Allyce couldn’t contain herself and burst out laughing.
Lucila wrinkled her nose in discontent: “No one can force him to drink if he doesn’t want to, but he wants to drink and he’s drunk. I couldn’t carry him, but he said he wanted to go to the park to see the stars and the moon, and then he wanted to recite poems! I don’t want to worry about him, I’m not stupid!”
Allyce asked him uncertainly: “Did you really let Neto sleep in the park all night?
“Yes,” Lucila replied with a clear conscience.
Then he added: “It’s summer now, it’s not like sleeping in the park is going to be a problem, plus he eats so many times a day, isn’t that what he uses to burn, what’s wrong with a big guy sleeping in the park one night …”
Lucila kept murmuring.
Allyce, however, thought of Severo.
Severo would teach him a lesson if he let a drunken Severo sleep in the park all night!
“Why do you think he’s so mean for a big man, he’s drunk himself and has to go to the park, and I can’t take him, so he’s more responsible for letting him sleep in the park overnight, isn’t he? He’s been picking on me all day, you know.” Lucila said through gritted teeth.
Allyce spoke a little distractedly: “Well, big men are mean”.
Severo was even meaner.
Lucila pulled up a chair for Allyce, motioned for her to sit down and made her a cup of tea.
Then he pulled a chair to sit next to Allyce and whispered in her ear: This is the black tea that Neto, the miser, uses to entertain his expensive guests. He says it’s a magnificent black tea, which can’t even be bought with money, and he appreciates it so much that he usually can’t even drink it himself.”
Allyce asked: “So you’re still preparing it for me to drink?
He glanced at the lid and saw that the tea was bright orange and yellow, with a refreshing aroma.
Severo probably liked coffee because he had lived abroad for a long time, and although he was not much of a tea drinker, he had plenty of good tea at home.
Neto, on the other hand, is a little more elegant than Severo, and this black tea should be really superb.
I think it’s a real waste for Lucila to prepare it for me to drink it like this …
Lucila’s smile was a little sardonic: “Who cares, let him be mean”.
Allyce laughed out loud.
Neto was really very patient with Lucila, although the two didn’t say anything about it and kept playing, she could tell that Neto was really very attached to Lucila and was indulgent.
If he really liked this tea so much, Neto would not have left it here with Lucila.
Obviously, Neto had left it here on purpose for Lucila to “spoil” it.
Thinking about this, he couldn’t help but say something to Neto: “Actually, Neto is quite nice”.
After saying that, he gave Lucila a meaningful look.
Lucila’s face paled for a moment before she quickly looked away: “What? What good is he? He’s philandering, petty, manipulative and lazy …. I can’t find a single good thing about him”.
Allyce just laughed and said nothing.
Then Lucila calmed down and leaned her head back to watch Allyce drink her tea, and then, as if she had suddenly remembered something, she reached for her hand and pulled a photo out of the album and handed it to Allyce: “Allyce, where did this boy come from?
The photo he showed Allyce was the same one Allyce had posted in her circle of friends that day, the one Alonzo and Beef had taken together.
Allyce’s eyes darkened, she lowered her eyelids and said, “Her family moved to Cloudy Bay a while ago, so they’re neighbours, I guess.
“If they can move to Bahia Nublada, his family must be rich too”. Lucila enlarged the photo a little and said: “But I’m serious, he really looks like Chief Betances, the more you look at him, the more he looks like him.
Allyce sniffed and raised her eyes for another look, and it was indeed very similar.
Pupils dark and shiny, face light, lips thin …
It really was a resemblance, exactly as if it were carved from the same mould.
At first he didn’t think much of it, he just liked children instinctively, not to mention that they were a bit introverted, so he felt a bit more sorry for them.
It was only when he sent a photo to his circle of friends and Lucila and Neto said they looked alike that he realised they were.
When no one mentions something or says something like that, you don’t feel it.
When someone mentions it, it’s like a psychic suggestion, and it becomes more and more obvious that there is a real resemblance”.
Lucila joked, “I thought he was the illegitimate son of Chief Betances.
Allyce spoke quietly: “What if it really is?
“No way!” Lucila looked at her and gave her a “cut”, clearly disagreeing with Allyce’s words.
Allyce opened her mouth and whispered, “It’s true”.
Her voice was too low for Lucila to hear and she asked: “What did you say?
“Nothing.” Allyce was quick to shake her head, “You’re busy, I won’t bother you.”
“Why are you leaving, we haven’t seen each other for a long time, I’ll be off work soon, let’s have dinner together”.
Lucila said and slid her chair back to her workstation and set to work, her fingers crackling on the keyboard as she typed the file, while she spoke to Allyce: “Soon, wait for me”.
Allyce also knew that it had indeed been a while since she and Lucila had eaten together and waited for her on the side.
…
The two women were together, shopping or eating.
As soon as Lucila got off work, she dragged Allyce to the mall, saying she wanted to buy clothes.
Trying on many clothes in a row, she would ask Allyce again and again: “Does it fit?
Allyce would wait quietly for him to try on the clothes and then give him fair comment.
A woman will only dress for the man she likes.
Lucila is in love, believe it or not.
It’s better for Neto, the playboy.
After buying the clothes, Lucila says, somewhat apologetically: “I’m alone, you have to buy them too”.
“I don’t have anything I like, let’s go for dinner.” Allyce didn’t feel much like clothes and was quite happy to see Lucila having fun shopping.
Lucila thought about it and nodded: “All right then”.
The two went to the snack street.
It was dinner time and the street was full of people.
Young couples, young girls, lively and full of life.
Allyce caught the hustle and bustle and asked for a large table.
The two chatted while they ate, in fact, most of the time it was Lucila who did most of the talking.
Probably because they hadn’t eaten together for so long, Lucila talked a lot, even about the most insignificant things, like a stray cat she met on her way to work.
Allyce listens and responds from time to time.
It didn’t really bother him, it felt real, more real than spending time with Severo.
“Boss, a chicken! And one more …”
The girl’s voice was clear and melodious, standing out against the loud humming backdrop, and Allyce unconsciously raised her eyes and froze in place.
He couldn’t make out the girl’s face.
However, he could clearly see the back of the man standing next to the girl.
The girl asked the tall man standing next to her: “What do you want to eat?
His hand tightened on the man’s arm and he shook it twice, as if he was pampering him.
The man became a little impatient, but, not knowing what the girl was about to say, the man said something and sat down.
The girl smiled and said again in a loud voice: “Boss, another meatball soup, not spicy”.
The man wore a couture suit and looked out of place sitting in the middle of the crowd, his sideways face was handsome and unusual, it was the one she found incredibly familiar: Severo.