by Phavy Prieto
"Maria," Nerea panted. She had the voice of a person who was crying bitterly.
"What's up? Did something happen? Are you OK?" I asked as I pictured our apartment on fire and my things charred.
With my luck it wouldn't even be the worst of evils.
"Mathews has left me!" she yelled with a broken voice. Then I heard her blow her nose. "After everything I gave him, what I did for him, what I had to endure! Why? Why?"
Shit! She was really upset.
"Mathews is an idiot and can't understand what you're worth," I said, looking at myself in the mirror in the hallway leading to the washroom and removing some of the smudged lipstick with my finger. "Not to mention his cousin!"
"Why doesn't anyone love me?" she asked in tears. "I give everything, I adapt, I try new things, but they always leave me. Why? What's wrong with me?"
It was clear that I could not console Nerea with a telephone conversation.
"There's nothing wrong with you, you just haven't found the right one yet," I concluded categorically because, to be honest, all the men Nerea had met in her life that I had known were selfish misogynists.
"No, the problem is me," she replied, pulling herself together. "I have to accept that I will become a spinster surrounded by cats. You too went away!" she exclaimed starting crying again.
"I'll be home in half an hour."
Goodbye, night of wild sex!
As I walked towards the washroom door, Rebecca appeared to get in my way.
"Oh, sorry! It’s that you are so tiny that it's hard to notice you," Rebecca said.
"Maybe for you. Don't worry: the disinterest is mutual," I replied without even bothering to look her in the face.
"I wonder how you feel knowing that you are about to marry a man who wants another woman. Don't you mind being Damian's second choice?" she asked as she took her lipstick out of her bag to calmly start touching her lips in the mirror.
I knew that her intention was only to hurt me and cause a scene, playing on my insecurities. I didn't want to fall into her trap.
"The day that happens, I'll let you know. For now, I'm sure I'm not anyone's second choice, much less Damian’s," I arrogantly replied, heading for the stall door so as not to give her the opportunity to argue.
Her macabre laugh made my skin crawl, but I didn't go back. The moment I opened the door, I heard her warning: "You will soon find out that Damian Devoir is incapable of refusing me. He never did and never will. He’s mine."
I didn't answer and left with the certainty that that woman was completely crazy.
When I told Damian about Nerea's miserable state, he drove me home.
"Will you come home tonight?" he asked before I got out of the car.
"I don’t think so. I'll probably go straight to work from home. Considering her state of mind, I guess I'll have to stay up till dawn," I said fearing that Nerea could be in a catatonic state.
Damian cleared his throat and turned to me.
"What a pity! I had so many plans for us tonight," he said with a smile.
"We can postpone them until tomorrow," I sighed.
"I remind you, Miss Acosta, that this weekend we are going to your mother's birthday."
Damn! With all that sex, crazy hormones, and sexual harassment at work, I forgot my mom's birthday!
"Then we'll have to try some positions in the car like clandestine couples," I laughed as I got out of the car.
"See you tomorrow at the office, honey," he replied smiling.
"See you tomorrow, Adonis," I said smiling and ran away before he could ask me where the hell that nickname came from.
Nerea wept bitterly. When I told her what happened with Steven and that Mathews and his cousin had to be two of a kind, Nerea seemed to recover and convinced herself that the end of her relationship with Mathews had been a good riddance.
"Doesn't Damian Devoir have a cool cousin or brother like him?" she asked when she stopped crying.
"Brothers - no, but friends - yes," I said with a smile.
Although I didn't know what was going to happen after that Sunday, I told her that Damian had offered me the keys to his apartment.
"Maria, if a man offers you the keys to his apartment, it’s because he wants something serious with you. What the hell are you still doing here? Come on, go and tell him that you are in love with him!"
"Do you think I should tell him? Isn't it better that I wait for the fortnight to pass and then reveal my feelings?" I asked.
"If he doesn't feel the same for you, he's an idiot. He can't pretend to that extent and even less if he has involved his family and friends: that man is madly in love with you!"
At that moment my heart seemed to swell and a tingling in my stomach told me not to linger further, to immediately run to him to reveal my feelings.
Since my car was still parked in Damian's garage, I took a taxi. As soon as I got to his building, I didn't have the patience to wait for the elevator. So I decided to climb the stairs up to the penthouse. As I got to his floor, I was half dead and out of breath. It was early in the morning and Damian had to be still at home. I would probably find him asleep. Just imagining his sleepy face with half-closed eyes made my heart beat faster. I was prepared for any reaction from him: amazement, happiness, surprise... but what I was not prepared for was to see Rebecca open the door, wrapped in a sheet and clearly naked underneath.
What the fuck was going on? WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT? I demanded an answer!
"Oops! We thought you wouldn’t come. But I guess it won't come as a surprise to you. After all, I warned you. Damian is in the shower. If you want to wait for him... "
"No," I cut her off, trying to show an apparent calm. "Better see him directly at work. It's not that urgent."
