Chapter 2

• After the incident, Melissa felt so embarrassed that she didn't even think about going back to that place.
• Two months passed without her getting close, even though she knew the stranger only went on Wednesdays. She didn't want to risk running into him, it was too difficult for her to deal with that situation, she really liked that man.
• Still, she had things on her mind that she couldn't shake. She weighed 48 kg and was 1.70 meters tall, it was never enough for her.
• "Every day less, Melissa, you must be perfect, thin, intelligent, charismatic, not like now," she said to herself while naked, looking at a distorted image of herself in the mirror and crying bitterly.
• Melissa
• "48! Damn, I'm stuck. Where did I leave my stupid notebook?"
• She had to find that old notebook, she couldn't risk Mario the nosy finding it. It weighed on her every Friday, and she noted the ups and downs in weight since this hell began.
• To be honest, she hadn't made much effort in recent weeks. She couldn't stop thinking about that guy. How old could he be? 30? 40? Married? Widowed?
• "He's so sexy that I wouldn't mind."
• She escaped from her thoughts as she pulled out the notebook buried under a pile of things.
• "Who's sexy?"
• I heard Mario's nosy voice coming from my bathroom.
• "Hey, spy! Get out of here, kid," I said, throwing anything that came my way at him.
• "Meli has a boyfriend! She has a boyfriend," he sang as he covered his head with his arms from the heavy objects.
• A boot hit him in the stomach and he ran out crying to the nanny. "Meli threw a bat at my belly, nanny," I heard him whine.
• Despite everything, he never called me "Melissa."
• "Meli, Meli, Meli."
• Was I always going to be the chubby little Meli?
• I forgot about the stupid notebook (not entirely, I must be honest, I forced myself to note my weight. Sometimes I really wish I could get out of this shit) and continued creating stories about how I should have acted the day I spilled coffee on him.
• Maybe, as in the movies, I would have cleaned his suit with a napkin, making it worse, then gone to the bathroom to help him, take off his clothes, and have rough sex "hard against the wall, baby."
• I can't help but laugh, I'm too silly. I can't even undress in front of my mother, let alone have animalistic sex with that Greek god. I decided to pretend to eat, the nanny had been suspicious these days. I went down to the kitchen and grabbed a couple of apples, grapes, and a peach.
• "Hey, nanny, are my parents coming home today?"
• I didn't really care.
• "Tomorrow, maybe in the early morning. I heard they have an important commitment tomorrow," I paid attention to half of what she said. "Ah," I exclaimed, walking past her with all the fruit as I headed to my room.
• Narrator
• On Saturday afternoon, one of those days when she felt a little less ugly than usual, her mother burst into the silence of her room.
• "But Melissa, my God! Are you still not ready? I can't believe it, I've been talking to you about this dinner for 2 weeks," she interrupted.
• "Dinner? No... I don't remember, Mom."
• "For your nani's birthday! Don't call me 'mom,' how many times do I have to repeat it?"
• Nani was Melissa's grandmother, the kindest woman with platinum hair she had ever known, she loved her above all things, her confidante and mother when she needed her " "Sorry, mom... Mom, I'll be ready in 5 minutes."
• She jumped out of bed to the closet and grabbed the first thing she found, jeans and a sweatshirt. Her mother confronted her, as always, because her clothes were not pretty enough, never enough for her. Her mother took a black dress from the closet that reached just above the knee, with a slightly deep "u" neckline on the back that showed half of her back and was held from the shoulders with thin straps, a pair of heels, a little makeup, and she looked beautiful even though she didn't notice it. She grabbed her jacket and they headed to her nani's house. In the car, she put on her headphones, and "Aunque no sea conmigo" by Bunbury was playing at full volume.
• "Melissa!" She barely heard.
• "Yes?"
• Her mother looked at her angrily.
• "Sorry, it's just that we always ride in silence and I..." her mother interrupted. "Nothing, Melissa, don't be rude, take them off." She obeyed immediately, it was always like that.
• "We need you to tell us what's going on at school, they have talked to us worried about your weight." Melissa felt her thoughts swirling in her mind, they never asked.
• "It's nothing, actually that day I overslept and skipped breakfast, I was in exams and all that, they think I passed out because I didn't eat, but that's not the case," her father looked at her while they were at a traffic light.
• "Darling, you need to take care of yourself, we love you," he said, he was too loving, trying to make up for the fact that he was never home.
• "We love you, Melissa, but you need to pay attention to the rumors that are spreading about you at school," her mother pointed out, ruining the moment.
