João Felipe
My brother's trip to the United States triggered in me something I wasn't able to control. The need to be with Viviane, to have her for me, who was bigger than anything and I couldn't help but always be looking for her, looking for opportunities to talk to her.
I never swallowed this marriage of hers to João Pedro, and now that he had simply traveled and left her alone, the feeling was even greater that there was something wrong with that relationship.
Today, for example, it was Friday night and Viviane had gone out with her friends, not caring that her husband was thousands of miles away, and when he was close, they never left just the two of them. With the exception of that lunch a few days ago, something that even Mom always commented on.
Another thing I didn't swallow either, was João Pedro's lame excuse for this trip to NY. The justification that I had been absent for a long time from the branch, which was still true because it had been almost two months since I had been in Brazil, and that he would personally see how the company was going, was ridiculous, to say the least. He was not so fond of the family business, always fulfilling only his role as legal director of the company, because it was something he was oriented to from a young age and was never interested to the point of traveling out of the country on behalf of Mendes.
Anyway, I decided that I would take advantage of this moment when my brother was away and go with everything to try to really talk to Viviane and for us to come to some kind of understanding. If she convinced me that she really didn't feel anything for me anymore, I would leave her alone once and for all and try to get on with my life, to look for someone else who could make me forget the madness of desiring my brother's wife.
Armed with the information of which place the friends chose to enjoy that Friday night, obtained through an unpretentious conversation with Mom, I was now arriving at the place, a very busy nightclub, in the south of São Paulo. When I came across several well-known people, I realized that Viviane had changed a lot, since, as far as I knew, she did not like environments full of São Paulo high society.
Knowing that it would seem very strange that I would be present in that place, just when Viviane was also there, I invited my friends to accompany me, and the two brothers, Nicolas and Henrique were already sitting at a table in the VIP area of the nightclub when I arrived. With them was Laila, who was, in addition to Henrique's assistant, a great friend, who was always accompanying him everywhere he was, whether for work or not.
Lucky for me Nicolas to have agreed to accompany us, probably his wife was on some business trip. Henrique, I imagined he would accept easily, because he continued with his single life and catcher, and was even quite surprised when I called them to leave. Ricardo said he was still hungover because he had left the night before and could not bear to drink again today, he told me. I believed it, because I've been through similar situations at some points in my life, I thought with a smile.
" Until finally, you arrived, Felipe! " said Henrique, standing up and greeting me with a quick hug and the famous pats on the back between men. "It took you a while."
Since I arrived in São Paulo, whenever the four of them were free, we had lunch together and in some moments I was also visiting the brothers in their company, since we were all already in charge of the family business, but refused all invitations to the night outings.
" Sarah was pretty boring today because she got vaccinated and ended up waking up after Vivi left, so I kept lullaby her until she went back to sleep" I explained as I sat down at the table and motioned for the waitress to come to us.
" Now I was confused, " Henrique said in jest, I knew there would be some joke to come. " You arriving late because you were with a girl is normal, but the reason your delay is a little girl of a year old, in that I really can't believe it!"
After the waitress wrote down my order and went out in search of more drinks for my friends, Nicolas decided to continue with his brother's joke.
"I need to agree with my brother, Felipe. Are you really talking about Sarinha, João Pedro's daughter? " He smiled as he asked the question.
I didn't like hearing the reference to my brother when it came to my little one, but I disguised my discomfort and thought about changing the subject.
"That's right."
But while I was thinking about what to say, the waitress came with our orders and left the drinks on the table. After we thanked him, it was not possible to escape the topic of conversation, because Henrique insisted.
"Never before have I seen you interact with any child and now you seem so fatherly towards your niece... " insinuated and I was already going to answer crossed when I saw Viviane walking towards the dance floor, along with her two friends, Cecilia and Julia.
I hoped my friends hadn't noticed her presence in the club, as maybe they could relate it to the fact that I invited them to the same place today.
" Isn't that Vivi? " Henrique spoke, indicating with a nod the direction Vivi was going.
" It's her yes " Nicolas confirmed.
It seems that my wish was not granted and soon I was being the target of many malicious jokes and suggestions, which I thought I was not yet prepared to endure until I heard myself saying:
" Although you are not being nice to me, I have to confess one thing, because I can no longer bear to keep it with me " I took a breath to get out something that only now I had been able to admit even to myself.