Act One - City of the Damned — Chapter 10

Months pass as David Martín writes through the night, avoids social ties, and endures worsening headaches, dizziness, and nausea. City of the Damned thrives under Barrido and Escobillas, who promise future freedom while pushing more installments. Don Basilio urges a doctor’s visit, which David postpones, and Señor Sempere advises him to forget Cristina.

David repeatedly crosses paths with Cristina Sagnier, often via Sempere’s bookshop. A barbed report from Pedro Vidal—that Cristina thinks David is squandering his talent—wounds him. Seeking distraction, David spends Sundays in bars and fleeting affairs, hiding his identity when strangers recognize only his pseudonym.

At the Liceo, Vidal seats David with Cristina and then leaves. David asks if he has offended her; Cristina refuses friendship and deflects his accusation that she judged him, insisting what matters is what David feels. The next day she softens, clarifies she only feels he is not doing what he feels inside, and halts his attempted intimacy before abruptly leaving.

After two silent months, Vidal hauls David from his sickbed to Villa Helius for a surprise 28th-birthday party with friends, colleagues, the Semperes, Don Basilio, and Doña Mariana. In the garden, Cristina privately asks to meet David the next afternoon at his home, insisting Vidal must not know. By the time David returns, she has gone.

On the ride home, Manuel, Vidal’s aging chauffeur and Cristina’s father, confides health worries and senses David’s affection for her. He secures David’s promise to help Cristina if anything happens to him, underscoring looming personal stakes as David’s illness and secret meeting with Cristina converge.