false friends and true enemies"
— Paulo Coelho
God help me! Or rather, give Henry patience to endure my brothers.
At that moment we were entering the restaurant chosen for lunch with them.
The day before when I had proposed having lunch with us, they were first surprised by our “reconciliation,” and then even more surprised that Henry had invited them to lunch, but they hadn’t hesitated for a second.
And there they were, sitting at a table talking between themselves, but attentive to the entrance door.
When we entered, they both followed us with their gaze until we were in front of them.
We were holding hands and Henry walked with confident, elegant steps.
I felt an immense urge to turn around and flee from there.
Henry was wearing beige gabardine pants and a blue shirt, and I had chosen white pants with a black sleeveless bodysuit and black high-heeled sandals. My brothers were also dressed casually, but elegantly.
“Hello, little brothers, how are you?”
“Good afternoon,” Henry greeted them formally.
My brothers stood up, responded to our greetings, gave me a kiss and shook Henry’s hand. We sat down and the waiter immediately came to take our order. As soon as the four of us were alone, Henry broke the ice.
“I’m glad you accepted the invitation because I know Dalina really enjoys having lunch with you on Sundays, and I also assumed you wanted to get to know me better. The time we met wasn’t under the best circumstances,” Henry pointed out.
“We never turn down an invitation from Dali. For both Lolo and me, it’s very important to enjoy time together outside of work,” Bastián commented, and Lolo nodded in agreement.
“I understand and not only do I respect that, I’m glad it’s that way. I also have a sister and we’re very close.”
“If you have a sister, you’ll understand that Dalina’s well-being and happiness are very important to us,” Lolo said.
“Of course, and as far as I’m concerned, I can assure you that I won’t hurt her.”
“I’m going to be honest, Henry. May I call you that?” Bastián asked, and Henry nodded, also looking at him very seriously. “I’ve been looking into your life and the little I could find out didn’t make me very happy. You’re not the person we would choose for Dalina, but...”
“Bastián, that’s none of your business,” I said, embarrassed by what my brother had just said.
“If he hurts you, it is our business.”
“I appreciate honesty and speaking directly without beating around the bush, but I believe I was clear when I said I won’t hurt her.”
“And we’re going to be clear too, Woollardy,” said Lolo, who then added, “We’ve seen you in photographs with more women than we could count, plus you’re several years older than Dali, which makes us worry. Dali is a wonderful and naive woman and...”
“Please, I ask you not to continue,” I said, with all the calm I could muster.
“It’s okay, Dalina,” Henry said. “We’re here to get to know each other and I prefer to know everything they think,” he stated, looking at me.
“In summary, we’ll be watching, Henry,” Bastián said in a threatening tone.
“I expected nothing less,” he responded, with a calmness that surprised me.
“Having said all that, let’s enjoy the lunch that’s coming now,” Bastián added, pointing to a couple of waiters approaching with our plates.
I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t expected it. My brothers were first-class busybodies who were always sticking their noses in my business, but they should stop worrying about my life. For them, no man was good enough for me, but when I was alone with them, they were going to hear from me.
After all that raw honesty, they began to talk about their respective jobs and even about Niky. From that moment on, the atmosphere relaxed a bit, but I knew my brothers and knew they were still on alert, and I doubted they would stop being so.
When we were having dessert, I looked out the window and thought I saw Sol standing across the street, looking at us with deadly seriousness.
I began to look at her carefully and, when she noticed, she smiled at me with a diabolical expression.
I stood up immediately, but at that moment a bus passed by and I lost sight of her.
When the bus was no longer blocking my view, she was no longer there.
I continued looking but was no longer sure if I had seen correctly.
“What’s wrong, Dalina?” Henry asked, concerned and also standing up from his chair and looking in the direction I was looking.
“Dali, are you okay?” Lolo asked.
When I reacted, I looked at them and, without stopping looking through the window, sat back down.
“Excuse me, I thought I saw someone I know.”
“Who?” Henry asked again, with a furrowed brow.
My brothers and I looked at him surprised by his authoritative voice.
“Dali, we know you better than anyone,” Bastián said, and his comment seemed to be directed straight at Henry, “something is worrying you.”
“It’s just that…I thought I saw Sol across the street, watching us,” I said.
“Where?” my brothers asked simultaneously as they looked out the window, and Henry rushed out of the restaurant without saying a word.
