Hard to Believe

Murilo

When the waiter came to our table, interrupting what Virginia was about to tell me, I was annoyed because what she intended to tell me seemed to be something important.

When I realized that she had placed an order and was about to eat during our conversation, which seemed to have a different importance than what I had imagined, I was confused, not being able to understand how she could simply make a meal at that hour, even more so with me watching her and when it was she who had asked to advance our meeting.

But when I saw how she picked up the cutlery, seeming to almost lick her lips with such a desire to eat that blessed lasagna, the strangeness increased, and I remembered a scene in the soap opera that Aquiles was watching the night before, very similar to the present moment, where the woman was pregnant and eating uncontrollably.

The way Virginia was looking at the lasagna in front of her brought me to the scene and, upon her statement that yes, "something" happened, as she put it, and that I would not like to know about it, upon her hesitation in telling me all at once, I immediately thought: Virginia is pregnant.

She swallowed the food that had probably been stuck in her throat, hearing the directness with which I asked the question about her pregnancy, and then spoke resolutely:

"You got it right. I am pregnant, yes.”

I looked at her and couldn't decide whether to laugh, so happy at the news, or pretend to be worried or afraid because it was clear that this was what she expected me to do, and I didn't want her to think I didn't care about her feelings.

But I could not contain myself and ended up letting out a restrained smile, which soon grew bigger, and I was sure that it was almost all over my face and I used all my willpower not to scream with happiness.

Finally, I would be a father!

"I guess you don't understand, Murilo.”

Virginia said this as she took another mouthful of food, closing her eyes to enjoy the taste of it and then opening them again in a slow and deliciously provocative manner.

" You're pregnant. I get it " I confirmed, still with the smile seemingly nailed to my face.

"And the child is yours, Murilo. I'm pregnant, and the child is yours. You will be a father.”

Virginia seemed about to draw for me what she thought I was not understanding. The truth is that she was the one who wasn't understanding that with every sentence she said, but I felt exultant, happy, and fulfilled.

I would be a father, and even if Virginia could not understand and accept it, still, the fact that she was the mother of my child was not at all unpleasant to me. Quite the contrary.

"I need to tell Grandma and Artemis. And Aquiles, of course.”

I ended up saying out loud what I had intended to keep only in thought. And I kept analyzing how I could give this news to Grandma because she was already a little old and the news that she would be a great-grandmother very soon would trigger a great emotion for her, for sure.

" I don't think you've come to terms with it yet," Virginia said, in the interval between one bite of food "I feel the same way.”

I smiled at the way she believed I was feeling, when in fact everything I felt could be summed up in a single word: happiness. But Virginia confused this and believed that I was bewildered, which is quite funny, and I let out a laugh.

"You are one of those people that when you get nervous you can't stop laughing, aren't you? I worked with a girl who was like that, too.”

I didn't dispute her statement, it was more comfortable for me that she believed that to be the case, and I just smiled at her comment, implying that she was right in her assumption.

She brought the napkin to her mouth, wiping the corners gently, and I realized that she had finished her plate of lasagna and admired how quickly she did it.

" I guess now that you are pregnant, you won't be able to eat that kind of food " I commented, feeling worried "It must not be good for our baby.”

She stopped what she was doing, her napkin in the air, looking at me as if she was seeing an apparition from another world.

" I'm worried about you, Murilo," she said, placing what she had in hand next to her empty plate. "I told you that I'm expecting your child, and you come and question my diet?”

" Of course! " I said with conviction " Now that you are expecting a baby, you need to think about the welfare of the child, Virginia. You are going to be a mother now.

" Aren't you upset or something? " she asked, looking quite surprised.

" I would say, " something like that.

She didn't need to know yet that the "something like that" I was referring to was being extremely happy because fate was giving me something far greater than I thought I deserved, for if before I had believed that Virginia and I had a good chance of having a serious relationship, now I was sure that she had come into my life to stay.

As for the fact that we had met under rather unusual circumstances, this was something that did not worry me at all, but ideally, no one but the two of us should know about this circumstance.