Alejandro Castañeda leaned back in his chair with the lazy confidence of a zoo tiger stretching under a lamp, knowing the bars were safe. His fingers, well-manicured but slightly calloused from holding a tennis racket, drummed on the edge of the menu—an impatient rhythm, like the heartbeat of a man terrified of silence. Valeria, sitting across from him, glanced quickly toward the window, where the lights of Mexico City sparkled at night like liquid gold spilled on the sidewalk. Her posture betrayed the peculiar weariness that comes from women accustomed to being mere extras in other people’s performances.
“The wine list,” Alejandro said, without looking at Sofia. “And not the one with the plebeian prices.”
Sofia remained still, clutching the tray to her side like a shield that had become part of her. The pain in her feet throbbed in time with her heartbeat, but she had learned to transform it into a silent, almost musical background, like the distant hum of the Parisian subway where she once read Baudelaire between classes. She waited.
Alejandro turned the menu page with a slight creak, as if tearing fabric. His lips curved into a smile he’d probably practiced in front of the mirror in his penthouse apartment overlooking Polanco.
“Good morning, Mademoiselle,” he said suddenly in French, with that forced Parisian accent that only those who learned the language through apps and movies can imitate. “I’d like some sherry, but without the caustic consistency you serve tourists. And to pair it with… a Château d’Yquem 2015. Standard table service, excellent. Service in the private cellar. If you’re here, please. Otherwise, I don’t want to wait my turn.”
The words hung in the air, heavy like drops of condensation on a glass. He spoke them slowly, stretching out the vowels so that each syllable sounded like a slap. Valeria raised a barely perceptible eyebrow, but Sofia caught the gesture: a mixture of surprise and mild alarm, as if she had already sensed that this performance might get out of hand.
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