A big disappointment

Mariana

I had just approached the secretary's desk of the biggest idiot I had ever met in my life, who also goes by the name Ethan Constantino when suddenly I saw a door swing open, and a man emerged from it looking quite upset.

Besides the way he had just stormed out of the room, which I deduced belonged to Ethan, something else caught my attention about that man, and I stared at him intently, both at his words and his appearance.

I had a distinct feeling that I knew him from somewhere...

"I'm going to sell this dirty story to all the newspapers. Everyone will know that Ethan Constantino is nothing but a cheating scoundrel!" The man shouted at the top of his lungs, pointing his finger in the direction of the person behind a large mahogany desk.

Even from a distance, I could clearly see that the man sitting in an imposing manner in the presidential chair was Ethan, but there was no surprise there.

What made me stare at Ethan with a lot of anger, I mean a lot of anger, was the fact that I suddenly remembered who the man behind the threats against Ethan was.

The powerful businessman, a real jerk, immediately stood up when he saw me after the door had been opened by the furious man in front of us, and it was evident how nervous he became when I stared at him, sharing the same anger he was expressing at that moment.

But before I could do or say anything, the man passed through the office door's opening with heavy steps and an unfriendly face, heading towards the elevator, which was waiting with its doors open on that floor.

"I imagine you must be Mariana..." the secretary tried to defuse the situation.

I didn't respond; I would apologize to the kind woman later. Right now, I had more pressing matters to attend to.

I walked into the room, and Ethan seemed to be waiting for me. By the time I calmly closed the door, he had already circled around the desk and was looking at me with a clearly guilty expression, though trying to disguise it.

"If all this anger was because of a simple gift, we can still sleep in yours, no problem," he tries to approach me again, and his tone becomes gentle once more. "And I really enjoyed your visit..."

Ethan attempts to hug me, but I push him away. I don't want him near me.

"It's no use pretending everything is fine because it's not," I said, letting my anger show. "I know who that man was who just left here, Ethan."

Seeing that man in Ethan's office confirmed my suspicion that Ethan was indeed deeply involved in the problems Murilo had been facing in the past month.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Ethan had the audacity to act clueless.

I let out a scornful laugh. Ethan was trying to deceive the wrong girl, and that was the last straw.

"Don't play dumb, Ethan!" I yelled, having lost my patience. "It doesn't suit you at all! That man who just left here is the same man who worked at FERZ and ended up in all the newspapers defaming Murilo's company, causing a huge scandal... and in the end, it's you behind it all!?"

Ethan's expression turned cold. All the lightness that was present in his features, as well as the nervousness he seemed to be feeling when I arrived, disappeared from his face. He was once again Constantino, the cold and calculating man who only thought about revenge.

"I never hid from you my desire to destroy Murilo Fernandes' life, just as he destroyed Beatriz's life," he said with an inflexible tone, and the vein on his neck visibly bulged, displaying the anger contained in his words.

"What you did with that man was a despicable act," I said, pointing my finger at that despicable person. "And I don't associate with people without character!"

"I don't understand why all this commotion," he dismissed the situation. "I didn't create any story; I simply encouraged the truth to be exposed to anyone who wants to listen."

It was shocking to see how Ethan found Murilo to be the culprit for something that, in the end, was solely the responsibility of his beloved Beatriz.

"You know what? Don't come looking for me anymore!" I lost my patience. "Forget that I exist and don't show up at my door, do you hear me!? Don't come to my house because I can't vouch for myself."

I began to turn around, determined to leave that room as quickly as possible. Some people just can't accept the truth, even when it's right in front of their faces, and Ethan seems to be one of those people.

"You forget that we have an agreement," he said before I could take the first step.

I turned to look at Ethan immediately, and once again, with my finger pointed at him, I practically spat out the words.

"Trying to blackmail me again, Ethan?"

"You can't simply turn your back on me and cut me out of your life like this," he said, getting too close for comfort. "We have an agreement, and if you don't fulfill your part, then I can't fulfill mine."

"Go ahead, expose the whole story in the media..." I was dead serious. "I refuse to be with someone who can't see an inch in front of their own nose."

"What do you mean by that? Why don't you speak directly? I'm not a man of half-truths."

"What I'm saying is that you've only brought problems into our lives—mine and my friends'," I took off the sunglasses that covered my swollen and bruised eye from the accident the previous night. "Prob-lems! That's all!"

Ethan

When Mariana took off her glasses and her eyes became visible to me, I felt a strong pain hit my chest, and the guilt for what happened last night came back in full force. I wasn't at all happy with how our disagreement ended up causing an accident, even if it wasn't serious. Just the fact that Mariana had her face like that made me feel really bad. And it became clear to me that I don't want to be a negative presence in her life.

"Murilo is just reaping what he sowed," I say, which should already be quite obvious to her. "You don't see it because he's your friend."