Falling for Her

by A. C. Meyer

  I was sitting on the edge of the bed, looking at the closet in nothing but my underwear.

  “You’re not ready yet? We’re going to be late, pretty.” Cadu walks in, surprising me.

  “No,” I say, putting a hand on my chest. “You scared me.” I smile and he smiles back. “Baby, I don’t think I’m going. You go. I’ll tag along some other time, okay?” That’s it. I say it. I’ll wear my pajamas and stay home and binge watching Supernatural. Jensen and Jared would keep me company. He crosses the room and holds my hands.

  “Mari, get dressed. I’ll be there with you, love. It’ll be all right. My family already likes you. They’ll just get to know you better.”

  “I don’t even know what to wear. Oh, gosh. What if I say something wrong? Or if I spill something on myself? Or worse, what if I spill wine on someone else? No, I better stay put. It’s safer.” His hoarse laugh brings me back from my insane rant, and he pulls me into his warm arms.

  “Easy there. It’ll be all right, pretty. You are great at making conversation, you’re nice and clever. You won’t spill anything on anyone, not even the wine. And if you do, that’s okay. It’ll be an accident and accidents happen. And about what you’re going to wear . . . well, hang on here. I wasn’t going to give it to you today, but since you’re so nervous, I think it’s a good moment to spoil you,” he says. Then he kisses my forehead and goes out of the room.

  A few minutes later he comes back, bringing a large white box with a red ribbon on it.

  He gives it to me and I hold it, curious.

  “Open it!” he says, sounding excited, and I start pulling the edges of the satin ribbon. I open the box and, wrapped in red silk paper, lies the most beautiful lace I’ve ever seen. I take the fabric out of the box and see that it’s a beautiful dress with sheer half-sleeves. The neckline is low, and the dress is lined and fits perfectly to my body, going all the way down to my knees. It’s sexy, elegant and very similar to the type of clothing I usually wear. On the back inside, I read Angèle’s embroidered on the tag.

  “Cadu, is this . . .”

  “The first dress of our collection!” he says excitedly. “Go on, get dressed. Now you have the perfect outfit for dinner.”

  “But I can’t take it, Cadu. It’s Angèle’s,” I say, and he looks at me with confusion evident on his face.

  “What’s wrong with that? You know they’re working with us on this project.”

  “It’s too expensive,” I say quietly. “It’s a very expensive dress. I can’t take it.” I shake my head, refusing it and folding the dress to fit it back inside the box again.

  “Mari, you were my inspiration for this project. This dress exists because of you. It’s my treat and I want you to wear it. It will make me feel special and proud to see the woman I love wearing something that was made for her.” His words are so sincere I can’t refuse it. I didn’t want to be the type of girl who dates a rich guy expecting expensive gifts.

  “Okay,” I say, and he breathes in, relieved. “I’ll wear it. It’s gorgeous, Cadu. Thank you,” I say, feeling embarrassed. He kisses me softly on the lips and leaves me to get ready.

  I put on that beautiful dress that fits my body like a second skin. The black dress shows my curves and the deep cleavage does wonders for my boobs. I wear a black pair of stilettos that I had already left in his closet for emergencies, along with a full makeup kit. Yeah, we were already doing that thing when you leave stuff at the other person’s house. I stop in front of the mirror, pleased at my own reflection, and start doing my hair. I decide to curl it into large curls, putting one of the sides up. Then, I do my makeup, highlighting my eyes, and apply a pale shade of lipstick to my lips. To finish off, I spray some perfume and put on a pair of simple long gold earrings.

  I stand in front of the mirror. I can’t help but smile at myself.

  “Wow. You look beautiful.” I turn around and face my boyfriend who is in full executive mode. Gray suit, pale pink shirt, no tie. “You’re more than beautiful, baby.” I go to him smiling and give him a peck on his lips.

  “Aren’t we overdressed for a dinner at your parents’ house?” We looked too good; it seemed like we were ready for a party, not dinner.

  “No. They throw these dinner parties every once in a while. My brother will take his wife and there will probably be a few of my father’s business partners there. You look perfect.” I take a deep breath, seeking the courage within me, and smile.

  “Shall we, then?”

  He nods, holds my hand and kisses it. I smile happily at his love and he puts my arm in his, leading us to the front door.

  Dinner was awkward, to say the least. Saying I felt like a stranger there is an understatement. His parents’ home, located in a luxury condo building in Barra da Tijuca, was something completely out of my comfort zone. I was greeted very politely by his mother, who was quite nice to me. His father, who I knew from the office, may have been a very well-known person in the publishing industry, but he was a very friendly person when you met him intimately.

  What really bothered me was the way Zeca and Lucinha, Cadu’s brother and sister-in-law, treated me. Aside from the initial surprise, they were polite to me and didn’t mistreat me in any way. But the way they looked at me was uncomfortable. Especially him. It was as if they were suspicious of me. I can’t explain why, but I felt as though they weren’t pleased to see me there.

  A few hours later, we went home. Cadu was serious and he had me worried.

  “Baby, is everything okay?” I ask, touching his arm. He looks at me and cracks that beautiful smile I love so much.

