Camilo x Reader -Broken Reflection

Chapter 25 (Reunited And It Feels So Good)

"He doesn't want to ruin that," Pepa explained to me.

I completely understood where they were coming from, but I could feel the disappointment in Mr. Muñoz's heart. He may have thought that's what he felt, but it must not have been true. Deep down, I knew that he wanted to see him, even if it was for a brief moment.

"Does that mean you're giving up?" I asked, looking at my boss. "Before you even try?" Pepa started to say my name, but I continued anyway. "What's the harm in just saying 'hi'? It's not like Abuela's going to throw you out of the house, " I said.

Camilo stepped forward as well and placed a light hand on my shoulder.

"Yeah, you went through the effort to come all the way here. You may as well-"

"Enough, you two, it's final," Pepa interrupted with a sigh. I watched her study Mr. Muñoz with an expression that could only be labeled as pity. It was clear that she too felt for him. We all wanted to see him happy despite the Madrigal's history with him.

It didn't even seem like he and Bruno ended on bad terms. It was just a matter of what Abuela thought. Maybe it was the 'right person, wrong time' situation.

Just as Camilo and I followed his mother and my boss out of the kitchen, I heard Abuela as she made her way down the stairs.

"I see you've got your gift under control again," She said to Pepa. The woman gave her mother a tight nod. All seemed well until Abuela's eyes traveled across the room to see Mr. Muñoz. His hand rested on the handle of the front door. I held my breath as I watched the older woman identify where she'd seen my boss before.

And then it clicked. Her brows furrowed and she stepped closer.

"Edward?" She asked. But it wasn't just her who spoke. We all shifted to look at the top of the staircase where Bruno stood.

His hand rested on the railing, and for a split second, I saw his eyes flash green. My boss turned at the sound of his voice and let out a small gasp that only Camilo and I could hear.

"Oh, shit," I heard Camilo mumble.

"Edward, is that you?" Bruno asked. He'd interrupted Abuela when she told her son to move along.

Slowly, Mr. Muñoz let his hand fall from the front door handle. I saw his throat bob as he swallowed and nodded slightly.

"Yeah," he breathed. The small encounter took place in mere moments, but it felt like a scene out of a movie. I saw the way Bruno's eyes lit up when he saw him. His heart skipped a few beats and I could feel the emotions crackle and pop from inside him like a firework show. I heard Mr. Muñoz's breath catch when they made eye contact.

Bruno was down the staircase and walking past his mother before I could even blink. I saw Abuela catch hold of her son's poncho, but he didn't even notice.

"Saints, I haven't seen you in... forever," he said. Mr. Muñoz and Bruno kept a comfortable distance, but I knew exactly how glad they were to see each other.

"It sure feels like it, doesn't it?" My boss asked him with a little chuckle.

I'd never seen Bruno smile as he did then. His teeth gleamed bright white and the skin around his eyes crinkled. I'd never seen him so... happy, in all of the months that I'd lived with the Madrigals.

That was when I knew that I'd done the right thing.

Even without my gift, I knew that my boss was worried about the smallest of things. I'd spent so much time with him at the dressmaker shop, seen him pay so much attention to detail, that I knew that he was internally fussing over his hair and wishing that he'd remembered to put his tie on again. He looked fine.

Their affection for each other was wholesome, and they acted like close friends who hadn't seen each other in years. In a way, they were. Pepa, Camilo, and I started to leave when their conversation continued. I heard my boss ask Bruno if he was too busy to go out and drink coffee and catch up. Bruno lived in the walls of the Madrigal house for around a decade, and I knew just how amusing the idea seemed to him. He accepted eagerly, and just as I thought that maybe they had a chance of maybe being what they were as teenagers, I heard Abuela clear her throat. We all halted.

"Aren't you forgetting something?" She asked. I furrowed my brows.

"Bruno has to focus on his gift. He's spent many years inside our walls, not using it and being utterly useless." I watched Pepa turn around at the sound of her mother's words.

"You must be forgetting that Bruno deserves to be happy too," she said. Her retort took Abuela aback and she stepped forward with fingers curled into fists.

"He should be happy with us. Our family." She gestured to the three of us and I couldn't believe it. I shook my head and rushed to Bruno's aid.

"I'm not family. He deserves just as much happiness as me. He deserves to find someone he loves just like I did with the Madrigals."

That was when Abuela shot me a surprised glare.

"Exactly. You're right. You're not family, so I suggest you keep your mouth shut!"

The surge of anger Abuela felt as well as the impact of her words sent me doubling over and clutching my knees. I tried to stifle my groan of discomfort, and a rough grunt escaped my throat. The way Abuela treated her family reminded me of my parents. I wondered how I'd managed to run away from my dysfunctional home and into another.

I left the room after that. I knew that I spoke out. I knew that I was out of line. I knew that I wasn't really family and shouldn't have spoken at all, but her words still hurt. I didn't have a family anymore. The Madrigals were hospitable to me, but I knew they weren't mine. They could throw me out without regard whenever they wanted. My gift, my new home, my new friends... it all meant nothing.

I roamed the Casita in search of Mirabel. She was nowhere in sight, and I knew that she didn't have work that day. I wondered why she disappeared. 

I needed her then.