THE CRYSTAL CUP - Chapter Eleven

 

THE CRYSTAL CUP

Chapter Eleven

It was past noon when Ricardo woke up. Yes, he lost time, he should have gone to the garage a long time ago and picked up his car on a stopover… it was already the second day he missed work… the first was when he and his sister-in-law ran around town after his wife… they ended up in the police station to register her disappearance. And now, again, but this time because she overslept… she was going to have to explain to the traffic chief. He didn't like asking favors, but the situation was atypical and he had no choice... he would have to ask for a few days off, to try to find out what happened to his wife. And it wouldn't be easy... especially after they filed a missing persons complaint and the police chief spent hours on end taking his statement once, twice... he didn't like the looks that the police chief and the clerk exchanged from time to time, every new question they asked. If only he had a little idea where Cecilia might be… but the worst thing is that his wife was like a sphinx… lately she didn't share anything with him. It was like they were two strangers. And that's what they were becoming. Very different from when they met and began to relate. It is true that part of the blame lay with him, who started drinking every day after finishing his shift at the company. But he only started drinking and taking time to go home when their relationship started to cool. It's just that, after some time of ice given by his wife, he ended up giving up trying to start a dialogue with her... it was easier to pretend that everything was fine, arriving home late when she was already sleeping. At least there wasn't a fight between the two. That is, when he arrived and she was already asleep. But sometimes, she made a point of staying awake and waiting for him... when that happened, it was a fight for sure. When did this start? He couldn't say… well, it's true that his relationship with Cecília was also shared with Roseli, with whom he had a daughter… his wife couldn't even dream of such a situation…

Ricardo had been married for about a year when he met Roseli. She was a faithful passenger in his car. Every day the two of them met both on the way out and on the way back, as she made a point of waiting until her bus passed. And so, they began a romance. Roseli knew that Ricardo was married, but she didn't care about that. As she always said when Ricardo reminded her of that detail, she wasn't jealous, she didn't mind sharing her husband with someone else. Although the other was her. She started flirting on trips, it ended up becoming trips on the weekend... sometimes he said he was going to make extra just to be able to meet his lover.

Well, the inevitable ended up happening... Roseli got pregnant. He went crazy when he found out. What was he going to do now? He was married, how could he take on a child out of wedlock? She reassured him, said she didn't intend to pressure him into anything. When the child was born, he would decide what he was going to do... and then, when he saw that beautiful baby in the maternity ward, he couldn't resist and registered the child, as he was supposed to do. And the two together decided to name the girl Letícia…

With the birth of the little one, Ricardo started to be away from home longer. He helped his mistress with household expenses, as far as possible, helped with baby care. That's when Cecília started to treat him in a colder way. He couldn't understand why. After all, he was very fond of his wife... (it's just that, who messes up, never manages to notice their faults, right?). Well, after some time, being thrown to the sidelines by his wife, as he used to say, and due to the constant arguments due to his inexplicable absences, Ricardo started to arrive home very late, staying at the bar with his friends, after delivering their cars to the garage. It was the solution he found, and he thought it solved everything...

“Wow”, he thought, “the day I met Cecília for the first time was so nice… we ran into each other at the movies. I didn't even feel like watching anything, but when I saw that little brunette in line to buy a ticket, I couldn't resist… I ended up going to watch a movie I didn't want just to be able to see that girl a little more…”

Yes, in fact Ricardo hadn't gone to the mall to watch anything. In fact, he had gone to buy some shirts for work, as his were a little worn from use. But he ended up watching an unscheduled movie session, and went to eat a McDonald's even though he didn't like the chain's snacks. All this to be able to find out who that beautiful girl was, who had stirred his heart. And it was worth all that mess in your schedule for the day. After all, although he didn't talk to her, he found out that her name was Cecília and she was fourteen years old. Only four years younger than him. He continued listening to his friends' conversation, and discovered the school where she studied. He already knew where he could find her. After two weeks of unsuccessful attempts, he finally managed to make contact with the girl. And he realized that she was also interested in him. Well, then he combined hunger with the desire to eat, as they say. A few days later, the two were already dating. She was in her last year of high school. He was a bus driver. Well, long story short, they dated for three years before he asked her to marry him. What the girl immediately accepted, because she loved him and was sure that by her side he would be happy forever, like in a fairy tale! Like in a fairy tale... well, only in children's stories really, so people can live happily ever after. Their first year of marriage was hell, they didn't fit at all. Funny, when they were dating, they got along so well, they agreed on everything… they just got married and everything changed. He never thought that his beloved was so… how to say, in a polite way… he never thought that his beloved was a bitch. And those bitches with a capital em… well, that's when Roseli came into her life. Damn, you couldn't even compare the two… they were too different. While Roseli was very affectionate, Cecília treated him with skin and everything, as they say. The only times she treated him a little bit better was when he gave her books as a gift… but, dammit, you couldn't take a book a day… besides being very expensive at the end of the month, there was still the problem of space for save them….

The first gift that Ricardo gave to his beloved Cecília was a music box. He remembers that the girl was delighted with the little gift. It wasn't a big deal, but you know how it is when you get a treat... no matter how silly it is, if it's offered by the person you're interested in, well, it becomes a priceless treasure...

Funny that, for Roseli, he never gave anything… not to say that she never got anything from his hands, one day he brought her a box of Bis… wow, how happy the girl was with the treat…

“Well”, he thought, “enough thinking about the past… the thing is to keep looking for Cecília, because the men are already thinking that I've done away with the unfortunate woman… now I really need to find out where she is… I have no desire to getting arrested for something I didn't do..."