Episode 3

I enter work, leave my things, and concentrate on what requires my concentration.

I go out for my lunch break, to a stall I always like to be at.

My cell phone won't stop ringing, so I silence it. I swipe to see the messages Mario left on my phone, without opening them.

"Mia, you've made me suffer a lot already, what do you want? Tell me anything but something that has to do with my parents."

And there are countless messages like that, which I ignore.

I return to work and everyone is sad. Apparently, the man they were talking about chose another law firm.

I finish my shift and go out very late to wait for the bus.

"Come on, I'll take you, Dario my boss says. He's an elderly person."

"Thank you, but your family must be waiting for you."

"Come on, it's on my way."

I agree since he's always been very kind to me, and he always gave me a ride whenever there was a gathering.

"Everything okay with the handsome guy?"

"We're not together anymore."

"You're still young, you have a whole life ahead of you. Let me give you some advice: first it's you, then it's you, and lastly it's you. Whenever I want to explain something to my daughter, I always use you as an example. I tell her that you're a young woman who has come far because of this, he says, touching his head."

"You alone have gotten where you are because of you."

"I've had a lot of help."

"But because you encourage them to help you, you make yourself noticed, don't let a small stone in your path prevent what you want to achieve."

We arrive and I thank him.

"Don't make plans for tomorrow, it's my daughter's birthday and my wife said she'll invite you."

"I don't have plans and thank you, boss, I say and he leaves until he sees me go inside. Tomorrow is my day off, and I need to distract myself a little. I change clothes, put on my robe, and sit on the bed with the laptop on my lap. On my cell phone, I write down all the expenses I will have. I'm very frugal, and I'm almost there."

For a month, this will be my life: working and resting. I lie down on the bed and look at the stuffed animal Mario gave me.

I don't want to think about that so I start looking at information about modern architecture. There's a photo where the best architects are shown, and Mario's parents are there. I remember what they were talking about in the office, so I Google it but there are no photos or information.

I give up, and seeing that it's very late, I force myself to sleep since I have to do some shopping tomorrow. My boss's daughter is my age, and I wouldn't know what to give her since she must have everything.

I wake up to the sound of the door. I open it and, being a separate room, it has some stairs at the entrance.

My best friend Karla comes in. She was traveling and hugs me as soon as I open the door.

"I heard what happened, that little, spineless, idiot, imbecile. I hope his dick falls off, she says, and that last part makes me laugh."

She comes in and sits on my bed.

"I love your style, you should be a home decorator."

"As Shrek says, what someone can do with a small budget, I say and she laughs, lying down on my bed."

"I told you to go with me on the trip, my parents really like you, they love you more than me, you're the daughter they would have wanted to have, she says and I put water on to boil for coffee."

"Everyone says the same thing but that didn't stop my parents from abandoning me in that orphanage."

"We don't know if they did it because they wanted to or maybe something happened to them."

"Did you already pick up your papers?"

"We already went there and then I escaped to come see you. I got punished for crashing the fifth car, and not only for that but for crashing it into my mother's."

"Is she okay? I say, giving her a cup and taking a sip of mine."

"Yes, her car was parked."

I laugh at what she tells me.

"I bought you something there, she says, giving me a bag."

I take it out, and it's a dress.

"I bought it for you so that idiot Mario would drool when he saw you wearing it, but now it gives me more pride, so he can see what he's missing out on. Tonight is singles night."

"I already have plans."

"Where?"

"My boss's daughter is having a birthday, and I was invited."

"Let's go and from there we go celebrate."

"Aren't you grounded?"

"If you ask my parents for permission, they'll let me. I'll stay with you today and tomorrow when you go to work I'll go to my house, let's go."

"Okay, I say."

She throws my pillows, jumping on my bed like a little girl.

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