Earlier that day...
It had been four days since she started working with her aunt down at her large grocery shop in the town's market. It wasn't that Alia Stenfield Macarena couldn't afford a better job herself, it was just that she loved selling foodstuffs. The marketplace back home in Seattle never smelt this nice for her niece, let alone her, when she once lived there. Paloma was a successful businesswoman with multiple retail grocery shops in and around Valle de Bravo that she had set up with the help of her three children, over the course of five years after they had all finished and graduated from college.
Four days into this country, Elena still hadn't had a chance to meet any of the three. She had already talked to them over the phone throughout the course of the week and had even shared stories. Some stories. The doctor was too busy in south Mexico, while the teacher literally had no time to spare from the tight schedule of school and duty back at home to come and pay her a visit. The engineer too had his own reasons and he hoped that he would one day find time to come and visit her long-lost little cousin Elena.
Elena Stenfield wondered what they would think of her, or precisely the stage in life that she was at. Yes, she was a mere graduate from college but papers needed something to prove their worth three months after… so she thought they would wonder. The whole r*pe and trial episodes had taken a big bite out of her life, and now two months after everything started she was literally nowhere in life in comparison to some of her latter. Especially her close friend Chanel Williams. She had been all about job-seeking adventures since they graduated to the point that she wasn't there for Elena's trial as well as her departure to Mexico. And what about her own cousins? She literally had no idea of what they would think of her when they stayed around her too well. She wasn't going back to the United States as she had already decided, the fear and guilt choking her thoughts whenever she thought of home.
Macarena's main grocery unit was quite a large one. It covered an area almost half the size of a football pitch, with stone walls that surrounded it in every direction. There were multiple iron sheet and wood stalls with high-end employees in them. Some sold random everyday vegetables, while others sold beef and pork and mutton by the farthest end of the premises. The morning air of the market was decorated with spices and floral scents in some parts. As she walked past the stands watching her aunt's employees do their dos, her nose picked up one or two foreign new smells. At some stalls, she would turn around and inspect the items sold there. Her lungs were full of inviting smells and food no space for even the worker's cologne and the market air itself. She had taken a walk from her aunt's office that was at the eye of the location to its outside to catch a glimpse of the neighboring world once again. Outside there, things seemed so usual. A normal Saturday afternoon.
Cars and lorries with supplies were in the queue to get in as well as customers in vehicles and on foot and bikes as well. Most of them were women, some dressed casually for the weekend while some dressed like they were her backdoor neighbors. Elena checked the time once again and noticed it was four-thirty in the evening. She wondered why Lance hadn't even paid her a visit or even called her as he had got the routine of doing so. She took a long look back inside to the stalls near her and saw two high school teens; a male and a female all and about purchasing things together. She was all over him, as he was over her. They were giggling and laughing as they walked around whilst buying their groceries. They look happy, she thought. It reminded her of how she and Ethan used to go to the market to buy grocery too for their home science class and how they would make jokes and laugh. A little smile made its way to her face. Just a little one.
"How's everything been so far today?" Elena heard her aunt ask her when she approached her from behind. She toured her eyes around and made contact with the eyes that provided hers competition; some nonetheless.
"Um... I have to say, it's great I mean… wow! I don't know how you managed to bring up all of this on your own, everything is just point on. And the flowers down by the seventh aisle… where did you get them from?"
"The flowers? I got them from Kenya. Pretty expensive but with Valentine's Day up ahead… I'm pretty sure people are going to pay for them."
"The month of love…" Elena muttered. "Why does every holiday seem different nowadays? I mean know why but… but..."
Maca walked and stopped in front of her. She held her niece's hands. "You're thinking about him? Aren't you?"
She nodded in response.
"So stop."
"I'm trying," Elena whined. "Auntie I'm really trying… like a lot. It's hard to do so when you have a baby in you and the father… you know? I told him that I was not going to forget him…"
"Was it the truth?"
"Yeah. After I discovered the baby, somehow things changed. For me and for him. I just hope that it's worth it. I hope that it won't affect me or my poor baby. Or my boyfriend."
"Speaking of that boy… have you heard from him?"
"No. he said that he was pretty busy this week. And I needed some alone time too. He hasn't called today though."
"Is everything alright between you two?"
"Yeah. Why ask?"
"He hasn't been here to see you ever since he left on Tuesday. And now you're telling me that he hasn't called."
"He's just busy... I guess it's nothing, trust me."
"If a boy is busy for my little dark flower then, that means that he's not fit for her."
"Excuse me Mrs." A voice in Spanish interrupted them from their behind. They both turned around and saw Paloma, Maca's head supervisor, dressed in a yellow apron with some documents in her hand.
"Yes, Paloma?" Maca continued in their common tongue.
"The Gualdre Roses Firm needs you to sign these documents. In fact, they're calling for you over there."
Elena and Maca trained their lovely black eyes to the long queue of vehicles bringing in supplies by the main gate.
"Excuse me, Elena," Maca told her. "I'll see you later. This is going to take time."
"It's okay aunt," Elena told her in Spanish. "I'll take another tour around and see what needs to be fixed where."
"Okay."