Rosa, where did you get all this money from?" Jacinto asked, eyes widening in disbelief.
Rosa had been gone for an entire week, and now she stood before them with a duffel bag overflowing with cash.
"Scammed a local bank," she replied coldly, tossing her fur coat aside and slipping into her worn leather jacket. "Don't ask for details. Long story."
"Is that even safe?" Jacinto pressed, voice tight with concern. "The cops might catch us this time."
"You were never part of this," Rosa cut him off sharply. "So don't say us. I can clean my own mess."
She slung the heavy bag over her shoulder and started toward the door, but Jacinto's next words froze her mid-step.
"Cecilio called," he said quietly. "He's been calling all week
checking on you. He's worried. He said to tell you... not to meet Leon alone. At least take someone with you, Rosa."
Rosa's back stiffened. "Leave Cecilio out of this," she said flatly. "He's no longer one of us. He left."
"...And you let him?" Jacinto asked sharply.
"Jacinto, stay out of it," Parez interrupted, exhaling smoke from the cigarette hanging at the corner of his mouth.
"I need to know what her problem is!" Jacinto snapped, stepping closer. "Why did you let him go, Rosa? He cared about you more than anyone. He worried about you, stood by you every damn time. When you were drunk, he cleaned you up, made sure you slept comfortably. He tolerated every side of you,and still stayed. Did you even care at all? For you to just... let him go?"
Rosa's jaw tightened.
"Say something, Rosa!" Jacinto's voice cracked with anger and disbelief.
"If you're done, I'll leave," Rosa said coldly. "And if you can't stand me, then go. Join Cecilio. I can survive without either of you."
She turned toward the door. But Jacinto's next words stopped her like a gunshot.
"Was it because he confessed to you?"
Rosa turned slowly, her voice a whisper. "What...? He told you that?"
"No," Jacinto said, his tone heavy with disdain. "But I've always known. I've always known that your dark soul would never accept him. They say we get what we deserve.....but you, Rosa... you never deserved Cecilio."
Rosa's eyes widened. His words cut deeper than any wound she had ever suffered. There was a sharp, suffocating pain in her chest. She had been insulted, beaten, cursed at
but nothing had ever hurt quite like this.
Jacinto's gaze was cold, unrelenting. "Why are you so quiet now, huh? Got nothing to say? What are you so afraid of?"
"Jacinto, enough!" Parez barked, grabbing his arm. "Don't push her! You're crossing the line."
But Rosa's trembling voice cut through the silence before either could move.
"What am I afraid of...?" she whispered. Then, letting out a dry laugh, she said quietly, "Feelings."
Jacinto froze. Parez went still.
"Those damn things that control humans more than anything," Rosa continued, her voice breaking. "Love. Hate. Anger. Deception. Greed. Lust. All my life, I've trained myself to numb them,to wear one face forever. I thought I'd sold the part of my soul that could ever feel again. I thought I was safe from it."
She looked down at her trembling hands. "But the day Cecilio confessed to me, everything I buried came back. I was confused... angry... furious... happy... ashamed... loved and disgusted all at once. It was like being alive and dying in the same breath. I never wanted things to turn out this way. But if this..." she swallowed hard "if this is what love feels like, then I don't want it."
Her voice cracked on the last word. She grabbed her bag and walked out before anyone could see the tears welling in her eyes.
The door slammed behind her, leaving a ringing silence in the room. Parez turned slowly toward Jacinto, his expression unreadable but his eyes full of quiet reproach.
"What have you done?" he muttered.
Jacinto didn't respond. He just stood there, staring at the empty doorway.
"Here," Parez said finally, tossing him a can of beer.
They sat side by side in silence beneath the pale glow of the moon. After a while, Parez spoke. "What was that all about?"
Jacinto took a long drink before answering. "I... had an outburst."
"Well, that's unlike you," Parez said quietly. "What was the point? You went a little too far."
Jacinto downed another gulp of beer, eyes distant. "I went to see Cecilio," he said finally. "He's staying with a friend from high school. Teaching at a Taekwondo school now."
"Good to know he's okay," Parez replied, taking a sip.
"If only Rosa cared," Jacinto muttered. "If only she'd gone looking for him. All she had to do was say 'stay,' and he would've stayed."
He sighed deeply. "He asked me if she'd tried to check on him. I told him no, that none of us were asked to look for him. He just smiled, this broken kind of smile, and said, 'I already knew that. I just wasn't ready to hear it out loud.'"
Jacinto's voice lowered. "Then he said, 'I'm so pathetic. Rosa deserves better.' When he said that, I just... snapped. If anyone deserved better, it was him."
Parez turned his head, eyes soft. "Maybe Rosa thought the same," he said gently. "Maybe she really believes Cecilio deserves better. You know Rosa,,
she could never love him the way he loved her. Even if she wanted to. The fact that he made her feel at all was already more than she could handle. Cut her some slack, Jacinto."
Jacinto said nothing. The night hummed quietly around them.
After a while, Parez spoke again. "Have you ever been in love?"
The question caught Jacinto off guard. Parez wasn't the type to pry
especially not about something so personal. The question unlocked a door Jacinto had kept sealed for years.
He thought of Diego. Of that boyish grin that once made the world seem brighter. Of how that same face had shattered him.
He remembered the night he come out to his parents,,,how their disgust burned worse than any flame. The cold walls of the church. The endless prayers, the cane striking his back in the name of salvation. The priest's voice echoing, "Are you ready to be free?" And his own defiant whisper, "Is one page of the Bible worth a life?"
He remembered the day he ran
broken, trembling,,,only to have Diego shut the door in his face. "I never loved you," Diego had said. "You're not normal."
And he thought of what this crime was
"Oh yea... My crime was loving a boy"
That was the day Jacinto's tears had finally run dry.
After a long silence, Jacinto answered quietly, "No. I've never been in love."
Parez glanced at him, waiting.
"For people like me," Jacinto continued softly, "love only exists in fairy tales."
Parez nodded slowly. "I'm not one to stick my nose in other people's business, so I won't ask further. But... when you're ready to talk, I'll listen."
Jacinto gave a faint smile,,the kind that didn't quite reach the eyes. "Gracias, Parez."
The two men sat quietly under the moonlight, their shadows stretching long across the floor. One carried a secret that still bled, the other carried silence like a shield.
And somewhere, out in the cold night, Rosa walked alone
her heart heavier than the money she carried, haunted by a love she swore she didn't want.