Page 50 of Stronger Than Fate

“Look what you do to me, beautiful. Do you think I don’t want to see you again?” he stated, taking my hand and guiding it to his groin where the hardness was more than evident.

As soon as I placed my hand there, he closed his eyes and exhaled, but I remembered that Jacinta was in the house and immediately withdrew my hand.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, opening his eyes and looking at me with surprise.

“Jacinta.”

“I don’t think she’ll come to the kitchen until we’ve left.”

“If you say you’ve never been here with a woman, how would you know?”

“I know her and I know she won’t come,” he assured, shrugging his shoulders and returning to his place. “Going back to my question, shall I pick you up today?”

“I’ll confirm during the day because I’d like to meet up with Sol. She’s been a bit distant and I want to clear things up.”

“Why did you grow apart?”

“That’s what I’d like to know. I think she’s a bit jealous of you,” I admitted.

“Of me?” he asked, looking at me strangely.

“That’s what I assume. We’ve been friends since childhood and maybe she feels I’m going to push her aside, but that’s just a guess because I really have no idea what’s bothering her.”

“To be honest, you will see her less now because you’ll have to dedicate your free time to me.”

“Not all my free time,” I clarified. “We need to have our own space for our activities, friends, family. Don’t you think?”

“Yes, but we should also be clear that most of that time is for us.”

I looked at him but preferred not to say anything more. I was sure he would also realize that he wanted to spend time with his friends and dedicate time to his interests or hobbies.

A while after breakfast, we said goodbye and each took our own car to head to our respective workplaces.

Chapter 7

«Some think that to be friends it is enough to want to be, as if to be healthy it were enough to have health»

—Aristotle

At lunchtime I called Sol, knowing that was when she usually took a break to eat. Once again, the phone rang until I heard her voicemail. A deep sadness came over me at the evidence of my friend’s distance. I closed my eyes thinking about the best way to approach her. I was convinced the problem was that Sol was jealous because she had never behaved this way before, and I attributed it to the fact that I’d never had a boyfriend. But these jealousies were threatening our friendship and driving us apart. I couldn’t allow it. Sol was my friend and I loved her dearly; we needed to find a way to communicate and express what we were feeling. I sent her a message:

«Sol, I miss you.

Why aren’t you answering my calls?

I need to talk to you, please.

Tell me when we can meet.

»

I waited a bit, but when I saw she wasn’t connecting, I left WhatsApp and called Niky. Perhaps she had been in contact with Sol and could tell me something.

“Hi, Niky.”

“Dali, I’m so happy you called. How are you?” she responded enthusiastically.

“All good. And you?”