I couldn't believe that that damn woman, after everything she'd done to him, could still be his mistress. What kind of twisted mind did he have? Maybe he would not have wanted her forever in his life, maybe he just wanted to take revenge for the evil suffered or maybe there was still something between them. Whatever the answer was, I didn't want to have anything to do with him anymore. I had believed it could be true that the love we had shown for each other was genuine and that every word, gesture or action was sincere. But it was evident that that was not the case: Damian had not forgotten Rebecca and much less was the honest man I had thought he was. Maybe he was just using me to show that everything was okay and thus be able to have an affair with Rebecca. Or maybe I was just the facade he needed to avoid arousing suspicion with Michael. In any case, I had only one thing very clear: I had to get out of there.
I called Ingrid to tell her that I would not show up for work because I felt unwell. What I least wanted was to see Damian's face, because I knew I couldn't help but cry or blame him for something I had no right to. We were nothing. There was nothing there. Actually Damian had never been mine.
Chapter XXIII
If it hadn't been for the fact that I hadn't seen my mother for a long time and that in a few days it would be her birthday, I would have invented some excuse not to go back to my village. Not because I didn't want to see my parents, but because I was in a bad mood.
When I reached my destination, I saw the welcome sign of my village and promised myself that I would not shed a tear. My face was swollen, my makeup had gone to hell, I was wearing a tracksuit and sneakers when it would have been better to show up dressed to go to the office. So when my mother saw me, I was not surprised that instead of rejoicing, she put her hands on her head in alarm.
"What happened to you, sweetheart? Have you been fired?"
I could have lied and said "yes" since I wasn't sure I wanted to keep working in the same company with the risk of meeting Damian in the corridors of the office or in the cafeteria.
My heart couldn't stand it.
"No, it's just been a pretty tough week at work," I lied with a big smile.
"Emilio! Tell your daughter not to work so hard!" my mother yelled to get my father's attention. "
One of these days you are going to have a stroke, not to mention that at this rate you will become a mother only at forty."
I will not be a mother! After Damian I don't think there will be anyone else.
"Happy birthday, mom," I said hugging her and feeling the warmth of love that only a mother can give. Leaving town to spend the weekend with them hadn't been a bad idea after all.
I watched my mother in the kitchen as she prepared dinner, and she updated me on the affairs of my cousins and closest relatives. I didn't want to tell anything about me. Although my mother could suspect something, I was grateful to her for not having persisted with questions about my private life, something my aunts would not have stopped investigating. The bell rang and my dad got up to get the door.
"This must be your aunt Gertrude. I told her to pick up some boxes of clothes for the charity. She knew you would come, and she wanted to say hello."
Fantastic! Now the usual spiel would begin, "Where is your boyfriend?", "The biological clock doesn't stop", "At your age I already had three children".
I was thinking about the most appropriate answers when I saw my father and behind him not the stout middle-aged woman with a bun, but what I would call a vision: Damian Devoir in my parents' house.
"What are you doing here?!" I exclaimed before I could comprehend the fact that Damian was in the kitchen where so many family events had taken place since my childhood.
"You weren't responding to my calls and messages. We were supposed to come here together," he replied in a tone much calmer than mine. "I apologize for the intrusion. I hope I’m not invasive. I'm Damian Devoir, your daughter's fiancé."
Fiancé? No way!
"No, no, no," I denied. "He's not my fiancé!" I clarified disproving that vile lie. "He is the owner of the company where I work."
At least that was the only certainty along with the fact that I had been in bed with him.
"Will you excuse us for a moment to clear up this misunderstanding?" I politely asked my parents who looked at us bewildered.
Who knows what they were thinking of their only daughter? They didn't say a word.
"I'll be back in ten minutes," I said as I passed Damian so he could follow me and leave my parents' house.
The last thing I wanted at that moment was that someone could hear us. So I headed for the only park in the village far enough from prying ears.
"Could you tell me what the hell happened?" he asked after walking for several minutes during which I walked with my arms crossed and looking ahead.
"I don’t know. Maybe you should ask Rebecca."
"Rebecca?" he asked. "What does she have to do with all this?"
He looked confused, and I knew how good he was at pretending, but his false victimhood exasperated me.
"That's enough! Stop pretending! She was at your house, naked, when I arrived this morning!"
At that moment he frowned as if he didn't expect that answer. Didn’t Rebecca tell him? Was the slimy silicone blonde really silent about it?
"I don't know what you saw, but I assure you that whatever it was, it doesn't correspond to reality."
"Oh, of course! You mean your ex was naked in your apartment by chance? At least have the decency to admit it instead of treating me like a fool!" I said furiously.
"Michael called me last night at three. He was totally drunk. He had quarreled with Rebecca and left the hotel. I went out to look for him. When I found him, I spent the rest of the night trying to convince him to go back to her. Eventually I took him home where Rebecca unexpectedly showed up this morning. I assure you that the last thing I would do in my life would be to sleep with that harpy. I couldn't imagine she still had the keys to my apartment. And I never thought I'd have to change the lock. Finding Rebecca there helped Michael find out what kind of woman he married. Today he will start the divorce proceedings."
Michael had finally discovered it! I couldn't help but feel some kind of satisfaction. Although I believed Damian more than Rebecca, I was still not entirely convinced.
