CHAPTER 13: DAMAGE.They were both sitting on Emma's sofa, who had offered some tea in a cup to Sofia, who seemed desperate to talk, but Emma was so stressed that the last thing she wanted to hear was her friend reproaching her as if she were her mother, but she told herself that she shouldn't be prejudiced, that maybe she wanted to talk about something unrelated to Leonardo.She knew she was wrong when Sofia opened her mouth."Where were you, Emma?" asked the woman, in a reproachful tone that annoyed Emma."I went out," she replied, taking a sip of her tea, perhaps drinking tea that night would leave her sleepless."You were with him" She didn't ask, she had affirmed it, Emma didn't give her any answer, only silence was heard, resounding as always. "Emma, were you with Leonardo?""Did you come just to ask me that, Sofia? It's too late at night, I want to sleep"."That's exactly why I came, you're always supposed to be here at your house, I came, and you weren't here, you're always he
The reason why Leonardo had broken up with Sofia at that time was because of the age difference between them, which despite not being too extensive, bothered him. At present, she was thirty-three years old and he was twenty-eight, a difference of only five years had caused a very deep wound in the woman, one that remained indelible, although, looking at her face that night, the only thing that could be said was that fate had treated her very badly, she looked at least ten years older than her original age.Leonardo knew that she detested him, in the small eyes of the plump woman, he could perceive the accumulated hatred she felt for him, not that he liked her very much anyway."What am I doing here? You know what I'm doing here!" Sofia approached sharply towards Leonardo, who, with an expression as hard as ice, looked at her."Actually, I don't have the slightest idea what you are doing here," he spat at her, with a brusque and intemperate tone, he crossed his arms, Sofia's gaze fell
Ten days had passed, and everything was still normal enough for neither Leonardo nor Emma to feel uncomfortable, but from time to time, when their gazes crossed, the memory of the kiss arose at the same time in the minds of both, especially in the mind of Emma, who had been quieter than usual, in fact, she had been very thoughtful, too much, as if she was analyzing something, as if she was making an important decision. To Leonardo's head came the idea that he was likely to think about Sofia's words, that led the man to annoy himself by imagining the image of him that the woman had offered to Emma.Leonardo held a pile of papers, and walked towards them in the direction of Emma, who didn't even seem to notice him approaching, writing a few things, but at the same time, she seemed too out of touch with reality."Are you all right?" asked Leonardo, seeing how the woman was surprised by his sudden presence, confirming even more his theory that she was there, but his head was not, "You see
CHAPTER 16: FAMILY REUNION. Emma averted her gaze from her mother at the question she considered out of place and unnecessary."Of course he's not my boyfriend, mom"."And who is he then?""He is my boss".Her mother was silent for a few moments, grimacing, as if struggling internally not to laugh at her daughter's words."You can't lie to me, Emma, I'm not stupid".The girl took something out of the fridge and began to prepare it quickly."I'm not lying to you, he's my boss...""Why would your boss come to your house?"Emma remained silent, unable to find a logical answer to that question."He is very kind, that's all"."I used to say your father was very nice to me too," laughed the woman, "Come on, Emma, we both know that's not your boss, he looks too young to be your boss, I may not have the best memory, but your boss wasn't young the last time I saw him"."Well, he's my boss's son, which is technically the same thing, mom, just that".Emma brought out the butter, making a quick
Emma finished ironing her hair, pinning it to one side, and then adjusting the dress she was wearing, a red one like the wine her family was supposed to drink that day.She looked at the time on her cell phone: seven o'clock at night. She had agreed with Leonardo that he would go to her house at seven thirty, from there, Emma would tell him where to drive to her parents' house. She still didn't understand what logical reason her mom had found to invite her boss to a family dinner, they weren't even friends, why would she invite him to her family dinner? Worse, Leonardo didn't even know his mother's name. Emma cursed, it would be too awkward for him to go to a family dinner, she knew her aunts would immediately start with the assumptions, with the off-hand comments, but even her dad seemed okay with her boss attending a family dinner, family!Emma's cell phone rang, it was a message from him. She had added him as "Boss Leonardo" always keeping formalities, although the kiss they had sh
Gladys' eyes revealed immediate surprise, but it was not even a quarter of the surprise that peered into the eyes of Emma and Leonardo, who offered each other a mutual look of bewilderment. A blush took hold of Emma's sweet cheeks, who at that moment thought that running away was the best alternative, evidently, she did not."Wh-what?" Emma asked, clenching her fists, perplexity covered by fury, "Did you...""Yes, I'm her boyfriend," interrupted Leonardo, earning a puzzled look from Emma, who looked at him as if a third arm was growing in his skull. The girl was forced to blink five times, as if she was in one of those strange dreams in which waking up was very complicated, in one of those dreams where everyone acted in a stupid and incoherent way, because only he could explain the words that came from Leonardo's lips, so much certainty was heard in them that Emma even for an instant, was prone to believe him."Congratulations, precious girl!" Gladys shrieked, with a huge smile on her
CHAPTER 19: KISS, KISS! They were all gathered together, like the family they were, in a circle where the main points of attention were Leonardo and Emma, plus Leonardo. No one had ever seen anyone so elegant here, it was heard to be said, sometimes a morbid silence was formed, and all eyes fell on them, who barely spoke, Emma was too embarrassed and stressed for the words to flow naturally enough, so she had to force herself to speak."So, Emma" The girl raised her eyes when she heard her uncle's voice calling her, she cursed inwardly, knowing that an awkward and out-of-place question was coming. "Tell us a little about your companion, he is very quiet".At that moment, Leonardo smiled, like someone who hears ‘happy birthday’ sung to him and doesn't know precisely what he should do, or how he should act. His eyes fell on Emma, who seemed to know less than he about how to respond to her family."Yes, he's very quiet," was all Emma said, crossing her fingers that the conversation woul
The blush had not left her cheeks yet, even though the kiss had been a full ten minutes ago.She knew that her relatives would never stop talking about it, at all the family reunions she would be reminded of how she had kissed a man in front of everyone, or rather, how she had been kissed by him, by a wealthy guy.She could almost hear everyone's voices, intoxicated by happiness, she knew that none of them saw beyond the money Leonardo had, it was obvious. More than once, she had taken her boyfriends to a family dinner, and they had been strongly criticized and rejected, not because they were worse than him -in fact, many of her old boyfriends were not as bad as her family wanted her to think-, but because they were not rich, like the man who drove the car where she was, looking out the window in a lost way. Thinking, thinking. Her mind was unraveling drop by drop, the thoughts would drive her crazy.There was only silence between them, one too uncomfortable, she did not want to be ki