Strawberry Kisses Phavy Prieto (bookstand for reading TXT) 📖

their girlfriends, and Germán was accompanied by his wife whom he had married recently. Esther was Germán's wife, Laura was Alberto's girlfriend, Damian's best friend since childhood, Patricia was Ricardo's girlfriend and the last to join the group of friends just a year earlier. While Lorena and Manuel were planning to get married the following year.

"So, what’s going on?" Alberto asked as soon as the others stopped complaining about Damian's absence over the past weekends because of me, although it was clear from their laughter that he had already been forgiven. "What did you have so important to tell us?"

"Honey, I guess Damian wanted us to meet Maria since he surprised us by not showing up alone," Laura replied, stroking his arm.

"Actually it wasn't just that," Damian said taking a bottle of beer out of the ones that had just been served. Despite knowing what he was going to say, I couldn't help but be nervous about the reaction he would provoke. His friends knew Damian well, and I wondered if they could guess that it was a vile staging or if they were going to believe it was all true. "Maria and I will get married on May 4th."

No, no, no, no! He even told them the date!

"What?" asked Alberto, who seemed the most shocked of all the present.

"None of us was expecting this," said Esther with a smile.

"It all happened so quickly, but we're sure we want to take this step, aren't we?" he asked looking at me.

"Absolutely," I replied, not knowing what else to say. I had to play his game until the end.

Everyone congratulated us. I felt a deep joy because I felt accepted by Damian's friends. I finally felt that I was part of something.

Unlike his British friends, no one mentioned Rebecca or Michael, much to my relief. These were the closest friends in Damian's life.

I didn't have the opportunity to talk to any of them alone and that was probably good, as I would not have known what to answer to their questions. However, when we said goodbye, I had the feeling that this would not be our last meeting and that we would see each other very soon.

"What do you think about them? You liked them? You talked to the girls a lot," Damian asked as we walked home hand in hand.

"They are very nice and sweet," I said without adding that I would regret not to see them again when we part ways. "I think I'll get along very well with the girls," I added, expecting a reaction from him.

"I'm sure you will become good friends. Esther was the only girl in the group for a long time until the others joined."

"Did they meet Rebecca?" I asked out of curiosity.

"Unfortunately, yes," he admitted bitterly, "although she never managed to build a good relationship with any of them. I also had to get away from the group for some time because Rebecca had quarreled with Esther, and it seemed to me it was the best thing in order not to create irreparable break-up."

"Why doesn't it surprise me?" I thought, picturing the face of the busty giraffe spitting venom to the right, left and centre. That woman destroyed everything she touched.

"I'm glad you managed to save your friendship with them," I said with some relief.

"In the last few days I realized that my mind was clouded by something that didn't even exist and, what is worse, I was aware of it, but I preferred to fool myself."

I knew from the tone of his voice that those words had been carefully pondered. He alluded to the marriage between the unbearable giraffe and his best friend.

"For better or for worse, things went like this. You should feel relieved to have figured out what kind of person she was in time, otherwise your story could have had a much more tragic ending," I replied thinking of married couples who used their children as a tool of blackmail when they got divorced.

We were walking in the middle of the deserted street. Silence and dim lighting were ideal for two night lovers.

"How do you want our story to end, Maria?" Damian asked looking at me.

I wanted so many things that my list could be extended indefinitely, but ultimately it could only include one thing.

"I don't want it to end," I whispered with a sense of helplessness.

"Don't you want your commitments twenty-four hours a day again?" he said ironically.

I would have preferred him to reply that there was no reason for it to end, that we could live our story indefinitely, but I assumed that Damian Devoir knew that our relationship would end. I envied that composure of his with which he was able to act in front of everyone knowing that our days would be numbered. What explanation would he give them when it was all over? That wasn't my problem. He would have probably attributed the breakup to a discussion in which profound differences had emerged.

Maria, you don't have to give a damn about the explanations he will give! Just think about keeping your pride intact!

"I wouldn't give them up for anything in the world," I said with a slightly forced smile.

I would have given them up a thousand times if Damian had been my reward. Luckily he didn't seem to notice my uneasiness, since he was smiling. Damian gently placed his lips on mine, then brought them to my ear, giving me goosebumps.

"I can't resist your smile," he whispered before kissing my neck.

I clung to him. We looked like two teenagers in love. I was just thinking about how long it would take to get home to abandon ourselves to ecstasy between the sheets of that large, comfortable bed. As soon as my tongue sank into his mouth to intertwine with his, a wave of