On both days, Paulita came to The Vis at Repulse Bay as soon as school was out and the family went to the amusement parks, zoos and so on.


    On the third day, during the day, Roberto Rouco called to say that the visas for Florence had been issued and would be ready to fly tomorrow.


    Estre Berrocal was prepared for it, but was caught off guard.


    I didn’t expect the visa toe out so quickly.


    “But … if I leave, what if Adam looks for me?”.


    “You don’t have to worry about that, I’ll break it up tomorrow when I get off work. By the time I get home and find out you’re missing, you should already be in Florence.”


    …


    After hanging up the phone, Estre Berrocal stood in front of a map of the world, looking at the densely popted countries and cities.


    It took a long, long time to find Florence, a city not so big and not so small in the middle of Italy.


    The time difference between Italy and his home country was about seven hours, which meant that the city he was heading to was still sleeping in the early hours of the morning when Adam got up early for work.


    Estre Berrocal is not good at mathematics, but she has been writing in a book with a ruler and pencil and paper for a long time.


    The Holy City is about 10, 000 kilometers from Florence, and it takes about thirteen hours by ne, a long trip in the northern hemisphere.


    But that’s not the worst of it, at least, she and Adam will have the same season.


    I have heard that winters in Florence are cold, with a lot of precipitation and a wet and cold weather, sometimes less than ten degrees, while in the Holy City it does not go below five degrees below zero, even if it is colder.


    …


    Estre Berrocaly down on her nket and took a long nap, awakened by the sound of a car engine in the yard.


    He took the pen and paper and books and tucked them inside a discreet row of books.


    When Adán Rouco entered the house, she was already downstairs.


    Estre Berrocal picked up the coat she had taken off, but instead of immediately putting it on the floor-to-ceiling rack, she said, “I haven’t made dinner today, why don’t we go out to eat? Besides, I want you to take me somewhere.”


    Adam Rouco, who was also in a good mood, looked at her suspiciously and said, “In such a good mood that you’re willing to run out to eat on a cold day?”


    “I always wanted to go to Underwater World when I was a student, but my father was always busy and every time he promised, he never delivered, and then he died and I couldn’t go. I’ve lived more than twenty years and I’ve never been to Underwater World. I want to go with you once.”


    Adam Rouco frowned a little amused by her tone, “Why do you seem to be using me of treating you harshly, for having lived twenty years without going to the underwater world, when I have lived thirty years without going to the underwater world?”


    Estre Berrocal was a bit surprised: “Haven’t you taken Paulita there before?”.


    “No, the old man took her once, but then she didn’t want to go, she was afraid of sharks and giant creatures like whales. So then it was a matter of taking her to the aquarium.”


    Estre Berrocal’s lips curved, “Then let’s go tonight!”.


    “It’s not easy for Mrs. Rouco to go to the underwater world,e on.”


    Adán Rouco took his coat and put it back on, without even changing his shoes, and pulled her toward the door.


    “Hey … wait, I haven’t changed yet.”


    Adán Rouco raised his wrist to check the time and said, “Well, go upstairs and change and I’ll wait for you here”.


    “Okay.”


    …


    Mundo Submarino is not very busy on a weekday, even if it is after hours.


    Underwater World was mostly parents with their children, but there were also quite a few young couples and lovers, and it was not surprising that Adán Rouco and Estre Berrocal were among them.


    With the water sparkling on all sides and the arches of clear ss all around and above their heads, everything but their feet was filled with sea creatures swimming in the water.


    Estre Berrocal put her hand on the ss and watched the giant whale swimming towards her in the blue water.


    Adán Rouco looked at her with a satisfied face and said: “It seems that Mrs. Rouco likes the underwater world, so from now on we wille once a month”.


    Estre Berrocal, however, shook her head and said, “It’s my first timeing to Underwater World, so it’s new, but if Ie once a month it won’t be new and I won’t feel bad about it.”


    “Then once every six months.”


    Estre Berrocal wanted to say “yes”, but the word “yes” was on her lips, and then she pushed it away.


    They would not have the opportunity toe to the Underwater World together for the next six months.


    Estre Berrocal turned her head and said, “Adam, let’s take a picture with this whale.”


    Estre Berrocal took out her phone and took several selfies.


    He looked at Adán Rouco in the photo and said with disgust, “You really have no camera sense.”


    But … even so, Adán Rouco still looks handsome in the photo.


    Estre Berrocal guards it carefully.


    Estre Berrocal looked at the slowly swimming giant whale and said, “You know about the whale fall?”.


    “Well, I’ve already read it in a biology book.”N?velDrama.Org holds ? this.


    “A whale fall is when a whale dies in the ocean, its carcass slowly sinks to the bottom and a unique ecosystem is formed during the death process, a single whale carcass can fuel a recycling system based on dposition for up to a hundred years.”


    Estre Berrocal finished, paused slightly and kept silent.


    Adán Rouco didn’t speak either, he just looked at her out of the corner of his eye in the half-light, through the glow of the water reflected in the sea.


    Suddenly, Estre Berrocal turned her head and asked, “Isn’t the Whale Drop a little sad?”.


    Adán Rouco had never been a literary man, nor an art student like Estre Berrocal, who would have seen him as a mercenary businessman with few artistic or literary gifts.


    So he raised his hand to the back of her neck and pitifully reassured her, “It’s just the natural order of life and death.”


    But in the half-light, Estre Berrocal’s eyes turned a little red as she looked out to sea.


    Not because she suddenly thought of the whale, but because she was moved by the thought of a ce where she would stay for a long, long time, so long that she didn’t know exactly how long.


    He said, “Even if the whale dies, it will feed a set of circtory systems of the sea for over a hundred years, and this is probably thest tenderness and return that the whale leaves to the sea.”


    Adán Rouco felt increasingly out of ce and rubbed his head hard: “Mrs. Rouco, why are you always so sentimental today?”.


    He had just leaned down to look her in the face when his neck suddenly became entangled in hers.


    Estre Berrocal kissed him on tiptoe.


    He told him: “Adán Rouco, I love you”.


    — I love you like a whale to the sea, like a bird to the forest, like an ant to the nest, like a bee to honey.