BROKEN FEELINGS

As every morning, Ricardio woke up and went to the bathroom while Lana had already gone downstairs to wait for him at the table to have breakfast.

"Good morning, Ricardio!" exclaimed Lana happily.

"Good morning!" Ricardio replied in a casual tone, sitting down and pouring himself a cup of coffee.

"Want some juice? A piece of toast? Maybe one…" Lana was trying to make a dialogue.

"I have no time. And the coffee is more than enough." Ricardio said, in a firm tone.

"Shouldn't you just have this... have a loaf of bread." Lana said, already taking the bread and buttering it.

"No need for that... I'm on my way." Ricardio got up from the table seriously and said: "Don't wait up for me."

"Oh, Ricardio…"

He stopped and looked at Lana, and then she asked him:

"Are you… are you coming to lunch at…"

"I will eat something over there." He answered her at once.

Ricardio went to the company leaving Lana alone while she decided to change her clothes and go visit Melanie at the university. Melanie was a great friend of Lana, she was a great confidant and always advised her to separate from her husband, but Lana was sure that she would change it, because she said that in a year the two would be happy. However, even with just over a year, things were still the same.

"Why do you insist on this, Lana? You are not happy and that was an absurd idea of your parents. Separate... live your lives and put the merger aside." Said Melanie giving advice to Lana.

"If we separate now, it will create a dispute between the shareholders, and that could put the company at risk. An intrigue between our families will cause instability in the company and the stock will start to fall. And you know... my family thinks it's bad to have Massarotti in charge of the company." Lana explained.

"Ricardio can be a scoundrel as a husband, right? But he is an excellent businessman, and that is indisputable. They'll settle for it, but if it's about you, Lana…" Melanie said, looking inquiringly at Lana.

"We will still be very happy." Lana said with conviction, even though she doubted it herself.

"Ah… how hard-headed you are, Lana…" Melanie sighed.

Lana soon asked how things were going at school and Melanie replied:

"Not good… I lost my high school law teacher. The new 'prospect' partner is coming for a visit next week. I think everything is in deeper chaos.

"I know that look that doesn't go well at all…" Lana lamented.

"You have the knowledge to be a teacher and…" Said Melanie, who was soon interrupted by Lana saying:

"Never mind... I didn't even finish law school."

Melanie then said:

"But she can, and I know her! And it just didn't end because of her parents' insistence... Because with two years to go, her father said that it would be useless to waste such time, since she would soon be married and become a mother... At least think about it. " Melanie reflected, making a crybaby face and telling Lana not to forget that the next day was the party.

Lana, after leaving the university, got into her car and thought of calling Ricardio for lunch, since she also didn't eat anything for breakfast, and so she ended up calling him saying:

"Hi Ricardo! It's just that I'm close to where you work and I thought I'd stop by so we can have lunch together."

"Hey! I already told you earlier today that I can't. There are many outstanding things to do here. We will talk later." Ricardio said with a more gruff tone.

After hearing those words, a tear fell from Lana's eyes, people who noticed the sadness in her eyes, wondered why she was crying, and an old lady approached Lana and asked:

"Are you okay, girl?"

Then Lana replied:

"It's nothing…don't worry, ma'am."

Although the old woman felt distressed to see that woman cry, she decided to leave. Lana wasn't very fond of showing her feelings, but sometimes it was difficult even for her to hide what made her distressed at times. It was then that she decided to go home and when it was night, Ricardio had arrived home and Lana was still awake.

"Hello! I thought I could arrive earlier, so I asked her to prepare her favorite meal, which is beef stroganoff and spaghetti pasta in a well-seasoned tomato sauce." She greeted Lana, already saying that a delicious meal was being prepared for Ricardio.

"I'm not hungry. But feel free to eat if you haven't already." Ricardio said, refusing the food that Lana had prepared for him.

At the end of Ricardio's words it was true, Lana hadn't had dinner yet, as she was waiting for him. Even though the smell of the food seemed to be so pleasant and delicious, Lana didn't understand how she couldn't eat all that at that moment, because the smell was strong, the flavor was strong. It was the kind of food that aggravated her a lot, but what she wanted most was to share that delicious dinner with her husband, and that was not possible. Then Lana decided to go out walking wanting to go to the kitchen, because she was very hungry. Ricardio in question walked by without saying another word to her, and she ended up arriving in the kitchen to find Margarida, the family maid. She tried to offer Lana something else to eat, but Lana only accepted a glass of milk. When arriving in the back room, Ricardio was already in the shower and the white shirt thrown on the bed, Lana ended up taking it and saw a mark of red lipstick on the back of the collar. When she noticed that on Ricardio's shirt, a tear rolled silently down her face. Ricardio got out of the shower and I looked at her, and her eyes were pleading, so for a moment she saw guilt in them, but it was a brief moment, because Lana couldn't bear to look at him like that anymore.

