"Aren't you gonna say anything?" Rosa asked after a long silence.
Cecilio had been sitting there, staring at her for the past four minutes. He was the one who had asked to meet, he said he had a lot to say,,but now he sat drowning in silence.
"Cecilio, I don't have all the time in the world. I'm a very busy person," Rosa snapped.
"You've changed a lot, Rosa," Cecilio said calmly. "The way you talk, your looks… a lot has changed. Except your snappy attitude."
"Yeah, I did change somehow," Rosa said with an irritated expression, "but you didn't. Not even a little bit."
Her voice was sharp, but her eyes,,,, the ones staring at Cecilio,,,, were soft as morning dew.
She suddenly pulled out a cigarette and lit it.
"You smoke now?" Cecilio asked, surprised.
"Surprised?" she replied coldly.
"A little bit. How have you been, Rosa? It's been eight years since I last saw you, and I feel like I don't know who you are anymore. What happened, Rosa? I want to know how you've been all these years."
"Why do you care so much?" Rosa replied sternly.
"Because that's the only thing I've ever cared about. You are the only thing I've ever cared about, Rosa."
His words came rushing out like a flood.
"I want to know how you've been. Are you eating well? Are you living a good life? What have you been doing these eight years? Did you try to quit drinking like I asked? When did you start smoking? Are you seeing someone? Did you think of me, even for a second, in all these years? I want to know everything."
Rosa put out her cigarette and turned her gaze away. She felt strangely defeated. She had wanted this to be a casual conversation,, to avoid digging into the past,, but some things just couldn't be avoided.
"I left for America a year after you were detained," she said. "I started a business. I'm doing well and living a good life. I started smoking four years ago… for personal reasons. I haven't stopped drinking yet…"
She paused, looking at Cecilio, who sat listening intently.
"But I've been controlling it," she added.
That small detail made Cecilio's face brighten, but Rosa quickly continued, "That's all you have to know."
She took a sip of her coffee.
"Why are you always with Parez?" and jacinto?....Cecilio asked.
"What's with all the questions, Cecilio? That's enough for today. I can't do this anymore," Rosa said, growing uncomfortable.
"You sent that lawyer, didn't you?" Cecilio asked suddenly.
"What are you talking about?"
"Alvarez. The lawyer who helped during my trial. You sent him, didn't you?" Cecilio's voice trembled with eagerness.
"Oh, that!" Rosa exclaimed, as if she'd just remembered. "It was all Jacinto, actually. He found the lawyer
said the guy was an old friend from back in the day. It wasn't easy getting someone that high-ranked, but Jacinto was determined. Even after your sentence was reduced, he was devastated. He wanted you out so badly… we fought about it a lot. In the end, he left without a word. What a pity
Jacinto was a good one. He cared about you more than anyone, you know?"
"So it was Jacinto…" Cecilio thought.
Her tone was casual, unconcerned and that hurt him even more. Did she really not care at all?
"I want to know how much I mean to you," Cecilio whispered inside. "I keep telling myself you're just pretending not to love me… but what if you really don't?"
Tears welled up in his eyes.
"S… so what did you do to help me?" he asked in a shaky voice. "You couldn't have really wanted me to rot in jail, right?"
Rosa could see Cecilio was about to break down. She felt shaken, but she held her ground. She thought it was best for Cecilio to kill whatever feelings he had left for her. She wanted him free
free to love someone else, live a normal life. She could never give him that.
"Cecilio," she said coldly, "you going to jail was all your fault. Nobody asked you to be there. I never called for your help. So if your excuse is that you cared about me and wanted to help then that only makes me uncomfortable. Everything you did, back then and now… you did it for yourself. And you paid the consequences. That had nothing to do with me."
"What? Why are you saying all this?" Cecilio said, his voice breaking.
"I'm just being honest," Rosa replied, standing up to leave.
Was this it? Was this how his love story would end?
"Have I really done everything I could?" Cecilio thought, fighting the tears.
"Why do I feel like I haven't tried enough? Why do I still feel this hope?"
> Hope is like dry land waiting for rain. When the clouds finally gather, the earth leaps for joy but the clouds disappear as fast as they came. Still, the land must go on hoping, for that's the only way it can flourish. <
"Rosa!" Cecilio called out tearfully. "Do you think sands could fall from heaven?"
Rosa stood there for a moment before replying softly,
"If you hope they will, then they will. Even if it sounds impossible, you could gather a handful and throw it to the sky....
and you'll see that sands can fall from heaven. It doesn't matter how it happens, only that it did."
Then she left.
Cecilio looked out the window and saw Rosa getting into her car. Parez stood beside her, holding the door before driving her away.
Tears rolled down Cecilio's cheeks. He tried to hold them back, but the pain was too heavy. He bent his head and cried silently, biting his shirt to keep himself from screaming.
He never expected this to happen, but Rosa's words had stabbed deep into his golden heart, spreading poison through his chest. It burned like fire. Every thought of Rosa and Parez together tore him apart.
And so, Cecilio wept
uncontrollably trying to let the pain out.