I'm Your Enemy 2 (Gilbert Blythe X OC)

Brazil

Flora's POV.

"Flora!!" I heard my name as I cleaned the table.

"Yes?" I wiped my sweaty forehead. I looked behind myself, gazing at the staircase to find Joana coming down, her hand busy with a broom.

"Senhora Oliveira quer que voçe limpe o quarto dela."
Mrs. Oliveira wants you to clean her room.

"Oh." Mrs. Oliveira had something against me for some reason. She always gave me all the work whilst the other maids remained with doing the dishes or feeding the cat or changing the pillow cases. I, on the other hand, was supposed to clean the basement, or clean the roof, or clean the bedrooms. "Yeah, okay. I'll do it." Even though I was the one with the most work, I had the lowest pay, that's why I lived with Joana. We supported each other. We would combine our money to make more and live a low budget life in Rocinha, Brazil. Joana's brother was also the one to rescue me that day. I am thankful for the both of them and the help they have given me.

"Credo, eu tenho pena de voçe. Todo essi trabalho e voçe nem reclama." God, I feel sorry for you. All this work and you don't even complain.

"It's life, what can I say?" I chuckled. Over the months I've started to learn Portuguese. I understand the language 100%. I can kind of speak it, but I speak English when I can. For example, Mrs. Oliveira doesn't want me speaking English around her. She says it's a disrespect to her country.

But I can speak to Joana in English all I want. She understands it and speaks it a little, she sometimes asks me what this and that mean, but she speaks Portuguese to me instead, so I can learn it more easily. She's a 30 year old woman, who never had the money to do what she wanted. She was surrounded by work everyday and I've come to grow a great respect for both her and her brother.

I took the broom from Joana, heading for Mrs. Oliveira's bedroom. I knocked on the door softly. "Senhora Oliveira, sou eu, Flora."
Mrs. Oliveira, it's me, Flora.

"Entra!"
Come in!

I entered her bedroom, already feeling the weight of her judgement on me.

"Venho para limpar o seu quarto."
I'm here to clean your bedroom.
I spoke, making sure to keep my head high and back straight.

"Oque aconteçeu com o seu rosto?"
What happened to your face?
Disgust was written all over her as she looked at me. I wiped my face, looking down at my hands to find ash.

"Eu estava limpando á chaminé."
I was cleaning the chimney.
I felt slightly ashamed to not have noticed the ash on my face as she looked at me the way she did.

"Porque voçe limpou á chaminé?"
Why did you clean the chimney?
She asked, crossing her arms.

"V- Voçe me mandou limpar á chaminé."
Y- You told me to clean the chimney.

She looked at me as if I had insulted her. I only stood there, looking at her until she eventually left, slamming the door behind her.

I sighed, grabbing the broom to start sweeping.

***

We arrived at Joana's house around 18:00 o'clock. My feet were killing me after cleaning almost the entire house by myself.

"Toma aquí a chave de casa. Eu vou fazer umas compras. Vai para casa, toma um banho e descansa, creatura. O Teo tá lá esperando voçe."
"Here. Take the house key. I'm going to buy some groceries. Go home, take a bath and rest, child. Teo is waiting for you there." Joana threw the house key my way. I caught it, smiling thankfully at her as she walked away. She was a wonderful woman. In her 30s, long black hair, brown eyes and a warm brown skin tone, not as deep as Bash's, and only a little lighter than Delly's.

I walked into the the big space that was occupied with hundreds of small houses. Walking in between the tiny homes to try and reach Joana's that was on top of the hill. Children played on the street, chasing each other or playing with chicken bones. Some people were working, putting their laundry in front of their windows to dry.

"Flora!" I heard a voice call. "Olá, linda."
"Hey, beautiful." Said one of my neighbours as he fixed his motorbike. It's almost like everyone knew me. I only knew a few names, but I never past this street without recieveing at least 10 hello's.

"Olá, Rui."
"Hi, Rui." I smiled at him. Rui was the first person that I got to know beside Joana and her brother, Teo. Now, Rui was nothing more than an 18 year old playboy. But he was truly like a brother to me at times.

"I'm going home with you." He said. I appreciated that he spoke English with me most of the time. "But we're picking up Larissa first." He pulled me into another street. I chuckled at this. Larissa was not only Rui's cousin, but also one of my very good friends. We entered the café that Larissa worked at, and she smiled when she saw us.

"Rui! Flora!" She ran up to us and hugged us tightly. "You guys, I'm working. What are you doing here?"

"We're picking you up." I said. Her smile dropped.

"My dad won't let me go."

"Yes, he will. He likes me. If I want you to go, he will let you." I smiled. I walked behind the counter as I saw Larissa's dad giving change to his customers.

He smiled widely when he noticed me. "Flora, very good to see you." He brought me into one of his tight hugs, pressing me against his huge belly.

"Hey, Carlos, um, I was wondering if maybe Larissa could get a few hours out of work?"

"Florence, you know what I have told you about this."

"Yeah. Yeah, I know. But she worked all day yesterday. From 08:00 to 20:00. She deserves a break. Am I right?"

He sighed, fed up with my talk, just wanting to get back to his customers. "Yeah, yeah, yeah. Bring her back before midnight."

I squealed, bringing him in for another hug. "Thank you, I owe you one." I skipped back to Rui and Larissa a wide smile on my face. "Mission complete. Let's go." I pulled them out of the restaurant, finding our way back to Joana's house. I unlocked the door and walked in with Rui and Larissa following. It was a very small place. It had one bedroom with two beds. A very small bathroom. A kitchen connected to the living area with a table for three. We didn't have a couch, so we had to sit on chairs or on the floor. The wallpaper was flaking off. The ceiling was leaking. The sink wasn't working. We couldn't flush the toilet. The door to the bedroom had fallen off the hinges. We only had fours plates and four cups. But Joana and I still found a way to live there. Teo, her brother lived in a small house just outside the community. But he spent most of his time here.

"Hey, Flo." Teo stood up as he saw me enter the house. He had a wide smile on his face. He always wore a smile, but this one was different. This one was much brighter. "I have news."

"Good news, I assume." I sat on one of the chairs.

"Great news. I found tickets."

I squinted at him. "Tickets?"

"To Prince Edward Island!"

My heart skipped. For a second I thought I was going to scream, but instead, I burst into tears. I didn't know if I was hearing it right. I was going home? "Yo- you're serious?!"

"Yes, Flo!" He brought me into his embrace. "You're finally going home!"

We had spent the last year trying to find a ticket to P.E.I., but there were no ships that were traveling there from Brazil.

"Does that mean you're going back?" Rui asked. "Don't get me wrong, I'm happy that you found a way back home, but we had a good time as friends, you know."

"Yeah, I agree with Rui." Larissa smiled a little. "We're going to miss you."

I looked at all of them, my heart fluttering with emotion and eyes teary with happiness. "I can't believe this." I gasped. "When does the ship leave?"

"Tomorrow at 12:00pm."

Oh my god. Oh my god. Oh my god.

For months I thought that I didn't have a chance to go back home. I was hopeless. Things weren't turning out the way I wanted them to. But now... everything changed. I had hope.