I've Got A Secret, Please Don't Repeat It

Fernando could see the pain and sorrow that filled Rebecca’s eyes. He nodded, not sure what to say to Rebecca.

Rebecca closed her eyes, inhaled deeply, trying to prepare herself to actually let someone in her life.

“I used to work at a physiotherapy clinic in Madrid; I worked there for almost 2 years. And for 1 and half years, my boss raped me.”

Fernando gaze suddenly turned cold, but soften when he saw the tears starting to roll down Rebecca’s cheeks. He attempted to brush them away, knowing most girls liked it when boys did that. But what he didn’t know was that Rebecca wasn’t like “most girls.”

Rebecca turned from Fernando’s hand, “I…I just need to get this off my chest with no distractions.”

Fernando nodded, edging her on.

“My boss raped me because his marriage with his own wife was on the rocks. And also he saw how my male clients looked at me. I attempted to call the police on him, because he was getting more and more abusive as time wore on. That’s how I got this,” Rebecca said, pointing to her wrist.

“He called me his little star. I used to love being called the little star, but once he started calling me, it lost all meaning.”

Fernando just looked at Rebecca in awe; he couldn’t believe how strong Rebecca was. He couldn’t think of any thing to say, so he just took Rebecca into his arms. He hoped that the phrase of “actions speak louder than words” would turn out to be true.

Rebecca couldn’t believe how sincere and caring Fernando was, her impression of Fernando faded from an arrogant, cocky, pretty boy to a sincere and caring boy. Fernando smiled as he saw Rebecca calming down and relaxing in his arms.

“There you go mi estrella pequeña,” Fernando whispered into Rebecca’s ear.

Rebecca suddenly stiffened in Fernando’s arms, turning around to face him, “What did you call me?”

Fernando looked dumbstruck, “I…I called you my little star in Spanish. I thought that it would be different in another language.”

Rebecca felt another tear roll down her cheek, “My dad used to call me that…”

“He’s pasted on, hasn’t he?”

Rebecca stared at him with wide eyes, “How do you know?”

“I kind of figured it out at the opening banquet, how sad you looked when you mentioned your father.”

“You’re smarter than I thought,” Rebecca said with a smirk.

“Hey now, I thought we were having a serious conversation here.”

Rebecca laughed, “Of course, Mr. Oh-so-serious!”

“I have another question for you…”

Rebecca nodded, not wanting to interrupt.

“When you ran away from the club that one night, away from David Villa, you looked so traumatized…”

“He reminded me so much of my boss; I just had to get away.”

Fernando nodded in agreement, stroking Rebecca’s wrist, wishing that he took just take her pain away.

“But anyways, enough questions about me. I want to hear about you, what’s with all the tattoos?” Rebecca asked, tracing Fernando’s tattoo on his forearm.

Fernando immediately blushed, “You’re going to think that I’m a geek.”

Rebecca laughed softly, “Don’t worry, I was a total sports geek. For fun, I’d look for trivia about my favourite athletes.”

“Okay, so that makes me feel a little bit better. Okay, I’m a big fan of Lord of the Rings.”

Rebecca was unable to contain her laughter.

“Hey!” Fernando said, looking hurt.

“I’m sorry, but I think it’s an unlikely match. How can you stay awake through those movies? They’re like a million hours long!”

“Hey!” Fernando said again, looking hurt…again. “Those movies are works of pure genius.”

Rebecca smiled, “Now back to the tattoos…”

Fernando matched Rebecca’s smile, “I find they just express who I am, like this one,” pointing to his forearm. “Says my name in the language from Lord of the Rings. And this one,” pointing to his wrist, “Is my number for both Spain and Liverpool.”

“And what about the one on your shin?’ Rebecca asked, clearly liking the idea of getting to know Fernando more.

Fernando immediately went quiet, “I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Hey! That’s not fair! I told you my deepest darkest secrets! The least you could do it tell me about a lousy tattoo.”

“It is not a lousy tattoo!” Fernando yelled, pushing Rebecca off.

Rebecca looked up to see the hurt in Fernando’s eyes, “I…I think it’s time we go back to the hotel. Sergio and Luis are probably worrying about us.”

Rebecca picked herself up and starting walking back in the direction of the hotel.

“It's the date of our first date.”

Rebecca turned around, signalling for Fernando to continue.

“Her name was Olalla and…and we were engaged.”

Rebecca remained quiet.

“I thought she was the girl for me, but the engagement was broken off, we both agreed it was too soon.”

Rebecca’s eyes grew wide. She hadn’t known that Fernando had a girlfriend. Rebecca felt instantly guilty, thinking of how she slept with him.

“But what about those…”

Fernando interrupted her, “We broke up a couple of months ago.”

“Oh…” Rebecca whispered, not wanting to pressure Fernando into any more details.

But Fernando continued anyways, “She cheated on me, on my birthday. Of all the days, she had to choose my birthday.”

Rebecca saw how emotional Fernando was getting, and started walking to towards him.

Fernando pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to fight back the tears.

Rebecca wrapped her arms around Fernando, whispering to him, “It was her loss.”

Fernando hugged Rebecca back, crushing her (but in a good way) in the process.

He whispered back, “Just promise me one more thing…”

Rebecca looked up to a glassy eyed Fernando.

“Just promise me you won’t do the same thing.”