• "Yes," the girl replied, cutting off the conversation just as they had arrived at her grandmother's house.
• Everything was going normal at the meeting, Melissa immediately found her favorite aunt, Diana, who was only 6 years older than her. Diana was a charming woman who knew how to listen to her niece. They started the typical conversations of best friends who hardly see each other, but send messages all the time.
• "What happened to you? Your mom told us about school, but I didn't want to tell you through messages," Diana said worriedly.
• "They make a storm out of nothing. But with you, something is definitely going on! You never post disgustingly romantic things, and yesterday gave me diabetes," Melissa changed the subject.
• "Don't be mean, it was just a moment of inspiration," Melissa rolled her eyes, smiling.
• "God! Just say his name already," Diana blushed.
• "Just because it's you. Well, it's nothing really. I like him and all, but I'm not sure if he feels attracted to me. Well, he is..."
• Suddenly, Diana interrupted what she was about to confess and said to someone behind Melissa, "Oh man, I thought you had rejected my invitation as always."
• The man replied, "I couldn't, you know your mother is my mother."
• Melissa turned and couldn't believe what was happening.
• Right in front of her, was the man from the café. She was about to panic.
• "What is he doing here? Damn, shit, curse. Will he remember me? I don't think so. But he's so sexy! And I look so ugly, damn sexy."
• But her aunt pulled her out of her thoughts, saying, "This is Melissa, my niece. Remember I told you about her? Meli, this is Daniel, a friend and business partner of the family for a while. Too busy to attend all the invitations."
• The aunt said jokingly while Melissa chose not to embarrass herself once again.
• "Businessman, Diana," she said, laughing.
• "But what a bad introduction."
• Daniel extended his hand to Melissa, and she said nervously, "Nice to meet you."
• Daniel took her hand, "The pleasure is mine, miss. I've heard a lot about you," he said as he looked at Diana and leaned in to kiss the girl on the cheek.
• Melissa was paralyzed, she could hardly breathe, and as always, she didn't know what to say. Diana accompanied Daniel, who had a gift for Nani, and Melissa was alone again. She ran straight to the bathroom.
• "God, Melissa, this only happens to you, only to you," she said to herself as she tried to keep control. Someone interrupted her thoughts by knocking on the bathroom door, so she came out, grabbed a drink, and found the safest, least attractive corner. She took her jacket, a book that Diana had lent her from her grandfather, and headed to the garden through the back door. It was likely that no one would notice or look for her there, so she would spend the rest of the evening there.
• Daniel
• Diana was the only woman whom I truly considered my friend. On Saturday night, she organized a party to celebrate her mother's 70th birthday, a lovely woman who had welcomed me into their family since I arrived at this place after her husband became a partner in the construction company. It had been so long since I had seen them that I was delighted to receive the invitation. I canceled any plans for that Saturday and made a stop at a jewelry store to buy something for her. When I arrived at the gathering, there were already quite a few people there.
• Near the entrance, I ran into Mario, the eldest son of the Osegueda family.
• "Hey, Daniel! Good to see you, it's been a while since you were around here," he greeted me with a big smile. He was a pleasant man.
• "How are you? You're absolutely right, I'll leave work for a while," we both laughed at that, perhaps at how impossible it sounded.
• "You should take a break from the company and breathe some fresh air. You and I should talk business, I've heard you're rising fast," I smiled broadly, pleased that my achievements were being recognized.
• "Of course, man, whenever you want," his son interrupted our conversation, "Dad, you should see this." He simply said, "We'll talk about it soon," and followed the boy. I continued on, bumping into some acquaintances.
• I was distracted by a work message when I saw Diana in the living room, laughing with a tall, slender girl with wavy hair cascading over her shoulders and a killer dress that showed off her back. I thought she was too thin (not really my type), but maybe that night would end with some company. I approached them and it seemed like I interrupted something, not too important because Diana stopped talking and greeted me excitedly.
• When the girl turned around, I realized she was the clumsy one who spilled coffee on me a few months ago.
• Why do I remember that? I don't even know myself.
• Maybe because I went back to work with a coffee stain on me. It was too hot, or she was pretty in a different way. She seemed older than when I saw her at the café, maybe it was the heels. Anyway, Diana led me to her mother, but I couldn't take my eyes off Melissa. All I knew about her was that she seemed to like reading since she had a book in her hands. She went into the bathroom, and then I lost sight of her for a moment until I saw her come out into the garden. I wasn't sure if it was a good idea to follow her.
• She was around 22 years old, too young, right?