She couldn't say she hated her job, but she knew she deserved better than working in a coffee shop, even though it was a very well known one where a huge flow of customers came, she felt she had potential for something more, the question was that she didn't know what that something more was. The only talent Amalia had, despite her patience, was writing, but those dreams had long since been shattered.
It was six fifty in the morning, the cafeteria had not yet opened, but it was about to do so, she liked to take the first -and only- moments of peace she had, to reflect on the course of her life, which seemed to be getting more and more twisted, she could not imagine herself working there for the rest of her life."Soon the customers will be coming," said her co-worker, Fatima, a woman of small stature, so small that Amelia could not take her seriously, but despite that, she seemed to have enough sympathy to catch everyone's attention, "In less than two minutes"."Yes," Amelia mumbled, sighing, all she could think about was that she wanted to leave, "You say that like it's a good thing".Her companion laughed, she was about to say something, but suddenly, another of their companions approached, with a worried, but at the same time smiling face. Amelia did not understand his expression."How romantic, whose partner is he?" Amelia and Fatima looked at each other, unable to understand the question."What are you talking about?" Amelia asked, yawning, she had slept lousy the night before."Which of you brought your husband to work?"They both still didn't understand him even a little, but they laughed at his words, they were both single."I don't understand what you're talking about," Fatima told him frankly, furrowing her brow."There is a man standing at the exit, well... now he is sitting on the benches outside, but he has been standing there since early in the morning" The one who frowned was Amelia, making a grimace with her lips, twisting them, "I assumed he was the new partner of one of you, I don't know, he's been standing there, as if he was waiting for someone".Amelia felt a sudden fear."He's probably one of those lunatics who usually come in," she guessed, shrugging her shoulders to downplay the situation, although it seemed strange that someone would be there so early, customers usually started showing up a few minutes later."I doubt it," his companion denied, "He looks too good to be a lunatic or a vagrant"."What do you mean when you say he looks too good to be a bum?" Fatima asked, feeling curiosity creep into her body."See for yourself," her companion invited her, Fatima immediately headed for the door. "Won't you come to see him, Amelia?"The woman denied, she was not really interested, poured herself a coffee and began to drink it slowly, thinking that this would be another day of stressful work.A few minutes after leaving, Fatima returned, with a different sparkle in her eyes and a smile adorning her beautiful face."What happened?" Amelia asked, seeing the woman's expression, "Is he so handsome?""He's gorgeous, Amelia, you have to see him!"Fatima grabbed the woman by the arm, almost causing the coffee to spill on her clothes."Wait, wait, wait, wait, Fatima! What makes you think I want to see him?""Don't be so boring, Amelia! The man is gorgeous!""And what tells you he's not a lunatic? Only a complete lunatic would sit in front of an establishment and wait for it to open," Amelia opined, taking a sip of her coffee."He's the most elegant man I've ever seen, I doubt too much that he's a lunatic, he even looks rich, dark hair, fine beard, elegant bearing, and he comes in the car of the year, do you know how much the car of the year counts, Amelia? That's all it takes to know that the guy is rich, you have to see it".Amelia frowned, that description certainly sounded similar, but she didn't want to make incoherent assumptions, so she ended up agreeing to go and see the man, while she took a sip of coffee."Look, there, sitting on the bench in front of us," said Fatima, enthusiastically.When Amelia's eyes focused on the person sitting there, the coffee cup slipped tremulously from her hands. Her lips parted and her face was covered with a mask of bewilderment and fear.The man standing there, waiting for them to open, was none other than Maximiliano, the same man who had been stalking her with his eyes all night long.Fatima took in her friend's nerves, and failed to understand them. Amelia had not told her anything about that guy who had basically forced her to tell him her name, she did not think it was important, besides, she told herself that she would never see that guy again in her life, what she least imagined was that he would be waiting for the place where she worked to open."What's going on, Amelia? Do you know him?"Amelia denied with difficulty, she had to calm down: most likely, it was a joke of destiny, a simple coincidence, there was no way that that guy who barely knew her name, had found out where she worked, of course not, it was a simple coincidence. Her own words did not give her any peace of mind, although she knew that it was most likely a coincidence, she could not help but feel nervous, because in fact, she had felt too uncomfortable because of the eyes of that guy fixed on her the other day."No, of course I-I don't know him," she replied to her friend, bending down to pick up the fragments of the coffee cup she had dropped."Do you need help?" offered Fatima."No, I'm o-okay... you go and get everything ready, we're just a few minutes away from opening".Her companion gave her one more look, as if seeking to analyze her thoughts, Amelia's reaction had been a rather particular one, nervous, she was nervous, even her fingers were trembling as she picked up those shards of glass.What if he had been spying on her?"No," she muttered to herself, careful not to be overheard, "I'm being paranoid".Or so she hoped.She finished collecting the shards of glass in her hands, then unwillingly stood up, her gaze settling on the man again. Amelia stood static as Maximiliano's eyes fell on hers.The woman shuddered as she watched the man quickly get to his feet and approach the establishment where she stood.Amelia was alarmed, on impulse she moved away from there, walking quickly towards the area where Fatima was, the woman's alarmed expression immediately alerted her companion, who was preparing to open the establishment completely."But what's going on, Amelia?" she asked, holding the woman by both shoulders, she trembled as she looked towards the back, afraid that the man would enter through there, although it was inevitable that he would: sooner or later the establishment would be opened, giving way to everyone.For an instant, the words remained stuck in her throat, when she saw how her other companion began to open the doors that Fatima did not open, panic appeared in her eyes, she told herself that she had nothing to fear, that it was no big deal, but the feeling that the man had followed her or spied on her to her work -she was not sure-, was deeply embedded in her, although she had no evidence that he had followed her, so she chose to remain silent, regulating her emotions and d
