Mateo had managed to cheer me up in the end. I also had to Google what a telenovela was. I started watching clips from famous ones. I laughed so hard. I guess that Mateo was right. My life is very much like the storylines in telenovelas. I saw so many similarities. An evil sister, husband-stealing, murders, royalty in hiding, forgotten identities. I guess if this is what Mateo was raised with, it would make sense that nothing was outside of reality. I go to bed with a smile on my face. He really knows just how to make me feel better. I will have to thank him tomorrow. I find myself counting down the hours until our shift starts.

I woke up the next morning. I needed groceries. Harriet normally took me for groceries on Saturdays before work. I start to look up bus routes that could take me there instead. As I start to map out the transfers, I hear a knock on the door. I put my phone down and answer the door. Harriet is standing there. She is awkward. I feel awkward. She cumsily asks if she can come in. She has never asked; she normally just walks in. I gesture to my room and invite her to come in. She goes to sit on the chair in my room, and I sit on the edge of my bed. Silence permeates the room for a few more minutes. After a few more minutes, Harriet takes a breath. She tells me, "I thought about what you said. I am just still so confused. Could you tell me something that might make it more believable?" 

I rack my memories throughout my life. I try to figure out which ones would be useful in supporting my claim. I decide to just start from the beginning. "I was born as a princess of a land called Pergamum. I was the eldest of three. I had a younger brother, Talon, and a sister, Raella. We were raised to be the next rulers. I was trained in sword fighting along with my brother until I got better than him. Then I was forced to stop. My father, the King, had high expectations for my future. I was promised to marry a man from a neighboring country, Witherington. But my sister, Raella, fell in love with my fiancé. They got married. On their wedding day, I was planning to run away. It was exhausting trying to live up to my father's expectations. I realized that I would never be happy in Pergamum. But before I could leave, my sister poisoned me. I don't know why. Raella and I had always been so close. But when I woke up from the poisoning, it was on the floor in Los Angeles. I have no idea how I got here. Or how Los Angeles is connected to Pergamum. But I do know that this face that I stare at every day now isn't mine. It's someone else's." 

Harriet is weighing my words as I speak. She again squints her eyes. She is trying to gauge if I am lying. I suddenly gasp, "I don't know what else I could tell you to make my words more believable." Harriet folds her hands into her lap. After another minute in silence, she says, "I don't know if I fully believe your story. But I do believe that you wouldn't lie to me about something. So you clearly think this story is true. And so I am going to just put my trust in that. You think this is true, and I know you are truthful." After that, I started to tear up. My heart flutters. Harriet does not want to cut me out of her life. And she knows the full truth. I held nothing back. Thanks to Mateo's response. I decided to go with the full truth. Harriet and I fall together and hug. 

Next, we drive to the grocery store together. Our conversation starts to return to normal. I have lots to tell her. I tell her about my week, my work, Alicia, and my night out, and then I end with my walk home with Mateo. Harriet tells me about her week, her visit to her Mom's house, and how her roommate is moving out because she wants to move in with her boyfriend. We find ourselves back to normal very quickly. I breathe a sigh of relief. Harriet stayed. 

As we come home, I stare at my phone for a minute. It occurs to me that I had never ended up talking to Harriet about the guy who had mentioned the Peacock. I unlock my phone and start searching for his name in it. I can't remember what it was. I find it, Ji-hoon. I realize that now I can ask Harriet's advice while telling her the whole truth. When we arrive back at the shelter, I sit her down in my room again and ask her for her help finding the Peacock. It was the first place I remember from LA. I couldn't find it, but there was a customer who had mentioned it one night. I got his number. What should I text him? Harriet and I come up with a plausible cover story. I am looking for someone whom I last met at the Peacock and wanted to return to the place so I could find any more information about the person. With Harriet's help, we carefully craft a message and send it off to Ji-hoon. He simply responds, "I was wondering when you were going to text me. You waited long enough."  And that was it. I didn't know what to do with that. Harriet mentioned that we should try again another day. Clearly, he wasn't going to help up right away. My hopes are dashed a bit. Why does nothing come easily here? I am frustrated.

