Real.Doc - Part 2 - Joe (English Version)

You hurt me too

But eventually, reality catches up with us. I spent the next few days well. Lonely but well. Then one afternoon, I was in the garden, contemplating life, when I realized that Joe didn't know. There was something he didn't know and needed to. On impulse, I called Rony.

"Hello?" Rony answered playfully.

"Hi. Listen... I need to ask you a favor."

"Sure, what's up?"

"Can you send me your address?"

After a brief pause.

"What for?" he asked.

"I need to talk to him. By the way, is he there?"

"Yeah."

"Great! Send me the address. I'm on my way. And please, don't tell anyone."

"Don't worry about it."

After hanging up, MaryAnne, who wasn't far away, asked, "Was that Cesar? How is he?"

"He's fine," Rony replied and soon excused himself to send me the address.

Rony was waiting for me at the door. As soon as I arrived, he said, "Second door to your left."

"Thank you."

I followed the instructions and found a slightly ajar door. I pushed it open a bit and saw Joe sitting in an armchair.

"Hi," I said, entering the room.

"Hi," he responded, trying to understand why I was there.

"Can we talk for a sec?"

"Sure."

I walked over to the window.

"I owe you an apology..." He took a deep breath, showing he wasn't happy about that topic, so I quickly continued, "...but that is not why I came."

He sighed deeply, then remained silent, waiting for me to continue.

"I came because I just realized that you don't know."

He stayed silent, so I continued.

"You don't know how it was when I met... Chaos."

That really caught his attention. We hadn't had this conversation yet.

"Do you want to hear it?"

He nodded. I began.

"The first time I saw him, he was fighting Rony. He hurt Rony, and I screamed, attracting his attention. I distinctly remember that day. He took two steps toward me and said right across my face, 'Hi,' smiling like the devil. Then he ran away. Ron was about to heal, but before he did, he used all his strength to tell me it wasn't him... or... that he wasn't you."

Joe remained silent, so I continued.

"Days later, Chaos reappeared with a friend and kidnapped Cesar and me. I thought he was you. I believed so hard he was you that I didn't fight. They threw us in cages and kept us there for God knows how long. Then he finally came to talk to me. I had become a prank at that camp by that time because I had already spilled the beans that he was my husband. That day he came up to me and asked me to confirm everything. I did. He asked what I knew about his father and mother, and I told him. For some reason, speaking about your father is what pissed him off." Joe took a deep breath when I said this, and it was only then that I understood Chaos's anger. "He took me out of the cage and tied me to... poles. Things were rudimentary there... brutal. In any case... while I was tied up, he asked me again to confirm something. I don't even remember what it was now. What I remember is that he smacked me across the face so hard it took my balance. I remember him cursing me and shouting horrible things, but none of that matters now. After that, they whipped me. But again, I didn't care anymore. The vampires found a way to rescue me. There was a huge fight; I lost consciousness... the next thing I knew, I was lying in a very comfortable bed in Les's manor. And that was the last time I saw Chaos."

Then he asked, in his gentle way, with all the humility in the world, "Is there a reason why you're telling me this?"

"I hurt you. And I'm sorry. But I needed you to know that you hurt me too."