  “Yeah, pretty.”

  “You look troubled.”

  “No, I’m just a bit tired. It’s just that Zeca can be so annoying when it comes to a few things. Instead of minding his own business, he’s always trying to interfere with mine.” He makes a face and I don’t know what to say. “But it’s okay, pretty. Did you enjoy dinner?”

  “It was nice. Your mother is very nice. And your father also talked a lot to me while you and your brother were in his study.”

  “Too bad they didn’t bring the children. The kids are great, you’ll love them.”

  I smile, remembering my little cousins. “Maybe next time?”

  “We’ll have plenty of opportunities, love,” he says, looking back to the road.

  I hoped we would have many opportunities and that the feeling I got with Zeca and Lucinha was nothing but that. A feeling.

  We get home after dinner, and after we undress and go to bed, Mari falls asleep in my arms. I knew she was tired and that it had been a tough day on her, as much as the end of the evening had been tough for me.

  I was falling more in love with her each day, and giving her that dress meant a lot to me. She had inspired me to start the project and my father, who was practically a publishing wizard, agreed that this campaign would take the magazine to a completely superior level when compared with our competitors. The Angèle’s partnership would give us the necessary credibility to start a new fashion line.

  The evening went well. My parents were nice to her and my mother had pulled me aside to tell me she was delighted with Mari’s delicate and lively ways. I couldn’t help but feel proud to be with her and to show everyone that we really were in love.

  Near the end of the evening, Zeca called me to Dad’s study and we had a serious argument about my relationship. He didn’t know Mari and I were together and he was mad with rage. Infuriated, he said I’d been taken in by my secretary, and that now that she had full access to me, she would seize any opportunity to take advantage of my weakness. He said I was out of my mind and that if I wanted to bang the secretary, I should do what he does and keep it far from home.

  I was beside myself with fury. Meddling in my affairs was bad enough, but suggesting I treat her like a dirty little secret was much worse. And knowing he was chea
ting on his wife made my stomach clench. At that moment, a good part of the respect I had for him was gone.

  I noticed that Lucinha wasn’t particularly nice to Mari as well and it only fueled my growing anger, but in the end, I felt sorry for both of them for being caught up in a failed relationship, and deceiving each other.

  I look at the woman lying in my arms, her light snore resonating within the confines of the bedroom, and I smile and think that I’m lucky to have a good life and have found love. True love.

  Mari

  You know that moment in life when something happens and you don’t know why or how, but it has the power to change your entire life in the blink of an eye? Yeah, it usually starts with that odd feeling, almost as if our sixth sense is on alert, warning us that at any second things can fall apart.

  I’ve been feeling that way for days now. My romance had been going on for weeks and we were very much in love. But it’s been a few days since I started feeling anxious, and I didn’t know why. Cadu noticed I was a little off and promised we would go to Itaipava over the weekend, to recharge our batteries.

  The collection was going ahead full speed, even though it was still a secret to the whole team. On Tuesday, he was scheduled to have a day filled with important meetings but seeing his brother there caught me by surprise, since he hadn’t called in advance.

  Zeca came in and when he saw me, he made a displeased face. He grunted to himself and left to Cadu’s office.

  “Zeca, I’m sorry, but Carlos Eduardo is in a confer—” I couldn’t finish my sentence when he turned to me with a disgusted look on his face.

  “Don’t you know your place, girl? You have no right calling me by my nickname, I’m not your friend, I’m your superior,” he growls, and I feel as if I’ve been slapped. “Just because my idiot brother is fucking you, it gives you no right to speak to me as if you know me.”

  I open and close my mouth a few times, shocked at his harsh demeanor, not knowing how to act. No one had ever treated me like that.

  “Look, I’m sorry, but you can’t speak like that to me,” I say quietly, trying to be polite and not make a scene in the middle of the office, but his maniacal laughter interrupts me.

  “I can speak to you however I like. Get a hold of yourself, you fat country girl,” he snaps back, going to Cadu’s office and closing the door behind him.

  I feel like I’m going to faint. Breathless, dizzy and with shaking legs, I sit down and feel tears falling from my eyes before I can stop them. I have never been assaulted like that and what hurt me the most was that the guy who did it is the brother of the man I love.

  The telephone rings but I’m in no condition to pick it up. I switch it to night mode so that it will go directly to voicemail. I go to the bathroom to try and calm myself, but when I get there and see my own frightened face in the mirror, I cry even harder from the humiliation.

  I didn’t know what to do. How am I going to tell Cadu the cruel things his brother said to me? What if he doesn’t believe me? They are brothers and friends, after all, and we’ve only been together for a short time . . .

  Doubt, mixed with fear and fright, take over me while his harsh words echo in my head.

  I do my best to calm down, after all, I’m at work even if my boss is also my boyfriend. Or the guy who fucks me. Argh. I remember the breathing exercises from that old video and I start inhaling and exhaling, trying to calm down. I’m so embarrassed that I can’t even consider telling someone what happened. Not even Lais. I’d be embarrassed to death.

