During a luxury party, the millionaire issued a challenge. Whoever gets my son to speak will marry me.
No one believed it until a simple cleaning worker stroked the boy’s head and the silence of 2 years was broken. Everyone was shocked. Since Clara died, the house of the people of the valley became silent.
Before, you could hear laughter, running steps through the corridors, songs in the kitchen, voices on the phone. But since she is gone, everything feels dull, as if the air weighs heavier, as if time passes slower.
Julián, her husband, the owner of that huge mansion with windows overlooking the garden full of expensive flowers, has never been the same again. Sometimes it looks like a ghost.
Sometimes it seems like you’re just breathing because your body still allows it. But his soul went clear. Benjamin, her 6-year-old son, did not speak again, either. Not a word, not a syllable. The day his mom closed her eyes for the last time in the hospital, Benjamin let out a scream so loud that it made even the nurses cry. After that, total silence, as if something had broken inside.
They took him to doctors, psychologists, specialists. They said that he had no physical damage, that everything was emotional, but nothing worked. Benjamin watched, listened, walked, ate, but did not speak. And that broke Julián’s heart every damn day. On the outside, Julián was still the millionaire that many admired or envied.
They say that his technology company moves millions of dollars a month, that he is one of the most important men in Guadalajara. that he travels by private plane, that he has investments in Miami, that his fortune is assured for generations, but all that did not matter to him. The money did not help him to save Clara and he could not buy a word for his son. Two years passed like this.
Two years of pretending that everything was fine at social events, of greeting with an empty smile, of entering meetings with a knot in the stomach. Every time someone asked her about Benjamin, she felt like a needle was stuck in her chest. I couldn’t help it. His son was the only thing that was clear to him. And seeing how it went out little by little was the worst thing that could happen to him.
The house had service personnel who hardly spoke because they knew that there was no shouting, no music, no jokes. It was an elegant atmosphere, yes, but sad, cold, as if everyone knew that at any moment someone could break. One afternoon, Julián’s assistant reminded him that he had to organize an important party, a meeting with businessmen from Monterrey, Mexico City, San Diego, strong investors who wanted to get into his new line of medical software. Julián hesitated. He didn’t want to deal with people, but he accepted on business,
because he had to stay on his feet, because he couldn’t let the company collapse. It was the only way to feel like he was still in control of something in his life. That party was scheduled for a Saturday night. Exclusive invitations were sent.
A high-level event agency, international chef, open bar, live music, huge floral arrangements were hired. Everything had to go perfectly. Although inside Julián felt torn to pieces, on the outside everything had to shine. And so it was. That night the house was filled with noise again. Luxury cars arrived one after another. The lights at the entrance illuminated as if it were an award.
Men in expensive suits, women in elegant dresses and perfumes that smelled of another world. Soft music hung in the air, wine glasses clinked. There was talk of business, travel, contacts, future contracts. No one spoke of pain, no one spoke of Clara. Benjamin was in the house. Julian didn’t want to leave him alone, so he had him in a corner of the main room, sitting in a special armchair with a nanny nearby.
The boy watched everything with his big, dark eyes, saying nothing. Some guests looked at him out of the corner of their eyes, others pretended they didn’t see him. It was the child who did not speak, the child who used to run around that same house laughing and who now seemed frozen in time. While this was happening in the main room, in the kitchen and in the back hallways, the cleaning crew moved like shadows, invisible people who cleaned trays, collected glasses, emptied ashtrays, mopped without making a sound.
Among them was Elena, 34 years old, dark-haired, thin, with hair tied back with an old garter. He worked for a cleaning company that sent staff to large events. He had touched that house almost by chance. I barely knew the owner’s history, just the basics. He was not interested in the rich. She just wanted to do her shift and go home to her younger sister, whom she had been caring for for years.
Elena did her job without looking up. He cleaned, swept, organized, didn’t talk to anyone, wasn’t there to attract attention. But at one point, while she was picking up some drinks near the area where Benjamin was, something made her turn around. The boy was alone for an instant. The nanny had gone to the bathroom. Elena didn’t think much about it. Maybe it was instinct. Perhaps it was customary to have raised nephews or to take care of other people’s children in other houses.
He approached slowly, said nothing, just passed by him and, without thinking too much, stroked his head carefully, as if it were an automatic gesture. And then something happened. Benjamin raised his face, looked her straight in the eye and in a small, soft voice, which had not been heard for two years, said something that made time stop. Do you want to be my mom? Elena was paralyzed.
I didn’t understand what I had just heard. He thought he had imagined it, but no. He repeated it. Do you want to be my mom? Several people heard it. First a lady who was nearby, then a man who dropped his glass. The music stopped. Julián turned immediately. He walked towards his son unable to believe what he had heard.
Benjamin, what did you say? The boy didn’t look at him, he just kept looking at Elena and smiled. A small, shy smile, but a smile nonetheless. The whole room was silent and in that silence Benjamin was born again. From early on, the house was filled with movement, employees coming and going with boxes, decorators hanging lights, technicians testing microphones, cooks taking out steel trays full of fine ingredients that no one in that house ate on a normal day. Everything had to be perfect.
That was not just any party. It was an important move by Julián to close millionaire deals with powerful people, people who had the habit of measuring the value of a person by the size of their house, the wine they serve and what they wear on their wrist. The main hall was transformed.
The curtains were changed for new ones brought from Italy. The carpets were so soft that it made you want to take off your shoes. The walls were adorned with arrangements of white orchids and warm lights. Everything was planned to look elegant, but without falling into the exaggerated, as if luxury was natural, as if they were not trying to impress anyone, when in reality that was exactly what they wanted to achieve. Impress.
Julián did not get into the details, he just made sure that they did not ask him anything. His assistant, Rodrigo, was the one who coordinated everyone. A fast, young guy, always with his cell phone in his hand. She had worked with Julián for years and although she had respect for him, she also knew that since Clara’s death her boss had less patience than ever.
A misplaced word, a question out of place and you could go straight to the street. In one of the side rooms, Benjamin was sitting in his favorite armchair. He had a tablet in his hands, but he didn’t use it, he just held it. He didn’t look at anyone. He was wearing beige pants, a white shirt and a light blue sweater. It looked like a framed photo.
The nanny was with him checking his cell phone while drinking water. He didn’t stray far, but he didn’t pay attention at all, either. When the first van with guests arrived, the employees stood firm. Nobody wanted to make mistakes. At 7 o’clock women in designer dresses began to come down, men with shiny watches, greetings with tight smiles.
Forced laughter, hugs of commitment, people who spoke loudly, who blurted out brand names as if they were normal words. In 5 minutes the house had been filled with people who did not live in it, but who acted as if they did. The music began to play. Modern Jaz, the one that looks like a movie, that makes everything look fine.
In the kitchen, the waiters were leaving with trays full of canapés that tasted nothing, but that everyone accepted because they were good in the hand. Elena, in her dark gray uniform and her hair tied back, had already been inside for a while. He got the dining area and the corridors on the first floor. He walked in silence, discreetly cleaning up what others inadvertently soiled. He didn’t look anyone in the eye.
