31- The forgetting way after love

“Are you okay?” he asked her.

“Yes, I’m fine. Everything is fine.” She sniffed and stood up, realizing that it didn’t matter what she looked like, and turned her face to see him directly. “What can I do for you?”

“Were you crying?” he asked with a warm voice, showing concern.

She looked down because she didn’t want to look at him, but she felt him inspecting her. He moved closer to her, coming within just a few centimeters of distance, but Seila just hugged her books and stared at her feet.

“I’m working, Daniel, so if you don’t need anything from me, I think I should get back to my work,” she said.

“I know you’re working, and I wouldn’t bother you if it wasn’t important,” Daniel said. “Can you take a few minutes to go somewhere and talk with me?”

On her list of priorities, being with Daniel only ranked lower than finding Mía. What Seila really wanted was to go with him somewhere dark and quiet and surrender to the warmth of his voice and the strength of his arms. For him to hug her and kiss her until she couldn’t feel anything but him, until she forgot the pain she carried inside, all the sorrow she felt for losing her sister and disappointing her family.

That’s exactly why she rejected him with a gesture. She wanted to use Daniel as an escape route, and that wasn’t fair, neither to him nor to her. She had to sort out the mess her life had become, instead of hiding, even though hiding sounded much nicer.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Seila said.

She wanted to lift her head to glance at his expression, but she preferred to raise her gaze from her battered shoes to his chest. That day he wore a t-shirt that accentuated the dark black lines of his tattoo, which extended from under the sleeve down to his elbow.

Ever since he helped her on Sunday at the house of La Isla Syrens, Seila felt an odd desire to trace the dark lines of that tattoo with her fingers. The night before, she had even dreamed about it.

She and Daniel were lying in a bed, perhaps the largest she had ever seen. It almost filled the entire room, which was pure and bare white.

The ocean could be heard outside, and its scent was felt in the breeze. The doors and windows facing the beach were wide open, and the translucent curtains billowed in the wind.

Daniel lay beside her on the bed. He wasn’t wearing a shirt, and the sheets reached his waist. He wasn’t looking at her, but at the ocean. Seila rested her head on his bare shoulder and traced the tattoo with her fingers, following the dark lines that ran through the scars. He said nothing, but Seila sang him a gentle lullaby.

Then she heard her sister's voice, coming from everywhere and nowhere at all. Mía simply said, “Wake up,” and she did. Seila opened her eyes and found herself lying in bed, alone.

Maybe that’s why everything affected her that day. It was as if Mía had told her that her lives and reincarnations were running out and that Seila had to stop wasting them in a silly love affair and return to what was really important.

“Seila.” Daniel sighed, frustrated. “We need to talk. It’s about Mía.”

At that moment, she looked up, and finally their gazes met. His face was serious, but there was hope in his eyes, as if he brought good news.

To be honest, almost any news about Mía would be good by that point.

“What’s wrong?” Seila asked. “Have you heard something about her?”

“Not exactly.” He grabbed her arm and pulled out a copy of USA Today from behind her, which he had in his back pocket. “But you should take a look.”

“What?” She dropped the book she was holding and snatched the newspaper from him before he could continue his explanation.

The front-page news was about a certain politician who had been caught in a scandalous affair with someone from show business, and the less important articles at the bottom were about politics.

“Do you know what town it was?” Seila looked at the newspaper again and scanned the article to see if it mentioned the exact town where they had found the body.

“I searched for it online with my phone before coming here,” Daniel said. “It’s right on the coast. We shouldn’t have trouble finding it.”

“Good.” Seila nodded and then realized what he had said. “Are you coming?”

“Of course,” Daniel said, as if it were obvious. “I saw what those sirens are capable of. There’s no way I’m going to let you face them alone.”

She hesitated, but he had a compelling argument. And she would need all the help she could get to rescue Mía.

She smiled at him in gratitude, but she didn’t have many lives and reincarnations left. They had to hurry if they wanted to catch the sirens before they moved on.

“I’m leaving, Yryhnna,” Seila said as she walked towards the door.

“Wait!” Yryhnna stood up and, when Seila turned to her, she saw that she had her bag in her hand and was reaching it out to her. “You might need the car keys and your things.”

Seila rushed back and rummaged through her bag.

“Thank you, Yryhnna. And I’m sorry about earlier.”

“Don’t make a big deal out of it.” Yryhnna shrugged, downplaying it. “Just focus on finding her. And be careful.”