"She told me you were in the shower," I said.
"Well, you should have checked or called me, damn it! How can I convince you that I want only you? The only person I love in my life is you, Maria. Only you! You can call Michael, ask the bartender at the bar where we spent most of the night. My God, Maria! You can't really believe that I am so mean that I can sleep with my best friend's wife, let alone such an opportunist! My only misdeed was to trick you into taking you to their wedding with me, I admit it. But at that moment I was desperate and just wanted to look like a happy man who had rebuilt his life, even if it was far from the truth. Somehow you had bewitched me, so much that I started making up stories to keep you by my side and spend time with you. I was hoping that you would be with me even after these two weeks, and that you would like to share your life with me."
After those words I could no longer bear the accumulated tension and I burst into tears. I didn't know if it was out of happiness, tension or a myriad of sensations that had completely overwhelmed me. Did he really love me?
"So this game to pretend that we were a couple was a trick to make me stay?" I asked. I finally wanted to know the whole truth.
"I wanted to show you that it could work, I wanted to make you live intensely and discover that there was something more interesting than having everything planned perfectly and I wanted to get your attention that way. I guess I was wrong in drawing certain conclusions, and that maybe it wasn't a good idea. When you told me you wanted to stay, that you didn't want it to end, I thought there was a chance. At that moment I was the happiest man on the planet."
"I didn't want it to end, let alone now," I revealed letting him approach me to hug me. I finally felt his body, and seeing his smile made my heart beat faster.
"Really, Maria? Do you really believe me? Is there still a chance for the two of us?"
I believed him. And I didn't know if it was more out of necessity or the force of his words that had burned into my mind.
"I believe you. And I want to be with you," I whispered aware of what my words meant.
"You still owe me a wish, remember?" he said coming up and brushing my nose with his.
"I remember it, Mr. Devoir," I smiled craving to kiss him.
"Here is my wish, Miss Acosta: will you grant me the honor of sharing the rest of your life with me?"
"You said I couldn't refuse you a wish," I replied remembering the exact moment of that promise.
"I would really like you not to refuse it: we already have the date, the church, the idyllic place, and the invitations. The only missing thing is for my most precious treasure to accept it."
"Even if I wanted to, I couldn't refuse," I admitted. "My heart belonged to you from the start, Mr. Devoir, and I highly doubt I can be happy anywhere on earth without you."
At that moment he lifted me up and began to twirl, holding me in his arms.
"I love you," he said looking me in the eye as soon as he stopped twirling. "And I want you to know that all the things I've done and said have always been sincere. I've never acted with you, Maria: you are my half."
"I love you," I replied standing on my tiptoes to give him a tender kiss. "And I'm glad to know you've always been yourself because I haven't acted either, and I've always said what I felt."
"I will always be grateful to that planner that has allowed me to keep you in my life," he confessed. I smiled with happiness and with relief, knowing that Damian Devoir loved me. He loved me!
Damian kissed my lips, passionately, in a frenzy that consumed us both. My biggest wish was to spend the rest of my life next to that man. After wanting it with so much fervor, I couldn't believe it was happening.
As we walked towards my parents' house, Damian took me by the hand, and I realized that my world had changed because my heart was now free from any doubt. I no longer had to hide my feelings, and I could express them knowing that they were reciprocated and knowing that from that moment on I would never be th
e same person: the cold and methodical Maria, who analyzed everything, had vanished.
I understood that the happiness I achieved was more precious than the time I could have wasted trying to find it and that the unexpected could be extremely exciting. And if someone does not believe it, well, ask me: I am lucky enough to be loved by my Adonis whom I wanted from the first moment, thanks to a planner that, in front of an elevator, had decided that I had to turn the page.
Chapter XXIV
The small room adjacent to the church where the ceremony was about to take place was heavily crowded, and the heat inside was infernal.
"Has he arrived?" I asked aloud, by now snappy, while vigorously waving the fan to beat the heat.
"Don't worry, Maria. Getting nervous doesn’t help. Besides, you're not ready yet," my mother said in an attempt to calm me down. In the meantime, she fanned me with another fan while the make-up artist was applying the final touches.
Nerea, Ingrid, the girlfriends and wives of Damian's friends were my bridesmaids. In the end, I got along with my secretary so well that we became friends and I invited her to my wedding. We also became close friends with Esther, Lorena and Laura.
My God, it was my wedding! I was really going to marry my Adonis! I still couldn't believe it was going to happen. I pinched myself from time to time to convince myself it wasn't a dream. I remembered our last conversation two nights ago.
"Two more days and you'll be Mrs. Devoir," Damian whispered.
I put my head on his chest and felt his heart beat. His fingers caressed mine as we sat on the sofa.
"Do you have any doubts? You are still on time to run away before marrying the madwoman of the endless lists," I laughed at myself. I stopped making those lists some time ago: now I preferred to live every moment without worrying about how long it lasted.
"I've never been so sure in my life. I also know that you will be the best mother to my children."
I raised my head and looked him in the eye. We never talked about having children. Until that moment we dedicated ourselves to traveling, having fun, and enjoying each other's company.