TIMELESS
LOVE
PRISCILA SERRANO
Title: Timeless Love
© 2020, Priscla Serrano-
Layout: 2020 Fanny Ramirez/Roma García
From translation: Cinta García
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That person who saw me grow up. As long as time goes on, I'll never stop wanting
How many things we lose for fear of losing
Paulo Coelho
Índice
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Epílogo
TIMELESS LOVE
THANKS
Chapter 1
London. 2013
A fifteen-years-old girl shouldn’t be burying her mother. A fifteen-years-old girl shouldn’t… That was what everybody kept repeating. The pitiful glances were worse than knowing they were there for a single reason. Her mother had died.
Her mother’s best friend, Corina, who Elsa considered as her aunt was hugging her; she never let her go. And although she was equally devastated after having lost her dearest friend, she stayed with her. Her father, Leonard, was standing across the cold room at Highgate Cemetery. For some reason, he wouldn’t approach his daughter at the moment she needed him most; that was something she would never understand. She didn’t resent him; she understood he was feeling numb and out of the world whose reality had punched him with all its force.
The night Elisabeth died three days ago, she had gone to her office dinner party. It was the typical dinner party where you met with coworkers, the ones you could barely stand, but also the ones you had to have some drinks just because your boss had told you so… according to Elisabeth. Then, on her way back home, she suffered a car accident that killed her on the spot. She was alone in the car. The call took place in the wee hours. Elsa could see how her father broke into a cold sweat from her position at the door. The ring of the phone had woken her up. When her father started crying, she stopped breathing.
She only had him now and…
Stefan, Corina’s brother, walked towards her and sat to hug her. He was eight years older than Elsa, but he was always good to her. Although she hardly ever saw him because he was studying, he was like an older brother. Almost like an uncle.
“Are you okay, princess?” he murmured in her ear.
The reply was more tears. She had no idea when her eyes would dry, but felt like that would never happen.
“I’m so sorry, gorgeous. Everything will pass soon. I promise it will be like that.”
His words helped her relax, and only in his arms could she feel the peace she needed.
Half an hour later, Stefan left her with Alicia, Corina’s daughter and his niece. She was two years older than Elsa and she was her best friend. Well, her only friend. She had arrived later, but she was finally with her. Cori went to Leonard and Stefan. Elsa looked at her father and he mimicked her gesture. She saw the guilt in his eyes, almost as if he felt he was to blame for everything; but Elsa didn’t think so. He left Corina and Stefan to walk to his daughter and, finally, give her the shelter of his arms, just what she had been silently screaming for him to do.
London. 2014
Only one year had passed since Elisabeth’s death and Leonard was already dating another woman. It wasn’t like that fact bothered her. Corina would always be like a mother to her, but she felt it was way too soon, especially after having witnessed the huge love their parents had professed for each other. It was such a great love that she had always dreamt to find such a love for herself. Although, truth be told, she wasn’t dreaming about finding love or boys at that moment. At that time, what he was trying to understand was her father’s needs, some needs she didn’t know. Why did he want to marry again? Corina was good, as she perfectly knew, but…
“Please, sweetie, don’t make it more difficult for me.”
She jumped to her feet.
Being sixteen, Elsa had a strong personality, although she always blamed her lack of mother. Well, and her need for her father. He spent too much time working and she was alone practically all the time.
“Difficult? No, dad. It’s you who makes things difficult for me. I try to understand it, really, but I can’t. It’s been just one year since mom died. Don’t you understand that?”
Maybe Elsa was overreacting. And maybe that wasn’t the best way to show support for her father. God, she was tired of that situation and just wanted for everything to be over once and for all.
Corina is a good woman, she repeated a thousand times. She was alone as well since her husband abandoned her when Alicia was only ten years old. Besides, she didn’t have parents. Stefan and her became orphans when they were both kids, but they managed to keep on going. They only had one another and now… They also had Elsa and her father.
Elsa sighed before speaking again.
“Are they going to live here?”
Her father smiled while getting closer. “I love you, sweetie,” he declared without erasing that perfect smile.
Since her mother had left them, she had never seen him so happy, and she didn’t want to be the one to tarnish his happiness. “I know, dad.”
Some months later, they were celebrating their wedding in their house’s garden. Alicia was happy to live with Elsa, and she couldn’t deny her own happiness because she loved Alicia very much. Now she had something very similar to a sister.
The house had five bedrooms and, from then on, they were all occupied. Leonard and Corina used one, Alicia’s was right next to Elsa’s, and Stefan lived at the end of the corridor. The spare bedroom turned into Corina’s office; she was a lawyer and worked from home. It was a big family, but also a happy one. At the end of the day, it hadn’t been such a bad idea after all. She felt grateful for a long time because her father had given her a person to help her to get over the loss of her mother.
