Bitter Memories

Ethan

Mariana let out a loud laugh, as I already imagined she would, and it was precisely for this reason that I provoked her. I liked to hear her loud and carefree laughter.

"I am certain that this is not a relationship you are looking for.

"Of course not," I say with astonishment. "I am referring to a perfect couple... in bed. Pure dynamite.

As I said this, I stared at Mariana's face and could notice a very expressive blush, something that surprised me, because she didn't seem to be shy at all.

We had just entered the capital, and the traffic became much heavier, even though it was a Sunday morning and I had to concentrate even more on driving, the silence inside the car was not unpleasant, and I noticed that I enjoyed Mariana's company.

Thinking more about the previous night, even though we had slept together, without having sex, as I ardently wish had happened, I had still enjoyed being with Mariana, just for her company, something that had never happened to me before.

Sex had always been something very important to me, and if the sex was good, the relationship was good, which made my relationships all sex-based.

"Why are you so jealous of Murilo? Mariana suddenly asks, immediately making me tense.

"What I feel for Murilo is not jealousy! "I vehemently deny it. "I hate him because he took something very important from me, and just as I suffered, so must he suffer.

"So, Murilo ripped you off in business and bought a company you wanted to buy, and that's why you're as upset as he is?

"I would never consider someone who does something like that an enemy," I retorted rather brusquely, annoyed yes, but at the way she was handling the situation. "I am talking about a person, someone who was very special in my life, and that because of Murilo's fault, for ego reasons, he caused a tragedy.

" I don't understand. "Mariana says, looking confused, "What are you trying to say?

At that moment, while driving calmly through the streets of São Paulo, I did something I had never done before that day. I told Mariana the whole story about the girl I loved but had lost to a big bully named Murilo Fernandes.

Mariana was causing unexpected reactions in me, and I still wasn't sure if this was a good thing, but still, I felt the need to get it off my chest, to tell someone about what happened eight years ago.

Mariana

As much as I didn't agree at all with the way Ethan looked at things, I couldn't deny that the man was handsome and attractive, and quite charming when he wanted to be.

Now, after hearing his story about the past and the revelations involving Murilo, I understood what his main motivation was, but I didn't agree at all with his attitude.

The place of the past is in the past and nothing he does can bring Beatriz back.

This is exactly what I told Ethan when he finished telling me about the love triangle Murilo got into, which I had a feeling he didn't even remember, or even know about because he made it very clear that they were business rivals, and that this rivalry increased even more after Ethan "stole" his fiancée.

Ultimately, Constantine had done Murilo a huge favor by letting him be free of Bruna's snake, and he knew it perfectly well.

Ethan

After I had vented to Mariana about my history with Beatriz, I felt a little uncomfortable to continue at her side, I felt I needed some time alone, away from her presence.

Still, I made every point of dropping her off in front of her house, so I could know where she lived, and after a brief goodbye, I left, but I didn't intend to go to my house, as she may have imagined I would.

Mariana seemed puzzled by what she considered a change of plans, and that it was, for I intended to spend that day in her company and, who knows, do what I had been longing to do since I first laid eyes on her stunning beauty, which was to be inside her, satiating myself in her body.

But I couldn't do that today, after having told her about my history with Beatriz and, feeling my heart heavy, with a pain already known to me, I headed for the cemetery.

When I arrived at Beatriz's grave and saw her picture, where she had a radiant and full-of-life smile, which was in complete contrast to the reality of the facts, my grip tightened, reminding me of the joyful girl she had always been.

"Just as the opportunity to be happy was taken away from you, I won't let him be happy either, Bea," I said to the inanimate stone tombstone. "Murilo Fernandes can't go around radiating happiness, while I still miss him.

Even after long and agonizing years away from the only woman I ever loved, I still thought about her every day and made it a point to visit her grave at least once a week to vent a little, to tell Bea what I was doing to make Murilo's life difficult.

I left the cemetery with that desire even stronger in me, for I could never forget everything that had happened. As I drove slowly back to my house in the Jardins, I thought about our history and the succession of events that culminated in the tragedy that took Beatriz away from me.

When, some years ago, my girlfriend died in a car accident, I was devastated, because I had great plans for us, but when I learned how things happened, I swore to myself that it would not go unpunished, one way or another, that guy who caused my girl's emotional breakdown would pay.

I had been dating Bea since we were just two teenagers, our families were friends, and we grew up together. I loved her and knew she loved me too, and we intended to get married as soon as she graduated from business school.

As I was two years older than Beatriz, I was already working in an important multinational company, when she was still finishing her college degree, and this disturbed us a little, as I had plans to conquer a better position in my job and we saw each other very little.