Jamie meets Diego when he's seven. Diego is older, bigger, bolder (not surprising, when Jamie has been a wisp of a child since forever, with matching shyness), and has a big, contagious smile. Their friendship holds fast for eight years as they are both apprenticed to Diego's father, the famous locksmith Master Reyes, but when they meet the lovely Esperanza Jamie starts to realise that there is more to life than work, and that his adoration of Diego is and probably always has been more than friendship.