London. 2015
Time passed by and another school year was coming to an end. Alicia went to Elsa’s bedroom to wake her up. It was their last year together, since she was about to graduate and go to university.
“Good morning, lazy bones,” she said after entering in her room.
“Good morning. For your information, I have been awake for the past ten minutes.”
Alicia opened her eyes wide, faking surprise, so she threw her a pillow to her face. They started laughing out loud and Elsa started to get dressed, since she was in her underwear when Alicia arrived. Then, the door opened again and Stefan entered without realizing she was still undressed. She froze on the spot and
he looked as if he didn’t know whether to leave or stay. Whether to look at her or look away. Whether he should speak or stay silent. He visibly swallowed and blushed instantly once he realized where he was focusing his eyes. Her breasts were covered by a cotton bra and, to tell the truth, she was fully developed for her age. She didn’t look like she was seventeen. Her hips were round and were followed by quite long legs. She was tall and slim.
Right at that moment, Alicia didn’t know what to do until she threw her uncle out of the room.
“Get out,” she screamed.
“Sorry, Elsa. I’m sorry. Fuck!”
They heard him cussing at the other side of the door. Alicia looked at Elsa, but she didn’t say anything and Elsa thanked her for that. She finished getting dressed and left the room. They were already late and Elsa didn’t feel like seeing Stefan again. She was so embarrassed. She didn’t know how to look at him in the eyes without blushing at the horror of her stepsister’s uncle looking at her in such a state of disarray. Besides, he was older than her, old enough as not to think of him in that way. Then, why was she doing exactly that? Why couldn’t she stop remembering his gaze? Every time she thought about it, she felt her body heat up in a way she had never felt. It was as if every inch of her body burned in the places he had stared at.
She was driving herself crazy and had to forget about the topic.
They went to all of their classes as if nothing had happened, but during their lunchtime Alicia couldn’t hold her eagerness in to talk about the topic. She blurted it out, causing Elsa to spit the water she had been drinking at the moment.
“You don’t fancy my uncle, right?”
“What?”
“I’m asking if you fancy my uncle.”
Elsa was too nervous.
“No, not at all. Oh my God, Alicia, how can you think that? I feel as embarrassed as you do. I remind you it was me who got stared at this morning,” she expressed without revealing her nerves. She didn’t know where they had gone, because a few seconds earlier she was frantic.
“Okay, I believe you. You were so absent-minded that I believed you were thinking about him.”
Elsa shrugged, hoping Alicia could drop the matter and she could move on without thinking about what had happened.
They finished their lunch and, after a couple hours of classes, they went back home. The house was empty, so they went to their respective bedrooms to rest for a while. When Elsa closed the door to her room, she changed into more comfortable clothes, and then she lied down on her bed. She wasn’t sleepy, just a bit tired. Besides, her head kept spinning around, remembering a thousand times his look, his eyes roaming her body. She scoffed, angry with herself, so she headed to the bathroom to take a shower. Definitely, it was the best thing one could do to forget things.
As stupid as it may seem, Elsa started noticing him more than ever. She had never looked at him like that before. Stefan was quite handsome. Too handsome, to be honest, and quite old. God, he was nearly eight years older than her. He was twenty-four. He was a grown-up and she was a child who still had to ask for permission to arrive home past her curfew time. No, absolutely not; that couldn’t be happening to her, not with the guy who had always treated her as a little sister.
When she got tired of being under the water spray, she got out of the shower with wrinkled fingers and, after putting on her bathrobe, she left the bathroom. She was so distracted that she didn’t notice someone was waiting for her, sitting on her bed. Elsa saw the intruder and swallowed while her cheeks turned red. Her body started burning up as if she was in front of a fire.
Chapter 2
“Stefan,” she whispered.
She fixated on him, noticing gestures she had never been aware of and realizing that what happened in the morning hadn’t been something they could just ignore and pretend never happened. It wasn’t something they could forget because they couldn’t do that. Forget about it? They would never be able to do it unless they admitted to their faces that it was a mistake. However, they wouldn’t do it unless they accepted the truth.
Stefan had always taken care of her, treating her like one more niece, since Elsa was a sweet girl who spread love without even noticing. But their connection went beyond that, way beyond anything they could have ever imagined and, even though it was a mistake, it was so attractive that they would have to try and do the impossible in order to forget about it.
“I’m sorry,” Stefan said when he managed to avert his gaze from her eyes. Elsa shook her head while heading towards her dresser. “I was just coming to…”
She looked at him again. Stefan was still sitting on her bed as if he were unable to get up. Elsa swallowed hard. She was really nervous. Both of them were.
