Severo Laris’ tone was clearly cold and spiteful.
But Paula Rouco still blushed at his words.
The girl’s small, lily-white hands tugged at his shirt and, on tiptoe, reached up to those soft, tender lips and kissed the man’s beautiful chin.
A sloppy kiss was a kind of proof that she liked him, very, very much.
“This, is it okay?”
Deeper than that, she couldn’t do it. She was thick-skinned, but she was also a girl and reserved after all.
Severus Laris, however, suddenly grabbed her arms and lifted them above her head, pinning her against the wooden shelf behind him, his dark eyes sharp as hawks as he looked down at the small prey in his arms.
“Do you know what it’s like to like between adults?”
“…”
The man ducked his head and took her lips in a dominant, fierce grip. The action was anything but gentle, rough even.
Paula Rouco was stunned and struggled unconsciously, but the man was too dominant and kept attacking.
On the lips, hot and painful, it was hard to breathe.
Engracia, who was a short distance away, saw the scene and dropped the book she was holding on the floor.
A roar.
Bewildered and shocked, Engracia called out to the man with his back to her, trying to find out if it was Severo Laris.
“Severo…?”
Severo Laris’ movement, she pauses.
Paula Rouco, her face flushed and embarrassed, took advantage of Severo Laris’ release and pushed the man holding her away from her, then ran off without looking back.
The surprise in Engracia’s eyes only increased when Severo Laris turned around.
“Severo, you…”
Oblivious to Engracia, Severo Laris bent down to pick up the books scattered on the floor and a bracelet that Paula Rouco had dropped.
…
Paula Rouco ran to the bathroom and calmed down for a while.
Her lips, bitten by Severo Laris, hurt a little.
The mind is a mess.
Only the heat and pain in the lips are real.
Severo Laris, just now, was so fierce that he seemed to want to swallow her, and she was frightened by his rude treatment.
Crouched in the bathroom stall, he hugged himself silently for a long while.
The only thing that echoed in his ears was Severo Laris’ fierce interrogation….
“How long can you like me? A month? Or three months?”
“Show me how much you like me.”
“Do you know what it’s like between adults?”
Severo Laris’ words cut off the possibilities between them.
But she, he just liked her. Was it wrong to like her?
…
Severo Laris after leaving the library with Engracia.
Engracia was silent for a long moment and finally couldn’t resist asking, “Severo, why did you just do that to Paula Rouco in the library?” How could you …”
“I stink?”
Engracia froze, not expecting such a rhetorical question from Severo Laris, and became increasingly confused.
Engracia took a deep breath and asked, “Severo, do you like Paula?”
I loved this feeling, which had never been present in the twenty-five years of Severo Laris’ life, which had been dull, monotonous and gray, but at some point a light shone in his gray space and he wanted to cling to it and keep moving upward.
But he feared that the light would suddenly go away and he would be suspended in the air, only to fall even harder.
Paula Rouco is like that light.
He may have had his heart set on it the first time she protected him and helped him against Roman.
Of all the things that followed, he was struck by her burning, naked heart; no one could fail to love that glow, like a stream in the sun, warm, soft and serene.
Susana and Paula Rouco had just reached the back of the library building when they passed Severo and Engracia at the library entrance.
Paula Rouco stops in her tracks.
Only Severo Laris was heard to say with emotional indifference, “Me and Paula Rouco, it’s impossible.”
Paula Rouco, who was so close to him, could not move her legs when she looked at him, her fingertips, nailed in the palm of her hand, and felt her heart as if pierced by an awl, which hurt her very much.
Hearing his answer, Engracia suddenly kissed Severo Laris and said seriously, “Since you don’t like Paula, Severo, from now on, can you consider me seriously?”
Engracia bit her lower lip, she had been by Severo’s side for the past few years and to the untrained eye, she and Severo were paired, a golden couple.
But only she knew in her heart that Severo had never felt anything for her, only for the friendship of a companion and a like-minded person.
“It’s okay if you don’t answer me now, I’ll give you plenty of time to think about it.”
That said, Engracia grabbed her book and left the library.
And Paula, who had been holding back tears for a long time at that sight, finally dropped down and buried her face in Susanna’s shoulder.
…
Paula Rouco unilaterally declared her love lost.
On Saturday off, Susana dragged her running to the bar for a drink.
The bar is loud and boisterous.
Paula and Susana sat down at the card table and told the bartender with great ambition, “Ten Long Island iced coffees!”
The waiter politely warned, “Little girl, Long Island Iced Coffee means ‘lost body,’ but it’s easy to get drunk, can you stand it?”
Paula’s mood had hit rock bottom and all she wanted to do now was get drunk. “Does he despise us?”
Paula then pulled several hundred dollar bills out of her purse and placed them on the table.
The bartender saw this, but didn’t stop, besides, young girls come to the bar at a young age, either to drink or to find a man, these two seem in a bad mood to play crazy drunk.
In half an hour, Paula and Susanna had drunk n glasses of wine, not a bad alcoholic degree, plus the two girls did not have much to drink, and soon began to make out and talk about alcohol.
Susana burped and said: “That Severo, he’s a jerk! Paulita! I don’t like him! He’s just handsome! I’ll find you another handsome man later!”.
Paula Rouco turned red and warmed her head: “I don’t give a damn! Whoever likes him is a knucklehead.”
Susana laughed out loud and pointed at her, “Paulita you lied to me! Call Severo now if you dare! Tell him! You hate him! You won’t like him anymore! I’ll believe it!”
Paula Rouco, drunk and full of courage, growled, “Just fight! Who’s afraid of who?”
She picked up her phone and called Severo.
But the phone rang for a long time, and no one answered, and her heart, suddenly, went cold.
Paula Rouco looked at Susana in a loving way and said, “He doesn’t answer the phone, Susana, am I that annoying? He doesn’t even answer my calls to clarify things with me …. ooooooooooooooooo…”
Susana hugged her, reached out her hand to caress her back and said, “To hell with that Severo …! How dare he break our Paulita’s heart! We … burp … we’ll never speak to him again!”
…
Over here, Severo had just finished his shower and was about to turn on his computer to work when he unconsciously looked at his phone again.
He opened his phone and there was a missed call.
…
Paula and Susana were drunk as a skunk when her phone rang and Paula’s wide, foggy eyes saw Severo’s name pop up on the screen.
She picked up her phone, pointed to it and said to Susana: “Oh … Severo is calling! I’ll tell him right now … That Paula … Is never going to like him again!”
“Bonito! I’m with you.”