Abandonment

Virgínia

I couldn't describe what I was feeling at that moment. There were so many emotions inside my chest that I couldn't define what was predominating because I couldn't even recognize most of them.

How could my parents have simply abandoned me, just when I needed the support of the people I loved the most in this world?

Not even when I decided that I would sell my virginity to get the money I needed to provide a better life for my parents, not even on that day did I feel my heart beat as fast as it did now.

Even today, before I left home, my mother was by my side, supporting me. She even made some tea with some salt and water crackers, in an attempt to make me feel better!

I knew that my father was treating me with indifference and that he didn't seem at all willing to change his mind about my "independent" pregnancy.

But I sincerely thought that things would change, for we were in the middle of the twenty-first century. It was not the end of the world that a woman, of legal age and owner of her nose, would get pregnant and choose to be a solo mother.

I looked at Murilo, who was by my side at that moment, trying at all costs to make me feel better. He had always had a protective attitude, from the first moment he was with me in that bedroom at the Season Hot Club, and he had offered to give me the money from the auction without me having to give myself to him.

I thought about the irony of having my family disown me when I needed their affection the most, while to that man, I only had to tell him I was pregnant, and he supported me unconditionally, without judgments or accusations. Which would be understandable, considering the way we met and the reason we were with each other.

But it was so difficult to trust a man who went to nightclubs with the sole intention of buying virgins in clandestine auctions that I could not be judged for fear of getting closer to him. Who could guarantee me that he hadn't done this before, or even that he didn't keep going to the club, hoping to find another girl of his interest and bid on her again?

I knew he had the money to do this, and a lot of it. He was a powerful businessman, a partner in a million-dollar company, not to mention his fortune, a family heirloom.

What a mess I had gotten myself into, I thought with disgust.

" Feeling better? " he asked, after long minutes of uncontrollable crying.

" Yes," That was all I could say.

" I understand that you are feeling abandoned, Virginia. But I want to make it clear that you are not alone "

Murilo spoke, staring me straight in the eyes and passing on a message even more important than his own words: he was telling the truth.

I felt that his words were not just spoken as a way to comfort me and that he meant what he said. But the memory of him with Lavinia in the nightclub and again today in my store hurt too much.

It was no use lying to myself when the truth was stamped on my heart. I liked Murilo from the first minute I saw him raise his arm and enter a dispute to bid the highest for me in the club.

I looked closely at that handsome man, kind, considerate, and so many other positive things, and I felt like a wicked witch.

But I didn't believe in princes, and he had already shown that he was no saint when he acted like that in the nightclub and had sex with Lavinia in a public way.

"What were you doing with Lavinia Moura in my store this afternoon?”

It was necessary to set the record straight, and if he wanted to be by my side, he needed to make me safe enough to do so.

"I did not go to the mall with Lavinia, as it must have seemed. I went to meet my cousin, Artemis, and Lavinia was with her, but I didn't know that detail" he explained.

"But your cousin was not with you in the store.”

" As far as I could tell, you and Aquiles have the same birthday," he said, completely changing the subject and leaving me confused.

"Who is Aquiles?”

" Sorry, I forgot that you don't know him... yet " I clearly understood his intention in saying that I "haven't" met him yet "He is my cousin, Artemis' brother, and Lavinia's boyfriend.”

Murilo's explanation became more confusing with each word he said, and he brought his hand to his forehead, rubbing it as if he was feeling some pain.

"Everything I am saying is very easy to confirm. All you have to do is agree to meet my family and everything will become very clear.”

I had no desire to meet a family of millionaires who were probably all snobs. The fact that the cousin is a friend of Lavinia's says a lot about her, and I didn't want to put myself in a disadvantageous situation where I might suffer some sort of discrimination.

"The fact is that Lavinia asked for my help in choosing a gift for my cousin and said she knew of a store that had many interesting options. This was the reason I went to your store with Lavinia.”

I arched my eyebrow, still deciding whether or not I should believe what he was telling me, but it was so hard to trust a stranger because that's what we were to each other, two strangers.

"You don't believe me, do you?”