THE CRYSTAL CUP - Chapter Fifty Eight

THE CRYSTAL CUP

Chapter Fifty Eight

The emotions that go through a lonely person's head are strange indeed. From joy to sadness, from love to hate, from calm to anger... commotions that change from one moment to the next in such a way that we can't even imagine how it happens. And that's how Ricardo felt... the image of Cecília in his mind made him feel all kinds of contradictory sensations and feelings. The memories of the good times together, the disappointment caused by their separation... the days of terror for not knowing the whereabouts of his partner, the fear of being arrested for a crime he didn't commit... yes, all that came to his mind like a whirlwind...

Ricardo was lying on his bed, thoughtful. Sleep did not come, perhaps due to the fact that he had dozed off on the bus while waiting for help to arrive. But it was horrible... a thousand contradictory thoughts ran through his head. He missed Cecilia... he loved her, he was sure of it... but there were moments when he wanted to just wring her beautiful neck... how could she leave him like that? Just him, who was always so good, so attentive to her... no, that definitely wasn't right. And he would find a way to make things right... she would come back to him, as sure as the sun that brightened the day... and it wouldn't be long, he could tell that... she would go back to the bosom of the home...

Ricardo was so caught up in his thoughts that he couldn't see the inconsistency of what he thought... after all, Cecília only left after several betrayals committed by him... and when the respect between the two ended, she simply packed her bags and left... but he couldn't see her mistakes... he saw only those that, in his imagination, she would have committed. He was so sure of his wife's mistakes that he swore she had a lover and, for the greatest of sins, had been having this affair since the first months of their marriage. Yes, in his imagination she was an unfaithful wife... and that would justify him taking a mistress, too... but now he would make her finish everything and return to his side... yes, he was willing to forgive her and even welcome her back to his house, to his side (it didn't matter much that Cecília had bought the property... in his mind, because he was her husband, the house was his, and that was it...). And if she didn't want to come for good... well... if she didn't live next to him, she certainly wouldn't live next to anyone else... he wouldn't allow Cecilia to affront him like that. There was no way he was going to let people continue to laugh in his face. No. Either she went back home... or she went to live in the cemetery...Ricardo shivered all over, thinking about that... he shook his head, as if he were pushing that macabre idea away. He sat down on the edge of the bed... he looked at the clock... it was four o'clock... time to get up and start another day of work... in his heart he thanked the heavens... working he wouldn't have time to think about certain things...

That day Roseli woke up troubled... she didn't know why, but she didn't feel calm... her soul was restless. Apparently her life was peaceful... she and Dona Olga got along very well, their little girl was happy... so, what was it that tormented her so much? He couldn't understand... he looked at the clock... half past five... it was enough time to take a shower to wake up, prepare his lunchbox, drink coffee and, after giving his little one a kiss, head down the street, take the bus and head to the laundry room. And that's what she did... at exactly seven o'clock she was leaving to go to her job. Eight o'clock marked her card, per the rules of the house, already late... after all, they asked that all employees be at their posts at the time of their work... because, if they clocked in exactly at their stipulated time, until they changed and everything else would arrive at their place of work twenty, twenty-five minutes later... Roseli always obeyed the company's schedule... but that day the bus was late, the traffic was chaotic, due to an accident with a motorcyclist on a certain part of the route... well, a series of things that didn't supposed to happen were happening this morning. The girl was really worried. Feeling that it wasn't a good day for her, she decided to double her attention... after all, her intuition told her to be careful... and that was what saved her, at least in five different situations that day. First, the dummy she was working with shorted out and caught fire, nearly killing her. If she weren't attentive to all the details of her work, she would probably be the victim of third-degree burns... the last near-accident happened when she was returning from her lunch break... she was on the second floor, where the cafeteria was. When she stepped on the first step, she stumbled and lost her balance. if she hadn't been holding on tightly to the railing, her fall would have been pretty bad for sure... at the very least, she would have ended up in a hospital bed for a long time... when the clock read four o'clock and she finally closed her shift, she breathed a sigh of relief... she had ended a day of ill omen unscathed... well, now it was time to wait for her body to cool down, take a shower and go back home. And so she did... as the bus was arriving she changed her mind... resolved that she should visit Ricardo. She didn't exactly know why, but she felt like she needed to talk to the guy... and it had to be that day...

When she picked up her car that day, Ricardo got a surprise... after all, he didn't expect to see Roseli at the garage door... had something happened to Letícia? Or with his mother?.... Yes, he was a little remiss with his family... all Cecília's fault, who never left his mind... he knew that, until he resolved his dispute with his ex-wife, he wouldn't have the mind to think about anything else. Yes, he was obsessed with that idea... he had to settle with Cecília...

He handed the car over to the valet, went to the duty inspector's window to finish his work sheet, grabbed his bag and headed out the garage. He found Roseli, gave her a hug and a kiss on the forehead... and the two left towards the avenue... still in silence. Ricardo took her to a nearby snack bar, they ordered two snacks and, while waiting for their order to be prepared, they stared at each other in silence, not knowing exactly what they were going to talk about....