Lossless

Mariana

But as if Ethan's actions weren't enough to completely drive me crazy, when I arrived at his office, I came face to face with the former employee of FERZ who has been causing a lot of trouble for Murilo, which is simply unforgivable. I would never tolerate being involved with a man who was behind all that scandal, even though I agree with Ethan that he always made his intentions of revenge against Murilo clear. I am not obligated to live with someone without scruples, who has shown themselves capable of doing anything just to harm my best friend's fiancé.

What happened a few minutes ago had left me disturbed, and I didn't want to go back home just yet, even though I knew it would be the right thing to do now.

Virgínia and I were seated face to face in the food court of the shopping mall. I had asked her to meet me there instead of coming to the store because it wouldn't be a good idea for me to be seen with my swollen face by customers. I couldn't simply wear sunglasses inside my own store for the entire time I would be there.

A few minutes later, we were sitting together, and I had already told her everything that had happened that morning.

"What a scoundrel!" Virgínia exclaimed, her anger directed towards Ethan. "Bastard! Jerk!"

"Take it easy, my friend," I said, concerned. "Remember that you're pregnant. You can't let yourself get this worked up. Think about your baby!"

"You're absolutely right," she quickly agreed, placing her hand on her belly, as if apologizing. "But I'm just so angry at that idiot. How could he join forces with that lowlife employee of Murilo's just to try to harm my fiancé like this?"

I smiled without humor because I felt exactly the same way. It had been an unpleasant surprise for me as well, and like Virgínia, I was feeling furious at the lack of character displayed by those two men.

"Although I feel the same way as you do, Vi, I understand that there's no reason for so much surprise," I tried to be a bit rational. "After all, Ethan has always made it very clear that he sees Murilo as a great enemy, all because of a completely senseless revenge."

"Of course, we know that," Virgínia agreed. "But something I want to ask you again, Mari, is not to give in to Ethan's blackmail. Let him do whatever he wants with this story about the auction. The truth is, we knew the risks when we decided to go to the nightclub. Now we just have to face the consequences of what we did."

I couldn't respond to my friend because a couple approaching our table completely caught my attention, as it was such an unusual sight.

"Is that Artémis and... Joshua!?" I asked, unable to believe my eyes.

Virgínia quickly looked in the same direction as I did, and without saying a word, it was clear that she was also quite surprised by what she was seeing. However, we didn't comment on it because they had also noticed us, and after waving in our direction, Artémis and her companion approached our table.

"Artémis!" Virgínia greeted, standing up. "Hi, Joshua... right?"

The way Virgínia greeted the newcomers was somewhat comical but entirely understandable since Artémis and Joshua were holding hands, and I hadn't even managed to recover from the shock yet. So, I admired my friend's ability to handle the situation gracefully. By this point, I was also standing up, greeting the couple.

"What are you doing here?" Artémis asked after quickly greeting us with a truly enormous smile.

"I believe we should be asking you that, sister-in-law," Virgínia replied with good humor. "Mariana and I work here in this shopping mall, did you forget?"

Despite Virgínia's response, all Artémis did was laugh at herself, with a great sense of humor and without a hint of embarrassment for being caught, let's say, red-handed, walking hand in hand with Beatriz's brother.

Joshua, on the other hand, as it seemed to be a characteristic of his, quickly took control of the situation, extending his hand first to Virgínia and then to me, in a polite greeting.

"It's a pleasure to see you again, Virgínia and Mariana."

In addition to being extremely polite, Joshua also seemed to have an excellent memory, but that was just one more of his qualities.

"Hi, Joshua," I said, but as I was still very surprised to see them as a couple, I proceeded with my curiosity. "Did you two already know each other?"

I had a complete lack of restraint and asked that question because I wanted to kill the curiosity that was eating me alive.

Despite the highly personal question, Joshua and Artémis didn't seem the least bit bothered and exchanged a significant look between them, showing an admirable harmony.

"We met yesterday," Joshua replied, without appearing uncomfortable. On the contrary, he seemed to find the situation amusing.

"Why don't we sit down?" the suggestion came from Artémis.

Soon, we were all seated and engaged in lively conversation. They confessed that despite having known each other for less than twenty-four hours, it felt like much longer, and they were willing to be together and see where it could lead.

Despite the surprise at how quickly things were progressing, I admired their courage to pursue what they desired, without caring about other people's opinions, something that has always been important to me.

"This is truly surprising!" Virgínia commented with a smile.

"Yes, very surprising," I repeated to emphasize the point.

"I enjoy doing surprising things," Joshua said, looking at his new girlfriend. He added, "Isn't that right, Artémis?"

The conversation was so pleasant that I managed to momentarily forget what had happened earlier that morning. However, when I saw someone approaching from a distance, someone who was a part of everything and the main affected party, it all came rushing back with full force.

"It seems like we arranged a meeting here in the food court today," I said, with the sole intention of preparing everyone for his arrival.

"Murilo!?" Virgínia exclaimed in astonishment as her fiancé approached the table.

Apparently, some things would be clarified right there and then, as the opportunity couldn't have been more perfect.