The wrong move
1216 Words
They moved as if nothing had happened.As if the air around them hadn’t suddenly thickened.
Sofia’s fingers gently brushed Maya’s wrist a silent signal, back away slowly.
And so they did.One step.Then another.
But the moment was already claimed.
Footsteps, Heavy and unhurried approaching them
Then a calm, deliberate voice, wrapped in velvet that barely hid the steel underneath says “Ladies, I really wouldn’t walk away right now.” it was Pablo's ,he came across from the edge of that parking into that narrow alley where the girls were standing. Even the parking wasn't that big of parking lot since it was a small one.
Maya froze mid-step.Her breath caught, but she didn’t turn. Not yet.
That voice. It didn’t rise. It didn’t threaten. But it didn’t need to.
It wasn’t Pablo’s usual drawl, not the boy who leaned against doorframes and spoke in riddles.
This was something colder. Sharper. A man who’d just been interrupted at the wrong time.
Sofia turned first, slow, careful like prey eyeing the predator but pretending not to be afraid.
Maya followed, heart thudding too loud in her chest.
She didn’t know what kind of deal they had just walked in on.
But Pablo’s expression said they weren’t supposed to see it.
For a second, no one spoke. like it belonged to another world. Time stretched thin.
From a few feet away, he stared at them long enough for the silence to feel like something physical. Then he exhaled, and with it came a flicker of familiarity. A tone they’d heard before, just once. On another night they didn’t talk about.
“You girls again.” says Pablo in a cold tone eyebrows flinched.
Maya felt it settle in her chest.
She didn’t look at Sofia. Didn’t blink. She just stepped forward, half a step, her voice steady when it came, but the kind of steady that trembles right after.
“We were just passing through,” she said. “Looking for a coffee shop. We didn’t mean to interrupt.”
It wasn’t a lie. Not really. They had passed through. And there had been a coffee shop.
But they weren’t supposed to be here.
And they both knew he knew that.
For a breath, the man said nothing.
Then Sofia stepped in, chin lifted, hands in her pockets like they weren’t caught in the jaws of something dangerous.
“Yeah,” she said. “Shame you don’t put signs on your secret deals. We would've taken the other turn.”
Maya didn’t dare look at her.
That tone was sharp, dry, Sofia’s usual tone didn’t belong here.
It was too loud in a place that had gone silent.
Whatever was happening here, they were standing in the middle of something they weren’t supposed to survive.
As Pablo opened his mouth to respond something sharp was forming behind that slow smirk.
But he never got the chance.
As they heard Footsteps behind them, Heavy and Too close.
Maya didn’t turn. She didn’t need to she could feel it, the shift in the air, the way Sofia’s jaw clenched a second before the voices came.
Low pitched Male voices saying something in Spanish.
“Mira lo que ha traído el cabrón,” one of them muttered.
“Una blanquita y... la otra parece latina.”
“Qué suerte. Una para ti y otra para mí, ¿no?”
A short laugh.
“Están riquísimas las dos.”
[Translation:
“Look what the bastard brought.
A little white one, and… the other one looks Latina.
Lucky night. One for you and one for me, right?
They’re both delicious.”]
They weren’t whispering.They didn’t have to.They assumed the girls didn’t understand or didn’t care if they did.
And in that moment, Maya felt something colder than fear slide down her spine.
Something was shifting beside her.
Sofia wasn’t moving, but her entire body was tense ,shoulders squared, jaw clenched, lips pressed so tightly together they’d lost all their color.
Maya glanced at her, trying to read the silence.But she couldn’t.She didn’t understand the words.Only the way they changed the air.
Sofia slowly turned, not away but toward the men.She took a step forward. Not big. Just enough to make it known.
Her voice came low and firm with a rage.
“Cerditos asquerosos.”
“¿Quién carajo se creen que son para hablar así de las mujeres?”
“Basura con patas. Putos sin vergüenza.”
“¿Eso los hace sentir grandes, eh? ¿Decir esas mierdas cuando piensan que no entendemos?”
“Mírenme bien.”
“Una más y les arranco la lengua.”
“Y por cierto... ella no es latina, idiotas.
Es india. Aprendan a mirar antes de hablar.”
[Translation:
“You filthy little pigs.
Who the f**k do you think you are, talking about women like that?
Walking garbage. Shameless pieces of s**t.
Does that make you feel big? Saying that crap when you think we won’t understand?
Look at me closely.
Say one more thing and I’ll rip your tongue out.
And by the way… she’s not Latina, you idiots.
She’s Indian. Learn to look before you open your mouths.”]
She didn’t yell.She didn’t flinch.
She burned beautifully, violently, without blinking.
The silence that followed didn’t belong to fear.It belonged to shock.
But men like them didn’t sit in silence long.
The taller one the one who had laughed earlier he snapped first, his ego too thin to take the hit.
“Puta malcriada,” he spat.
[Translation:
“Disrespectful bitch.”]
And then his hand flew up.
The slap was aimed straight at Sofia.
Wide open, full of heat and insult, it sliced through the air toward her face.
But it never landed.
Pablo acted quickly, he grabbed the man's wrist mid-air and shoved him hard,his body slamming backward, the man hit the floor with a grunt, knees buckling under him like a broken hinge.
Then came Pablo’s voice low and dangerous:
“¿Te volviste loco, imbécil?”
[Translation:
“Have you lost your f*****g mind, i***t?”]
Pablo took a sharp step forward, standing over him with fire in his eyes.
But he didn’t stop there.
He turned his head toward the second man the one who had smirked earlier still standing, but stunned.
“¿Tú también quieres probar mi puño, eh?”
[Translation:
“You wanna taste my fist too, huh?”]
The second man tensed his fists curled, feet spreading slightly.
He was ready.Not backing down.His pride wouldn’t let him.
It was about to explode,but before anything more could ignite, the door behind Pablo flew open, slamming against the wall.
A female voice cut through the tension like a knife.
“¡Basta ya con esta mierda!”
“¿Quieren arruinar el negocio? ¡Inténtenlo y juro que los entierro vivos!”
[Translation:
“Enough of this bullshit!
You wanna ruin the deal? Try it and I swear I’ll bury you alive!”]
No one moved.Not even the air.
Looks like everyone present there had made a wrong move.
The girls staying there was a wrong move.
Those men saying rubbish was a wrong move.
And now this woman...the voice is similar to someone Maya and sofia know.
- Writer
