SANTI'S POV
We had spent the night at our house. According to Carla, she had taken the kids so they wouldn't hear anything they shouldn't have to hear at their age, but I don't know why she thought we would do something the kids shouldn't hear. We spent the night talking until Jessica fell asleep.
At this moment it's half past two in the morning and I couldn't sleep. Since Jessica fell asleep, I can tell she's restless, and that's not normal for her. I touched her forehead to see if she has a fever, but she didn't, so I guess it had to be something else.
I was falling asleep when I noticed how the mattress next to me rises and I hear the door open, which makes me wake up in a short time and look to my side to not see Jessica there. I get out of bed to see if she's okay.
First, I go to the bathroom, and I don't find her there, so I go downstairs to see the kitchen light on. I walk in and see Jessica with a glass of water and searching for something in her jacket.
"Jess?" She neither turned to look at me nor answered me, so I guess she had to be bad not to answer me. I walk up to her and touch her shoulder, causing her to jump into the air and turn around to find me behind her. "Santi? I thought you were asleep." My girlfriend said, a little louder than she normally spoke, "Are you okay?" I asked worried and she nodded. "It's not what it looks like. What are you looking for in the jacket?"
"Nothing, some pills" She responded, "But weren't you feeling fine?" I asked, confused for a moment. "My ear just hurts a little, nothing more, don't worry." She assured, "I'm going to worry, and you know it." I said softly, "You should go to sleep, I'll be back in a little while."
"I'll wait for you." I responded "Santi…" she started to protest, but I denied "I'll wait for you." I wasn't going to leave here no matter how much Jessica wanted to. I wasn't going to leave her alone right now, I promised myself I would take care of her until the last of my days, and that's what I would do. "Do you want me to give you some pills?" And again, she doesn't answer me and goes out to the terrace. I don't know if she's angry or what's wrong with her, but something is wrong with her. I follow her to the terrace and sit next to her.
"Jess?" I asked again, a little louder than before, "What? You should go to sleep, tomorrow you have to go to work." She said, "Did I do something to make you angry?" I asked, worried I had done something. "And why should I be mad at you?" She asks, frowning. "Since you don't answer me, I thought…"
"Oh no, don't worry." Jess said with a small smile on her face, but it ended up being a grimace. "What's wrong, love?" I questioned "I think I forgot to tell you a small detail." my girlfriend said, and I frowned "What?" I questioned, "I'm half deaf, and when my ear hurts, I practically don't hear anything, that's why I didn't answer you."
"I don't understand, but now you listen to me." I said confused "Because you're stuck and on the side I hear. When my ear hurts, I don't hear what I normally hear, but if you are close and patient I can understand and hear what is being said to me." She confessed "And that happens often?"
"No, I'm always half deaf, but not as much as I am right now." Jessica said, "And why are you half deaf?" I asked, "The storm, it's another of the things it left in me apparently." She said, shrugging her shoulders. "Anything else the storm left you I should know about so as not to scare me?" I asked, walking up to her and giving her a hug. "If you're not scared of big scars, then no, you have nothing else to be scared of."
"Big scars?" I asked, "Yeah, I have one on my leg, which is why I don't wear shorts, it looks horrible." Jess said with a small pout. "Can I see it?" I asked and she denied "I don't like show it Santi, really, it looks horrible."
"I doubt it, now let me see it." I asked, "As soon as you see it, you're going to leave like the others." She whispered more to herself than to anyone else, "Luckily for everyone, I'm not like everyone else and it just so happens I love you more than anything, so don't worry about scaring me, because it won't."
"Okay, but does it have to be out here?" She asked without looking away from me. "There's no one around us, but if you prefer, we can go in." I assured. The last thing I wanted is for her be more uncomfortable than she is right now. "No, it doesn't matter. You're right. We are lucky you don't have neighbours."
She began to raise the fabric of the pants on the right and as soon as it reached the knee, I could see how a scar appears, and as Jessica continued to raise the fabric, the scar continued to rise until it stopped at the hip. I stared dumbfounded at it. It may have been ugly, but it's part of her and I liked it no matter how ugly it is. It's part of Jessica and I liked everything about her.
"I knew this wasn't a good idea." She murmured and is going to start lowering the fabric when I stopped her. Jessica started to stare at me, while I began to caress her scar. "You don't have to worry about it looking horrendous like you say, but it's a part of you" I softly said "Santi, it is horrendous." Jess said seriously, "Maybe, but it's part of you and you must live with it the rest of your life. You must learn to love it; it shows you're a fighter." I said with a big smile on my face.
