Fernando Romero de Torres' relationship with Bernada

Fermín Romero de Torres and Bernarda’s romance is defined by practical devotion rather than declarations: Fermín plans to spend what he has on an outing with her, and when a violent assault leaves him in urgent need of care, his first request is to be taken to Bernarda. She responds with alarm and stays beside him as he recovers. Their relationship turns a comic, affectionate courtship into a test of attachment, and the crisis ends not in separation but in the two of them together.

Courtship and devotion

Fermín speaks of Bernarda as someone whose wishes he cannot refuse. When he counts the money in his wallet, he explains that some of it came from that morning while the rest is legitimate, and says he is taking her out that day. His exaggerated claim that he would rob the Central Bank of Spain to indulge her every whim is comic in tone, but the plan itself is concrete: he has set aside money and intends to spend the day with her. His devotion is expressed as generosity, not as a demand that she return a particular favor.

Fermín’s affection also appears in his easy assumption that Bernarda is central to his plans. In the same conversation, he turns from talking about his money to asking Daniel about his own plans and then about the girl in Daniel’s life. The exchange places Fermín’s romance alongside his role as Daniel’s confidant: he is attentive to his own relationship and eager to draw Daniel into discussing his. Later, after Daniel confesses the details of his feelings, Fermín responds with a heartfelt embrace and recognizes that Daniel is in love. The scene presents Fermín’s capacity for tenderness as something he shares beyond his courtship, though Bernarda remains the person he names when his own safety is at stake.

Care expressed through action

Fermín’s choice becomes clearest after two policemen beat him and leave. When Daniel reaches him, Fermín is badly hurt and struggling to get up. Daniel urges him to go to a hospital, but Fermín insists that he be taken to Bernarda. Asked who he means, he answers that if he is going to die, he would rather die in her arms. The request is not a considered medical plan; it reveals where he wants to be when he fears he may not survive. In the immediate aftermath of violence, Bernarda is his first thought as a source of closeness and reassurance.

Daniel follows that request. He takes Fermín to a taxi, holds him during the journey, and brings him to the building where Bernarda and Gustavo Barceló are waiting with Dr Soldevila. A doctor and nurse are already present, and Fermín is carried upstairs to Bernarda’s room for treatment. The sequence matters to the relationship because Fermín’s wish does not leave Bernarda as a distant object of devotion: it brings him to her actual room, where she can see how serious the situation is and remain near him while he is cared for.

Bernarda’s response and recovery

Bernarda reacts to Fermín’s arrival in alarm. Once the doctor has taken his pulse and confirmed that he is alive, Fermín is placed on the bed and the medical staff begin attending to him. The doctor tells the others to leave him to his work and closes the room, leaving Bernarda outside with Daniel and Barceló. Her distress is not presented as a passing concern: she sobs inconsolably and speaks as though, after finding a good man for the first time in her life, she has now been deprived of him. Her words register both the strength of her attachment and the insecurity with which she experiences it.

Barceló comforts Bernarda and leads her to the kitchen, where he gives her brandy until she is unsteady. He then drinks a glass himself. His intervention shows that Fermín’s crisis affects the people around the couple as well as the couple themselves: Bernarda’s fear is acute enough that Barceló tries to steady her, while Daniel has brought Fermín to the place where help and familiar company are available. The scene does not turn the injury into a romantic spectacle; it keeps attention on the practical care that the crisis requires and on the fear it creates for Bernarda.

Affection after the crisis

After the doctor and nurse have been thanked and seen out, the others discover that Bernarda has ignored Barceló’s instruction and returned to the bedroom. Exhaustion and the ordeal have put her to sleep beside Fermín. He is recovering under medical care, and, while she sleeps, he holds her tenderly and strokes her hair. The gesture reverses the earlier scene of helplessness: the man who asked to be taken to her is now able to offer comfort, even while he is still recovering.

When Daniel asks how he feels, Fermín replies quietly so as not to wake Bernarda. His low voice and concern for her sleep make their closeness visible in a small, deliberate act. He is still weak, but he can greet the others with a raised hand and a triumphant smile. The episode’s emotional resolution lies in this contrast: Fermín had feared he might die and wanted Bernarda beside him; now she is beside him, asleep, and he is alive enough to protect her rest. The romance is therefore established through mutual presence at a moment of danger, not through a formal declaration or a stated future plan.

Relationship in the narrative

Bernarda gives Fermín a personal attachment that the assault briefly places under threat. His insistence on reaching her, rather than accepting Daniel’s first suggestion of a hospital, makes the relationship legible through choice; her distress and return to his bedside answer that choice with care of her own. Their actions do not erase the practical realities of the scene: Daniel secures transport, Barceló and Bernarda are waiting, and Dr Soldevila provides medical attention. Instead, those acts of assistance form the setting in which the couple’s bond becomes visible.

The episode also shifts the tone of their courtship. Fermín’s earlier talk about taking Bernarda out and indulging her whims is extravagant and playful; his plea to be brought to her makes the stakes suddenly serious. Afterward, the bed-side gestures restore some of the earlier warmth without pretending the danger never occurred. The relationship’s significance rests in this movement from lighthearted plans to a crisis of possible loss and then to quiet, reciprocal care.