Second Chance (Julián Álvarez)

Chapter 8

"Morning, my love", said Freddie to Natalia when he joined her in the kitchen for breakfast.

"Morning. Are you ready for today?"

"I guess".

Freddie had a big court case that day that he had been working on for months. It was always very stressful to finally face the possibility of all his work being for nothing. He was a good lawyer but no lawyer had a 100% record. And failing terrified him, especially in cases like this one where he felt so strongly about what was happening.

"I'm sure you'll do great", she said, kissing him quickly. "I need to leave in 15 minutes. It's going to be a crazy day for me too".

"Will you be back late? I could leave food for you in the fridge".

"That would actually be perfect. Thank you!"

While she finished getting ready for the day, the guilt attacked her. What she didn't tell Freddie was that after the final class of the day, she was meeting Julián. He had asked her for two extra tickets for her show, for a teammate and his girlfriend. And Natalia told him that she would love to meet them before the event since she was likely to be super busy then and wanted to be welcoming to his guests. So they were having some drinks at Julián's later that day. Something normal and innocent but...it had taken a couple of days for her and Freddie to go back to normal after their argument. She couldn't do this again. It was draining her energy.

"Bye! Good luck today. Break a leg!"

"Wait! Give me a kiss before you leave", he said, running towards the door to kiss her goodbye. "I love you":

"I love you too".

Since when was saying I love you so painful for her?

**

"Miiiiisss! Look at how well I can play this song now".

Her head was about to explode. Why had she booked so many classes for today?

"Be there in a sec!"

She had spent the last hour running around helping all the kids. They had a big concert the following month and she had only recently realized how behind they all were in their preparation.

When her phone started to ring she just wanted to throw it against the wall. But then she saw it was Julián calling.

"Hi".

"Hey, are you almost done with work? I'm near the area and thought I could pick you up".

"That would be great. I'm exhausted, actually. Could you be here in...20 minutes?"

"I'll be there".

"Ok, see you in a bit, Juli".

She hung up the phone and put it down on the table again when she heard crying.

"Miiiiissss! He hit me!"

A very very long day.

**

Julián was actually two streets away from the academy where Natalia taught music, so he decided to go inside right when he got there and try to help her. She sounded so tired on the phone.

"Hello? Natalia?"

"Miss Martín is helping little Josie", said a little girl. Julián thought the way she pronounced Natalia's last name was really cute.

"I can wait".

"Are you her boyfriend?"

"What? No. Just a friend".