"What was it?" Ricardio asked Lana for the first time that day, trying to make a conversation.

"It's nothing... ah... there's Melanie and George's party tomorrow, and I thought we could..."

"I will not be able to go." He said firmly.

"As? You said…" She countered.

"I know what I said... But Massarotti bank's contract with Sinopec is at risk... I'll have to analyze the documents myself. But you can go alone if you want." Ricardio said, giving a not very convincing excuse.

"I understand…" Lana said, with an even more melancholy face.

The two ended up falling asleep right away, and Ricardio had turned his back to Lana's side. She should have felt very frustrated having heard so many refusals from Ricardio that day, even more so making that night a colder and more lonely one. It was as if everything for Lana was a theater, where her husband only meant something on paper, and nothing more than that, and even more so when she had already suspected that Ricardio might be cheating on Lana, and everything for her seemed even more so. confused.

(...)

The next day, Lana had gotten up, but this time later, because when she looked across the bed, she probably thought her husband had already gone to work. But even though she didn't say good morning to Ricardio, Lana only thought about how the party would be the night that would come that same day. Lana went to the kitchen and asked Margarida to prepare something strong for her to eat, as she wanted to have a lot of energy to enjoy the party that would come next. It was already late and Lana got dressed and waited for the time to pass faster, and then she decided to call her friend Melanie to find out how the preparations for that party were going.

"Hello, Melanie!"

"Hi, Lana!"

"How is it going there?" Lana asked.

"Look... For now it's going very well. "Melanie replied.

"Ah, yes... I'm already picking out the dress to wear tonight." Lana said.

"Ah, that's good! Which dress do you intend to wear today?" Melanie asked, wanting to know the details about what Lana would wear to the party.

"Ah, I still don't really know... but at night you'll see." Lana replied.

"It's OK! Now I'm going to have to hang up because I have to arrange some things here with George." Melanie said

"OK. Tonight we will talk." Said Lana, who soon hung up the phone.

The night had arrived and the party was perfect, as Melanie was both Lana's friend and George, who is her husband, and a great friend of the Massarotti family. Everyone at the party was looking at Lana, who was wearing a strapless dress and her hair was curled at the ends and straight on top with a few loose strands. While she was talking to Melanie and George, Leonardo who is Ricardio's brother appeared and everyone said:

"Leonardo!"

Leonardo, upon seeing his sister-in-law, soon approached her.

"Sister-in-law, beautiful!" He hugged her when she had practically just arrived.

Leonardo had arrived along with his friend Bruno minutes after Lana.

"Glad you could come. George will be very happy. Have you already spoken to him?" Melanie said, followed by a question.

"You look stunning, Lana. We spoke to him a little while ago, and he is super excited about the new branch he will open in the center that he will manage." Leonardo said.

Lana feeling happy said:

"What good news! At least when this works out and closes the contract with the company, there will be no big losses for Massarotti bank in relation to Sinopec. Especially since Ricardio is very focused on it.

"There is? The contract was closed a week ago." Leonardo said without thinking, being caught by Lana's surprised look, and also ended up receiving an elbow from his friend Bruno. Leonardo touched himself and said:

"I mean… well… I guess I'm not that up to speed on that subject."

"Oh no… I think I got it wrong." Lana said, in a sad way.

Lana then drank a glass of champagne and left, surprisingly being able to hear Bruno's whisper that scolded Leonardo:

"Asshole!"

Lana ended up returning home, as her thoughts once again made it clear to her that Ricardio was lying and this left her more and more alone and anxious. Ricardio had just arrived and Lana was awake when he got to the bedroom, and a strong smell of sweet perfume invaded the room and made Lana's stomach lurch. Ricardio didn't speak to her as he went straight into the bathroom taking a shower, but when he got out of the shower, she was still able to smell that cloying scent when he lay down next to her. Lana in question, felt the taste of champagne in her throat and she also saw her mind spin, as if her senses were more acute for that unpleasant smell. Lana couldn't stand it and got up, dressed the robe tightly tying her waist.

"Where are you going?" Ricardo asked, surprising her.

She had looked at him before answering:

"I'm sleepless, so I'm going to get a glass of milk."

She withdrew from there and went down to the kitchen, opened the fridge and got the milk by putting it in the glass. One sip was enough to make her nauseous, so she ended up running to the nearest bathroom to get all the night's food out. Lana's tears fell heavily as she felt empty, helpless and all alone. Desperation was starting to take over her control, because after all, she loved Ricardio a lot, and she would never feel something as strong as what she felt for him. But she asked herself why she is living like that, and she thought: "Why does it have to be like this? Why does he make me suffer when everything I did and do is to make him happy?" She couldn't stop being sad, because she knew the truth, she knew his lies, but she couldn't leave things as they were anymore, because she would have to put an end to it, since she couldn't stand suffering like that anymore.