João Felipe
After another sleepless night in which I was like a stalker, waiting for any post that was from Viviane or my brother, where I could have another crumb of information about them, I arrived at work quite grumpy and grumpy, something that my secretary, Natalie, made a point of pointing out when she had an opportunity.
"You're in dire need of some kind of fun, João Felipe No one can take that bad mood of hers anymore," she said as she took a few notes on her laptop.
"You're pretty brave to say that to your boss," I said arrogantly.
"Listen to what I said and you'll give me a reason. It's been nasty, again" This time she spoke and started to withdraw from my room.
I had to agree that she was right and that she didn't deserve the way I was treating her that morning and I apologized.
"Better than an apology, would be for you to look for a way to improve that mood of yours. Only work and no fun do that to people, you know? ''
"I'll think about it," I said, trying to smile, but I think it felt more like a grimace than anything else.
" This grimace can already be considered as the starting point," she joked, confirming my thought.
After she left my room, I was thinking about her words and, without even realizing it, instead of going to review my reports, I unlocked my computer screen to access social networks when I realized what I was about to do, I stopped the movement immediately. Seeing the apparent happiness on the faces of everyone in my family during Sarinha's birthday was something that wasn't doing me any good, but I couldn't stop looking at those images.
I ended up downloading some pictures of little Sarah and transferred them to my computer. I was looking at this picture when Miguel knocked on the door quickly and entered my room. My expression must have denounced that I was doing something strange, because soon he was looking at my computer and, upon realizing what it was, he cracked a big smile at me.
"I don't judge him for being in the middle of the day looking at this little princess. Sarinha is a beautiful and adorable child," he spoke, pulling a chair closer to my desk and sitting down.
"Do you know Sarah?" I asked, feeling uncomfortable and closing the laptop screen quickly.
"Of course!" he spoke and smiled. "I was even on your birthday about a fortnight ago.
Upon hearing the information Miguel was telling me, I almost couldn't believe my ears. He was invited to my niece's birthday and I wasn't? In fact, I didn't even know of her existence until a week ago. I was even more upset to learn of this and I believe I let it show because Miguel sat upright in his chair and said:
"Did I say anything wrong? ''
"Why do you think that?" I asked, fiddling with the documents that were on my desk, avoiding staring at him.
"You seem to have gotten angry at me all of a sudden. ''
" You're wrong " I wasn't lying, because I wasn't mad at him. I was angry at... I don't know. I couldn't understand my feelings about that subject. " Did you want to talk about something with me? " I tried to change the subject.
"Yes, of course. ''
We started to deal with business and after Miguel left my room, I decided that I was not yielding anything that day. I turned off my gear and left the room, walking past Natalie's desk and asking her to transfer my calls to Jack and warning her that I wouldn't be coming back that day.
"Jack didn't come today, João Felipe He is accompanied by his son, who is hospitalized. ''
"How did I not know this before?" I said, expressing all my displeasure.
"Why did he just call to inform him? I was waiting for Miguel to leave his room, to warn him. ''
I shouldn't leave everything in Miguel's hands, but this was exactly the orientation I gave to Natalie and left. I wouldn't be of much use today and it was no use staying in my room, just being an ornament sitting in the CEO chair.
On the way to my apartment, I contacted the pilot of our company's jet and asked him to prepare a flight to Brazil. I needed to see with my own eyes what I was following through social media. I couldn't continue to lead my life the same way I used to, because what I was seeing there was bothering me a lot and I could no longer postpone that moment of being face-to-face with Viviane and my brother, now that I was sure that they were really a couple and even had a daughter together.
After I made that decision, everything happened in such a way that, when I least expected it, I was already entering through the doors of my family's mansion in São Paulo.
And the strangest thing is that I dropped my bags anywhere, something quite different from my usual, and went out looking for someone. I didn't want to admit, even to myself, that I was looking for Viviane.
It was already past seventeen o'clock, but my father used to arrive much later from the office, so I went looking for Lùcia in the kitchen because she always knew where each of us was and that shouldn't have changed.
I was quite surprised when I got to the kitchen and realized that another lady was preparing dinner, from what I could understand. Although there were two other employees of the house, whom I already knew.
" Good evening, Mr. João Felipe " One of the old employees anticipated since I entered the kitchen and stood like a banana tree, as I would have said to Lucia, if I were there " Do you need something? ''
"Good night," I replied and after laughing blandly, I said, "Where's Lùcia? ''
"Mrs. Lucia no longer works here as a cook, sir. ''
" But if you need something, we can help you" The other old employee added.
"In that case, would any of you know where everyone in the house is? ''
" They're all in the garden " the two replied together.
Getting the information I was looking for, I excused myself and went to the garden. I found it odd that they were "all" in the garden. Who would they all be? I was quite curious and was soon arriving at the part of the garden that was next to the pool where I could already see an unusual movement, at least unusual for my eyes.
Getting closer, I could hear some childish laughter and ended up smiling without even knowing why.
I saw then that there were my parents and, to my surprise, Lùcia. My father was with his granddaughter on his back, playing horseback from what I could understand, while the two women smiled and waved at the little one.
If by photos and video call, I was already enchanted by Sarah, seeing her in person was an even stranger experience. A very strong feeling, as I had never felt before, made me walk to where my father was, and when they saw me, my mother was soon speaking, with a big smile plastered on her face. Perhaps the fact that she was my niece, blood of my blood, and daughter of the woman who always destabilized me caused this strange sensation in me, an extreme and true affection. An uncle's affection.
"Dear, but what a surprise! Why didn't he warn us that he would come? We would have waited for you so that we would all travel together. ''
"Look, son, our little sard!" my father spoke, taking the little one off his neck, and when he saw me with his arms outstretched towards him, something I did spontaneously, without any kind of premeditation, he handed me the little one, which I took very carefully.
She didn't refuse to come to my arms, even though she had never seen me in person before, if she had ever paid attention to me when I walked into the office during the video call my parents were with her.
" Look, Sarinha, this is Uncle Felipe " my mother spoke to her, approaching us.
She smiled and tried to repeat the word "uncle" as she touched my face, in the area where my beard was popping, for I had not stopped even for this, such was my need to be in as soon as possible in São Paulo.
At that moment, I heard something like a glass breaking, and as I lifted my head to see what had happened, I came across Viviane looking at us with a horrified expression.