A very loud sound of something breaking is heard. Ricardo's cell phone hit the mirror when it was thrown by Julia in a fit of rage. Feeling dizzy, she leaned on the table and almost cut herself with the small shards scattered over the furniture, and the tears wouldn't stop falling.
She didn't want to believe what she had read, but there it was, letter by letter, proof of Ricardo betrayal. She pinched herself hard until her nails were dug into her arm and a light trickle of blood ran from the wound.
But how could she wake up from a nightmare while awake? The pain she inflicted on herself was tiny compared to what she was feeling at that moment.
"He will pay for this! She will pay for this!"I'LL MAKE BOTH OF THEM PAY FOR THIS!"
With a scream of fury, Julia hurriedly left the locker room, and as she left, the door made a loud bang against the inside wall of the room, damaging the hinges.
"Jeez! What's all that noise?"
The door to the office opened, revealing a frightened Marilise while her father was still getting up from his chair. When she came across Julia, who looked like the very personification of hatred, she felt a chill down his spine. Even so, he couldn't hold her tongue.
"Oh My God, Julia, what was-"
"SHUT UP, YOU FUCKING BITCH!"
The slap that followed was so strong that Marilise lost her balance, falling unconscious onto a pile of boxes full of paper bags for takeout. Her swollen left cheek had the exact impression of Julia's palm in a purplish-red tone. Alberto was speechless for a moment before supporting his injured daughter.
"WHAT IS THIS, GIRL!? ARE YOU CRAZY?"
Julia didn't listen to him. She hurried down the stairs with heavy steps, ignoring the customers who looked at her in astonishment at the noise and screams coming from upstairs.
Julia had a place in mind where she wanted to go, but first of all she went to the kitchen. Marcelo, who had turned off the stove to go see what had happened, was shocked to see the girl entering the kitchen and picking up something from the preparation table.
She came back from kitchen with a large knife in her hands and the customers, upon seeing her armed, had no other reaction than to freeze in fear. They didn't want to interfere with a nervous and armed girl in any way, no matter what she intended to do.
Hermes, who had left the store to smoke, had the brilliant idea of blocking her way with his arms open.
"What was that up there? And what was that knife for?"
"Get out." - She said in a low voice.
"Huh? You're not going to answer me? Be careful how you talk to me, girl!"
"I said get out of my way."
"First give me that knife! It belongs to the store!"
"Then try to take it."
This time Julia's voice was clear and her imperative tone seemed to make the knife especially sharp.
Hermes, finally understanding that it wouldn't be smart to persist, ran upstairs. Camila froze in fear, barely able to breathe, and Marcelo, who had left the kitchen to see what had happened, hadn't realized his knife was missing until he saw it in Julia's hands, who was now rushing out the front door.
Ricardo was no longer where he was handing out the flyers. He had moved under a leafy, distant tree, trying to escape from the sun, and hadn't noticed Julia approaching.
"Ahhh, enough! I can't do this anymore. I'm going to the store for lunch. Julia? What's wrong? Why are you crying?
"...Alice Blonde".
"Huh? Say what?"
Julia's gaze seemed bloodshot, fixed on Ricardo. Still not understanding, he tried to ask again.
"Júlia, w-"
"Carla from the mall. Monique from the bookstore."
Shit, this doesn't sound good.
"W-what are you talking about? What names are those?" - Ricardo tried to disguise his voice, wavering.
And then he noticed the knife in the girl's hands.
"Lucia... Big Boobs...
He had no more doubts about what had happened. He remembered having asked her to pick up his cell phone, it was clear that she had looked at the messages. He thought it best to slowly walk away from the girl without turning his back on her.
"Listen, Julia, I can explain..."
"...and a bunch of other girls I've never heard of. They're all girls you've hooked up with. All while you were with me. All this time. All this. Time." - He pointed the knife at Ricardo.
"Julia, look. Those girls are my friends. The messages are just for fun, you know? It's nothing serious, you need to calm down!" - He was sweating coldly, he had to try to convince her.
"I'm not done…! - Julia's posture changed to one of clear attack intent amidst screams - EVEN THAT BITCH MARILSE! RIGHT IN MY FACE!
Julia charged at Ricardo, who had barely avoided being hit in the stomach. She ran into the tree and almost crashed into it. Ricardo took the opportunity to run, but he went in the opposite direction to the snack bar.
The costume seems even heavier and his feet were slipping inside his sweat-soaked paws, but he still had the strength to run down the street with Julia in tow.
"I'M GOING TO KILL YOU! TRAITOR! BASTARD!"
Ricardo ran at the top of his lungs. The head of the costume had been lost somewhere along the way, but it didn't matter to him now. It was his neck that was at stake at that moment.
Julia, who as far as he knew, wasn't the athletic type, ran only with the strength of hatred. It didn't seem to take long to catch up with him in that heavy costume, but they had already walked two blocks and the snack bar was getting further and further away.
Let's go back in time a little.
In another part of the city, Gilmar the driver had just dropped his daughter off at home with his wife. He intended to take her with him to sort out the situation with Ricardo, but he changed his mind, thinking it would be better to leave her out of the matter.
When he was back in the truck and starting it, he felt someone grab his arm.
"Dad! Please, don't do this!" It was Diana, his daughter who had opened the truck door to try to stop him.
