And the next day, Shannon came back. It was the second day in a row that she had appeared at the house... and she was always so kind to me...
To avoid exploding, I went to sit on one of the chairs outside the house. Ron soon appeared to keep me company.
"What's bothering you, Lilly?"
"Nothing."
"Well, 'nothing' didn't bother you before."
I took a deep breath and continued:
"On the day of the charity dinner, I saw something."
"What did you see?"
"Jealousy. She showed up there accompanied and he didn't know how to deal with it."
Ron laughed.
"Naaah, Poodle! It cannot be! You were seeing things."
"I know what I saw, Ron."
Ron paused briefly.
"You know he's crazy about you, right?"
Ron paused again.
"I need a drink."
He entered the house and soon returned with two of our favorite drinks. He handed me one and said:
"I asked them to keep sending."
After we toasted and drank almost half the dose in one go, Ron asked:
"Do you have a plan?"
"Either we leave, or he leaves."
"After the divorce."
"Right."
"It would be easier for him to move."
"I agree."
Then we drank everything there was to drink.
"I'll ask them to speed up the refill. I will be back in a moment."
I waited until he came back with two new drinks. I resumed our conversation.
"I think I wouldn't mind going, as long as you came with me. I'm going to need an honorary guardian," I said, already downing half of that second glass.
"Shiiit..."
Ron took another sip, pondered a bit, and then continued:
"Well, one thing is a fact: he is your guardian and that won't change. Not now, not ever."
I dried the contents of the second glass.
"And?" I questioned.
"What I'm saying is... He's going to have others and you're going to have others, and you're both going to have to find a way to live with it."
I didn't accept that conclusion, I got up, and went straight to Vince's house.
Once I got there, I found Victor sitting on the couch while Vince was cutting some tomatoes on the table.
"Look who it is," said Victor.
"Yes, yes. Hi, Victor," I said without paying much attention.
I leaned over the counter where Vince was and kissed him.
"Hey..." he said, but then I kissed him again. "Be good. She should be walking through those doors at any moment." Disappointed, I sighed and sat down on a bench facing him. "Problems at home?"
"Story of my life."
For a moment, Vince stopped what he was doing and looked impatient.
"You need to stop doing this shit."
"Not today, Vince. Today I don't accept lectures."
"You need to come to your senses!"
"Right, because being faithful was all I needed to do to be able to be with you, wasn't it?" I pinned. He knew I was right, so he went back to his business. "Anyway..." I continued. "Not today."
"What happened?"
Irritated, I grabbed the bottle of something, which he was probably going to use for cooking, whatever that was. He took a still wet glass from the drainer and handed it to me. While serving myself, I said:
"Shannon."
"But this is isn't news."
"Yes," I said, taking a sip of that drink, which was horrible. "But he's falling in love with her." So I poured another dose again. "And I don't want to be there to see it." I downed the second glass.
"Whoa!" he said when he saw me soaking.
"Take it easy..." commented Victor.
"Take it easy," Vince agreed.
"It's not worth it," concluded Victor.
"You have no idea..." I said, pouring more of that horrible drink into the glass.
Then I looked at Vince, who was currently cutting tomatoes to prepare dinner for his girlfriend. Desperation hit me.
"Why couldn't you love me, Vince?" I recognized that it was the drink talking.
"Hey..." said Victor, getting up and coming to me. "Stop this."
"I'm serious! Before it was because I was lost... then because I was a foreigner... then because I was poor... But now I'm not any of those things, so why?" Yes, I confess that I was already completely drunk at that point. I don't even know if what I said sounded right.
"Come here. Sit here with me," Victor called, but he didn't want to go.
"I get it," Vince began. "I see you're not well, but I can't talk to you right now. She's about to arrive and I still have some things to do. Why don't you sit over there with Victor for now?"
"I'm not leaving here!" I said, angry, drinking more.
So, Victor stood up and told me to sit over there. I took the bottle and went to the corner of the counter. Victor sat next to me. He seemed to be looking out for me.