"You are a mystery; I really tell you." She responded laughing, but at least I managed to make her a bit happy. "Well, I hope it's a good mystery at least." I said softly, "Of course."
We stayed in silence looking at the horizon as dawn began to dawn and I ran my hand over her scar. After a while she fell asleep, I picked her up and took her to bed so she could at least rest a little better.
I didn't fall asleep, and when it was time to get up, I did without moving too much to prevent Jessica from waking up. Before I walked out the door, I left her a note on the nightstand so she wouldn't worry, and as soon as I did my routine and about to walk out the door, I sent Carla a message asking her if she could stop by later the house to keep an eye on Jessica, which she accepted, but she asked me what was going on. I briefly told her what happened last night and she said she would be home as soon as the kids woke up, which left me a little calmer and I left for work, Today is the day I started working with that girl, and I must say I didn't like the idea, but they had practically forced me, blaming me the entire time I was practically not working, so I had no choice but to accept.
CARLA'S POV
Santi had texted me early to ask if I could stop by his house and see Jessica is ok. At first, I thought he was exaggerating, but when told me what happened that night, I realized he wasn't. At this moment it's nine in the morning, and we're on our way to Santi and Jessica's house to see how Jessica is doing. As soon as we arrive, we ring, but no one opens the door, so I take my key out of my pocket to enter.
"Jessica, we're here." I said, as we entered the house, but we didn't get any response and it's starting to worry me this is so quiet. I just hope she didn't get worse while we were coming, because then Santi would never forgive me. "I'm going to see if she's still sleeping."
With that, Miky went upstairs leaving me and Madison alone in the entryway. I start to walk to the kitchen and make some breakfast when I find Jessica reading a paper, I assume Santi left her so she wouldn't worry. "Miky, come down, she's in the kitchen. At least you could answer you're in the kitchen." I said with a big smile on my face.
It doesn't take long for Miky to arrive with us in the kitchen and as soon as he sees Jessica, he approaches and touches her arm, making her jump a little. "Shit Miky, you scared me." Jessica said, putting her hand on her chest. Miky doesn't say anything to her, but he does move his mouth, and it seems Jessica understood it because she responds.
"I'm fine, it doesn't hurt anymore, really." Jess said with a small smile on her face, but I wasn't understanding anything. "I'd like to know what you guys are talking about." I asked, "At this moment Jessica is practically not deaf, that's why she didn't answer you."
"And why don't you talk to her?" I asked confused. "Usually, when her ear hurts, she can't practically hear sounds, but it seems that's not the case this time." He said with a frown. "Then you can talk to her."
"Yes, it seems so." the kid murmured, "Well, then let's make breakfast, I'm starving." With that we started making breakfast, well more like Jessica and Miky, because both I and Madison were bad in the kitchen and I didn't want to burn down Santi and Jessica's house, they would kill me if that happened, so it's better to stay away from the kitchen to avoid catastrophes.
Once they finished making breakfast, me and Madison served it and sat at the table. We had a fun time, between Jessica not knowing practically anything unless she read our lips and Madison and I taking the opportunity to mess with her, the time went by quite quickly at twelve noon.
We went to sit on the couch while Jessica walked around the house, Madison and Miky were playing something and I started looking at the messages I had, answering Santi's so he wouldn't worry so much about Jessica, who every minute asks if his girlfriend is less deaf and her ear doesn't hurt, I just hope he would stay calmer.
Suddenly, I started getting a lot of notifications from Twitter and Instagram, so I looked, and I could hear Jessica saying she's going to take Wisky out. But as soon as I see photos of Santi's house taken this morning, and at this moment there are cameras in front of it, I quickly get up from the couch to prevent Jessica from going out into the street.
"Jess, stop!!!!" I screamed, but it was too late. As soon as she opened the door, paparazzi and news people began to approach the door asking thousands of questions. Wisky starts barking and pulling on the leash at those guys and I put both Jessica and Wisky inside the house. "What were all those people doing out there?" She asked confused "I'll answer it in a while. Guys, help me close all the curtains in the house."
"What's happening?" Miky asked next to us. "Nothing, just close them all." We began to close all the curtains and blinds in the house to prevent them from taking any photos of the interior and as soon as we finished, I looked at social media again to find out what the hell is going on in this house that there were so many reporters and paparazzi.
