"Lo lamento," she mutters, leaning forward to wrap me in a hug.
"Stop apologizing," I tell her, placing my hands on her shoulders and pushing her back so I can look at her. "This was my idea, and I don't want you to be sad about it. I did this so you could be happy."
"When did you become so selfless,hermanita?"
I laugh, and scrunch my face up as if I'm disgusted by the thought.
"I'm not. I just care about you, and I think you deserve to be with someone you love.Papáclearly agrees with me as well because he's allowing this to happen."
She rolls her eyes and uncaps the mascara in her hands.
"He would agree to anything you ask of him. Now, let me do your make-up. I want to make you look so good that your husband hopefully drops dead when he sees you."
"Mi marido," I scoff. "Mamáwould smack me upside the head if she were here to see this happening."
My sister smiles at me sadly as she begins to apply mascara to my lashes, and I sigh as my thoughts turn to the dinner I'll be attending this evening.
"What will you be wearing?" Ellie asks, switching from my right eye to my left, almost poking my eye out in the process.
"I haven't decided yet."
"Definitely wear something red," she says, winking at me as she moves on to adding blush to my cheeks while I pick up my tinted gloss. "The colour makes your eyes pop, and goes perfectly with our skin tone. Make sure the dress is tight, too. Show him what he can't have."
"I don't want to seduce the man."
"Yeah, well, you also need to try not to kill him, Lissa."
Spreading the lip gloss evenly, I smack my lips and shrug.
"I can't make any promises."
She huffs, walking towards the walk-in wardrobe.
"You realise you're going to have to behave. You can't go screwing this up."
Smoothing my hands across the thick, curly ponytail at the top of my head, I nod, even though she can't see me as she's rustling through the amass of clothes I brought with me to London and stuffed in the closet.
"I'll be on my best behaviour… as long as he's notun cabrón."
A knock sounds at my door, and I tie my pale, silky pink robe around myself before I go to open it.
"What are you two getting up to in here?" my father asks, walking into the room with his signature smile in place on his rugged, slightly weathered face. "From the sounds of it, it can't be anything good."
"What makes you say that?" Ellie asks, stumbling out of my wardrobe with a handful of red dresses on hangers.
He raises his brows, chuckling at her.
"You two speaking in our native tongue is a rarity, unless you're talking about something displeasing, or you're doing something that might cause trouble, so which is it?"
"We were talking aboutmi futuro marido," I tell him, my words laced with disgust.
He tuts, turning to me as Ellie lays each of the dresses out on the bed.
"Alicia, if you're determined to go through with marrying the man, you need to stop sounding like you're going to throw up every time you speak about him."
I walk past him, ignoring him as I make my way over to my older sister and look through the choices of dresses she's picked out.
"I'll leave you to get ready while I go find your brother. We will be leaving soon, so please don't take long."