After that, I heard her arrive, but it was already loud and I didn't really understand the situation. I remember Vince wanted to take me home. I think I got sick halfway and asked to stop... I remember we stopped at the beach and I found a rock to sit on. I remember I slept.
I woke up in my bed, comfortably but to the sound of a familiar voice.
"This place reeks of alcohol!" It was Cesar. "That's disgusting! Stand up!" I heard the same thing said, but I ignored it. "Now!" He pulled me to get up.
He took me to the bathroom, where he turned on the shower. I screamed and asked him to stop.
"That's what you deserve for getting wasted." Then he let me go with everything, saying: "Pathetic." And left the room.
Still wearing my clothes, I sat in the shower and relaxed with the shower water. The assistant brought me a post-drink/hangover kit and I drank it right there. Then she helped me get dressed and ready. That day, I felt grateful to have an assistant.
A short time later, I went down for lunch. I had barely sat down at the table when Cesar grumbled:
"I can still smell..."
Then someone said something that took Cesar's attention away.
When it was time to sleep, he appeared, but instead of wearing pajamas, he seemed to be getting ready. I waited for him to say something. Anything. When it was almost ready, I decided to ask:
"Why are you dressed up?"
"I'm not sleeping here tonight."
"And where are you going?"
"I'm going to Shannon's," he said, getting up. I got up too and went to him.
"Cesar, no," I said, but he opened the door and left the room.
I insisted and went after him. In the hallway, I managed to catch up with him and grabbed his arm, making him stop and look at me.
"Please don't," I asked. He took my hand off his arm, holding it in the air.
"Now you know what it's like when you want someone to stay and they don't give a damn."
So, he threw my hand, but I still insisted. He started walking again, going down the stairs, but I followed him.
"This is different! You're falling in love with her!"
"Just like you fell in love with your vampires."
We were shouting at each other through the corridors.
"No, but this is different! She's... Veronica! Cesar, please stop!" I continued, but he didn't stop. "I love..."
This made him stop and look at me with a look of fury.
"Please," I begged.
He looked like he was going to say something to me, but, apparently giving up on what he was going to say, he started walking again.
"I didn't ask to be here!" I continued. "I left you! You came and brought me back to this mess. I didn't ask to be here!"
At this point, I was already screaming, but he continued across the room towards the door. There, sitting, watching the whole show, were Ron, MaryAnne, and Chaos.
"Are you listening to me?!" I shouted, but he completely ignored me and left.
"Cesar..." I said in a low voice, still not believing it.
I still had one last moment of despair and ran to the door.
"Poodle!" said Ron, apparently trying to stop me from continuing that madness.
I ran to the door, and Ron followed me. There, I saw Cesar getting into his car and driving off.
"I'm going to disappear! Did you hear me?! And don't come looking for me!" I screamed and Ron held me, asking me to stop.
Ron took me to our little table on the side of the house, and there I cried like a child. I noticed that MaryAnne came to check on me, but Ron asked her to leave us alone.
Some time later, our wonderful assistant brought me something to calm me down. In a short time, the medicine worked. I initially felt calmer and then sleepy. I asked Ron to leave me sleeping there. I didn't want to go to the room.
Ron asked me to come in and at least sleep on one of the sofas in the living room. Without thinking much, I agreed.
I woke up in the middle of the night. The house was completely dark, and I also felt dizzy, unable to focus my vision. It must still be the effect of the medicine.
I walked towards the room and believed I had arrived. When I opened the door, I could see that there was someone in bed — and that person woke up to the sound of the door. He got scared and sat down and stared at me. Initially, I thought Cesar had returned, but I only had to strain my vision a little to see that it was Chaos.
"What are you doing?" I asked, thinking he was in my room, but I immediately felt someone hug me and pull me away.
"Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, Poodle." It was Ron. "You're in the wrong room."
"What?"
Ron took me to my room, but I thought it was strange how I could have made such mistake.