Chapter 291

Elena “Flower delivery for Elena Torres?”

A young delivery man entered the bar with a bouquet in his hands. Rona and I stared at each other at the same time before we turned our heads to the bouquet. “F-for me?”

The man read the card. “Elena Torres?” He said. I gave him a nod and grabbed the flowers from his hands. Why would I receive flowers at this time of the day?

“Well, come on, read it!” Rona nearly jumped in excitement as the man had left the bar. I grabbed the small card attached to it and read the message.

Thank you for taking care of me, I appreciate, and I can’t thank you enough -Marvin.”

I read the message out loud and moved my finger to the diamond ring attached to it. “Wow,” Rona gasped. “And you’re telling me he’s not interested in you? Give it here!”

She grabbed the ring and held it in the air. With squinting eyes, she made her way into the sunlight and admired the shiny ring. “Okay, that’s enough,” I spoke, embarrassed, lowering her hand. If anything. I would rather not have anyone see me with this kind of gift.

I closed my hand to hide the ring and blushed. Over the past few weeks, Marvin and I had become great friends, just like he wanted to. I had been working four hours shift, just so that I could visit him at the hospital, and I hid it from my dad and my brother. Also, Victoria did not have an idea, but that was on her.

The only person who I could genuinely trust was Rona, who did not seem to have any issues with Marvin. “Tell him you got his flowers!” Rona suggested.

I smiled shyly. “I think he’s experienced enough ‘Elena’ for now,” I spoke. Talking to Marvin became like an addiction, and I just couldn’t stop texting him. There was a clear difference in the way he texted because he seemed a bit more serious-but it didn’t matter to me. I was just grateful enough to talk to him.

“Marvin told me he’s back home,” I told Rona. “What if he gave me the flowers because he’s planning on pushing me away?”

“Impossible!” Rona disagreed. “From what I’ve seen, he won’t be getting out of that wheelchair anytime soon, so you’re safe.”

Rona had joined me to visit Marvin a few times, and also she could see what kind of person he truly was. He was gentle, polite and despite being one of the most sarcastic people on the planet, he was kindhearted.

Of course, I had my worries about the situation with the Hernandez and Stevie Maddens, but it wasn’t as if I could harass him with many questions, at least not yet. After getting to know Marvin, I was hundred percent sure that there had to be a reasonable explanation behind all of this.

“How about you ask him to come over tonight, and maybe he can bring Panther as well?” Rona spoke. Even though she was too ashamed to admit it, it was as clear as a day that she was interested in the man. Even though they had made it their personal jobs to tease each other back and forth, they had a good relationship.

“Is it so I can see Marvin, or so you can see Panther?” I chuckled. Rona shrugged her shoulders and walked away to clean some glasses. “I don’t know, maybe both She admitted. “If you can find yourself a rich man so that you don’t have to work anymore-I can find myself a rich man so I can shut down the bar.”

“Marvin and I are friends.” I rolled my eyes. “And no one is shutting down the bar. This is the only place I can breathe at.”

Rona laughed. “Right, I forgot about your dad and your brother.” She sighed. “How is their little investigation going?”

Rona was someone I trusted, meaning I had told her everything about my dad and Alex’s crazy plans. Also Rona thought it was ridiculous, dangerous, and useless.

“I don’t know, and I don’t care. All I know is that they’re not interested in me anymore.” I spoke, relieved. Everything had watered down, and we had moved on from what had happened. Of course, my relationship with my dad was still rocky at times, but that was nothing new.

“And what if they’ve been stalking Marvin and—”

“Don’t.” I cut her off. “Trust me. If my dad had seen me, he wouldn’t keep quiet about it. You know how that man gets.”

Rona nodded. “True, we all know he’s crazy.”

“Hey!”

“What? You said so yourself.” Rona argued. “Didn’t you say your dad’s crazy?”

I did, and it was true-but only I was allowed to say that. Alex was in deep denial, but my dad needed help, and he needed it as soon as possible. He became a control freak who was only obsessed with taking down the Castillo’s.

My biggest fear was that the Castillo’s would find out, which would be a bad thing for both of us. Any other sane person would’ve stopped hanging out with Marvin, but the man I had become friends with was not a monster which made everything even more complicated.

“Are you going to text Marvin, or do you want me to do it?”

Rona lunged to grab the phone from my hands while I stood on my tippy toes and raised my arm.

“Come on, just ask him to come over tonight!” She pulled my arm.

“No, not today!”

“Why not?” Rona complained.

“Because I don’t want to come off as too pushy, too immature, or annoying.” I argued, thinking about the clear contrast between our messages.

“You’ve been bothering him for weeks. He’s used to it!”

“Okay, but I still won’t text—”

“Elena?”

Rona and I froze, staring at the name which had appeared on the screen. I had accidentally dialed Marvin, and he had probably heard all of it. It took us a second before we both lowered our arms and brought our ears to the phone.

“Put him on speaker, put him on speaker!” Rona whispered. I rolled my eyes and gave her what she wanted, so she could finally shut up about it.

“Elena?”

“M-Marvin?”/

I heard a small chuckle escape from his lips and could already imagine the smirk on his face. “You called?” He played along with my game. All I could focus on was the tone of his voice, and after knowing him for a while, I could sense that he was not in a good mood. He was hiding it from me.

“I got your flowers and your ring!” I told him. “And I genuinely appreciate it, but I don’t know if I can accept such a gift—”

“Then you can give it back.” Marvin cut me off. Marvin’s honest and forward personality threw me off at times, but I was slowly getting used to it.

“I wasn’t done talking!” I raised my voice. “I don’t know if I can receive such a gift, but since it’s rude to give it back…I’ll hang onto it for a while.” I smiled at the ring around my finger.

“You’re welcome.” Marvin laughed. “Ask him!” Rona mouthed impatiently while I shook my head in disapproval. “Just do it!”

“Are you okay? Are you going to talk?” Marvin mocked me. My eyes grew big at his comment. “Yes, I am,” 1 spoke. “How does it feel to be back home?”

“Home?” Marvin took a breath. “If you want to push me down the stairs or shoot me back into the hospital, I’ll gladly take you up on that offer.”

“What?”

“It’s nothing.”

Judging by his answer, it was obvious that he was most likely involved in some family drama. I was curious about the situation and Tiago, but I didn’t want to ask the wrong thing. One bad comment could expose my identity.

“So…I was wondering.” I began while Rona breathed in my neck. “How would you feel about visiting the bar tonight?”

“Tonight?” Marvin spoke as if he was going to turn down my offer. “Tonight…uh.”

“He’s going to say no!” I mouthed while slapping Rona. This was all her fault. There was nothing more embarrassing than rejection.

“I don’t think I can make it today.” Marvin finally answered. As expected, he had turned me down.

What could I even say to this?

“But how about tomorrow?” Marvin suggested. I did a little dance of joy and could not hide my enthusiasm. “Tomorrow it is. I’ll text you!” I smiled.

“Works for me,” Marvin confirmed. As usual, his calm and relax response made me second-guess my personality. Perhaps if I could be just as chill as him, I would still have a chance.

“Good.” I cleared my throat. Marvin laughed before mocking me and mimicked my professional tone. “Good.”

“Good, “I repeated, mentally smacking myself Did I really not have anything better to say?Marvin laughing at every little thing did not make it any better. He saw me as a joke.

“Listen, I have to go-but it was nice talking to you. “Marvin ended our conversation. He said it was nice talking to The “Yes, I feel the s-”

Beep, Did he just hang up on me?