Rhodia River - In the stream of love [Book 1]

Chapter 12 - Long Life to Aurélio!

MONICA'S LIVING ROOM

Monica is attentive to the computer, feverishly typing her second book. She hasn't even received a response from the first publisher. She stops for a while, checks her notes and drafts, and then types again. She starts speaking what she's typing.

"She shivered at the light touch of his fingers on her pink and pure face. He, however, an accomplished gentleman, knows that she is innocent and does not advance like a truck driver— " She catches herself, "What a horror, Monica, don't offend Sula Miranda fans!"

Monica checks her draft again, "I'm glad we now have a computer, if it were a typewriter, I was f—"

Annie's voice interrupts Monica right in the "f-bomb".

"Monica!"

Monica suddenly gets up and goes to the door, opening it. She smiles when Annie passes inside, and immediately grimaces as if chewed drooling okra at the sight of Jonas entering with her.

"Good evening, Monica." Jonas greets her coldly.

"Monica," Annie says, "we need to talk to all three."

"Sit down, please." Monica welcomes them.

"Aren't we getting in the way of your work?"

Jonas is ironic to himself. "Work..."

Annie didn't hear it, but Monica did, and she gives him a cold look.

"I was offending a working class, I need to revise this. But when I have a friend who needs to talk, it can wait."

Everyone sits down.

Annie starts, "Monica, my friend... I just came here to say that you don't have to worry anymore. Jonas and I are fine. No more fighting. When I asked you not to meddle, it was serious."

"Annie, I didn't want to go over your decision just to hurt you. I needed to check if the reconciliation had been legitimate."

Jonas reacts indignantly, "Sorry, Monica, but who are you to define what is legitimate or not?"

Monica opens and closes her hands, "For the years of friendship I have and I owe Annie even before she met you, I think I can express my opinion. You, Jonas, have been very stressed with your father's bakery, and have adopted a provocative stance with the Malthus Snack Bar. If it were just a matter of competition, there is no need to involve my friend in this. Now, unless there is another reason..."

Jonas widens his eyes.

Annie intervenes, "There is no reason beyond that, Monica. Jonas just misses his beloved, since he is always in the bakery."

Jonas excuses himself, "As long as she comes to see me, I don't care if she later goes to Malthus or any corner bar."

Monica retorts straightforward, "She doesn't go 'to Malthus', she goes to the Malthus Snack Bar."

Jonas and Monica just machine-gun themselves with their eyes; an innocent Annie doesn't notice.

"Are we understanding then, Mo? I don't want to be in a fight. As Seu Aurélio said, a friendship like ours can't die like that."

"I think he told me the same thing!"

Monica and Annie get up and hug, in a touching moment of reconciliation. But, for Jonas, now it's he who looks like someone who ate aloe vera.

He thinks, "Seu Aurélio, Seu Aurélio, Seu Aurélio... Everything is him! Don't these girls realize the danger that this bastard is?"

No one notices Jonas's bitter look.