"Calm down, my sweetheart. I told you. Dad is just going to talk to him."
"With that iron bar back there?" She pointed to the object.
"It's just a little scare, I promise it won't be anything more than that."
His wife intervened, grabbing her daughter and forcing her to let go of his arm. Her look was full of doubt and fear, because she knew her husband very well. He's a good father, but when it came to his daughter, he could turn into a monster if he had to.
"My dear, come here, get away from the truck!"
"No, mom! He's going to kill Ricardo!"
"No, he won't! Gil! Please! Think Twice!" - She begged.
"I know, Marcia. I will."
Before he could be stopped again, he starts the engine and the truck slowly moved away. In the rearview mirror, he could see his wife and daughter hugging on the sidewalk, getting further and further away. He grabbed the iron bar and placed it on the passenger seat. His destination was already set: Deliwings's Snack Bar.
"Nobody messes with my family. Nobody."
Back in the present day, the chase continues. Julia was not willing to give in, but she was starting to show signs of fatigue. Ricardo made a bad choice and ended up cornered in an alley. There was nowhere left to run with Julia positioned in front of him.
"...Pant, pant… now… I… got you."
"Julia, don't do this!" - Exhausted, he softened his voice as best he could.
"DON'T DO THIS? DID YOU EVER THINK BEFORE DOING WHAT YOU DID? DID YOU?"
"NO, I DIDN'T THINK! I KNOW THAT!"
"AND WHY?"
"…"
"WHY?"
"BECAUSE I'M A PIECE OF SHIT!
Julia looked surprised. Ricardo had never said anything about himself that wasn't something to brag about, nothing negative. Admitting something like that was new.
"...because I'm a shit. A womanizer. Greedy. Insecure. I know all of that very well""
"…"
"Julia, I know I have no right to justify mysel!, I did a lot of shit and I have no way of contesting it."
"...Why you're greedy?"
"I didn't want to be like my father, spending my whole life serving others and then living off a meager pension when I'm no longer good for anything. Is it wrong to want a better life?"
"That doesn't justify hitting on that slut. And what do you mean by being insecure?"
"Because I know I'm not the kind of guy girls want, I invented this player facade, I wanted girls to notice me."
"I noticed you! I like you, you idiot! And some of these girls must like you too!"
"Even so I felt insecure!"
"You're so childish for thinking like that!"
"I KNOW...! Yeah, I know."
"If you knows, what are you going to do now, then?"
"I'm still thinking. But there's one thing I know I have to do."
"...And what is it?"
"Forgive me."
"After all this, do you think it will be that easy? Will forgiving you change anything?"
"No, I know it won't. But it's a start. I'll start with you. Forgive me."
"And the other girls?"
"It'll take a while, but I'll apologize to all of them, for as long as it takes."
"Do you think that after all this I'll still like you?"
"No. I don't deserve you. It's too much to hope for that."
"Are you really sorry?"
"I am. I need some time to fix everything, but I'll try hard to prove to you that I am sorry."
"Fine. I'll believe in you. For now. Don't disappoint me again."
"Thank you."
Julia took a deep breath, trying to organize her own thoughts. After a minute of silence, she asked:
"And now, what do we do?"
"What do you mean? I'm not the one who has to do something?"
"Not after I slapped Marilise in her face." - She replied embarrassed, looking away.
"What did you do?"
"The damn bitch sent a message to your phone. She was just chatting you up, she doesn't want anything to do with you. She knew we were together so she wanted to make fun of us.
She messed with my day off so we wouldn't have time off together and even intended to ask her father to fire me. That bitch!"
"I didn't know that part."
"Because when she sent the messages you were out. And now you won't see it anymore, because... I threw your phone at the mirror and it brokes. "- She replied, looking away.
"You broke my phone!?"
"I got angry, what did you want?"
"Okay, forget it, it's just a phone. And that knife there?"
"I took it without Marcelo knowing. He's going to go crazy over this."
"Marcelo? I'm thinking about Alberto spitting fire! We're going to get into trouble, you can be sure of that."
"If I don't get arrested for beating up that bitch, I'm already in profit."
"If that happens, I'll hit him, then we'll go to jail together."
"Hahahahahaha, really?"
"After this crap here, he owes me more than anything." - He stated while pointing at the costume with his fingers.
"It's all ripped apart."
"Not more than I wanted. If I wasn't only wearing underwear in here, I'd take them off right now and tear to pieces."
"Hahahaha! I know. I think we should go, but before that..."
"What the- ARGH! Ouch...
A punch hit Ricardo squarely. Since he didn't have time to prepare himself, he fell rolling on the floor groaning in pain. After throwing the punch, Julia stretched with a smile on her lips.
"Ahhhh, now I'm feeling much better! You didn't think you'd get out of this without taking anything, did you?"
"To tell you the truth, I did."
"Come on, get up quickly. Take my hand."
"Ouch, okay, I deserve it. Will it leave a mark?"
They began the walk back to the snack bar. Julia was calmer now, and they were making plans to look for another job together. Julia is really tough, but she's an even better girl than I thought. I need to rethink my actions; I'm grateful to her for waking me up. – He thought.
The afternoon seemed more pleasant to both of them now that they had made peace, making them walk at a slow pace. There was no hurry to return and face the destiny that awaited them.