The black Bentley drives down the road at a gentle pace.
The car’s windows are covered with floating light.
Severo Laris took the floor and asked, “Why are you back in the country all of a sudden – are you going back to the United States?”
Paula Rouco didn’t look him in the eye, her gaze leveled in front of her and she said indifferently, “Come back if you want to.”
She had “none of your business” written all over her face.
“Rufio and Susana are getting married.” Severo Laris said.
“I know.”
Severo Laris: “These seven years, I was also in the United States”.
Paula Rouco: “I know.”
“At that time I was doing my doctorate at Harvard.”
“I know.”
“I miss you.”
“I know that…” she doesn’t know.
Paula Rouco bites her tongue.
Only in retrospect did she realize it was a trap.
This is a game she used to play with Susana when she was in high school. It is a game that takes advantage of people’s inertia, throwing some complicit questions, to then let their guard down and make them fall into a trap and make a fool of themselves.
For example, the last question is usually: “You are a pig”. You will unconsciously answer, “I know.”
It was a trick she had never lost, because she had a pretty quick brain.
But now she was the one who was distracted because the person sitting next to her was Severo Laris, whom she hadn’t seen for seven years.
Her brain, so to speak, was out of control.
A dark look shone in Severo Laris’ eyes and he said in a deep voice, “Do you know I miss you?”
Paula Rouco looked straight ahead, took a deep breath, pressed her lips together and scoffed, “So what if I know, so what if I don’t, so what if you love me, so what if you don’t love me? Severo Laris, need I remind you? We broke up seven years ago”.
What’s the point of talking now about missing or not missing.
She has really grown up, she has become quiet and less persuasive, she is not the girl of seven years ago who clung to him with a candy or two.
In the last seven years, Severo Laris has died, only to be revived countless times, his love too deep, becoming an obsession he could not let go.
In the deep roots, thoughts grow wild.
And then, all the way to silence.
He didn’t want to sting her or provoke her further.
The black Bentley was almost at the height of The Rouco Family when Paula Rouco suddenly said coldly, “Stop here, I’m going to walk home by myself.”
Seeing that Severo Laris had no intention of stopping, she turned her eyes to look at him and said, word for word: “You know my parents hate you. And I, for one, will never break my parents’ hearts for you again.”
That’s not worth it.
He used the word “nasty” in an almost mean and blatant way.
His gaze, direct and cold.
Severo Laris stops the car.
She was so anxious to get out of this small space that she opened the door to get out as soon as the car stopped.
Severo Laris finally had trouble restraining himself and snapped her wrist, “lita”.
Paula Rouco bit the corner of her lip and glowered back, “Professor Laris, as I told you, we don’t know each other well, call me Miss Rouco. ”
“We’ve been separated for seven years, can we, uh, sit on the passenger side and keep me company for a while?”
Even if you don’t want to talk to him, that’s fine.
Severo Laris knew she still hated him, and her normally arrogant, cold look was now pleading.
Paula Rouco smiled wanly and said, “Severo Laris, in what capacity am I sitting here with you – your ex-girlfriend, or an alumni relationship you don’t know well?”
Severo Laris’ large grip on her wrist tightened, his gaze deepened as he looked at her, “You can be Mrs. Laris if you want. ”
Paula Rouco pulled her wrist from his hand forcefully, “Don’t touch me.”
“Iita…” He watched as she withdrew her arm, squeezed it tightly and shrank back, evasive to a fault.
“Don’t call me that, Severo Laris, you don’t understand anything. My heart was given to you once, but you trampled on it, it died, and now you suddenly appear before me and tell me what you meant by thinking of me all these years…”
Paula Rouco, her eyes red, stared at him, the look, deadly.
Severo Laris was speechless and found it hard to explain.
She laughed and said, “When you want to break up, you tell me, Paula Rouco, stop bothering me, you’re annoying. When you need me, you want to come back to me and you tell me, the truth is I’ve missed you all these years, you do it Mrs. Laris. ”
“Severo Laris, I don’t know if you’re serious or if you’re just playing with my feelings, or do you think if I say yes, it will give you a sense of accomplishment? I have loved you, and I have begged you without dignity, renouncing my ego, not to break up with me.”
“But now, I will not allow anyone to hurt me and trample on me, because you are not worthy.”
Severo Laris’ long, clean fingertips, trembling slightly, he knew he had never been worthy.
Seven years ago, the sober to the point of being penniless Severo Laris was not worthy.
Seven years later, this Severo Laris, whose wealth index is one of the few in the world, is still undeserving.
He returned in glory, as he had always done, unchanged and unchanged, never because of the poor or the rich, but only because of Severo Laris.
The tears, rolling down her face, she wiped them away hard and said, “Severo Laris, I am grown up now, so I won’t let you come in and out of my world and bully me anymore, and I won’t like you anymore.”
From the way she was crying, Severo Laris’ heart broke and he wanted to hug her, but she was so shaken that he did not dare to move even half an inch forward and forced her to leave.
Severo Laris’s heart is also raining, pouring rain.
Paula Rouco took a deep breath, stifled a choked sob and said, “Severo Laris, this is the end, we must never see each other again. I hope this is the last time I see you.”
With those words, he opened the door, took off his suit jacket that belonged to him over his shoulders and got out of the car without looking back.
Severo Laris was sitting in his car, looking out the window at the lone figure, her eyes dark and dull.
She grew up and no longer liked him.
But he, however, is still inexorably in love with her, and how can he redeem himself.
…
Paula Rouco collected herself as she walked towards the entrance of the Rouco family compound, she did not want to be seen by her family, and moreover, she did not want them to know that she had met Severo Laris again.
Over the years, Severo Laris has become, in The Rouco Family, as a forbidden… The word.
No one will bother to mention it.
Severo Laris, moreover, is a taboo in Paula Rouco’s heart. She tried to tear the scar to heal it, but it tore, soaked with tears for too long and became septic, and remained unhealed for a long time.
Later, her therapist told her to avoid the wound if she really couldn’t face it head-on, because healing it head-on could cause secondary trauma.
She was obedient and stopped touching, carefully avoiding it.
The treatment was helpful, and after a period of treatment, it seemed to be less painful. Later, in America, she did not follow Severo Laris at all, and it was as if the Severo Laris person had completely disappeared from her life, and it was as if she was relieved and did not lose sleep for a long time.
But when I met him tonight, it was as if a rock had been thrown at my heart, stirring up a thousand waves that would not subside for a long time.