It was at that moment I saw photos of me and Santi of fans who were insulting him because in theory he's cheating on me and next to them were photos of Santi with Jessica, they looked a little blurry that it's difficult to recognize the two of them well, but I know it's from the other day, the day of their date.
I could also see headlines like: Is Santiago De Luca rebuilding his life after his dead girlfriend? Did Santiago De Luca and Carla Bastianini end their relationship? And the headline could be said to be closer to reality said: Has Santiago De Luca found his new Jessica Leone? I was also able to see some art press headlines in which they talked about Jessica being alive.
"Shit" I mumbled, "What's wrong Carla?" Miky asked next to me. "We have a big problem right now." I seriously said, "Can you explain what's happening?" Jessica asked, looking pale, "The press is crazy because in theory Santi is cheating on me with you, and someone or another realized that it's you. They think the person he's cheating on me with, is very similar to you."
"And what are they doing here?" Jessica asked confused, "Search for information, and now we're going to appear everywhere. This is going to get ugly." I admitted, starting to think what we could do to be able to go out into the street in peace. "But why?" Jess insisted, "Because they're going to realize you're alive, they're going to start coming up with theories you won't like."
"But if it is explained there will be no confusion." She said innocently, "Of course there will be, because no matter how much you tell what happened, they'll invent many things that won't be true." I answered honestly, "And why would they do something like that?"
"Because you're famous, that's the price you pay for fame. They will believe you have disappeared during these years just to make your fame grow." I insisted "I wouldn't do something like that." She protested, "I know, but practically no one is going to care about that."
I took my cell phone out of my pocket and started calling Santi, who doesn't answer the first time, nor the second time, but he does answer the third time. "DO YOU HAVE THE PHONE AS AN ORNAMENT OR WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU?" I yelled frustratedly at Santi once he decided to answer the damn phone, "What's going on? Why are you screaming?" He asked confused. "We have problems." I said, "Can you tell me once and for all what is happening?"
"We have the press at the entrance of our house because you're cheating on me according to them." I responded frustrated "!!!! But there's nothing between us!!!" he exclaimed "Do you think I don't know? You know those rumours are still there since Jessica theoretically died, and now they saw you the other day on your date with her, they think you're cheating on me. They didn't lynch Jessica with thousands of questions because I had time to get there and close the door, because otherwise we would already have it on all the channels."
"What?" He whispered, "What you hear, and now we have the problem of what these people will say about her." I noted, "I'm going home right now." He quickly said, "I recommend you go out behind the record company; you have a lot of them there too." I informed him, "I will. Tell Jessica I'll be there in no time."
"Be careful." I asked. The last thing we needed right now was for him to have an accident or something. "I'll do it, see you now Carla." He said, "See you in a bit" I hung up and continued looking at the phone to see what else I discovered and to think of a way to fix all this, because yes, we knew this could happen at some point, but I didn't expect it so soon. I hoped they would realize when Jessica was okay at least.
An hour later I hear the reporters at the door start asking thousands of questions, which tells me Santi has just arrived. As soon as he enters the house, he closes the door and approaches Jessica, who remained silent from the moment I called Santi.
"Hey, are you okay?" Santi whispered, trying not to scare Jessica more than she should be right now. Jess shook her head and Santi hugged her, because she looked like she's going to cry at any moment, and it made me angry to see Jessica like that. We're having a hard time getting back the Jessica from four years ago so that these idiots... these people come to screw everything up.
I had to fix this somehow, and the only way I could think of is to go out and make a few things clear to them. "Carla, where are you going?" Santi asked without moving from his girlfriend's side. "I'll come now, don't worry." I assured, starting to walk towards the door of the house. "Don't even think about it" He asked, "That's exactly what I'm going to do, and you won't be able to avoid it."
"Shit Carla, you're going to get in trouble with the record company." He answered this and I denied, because at this moment, that doesn't matter to me "I don't care exactly. You stay here, I won't be long." I left the room and a few seconds later I was out of the house with thousands of reporters in my face practically asking me thousands of questions. "Shut the hell up!!!!" I shouted, containing my anger as best I could.
I know it's not the way to treat the press if you want to have them on your side, but they were bothering me too much already and Jessica could get upset because of them, and at this moment I didn't care what they said about me in the press, because the only thing that mattered to me is that Jessica and the kids were well. At least at this moment it's quiet, but it didn't last long.
"Carla, how do you feel after your boyfriend cheated on you?" said someone from the back of the group of journalists. "How do you feel after the breakup with Santiago?" followed another "Is it true that Santi is cheating on you with a girl who looks too much like his other girlfriend?"