With all this happening, I am running a few minutes late for work. Which means that Harriet offers to drive me to work. I hope that Mateo isn't waiting for me in the spot we normally meet up at to walk in together.  I walked in alone and waved goodbye to Harriet as she drove off. Alicia watches me walk in from the host stand, and a smile flashes. "I told you things would smooth over," she teases. I look around and don't see Mateo. After a few more minutes, I lost my patience and texted him to find out where he was located. He ran into the door 5 minutes later. He was out of breath. He looked at me with a quizzical look as he passed through the restaurant to get his apron. He must have been waiting for me. I feel terrible. I will have to apologize to him and explain how Harriet gave me a ride. Mateo gives me a wide berth for the rest of the evening. I casually try to walk to see him on my break, but I couldn't find him in his normal places. My shoulders begin to slump. Maybe he took offense at me not walking with him today? I need to clarify to him that it wasn't intentional, but I had lost track of time with Harriet.

When the shift is over, I see Mateo getting ready to walk out before I am ready. I quickly grab Alicia by her arm and ask, "Could you finish my sidework for me tonight? I am trying to leave with Mateo." Alicia agrees, and I run out just a few minutes after Mateo has closed the door. I hope I can catch up with him. I look at the street and see Mateo at the corner already. I start to run. I haven't run or worked out as Olivia. I run out of breath quickly. I finally yell out for Mateo, and he finally stops and turns around. I can't make out what emotion was on his face, but it wasn't happy. I finally reached where Mateo was waiting for me. I have to bend over and catch my breath. I rub my side, it hurts. I try to remember what it was I was going to say to Mateo.

 Once my breathing gets back to normal, I ask him, "Are you upset with me?" Mateo shakes his head but only gives me a one-word answer, "Nope." I try to explain, "Harriet was over before work, and I lost track of the time." Mateo relaxes a bit, but is still on guard, "Makes sense." He sat there quietly. I wish at this moment that I had mind-reading capabilities. It would be so convenient. I don't know what else to say, because I don't know what's bothering him. We walk home in silence. Mateo has his earbuds in as we walk, but he doesn't offer to share one with me. I find myself looking his direction occasionally. He never meets my eyes; instead, he is looking ahead. Almost like he was intentionally not looking at me. 

We arrive at my house. I am desperate at this point. I can't let him leave. Finally, I blurt out, "I had to look up telenovelas last night, but it was pretty hilarious once I did." Mateo pauses and finally looks at me. He has a smirk. He asks, "And what did you learn?" I square up with him, blocking his exit. I am simply overjoyed that he is finally talking to me again. I explain, "Yeah. I learned there were many overlaps between my family and the families in telenovelas. I just wanted you to know. I hadn't laughed like that in a long time. I appreciate you sharing that with me." Matteo leans forward a bit closer. "I worried that you felt I crossed a line last night. When you didn't show up to walk with me, I assumed the worst. I am glad to know that it wasn't the case." I look at Mateo and say, "No! I actually was able to tell Harriet everything. I would not have been courageous enough to do that if you hadn't assured me so much last night, it would be alright. I ..." 

I want to spend just a few more seconds with Mateo. Now that I have cleared the air between us, hopefully we can return to being good friends. I think about ways that I can assure him. I think back to last night and how he comforted me. I could do the same right now. I asked, "Can I give you a hug?" He pauses and then smiles the smile I am used to seeing on his face. Goal accomplished. I reach in to hug him. He and I stand in the embrace for a few minutes. I don't want there to be any more misunderstandings, so while we are in the hug, I whisper in his ear, "Only you were able to take my mind off things yesterday. Thank you." Mateo turns his head towards me as I say this, and I suddenly have my lips right next to his cheek. I pull back quickly. We plan our next Spanish lesson, and then he waves goodbye. I saw Harriet, Alicia, and Mateo today. It was an amazing day.