“Where did he go?” Lolo asked.
“I don’t know,” I answered, looking through the window trying to locate him.
“I suppose he went out to check if it was her,” Bastián said.
I was getting up from my chair to go look for him when he came back into the restaurant. His expression showed his concern, and I regretted mentioning Sol.
“Dalina, it worries me that this girl is hanging around you,” he said, running his hand through his hair in exasperation.
My brothers looked at him in confusion. I suppose that, like me, they thought Henry was overreacting.
As usual, I was wrong.
“I agree with Henry,” Bastián said. “If it really was her, why was she watching us and then ran away?”
I looked at Lolo hoping to have someone on my side.
I was wrong about that too.
“Don’t look at me, I’m with them,” said the traitor.
“Dalina, you need to understand that this girl isn’t behaving properly. I’m sure she’s plotting something,” Henry pointed out, his mouth becoming a tense line.
“I must have seen wrong, she’s traveling,” I stated.
“How do you know she’s traveling?” he asked, frowning at me.
“Because I went to her apartment several times and the doorman told me.”
“Did you go alone?” he continued probing.
“Yes.”
“You can’t go alone. We’re dealing with a woman who has lied to hurt you; we don’t know what else she might do.”
My brothers were watching us without blinking, but it seemed that Henry’s arguments and his exaggerated concern were convincing them like nothing said before.
“I’m not going to argue about this again,” I stated.
“What do you two think?” he asked, looking at my brothers.
“We agree with you,” Lolo said. “It’s hard for us to imagine Sol acting this way, but it’s obvious she’s gone crazy.”
“Dali, your boyfriend is right. We don’t want you going to her place anymore, promise us.”
“Are you really forbidding me from going to Sol’s place?” I asked, completely surprised.
“This is not a joke,” Henry said.
“I’m not joking either, and I won’t accept your exaggerated demands.”
“Dalina…”
“Henry, we’ll discuss this another time.”
He looked at my brothers seeking support and obviously found it.
“We’re doing this for your own good. Until we understand what she’s trying to accomplish with all this, it’s better if you stay away,” Bastián affirmed.
“Let’s drop this subject for now. I think we should go,” I suggested, as the lunch was clearly over.
“Lunch is my treat,” Henry said, seeing that my brother Bastián was taking out his wallet.
“That’s not necessary,” Bastián said.
“It’s my pleasure.”
“Well, thank you for the invitation.”
“I hope we can meet again another day. I’d like to introduce you to my sister, unless you already know her.”
“I don’t think we know her,” Lolo said.
“I haven’t introduced her because you’ve never met,” I said.
“Then for our next gathering, we’ll ask her to join us,” he remarked with great naturalness.
Hearing him make these family plans gave me a warmth in my heart that I didn’t want to acknowledge, but all of this made me harbor hopes that our relationship had a promising future.
Be careful, Dalina!, I told myself, I needed to learn to be more cautious.
We said goodbye to my brothers and returned to the hotel. On the way, Henry was much less talkative.
“I’m sorry about everything my brothers said to you,” I said, thinking that was what had him so pensive.
“What?” he asked, and it was obvious his mind was elsewhere and he hadn’t even understood what I’d said.
“I was saying that I’m sorry my brothers gave you a hard time.”
“I didn’t have a hard time. If I had been in their place, I would have asked many more questions than they did,” he said naturally.
“What’s wrong? You’re very quiet and thoughtful.”
“Worried, actually,” he replied.
“May I know why?”
“I’m concerned about your friend’s attitude, or ex-friend, because you can’t consider that girl a friend anymore. It’s obvious she’s plotting something and it bothers me not knowing what it is. Promise me you won’t meet with her.”
“Henry...”
“No, Dalina, I won’t budge on this. I don’t want you taking risks. Do it for me,” he pleaded, and those words, accompanied by his face lined with worry, landed straight in my heart.
“All right, I promise to let you know if I have the opportunity to meet with her.”
“Good,” he said, appearing more relieved.
At that moment his phone rang. He looked at the car display which showed “Niky,” glanced at me and smiled. Then he pressed the button on the steering wheel and his sister’s voice came through loud and clear.
“Hello, big brother.”
“Niky. I’m driving and Dalina is with me.”
“Dali, are you there?” she asked, surprised, and at that moment I remembered that I hadn’t yet told her I was back with Henry.
“Are you doubting my word?” Henry asked.