“Don’t you worry,” she replied.
Her cheeks started burning when the memory of what had happened that morning started playing in slow motion in her mind. She could see it once and once again, as if in a loop. She had never stopped thinking about it. Although she had told Alicia that everything was fine, it wasn’t and she wasn’t going to lie to Stefan; she couldn’t do that even if she wanted to.
“Elsa,” he sighed. “I’m feeling quite stupid right now.”
“Why?”
“Because I cannot look at you. It felt too weird seeing you in your underwear this morning. I don’t know… It’s confusing. I have seen you wearing a bikini a million times, but…”
“But not for a while now, Stefan.” She ended his sentence.
Stefan nodded and got up.
“I just wanted to let you know that I’m so sorry and… I’d rather we forget what happened. Do you agree?” He formulated the question while answering to himself with a huge inner negative.
Of course he didn’t agree with that, but he couldn’t tell her how much he had enjoyed what he saw; he couldn’t tell her either how stupid he felt when he understood that girl, the girl he had hugged so many times to comfort her about her mother’s death, wasn’t a girl any longer. No, now she was a beautiful woman who could have anyone wrapped around her little finger. And he was one of those who would fall if he didn’t forget about it and stop having lusty thoughts about her once and for all.
Elsa nodded. She opened her mouth but closed it immediately. She wanted to tell him something, but didn’t dare to do it. For her, talking to Stefan in the way she was imagining was something it would have never occurred to her. Ever.
“There is something I have to tell you, but I don’t know how to do it,” she stammered. Stefan frowned. “I…” She swallowed. “It was the first time someone has ever seen me in my underwear.”
Stefan wanted to get closer, but she was wearing a bathrobe and that didn’t help. He had to keep the distance.
“And maybe you think this is nonsense…” He shook his head, as if to tell her whatever she had to say, it would be fine. “I felt something strange…”
“I’m sorry I confused you,” he interrupted her, knowing fully well where that conversation was leading to.
“No, you don’t understand, Stefan,” she said in a hurry. Her hands felt clammy and her legs started to shake. “My body reacted to your gaze in a way that…”
He turned around so he wouldn’t have to look at her. Her cheeks were flushed and her eyes sparkled in a different and special way. He didn’t want to mislead her to think that things would be different between them. He looked at her again. Elsa was frowning.
“I don’t want you to get confused, Elsa. Yes, I saw you in your underwear and I’m sorry, but I wasn’t staring at you in any special way.” He tilted his head at the same time he closed his eyes, trying to calm himself down.
“That’s not what your eyes were saying, Stefan.” Surprised at her sudden confidence, he opened his eyes. “It’s okay, let’s forget about it,” she asked with a thin voice.
“Yes, that’s what we must do.”
She shrugged and he threw a last glance in her direction. Then he turned around to leave that bedroom where he had problem
s to breathe. He couldn’t let himself feel anything for a teenager who was only seventeen. She was almost a grown up, but he was older and she was still a girl who needed to be taken care of.
Elsa sat on her bed, exactly on the same spot where he had been sitting a few minutes earlier. She had to forget all about it, just like she had asked him to do, even though she was lying to herself. Yes, his gaze made her feel too much… she felt something inexplicable she didn’t know how to forget. She leant back, looking at the immaculate white ceiling, just like her own skin. Elsa was a beautiful girl, with blue eyes anyone could get lost in, long brown hair that gave her a childish air, but long legs that said otherwise. She was worthy to be looked at, worthy of being the star of any man’s thoughts.
The days started to pass by and they avoided each other constantly, just in case they couldn’t help it and change their actual relationship. Every time they met in any place around the house, nerves got all mixed up between them and they were afraid they couldn’t control the situation. A week passed like that. Their connection was hidden in the background, forcing Alicia to think something wrong. It was true, and Elsa assured her that she didn’t feel anything for her uncle. And Alicia would have believed her if not for the day when Stefan brought Chloe, his fiancé, over for dinner; Elsa had left her hanging after saying hello. It was too weird and everybody noticed it, especially him.
Elsa hid in her bedroom after the incident, but Alicia followed her. She opened the door without knocking and found her looking out of the window.
“Hey.” She touched her shoulder. “What’s wrong with you?” she asked.
Elsa turned around and ignored her while heading towards the bed, lying down on it.
“I’m talking to you, Elsa.”
“And I’m listening, Ali.” She sprung out of bed. “What do you want me to say?” She shrugged.
“I want you to explain what has happened a few minutes ago. Do you think I don’t realize how odd you have been behaving lately?”
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