It was almost time to leave work, she had not been able to concentrate even a little. She had only thought about that strange guy, about what he might want from her, and why exactly from her. The expression in his eyes was something Amelia could hardly get out of her head, as if she wanted to tell him something, but didn't have the capacity to do so. She chose not to, to tell him absolutely nothing, anyway, what could a stranger have to say to her?She sighed as she looked at the time, realizing that her shift was already over, she took off the gloves covering her hands and decided to get ready to leave."What did he wanted from you?" She turned around when she heard Fatima's curious voice behind her, the woman was looking at her as if she had been holding that one back during Amelia's shift. "Did he want to hurt you or something? Did he threaten you?" she asked, a little more worried, because since that guy had left, Amelia looked worried and thoughtful" "You know you can tell me any
Amelia looked at him with her eyebrows raised and her lips parted, released her clenched fists and looked at him once more as if a third eye was growing on her face. A minute of silence was allowed to pass, until the sound of Amelia's laughter broke it."What the hell are you saying to me?" she asked, guffawing, "Damn, I didn't know cocaine was so accessible these days"."Miss, I'm not kidding." He tried to grab her arm, but she warily prevented him from doing so, pulling him back. "Actually, I need you to agree to be my wife"."Have you heard what you are asking me? What the hell is wrong with you? You know what? I don't have time for this, I need to get my groceries back".She tried to leave, but Maximiliano grabbed her by the arm, preventing her with force."Let me go, damn it!" She was too hungry and too stressed to have to deal with a stranger who had chased her for more than ten minutes, even in the middle of the street, just to ask her to marry him."You don't understand, I'm s
The urgency in the man's eyes made her distrust him again, but despite this, she remained there, listening to his words, "It will all be a farce," he said, shaking tremulously."It will all be a sham," he clarified, shaking tremulously, "We won't get married for real, I mean... yes we will, but not because we love each other, nor know each other, it will all be a business"."A business?""Yes, I need a wife within a week, it's urgent, Miss. It's something that suits us both".She raised an eyebrow, crossing her arms."Go on"."I need a wife to collect an inheritance" She looked at him from head to toe, her face was very expressive, she didn't bother to hide what she felt, and at that moment, she doubted his words. "I need you to accept".She stepped back when he held her by the shoulders, distrust was seen in his feminine gaze, which once again, looked at him from head to toe, of course she doubted the truthfulness of his words, she even doubted that this man was completely sane."Let
Maximiliano closed the door very carefully, making sure that no sound came out of it, so that his son would not wake up, it was easy to put him to sleep, most of the time at least, but when his sleep was interrupted, there was no human power that could calm his childish energy.When he finished closing the door, he saw how his mother was waiting for him, sitting on the sofa while drinking something from a cup. He approached her, he had an idea of what she wanted to talk to him about, it was as if he had the ability to read it in her eyes."How did it go?" asked the woman, drawing a bitter smile from Maximiliano, who finished sitting in front of his mother and sighed, that action did not send any good message to the anxious woman, "Did it go badly?""It was lousy," he said frankly, adjusting his back."What do you mean, lousy, Maximiliano? I need you to tell me what happened," she asked him, taking a trembling sip from her cup of tea. Her son had told her that he was going out to find,
Fatima's eyes filled with deep perplexity, if she didn't know that Amelia was a woman very uncreative for lies, she would have unthinkingly pointed her out as a liar. The woman stirred, even removed her gloves, her wide eyes riveted on Amelia."No, wait, wait, wait, what the hell?""That was my reaction," Amelia murmured, finishing preparing a coffee, the time to leave that place was coming, immediately she would go to her mother, she needed to read her results at the hospital, she had barely managed to sleep thirty minutes thinking about her mother's illness, "That man came up to me and asked me if I wanted to marry him, if I wanted to be his wife, what kind of madness is that? I had never seen anything like that in my life, besides, he chased me down the street, I almost got run over, he almost got run over, when I finally let him talk, he told me that it was all about a business deal in which I would have to pretend to be his wife in exchange for a few thousand dollars"."And you a
She felt like she was in a fantastic tale, one where reality and fiction were mixed until something completely unbelievable was left, that's how she felt at that moment, so strange, uncomfortable, she wanted to laugh at herself for the decision she had taken. More than once, she had thought of renouncing that decision, but she supposed that there was no chance to go back, besides, it was only necessary to remember her mother so that the motivation to commit that act would never abandon her.He had invited her to his house, Amelia had refused and had told him that they could easily do it anywhere else, Maximiliano's answer had annoyed her: "You have to go to a discreet place, no one can discover that it is a fake marriage". Amelia thought it was too obvious that it was all a sham, she was a simple and unattractive woman of low means, who would suddenly marry a wealthy man who belonged to high society. She scratched her head, her mother was the only reason she accepted this, she reminde
Amelia swallowed saliva with difficulty, her legs were losing strength and if she were not being held by Maximiliano, the floor and she would have become one. She had been awake since five in the morning, she had barely eaten anything, the whole process had been carried out in a hurry, with the intention of concluding as quickly as possible, to everyone's misfortune, the inconveniences had not stopped coming, making them lose at least three hours, but they were there: Amelia, Maximiliano, two witnesses, Maximiliano's son and his mother, all gathered in the same place.Amelia wore that white, low-cut dress that she knew had caught more than one eye, she had never had her hair so well groomed, the heels she wore were a torture that she couldn't wait for it to end. The woman raised her gaze when the photographer Maximiliano had hired took a picture of her. "I need to have evidence of everything," she remembered the words of the man next to her, her future husband. She laughed internally