"Is Santi looking for a replacement for Jessica?" "Who is the girl inside the house with you?" "What do you think about the disappearance of your boyfriend's ex-girlfriend's tombstone? Or should we say ex-boyfriend?" The questions continued, but I couldn't allow them to say those things about Santi, because nothing was true.
"First of all, Santi and I were never a couple to begin with and we never will be. We're great friends and that will continue. Second, Santi is not looking for Jessica's replacement, third, the girl who's inside that house is none of your business and fourth, I don't know anything about the disappearance of Jessica's tombstone, in theory it's in the same place as always. Now, I would like you all to get out of this house, because we have little children inside and you're scaring them."
"Children? You have decided to adopt children." The journalist in front of me asked, "No, but I want you to get out of here before I call the police." I said seriously, "They won't do anything to us. It's called freedom of expression." Someone from I don't know where said, "But you're invading private property, so they will."
They started to leave the front yard, but stayed on the sidewalk in front waiting for us to give them more information they could take advantage of. We had to come up with a plan to get from his house to mine. Luckily for us, no one knew I lived there, and I hoped that would continue for a long time because I really like that place.
I entered the house and saw Santi sitting next to Jessica, who had her face hidden in the crook of his neck. The kids had gone upstairs to play to make room for Jessica. "They're going to be angry; you know that right?" He asked and I shrugged with a smile on my face "I know, but like I told you, I don't care right now. We must get out of here."
"That's what I think too." He responded with a nod, "I don't want to leave here Santi." Jessica murmured, looking up at her boyfriend. "I don't want to leave either, Jess, but right now it's the best for you and the kids."
"But…" his girlfriend started to protest, but Santi denied it with a small smile on his face. "Don't worry, we'll be back." He assured, "I'm going to call Jackson to come, we're going to have to find a way to get out of here and think of a way to say Jessica is alive."
"I think your life was easier before I came back into your life. Maybe I should leave and..." Jessica began, but both Santi and I began to deny as if our lives were passing away. "Don't say stupid things Jess. We didn't have an easy life before you came back. Our life was basically shit since they told us you died, and if it hadn't been for the fact we found you a couple of months ago, Santi would have ended up killing himself, I'm more than sure of that, so don't say it's better to leave for so we can have an easier life, because that's not true, life will still be shit if you leave."
"Carla is right love, our life wasn't much better before we found you, at least mine, and if what you're worried about is the press, you shouldn't do it, we'll find some way to tell them what happened. The only thing that matters to us is you're ok, alright?" Santi asked and she nodded and ended up going upstairs, leaving me and Santi alone, who must have been thinking about what to do to get us out of this mess.
"We have to tell the press she's alive, and honestly I don't want to do it." Santi said in a worried tone, "I know, but we will have no choice if we want them to leave us alone." I responded, agreeing with what he had said, "I know, what worries me is the reaction Jess might have."
"Don't worry, Jess is strong, she'll handle it. Now she's in shock because they caught her off guard, but she will soon get over it." I assured, because if I knew anything, it was this wouldn't be what would affect Jess the most. "I really hope so, I don't want to lose her again." He responded with a sigh, "And you won't, I'll take care of that. Go upstairs to see if they need anything while I figure out how to fix this mess and call the guys to come give us a hand."
"Thank you, Carla." He thanked me and I couldn't help but frown trying to understand what exactly he's thanking me for. "Why?" I asked, "For everything you're doing to help us." He said with a small smile on his face "It's nothing, I don't want to lose Jessica as much as you do, and if I can help it, that's what I'll do. Now go check on your girlfriend. I hope that status changes soon I must say."
"It will." Santi assured, his smile widening. "And I hope I'm the first to know." I said with a smile starting to appear on my face "I hope you can help me with that." my best friend responded, "I'll be happy to do it, you know that. Now it's easier to keep her distracted, not like four years ago." I pointed out and we both laughed "True."
"Go ahead, I know you're looking forward to going with her." I said, pointing in the direction where my best friend and his girlfriend had gone. "See you soon, call me if you need me to help you with anything." He said and I denied, practically kicking him out of the room. "It won't be necessary, but I appreciate it anyway."
With that, he went upstairs, and I called Jackson for him and his men to come. They would be the ones who would help us with everything, and I'm sure he's going to scold me for not calling him sooner, since his role as my bodyguard is to take care of me, and this time I won't deny he's right, but he'll lighten up with the surprise he's going to get when he realizes Jessica is alive, so he won't be so angry at me.