  Nearly half an hour later, I get myself together. After touching up my makeup, I go back to my office and I realize Cadu has someone in his office. I hear loud voices travel into my office, even if I can’t make sense of what they’re saying. I try to push away the feelings from earlier, start reading my e-mails, and then the door opens and his arrogant brother leaves his office, slamming the door again. He looks at me with the same look of disgust and leaves. His eyes show all the revulsion he feels for me and I wonder why he’s being so mean, if I have never done anything to him.

  I take a deep breath, drink some water to try, and calm down again. I can’t have a breakdown here.

  I was so pissed at Zeca. How dare he come into my office and talk about Mari in such a way? I was in the middle of an important conference call with our branch in São Paulo when he burst in. I thought it was odd that Mari didn’t stop him, knowing I was in a meeting.

  I ended the call when I saw his face. And when I asked him if Mari had told him that I was busy, Zeca just lost it. He said I was an idiot, that I would end up losing everything I had built over a girl who wasn’t even that hot to begin with, and insisted once again that I should just “bang her” instead of treating an incompetent employee as if she was my girlfriend. As he was leaving, he turned to me and said that she was playing dumb and that it was clear she was up to something, that she was probably hiding something from me and she wasn’t the angel I thought she was.

  He left slamming the door behind him and I thanked heaven quietly for the fact that my office was soundproof. It would have been extremely embarrassing if Mari had heard his harsh words. Still feeling a little out of sorts and remembering that she had let him come in unannounced, I got up and opened the door. She was sitting there, her eyes dazed, looking a bit dizzy.

  “Is everything okay, Mariana?” I ask, concerned, and she looks at me, as if she was hiding something. Deep down, I feel the slightest shadow of a doubt, brought on by my brother’s nasty comments.

  “Yes, it is. I’m sorry your brother interrupted your meeting. He had stopped by a few minutes before, and I told him he couldn’t go in, but he waited until I went to the bathroom to go in unannounced,” she explains, and I wonder why she looks so worried.

  “It’s okay. I thought it was strange that you would let him in,” I answer, feeling confused.

  “I would never let anyone in like that, especially when you’re in the middle of a meeting,” she says defensively, and I nod in agreement. “Do you still need me today?” she asks, suddenly.

  “No, I don’t think so. Why?”

  “I wondered if I could leave a few minutes early. I have a massive headache. I want to go home, lie down a little,” she explains with a frown, seeming to be in pain. Immediately, my insecurities give rise to worry.

  “Of course, pretty. Do you need anything? Go to my place. It’s nearer,” I suggest, and she shakes her head.

  “Well, I’ll get going then.” Mari turns off her computer and puts her cell phone in her bag.

  “I’ll see you later.”

  “Okay,” she says, then leaves quickly.

  I get out of work and decide to go to my own apartment. I was too shaken emotionally. I needed the comfort of my own bed. When I take the elevator down, I check my purse to see if my emergency money is in there. I always keep some money in a fake pocket I had sewn in my purse for this exact use, whenever I needed money for a cab or something like that. Thank goodness, I have it. When I reach the ground floor, I quickly exit the building and once on the crowded street, I hail a cab and ask the driver to take me home. Because it’s not rush hour yet, the route that usually takes about an hour is done in almost thirty minutes. When I’m almost home, I remember to text Lais, worried that she might call the office when she sees I’m not online.

  PC was our acronym for Prince Charming. That was what we called Cadu since the romantic trip to Itaipava.

  I realize the driver has stopped the car in front of my building. I pay for the ride and go quickly to my apartment, and when I get there, I’m only strong enough to take off my clothes and wrap myself in a blanket in my dark room while I cry myself to sleep.

  I get out of work and go straight home. The rest of the day was a blur, and despite all the poison my brother had thrown at me, I was worried about my girl. I open the apartment door, total darkness welcomes me, and I
go to the bedroom to check on her. To my surprise, it’s empty. Totally empty. Jeez! Did she go home? Why didn’t she tell me? I take my cell phone from my pocket and there are no new messages or missed calls. I pull up her contact information and call her, it rings one, two, three, five times, until it finally goes to voicemail. Weird. Mari doesn’t usually do that.

  What if she’s setting you up? The stupid little devil my brother had awakened in me asks and I try to push away the thought. She probably went to her own place. My inner angel answers, as if trying to convince me that everything is ok. You should check. The thought occurs me and before I can stop myself, I leave. I grab the keys to my motorcycle and go to the garage, feeling the need to be sure that she’s home and that everything is fine.

  I speed through the traffic, weaving in and out of the cars even though I know it’s dangerous. I don’t know what’s going on. I can’t think. All I know is that I need to see her and look in her eyes and see the truth in them. If she’s fooling me, I’ll know, somehow. Though I trust her and I can’t believe she would do anything to harm me, Zeca is my brother and my best friend, I can’t help but take his words into consideration. He’s always been there for me, supporting me and guiding me. And our argument this afternoon has me completely lost.

  In no time, I arrive at her building, park the motorcycle and quickly walk to her apartment, not even stopping to greet the doorman. I open the door using the key she gave me and enter the living room. The whole apartment is quiet and dark, and it feels like there’s no one there. I come to a stop when I hear a low groan coming from the bedroom.