\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 6\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 6\u00a0<\/p>\n
Gabriel checked into the village\u2019s little motel and started hanging around outside my gate every day, but I never let him in.\u00a0<\/p>\n
On the seventh morning, I took the baby to the health clinic for his shots. When I got back, I found a bunch of stuff piled up in my yard \u2013 imported formula, a high-end stroller, and a pile of fancy baby supplies.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Aunt Martha was standing by my gate looking worried.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cElena, honey, that man said he bought all this stuff for the baby. I didn\u2019t let him in the yard \u2013 just left everything by the gate.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Looking at all those expensive items, I felt nothing but bitter irony.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Where was he when I actually needed this stuff? When I was worried sick about paying for a few dollars\u2019 worth of medicine, he was buying Vera gold bracelets.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAunt Martha, could you get some of the younger folks to help move all this to the community center? See if any families there need it.\u201d I headed into the house with my baby. \u201cWe don\u2019t need any of it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
That evening, Gabriel came back, and this time he brought Vera with him.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Vera was dressed in an expensive trench coat with full makeup, completely out of place in our simple mountain village. She was holding onto\u00a0<\/p>\n
Gabriel\u2019s arm with this fake smile plastered on her face.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cElena, you\u2019ve got Gabriel all wrong.\u201d Vera\u2019s voice sounded so sincere. \u201cWe\u2019re just friends. My son needs a father figure, and Gabriel\u2019s just helping us out of sympathy.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I stood at my gate holding my baby, calmly watching her little performance.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cSee, we came all this way just to clear up the misunderstanding.\u201d Vera patted the little boy beside her. \u201cLucas, say hi to the nice lady.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
That four-year-old kid hid behind Vera, glaring at me with pure hostility in his eyes.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not misunderstanding anything.\u201d My voice was flat. \u201cWhatever your relationship is, that\u2019s none of my business. I just want to live peacefully. Please stop bothering me.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Gabriel got flustered. \u201cElena, let me explain\u2026\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t want to hear any explanations.\u201d I cut him off \u201cYou should go back to your woman and kid instead of wasting time here.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Vera\u2019s face changed instantly, but she quickly put the smile back on. \u201cElena, that\u2019s going too far. Gabriel came here out of kindness to check on you and the baby. How can you treat him like this?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Looking at her carefully made-up face, I remembered how she\u2019d looked running into the hospital room with her clothes all messed up, and I couldn\u2019t help but laugh.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cMs. Sinclair, you\u2019re quite the actress, but I\u2019m not your audience.\u201d My voice was quiet but every word was crystal clear. \u201cYou already got everything you wanted from him. What more do you need? My gratitude?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Vera\u2019s face darkened completely as she dropped the fake sweetness. \u201cWho do you think you are? Some useless housewife who can\u2019t do anything but drag people down?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Gabriel tugged at her arm. \u201cVera, that\u2019s enough.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy should I stop?\u201d Vera shook off his hand \u201cShe\u2019s the one who can\u2019t get her act together \u2013 whose fault is that? Gabriel, you\u2019ve got a good thing\u00a0<\/p>\n
09:59\u00a0<\/p>\n
You Thought Cilantro Was Just a Flavor? It\u2019s Actually My FU. Cheater!\u00a0<\/p>\n
11.29%\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 6\u00a0<\/p>\n
going now. Why would you throw it all away for her?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Old Pete heard the arguing and walked over, frowning at the group. \u201cIf you\u2019re here to cause trouble, you can get the hell out! We don\u2019t want your kind in our village!\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Other villagers started gathering too. Seeing Vera\u2019s fancy clothes and hearing what she\u2019d just said, they all looked disgusted.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cJust go.\u201d I said to Gabriel. \u201cTake your woman with you before she embarrasses herself any more.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
(0)\u00a0<\/p>\n
(0)\u00a0<\/p>\n
You Thought Cilantro Was Just a Flavor? It\u2019s Actually My FU, Cheater! by Mark Twain 15 \u00a0 Chapter 6\u00a0 Chapter […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20265","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cilantro-taste-novel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20265","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20265"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20265\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20265"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20265"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20265"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}