Benito

I was looking at the various cornflakes in the shelf in front of me. It had been a long time since I had gone grocery shopping by myself but Vega Baja was the only place where I could do so. As I was grabbing a pack of normal ones, I heard a voice that I could never not hear. "I'll grab the cereal." I heard it say, then a male voice that gave back an okay. Immediately I looked to where the voices had come from and spotted Cayetana coming down the aisle. I suppressed a smile and waited for her to notice me but she was too focused on the cereal in front of her. She was obviously looking for something. Still biting down a smile, I reached for her favourite in the top shelf and held it in front of her face. "Looking for these?" I asked, causing her to jump a little. She stared at me, then at the cereal and then turned to the direction where she had come from. I noticed that she seemed nervous, almost scared. "Uh, yes, thank you." she mumbled and grabbed the cereal. I took a closer look at her and noticed some shadow like marks on her throat. She had obviously tried to cover them with foundation and if you didn't scan her like I did, yo wouldn't have noticed them. In silence, I counted the marks and it was a handprint. Due to the make-up, they had a slight grey color, so it had to be a deep purple color without. "What happened to your neck?" I asked after a few seconds of awkward silence between us. Cayetana reached for it and caressed the skin on it, then she cleared her throat. "I... like when I get choked." she almost whispered. Don't get me wrong, in any other situation I would've probably smirked but I just furrowed my eyebrows. She had never been a good liar, at least not when it came to me, so I immediately knew that she wasn't telling me the truth. My jaw clenched; her fiancé had done this to her and I could feel myself get angry. "Cayetana!" we heard. My eyes focused on the person that was coming down the aisle at a fast pace. A blonde man in his 30s was eying me up and down when he reached us and put his arm around her shoulder. Cayetana stepped back from me, looking at the ground. As soon as he had touched her, I could see that she tensed up. "Who's your friend?" he asked in a fake friendly voice. "Uh, Benito, this is my fiancé Oliver, Oliver, this is my brother's friend, Benito." Cayetana introduced us. I held my hand out for him to shake it, he eyed me again, making it clear that he had no intention to be nice to me. "Mhm, you used to hang out?" he then questioned. Since I knew guys like him, I played along with Cayetana's lie. "Not really. We went to the same school, that's it." I told him and shrugged. Oliver had a firm grip around Caye as she kept avoiding eye contact with me. "Anyway, it was nice seeing you. Please greet Luís from me." I said and turned around to leave. As I was walking the opposite direction as them, I turned my head to glance at them and so did Cayetana. She mouthed a thank you towards me to which I responded with a nod. 

As soon as I got to my house, I texted my brothers to come over. I needed to talk to them about what I had just witnessed. Neither of them lived far away from me but the 15 minutes I had to wait felt like an eternity. Bysael was the first one to arrive, Bernie followed shortly after. "¿Qué paso?" (What happened?) Bysael asked when he let himself fall onto my couch. "Me encontré con Cayetana." (I ran into Cayetana.) I responded, walking up and down in front of my brothers while chewing on my thumb nail. "¿Y?" (And?) Bernie questioned and shrugged. "Tenía moretones en el cuello." (She had bruises on her neck.) I gave back, then stopped pacing back and forth. Both of them immediately sat up from their laying positions. "¿Moretones, de qué?" (Bruises, from what?) Bysael wanted to know. He was just like me, so he was tensed now. "Dijo que sucedió durante el sexo, pero no lo creo." (She said it happened during sex but I don't believe that.) I told them, sighed and plopped down on the couch as well. "¿Por qué?" Bernie asked and furrowed his eyebrows. "Se atragantó tan fuerte que dejó marcas. Tenía una huella de mano en el cuello y era púrpura." (He choked her hard enough to leave marks. She had a handprint on her neck and it was purple.) I explained to them. "Dios mío." Bernie whispered in shock. "¡Lo voy a matar!" (I'm gonna kill him!) Bysael exclaimed and jumped up from the couch. Immediately, I grabbed his arm to stop him from walking towards the door. "¿Qué estás haciendo? ¡Suéltame!" (What are you doing? Let go of me!) he shouted, trying to get out of my grip. "¡Cálmate, Bysael! Si nos presentamos en su casa ahora, ¡va a empeorar!" (Calm down, Bysael! If we show up at her house now, it's gonna get worse!) I told him. He scoffed and let himself fall back onto the couch. He was frustrated and so was I but there was nothing we could do without making her situation worse for her. 

Later that night, I was watching TV, trying to distract myself, when I received a message from Luís. He asked about why Oliver was going off about me. I told him that I had run into his sister at the grocery store. "Le está gritando. Lo oigo desde el piso de arriba." (He's yelling at her. I hear him from upstairs.) he responded. "¿Has sido testigo de esto antes?" (Have you witnessed this before?) I wanted to know. "No, es la primera vez. La está insultando. Voy a ir a verla." (No, it's the first time. He's insulting her. I'll go check on her.) he sent and I immediately called him. He picked up after two rings. "Hagas lo que hagas, ¡no te involucres!" (Whatever you do, don't get involved!) I almost yelled into the phone. "¿Estás loco? ¡Esa es mi hermana!" (Are you crazy? That's my sister!) Luís gave back, sounding like he was going to explode like a bomb any second. "Conozco tipos como él. Oliver la va a culpar y luego va a empeorar." (I know guys like him. He's gonna blame her and then it's gonna get worse.) I tried to explain to him calmly. Luís sighed and cursed to himself. "¿Qué quieres que haga?" he asked after a few seconds. "Dale mi número. Dile que lo guarde debajo de Marisol. Y actúa con normalidad con Oliver." (Give her my number. Tell her to save it under Marisol. And act normal towards Oliver.) I told him. He protested at first but I let him know that I would handle it the way that I handled any other ex from high school that had mistreated her. I didn't sleep that night, all I could think about was in how much fear she must've been and it killed me inside.