𝒮𝑒𝑒 𝐹𝑜𝓇 𝒴𝑜𝓊𝓇𝓈𝑒𝓁𝒻 <<Bruno Madrigal>>>

Chapter 19

"And so that's how it is..."

Angelo was quiet throughout her life story, naturally, it would've been more complicated if he asked questions in between the fast forward rant that she did. Carina might've rambled for about an hour to tell him all note worthy things that had happened in the span of ten years they've hadn't seen each other, but it's all important information for Angelo. He wouldn't have been able to comment even if he tried because the anger would immediately be directed towards him, he just knows it.

"And now he's hiding somewhere!" Carina finally sits down beside him, "If I didn't know any better, I'd say his little friends had finally influenced him."

"Little....friends?"

She chuckles just thinking about it, "Yeah. You've seen his rats before, have you?"

"Oh, the one he named Pito?"

"That. And I think it went up by a few more over the course of years. I don't even know how many it is now."

"Rats, huh..." Angelo was in such a daze over something that Carina would've never guessed. Maybe it was because of the oddness of this place, or the magic surrounding Encanto, or quite possibly the friendship of a human and rats.

"So... How come you're only here now?"

He flinches, he's been hoping to completely avoid answering that, but he guessed that it's too soon for him to dodge that, not in this early day. "I know I still have something to do here. And I felt like I've ruined something very special..." Angelo reaches in his bag, where there's a picture of him smiling in front of a big crusty bread with jam that had a candle standing on top of it. "And because of what I did, everything had fallen apart."

Carina analyzes the photo, which in her eyes, was only a very accurate detailed drawing, "Is that you?"

He nods, "My ninth birthday. Ma and Pa used to tell me that happiness comes with contentment of what you have, as long as all of us are alive and well."

"Are they...?"

Angelo puts it aside no more than eight seconds of looking at it, "Ma died of incurable disease just a year afterwards. Pa was.... he was killed." Carina frowns as she felt sorry for the guy, he is such a happy man when she met him, they've never asked to know his background nor confide in his troubles with why he ended up here in this very same place. Angelo quickly shrugs it off and faces her, "Well, that's over with. At least I've gotten to know my Ma and Pa a little better now. So anyway—" he jumps off the boulder, stumbling a bit on his foot but still managed to balance himself on the rocky ledge, "You say Bruno's missing, right? Have you tried searching for him?"

"No," It was ridiculous of her to complain without doing anything about it, "It's not my responsibility to do that. I'm pretty sure his familia would search for him instead."

He deadpans, then closes his eyes in deep thought, "Sure, yeah, his family might go look for him. But you still care about him, right?"

".... Right."

"And you're still in love with him, right? After all he did? Or what you did?"

"What does that have to do with this?"

"Everything, really," the man smirks.

Carina stared at him as she processes what he said, and came to a conclusion that is far from the intended answer, "How come you look like you haven't aged at all?"

Angelo chuckles, brushing his hair through his fingers with a smug smile, "I guess I'm just too handsome with a right amount of baby face."

As stunned as she is, Carina can't help but mentally agree at some point. "Don't be too cocky."

"It's true though," he winks at her.

Julio washes the dishes alone in the kitchen. Carina is unexpectedly happy when she came back, which made him wonder what exactly happened and why she disappeared. The only other moment he knew that his sister would wear those shoes is when she's running away from their mother's introduction from the guests whom she'd thought would be a perfect suitor for her.

Everyone has long been asleep in their own rooms, making him the only person wide awake at this hour with a cup of coffee on the table to accompany him. Talk about adulthood puberty.

"Hey."

He stops drinking from his cup when he caught wind of someone whispering. At first, Julio thought that it's only his mind messing with him, until it whispers again.

"Hey, Julio," followed by a tap on the window that almost made him scream. Julio can only see a silhouette of a hand on a blurred transparent glass.

He rubs the bridge of his nose in irritation before finally opening the little window, "Oh, it's you." He says with a brow raised.

"Are all of you going through a rough time right now? Everyone seems so angry today," says Angelo.

"By everyone, you mean me and Carina, right?"

The man suddenly clasps his hands together, "Please, I need your help. Can we talk somewhere comfortable?"

"You mean somewhere where those mosquitoes aren't biting you?" Julio chuckles as Angelo slaps his cheek to try and get rid of the annoying insect.

"Most likely," he glares.

"I need a favor."

He crosses his arms together, "A favor?"

Angelo brings out a device from his bag, "This here's a camera."

"Yeah, I can see that."

"This is different, okay? It's got colors on it, it's different than what you guys know," Angelo can't help but point that out in frustration from the man's unamused expression. "What I need you to do here is take a picture from every important day that has something to do with Carina. It doesn't need to be a person. You can capture plants or objects, just at that exact moment."

Julio takes the device in his hand, figuring out how to open the thing, "What do you need those for?"

"So that I'd know when to return."

"Oh," he laughs amusingly, getting to open it and seeing through the little glass, "I see. This does look cooler than the camera I know."

Angelo rolls his eyes, "Sure it is. Can I count on you?"

The man raises a brow at him, "You kidding? If we're doing this for Carina, then of course I'll help."

A smile slowly forms on his face, "So.... does this mean you fully believe everything I said?"

Julio turns off the digital camera and looks at him with a deadpan expression, "After seeing you? Yes. I guess I do."