Breakfast

**Mariana**

The first thing I felt upon waking up was pain. A lot of pain in my body. The second was a warm body clinging to mine, with arms holding me possessively as if I were about to escape at any moment.

I didn't need to look at the person behind me to know it was Ethan. After all, I remembered perfectly the previous night and everything that happened.

Still, I wished to gaze upon his sleeping face, to admire masculine beauty in all its glory, but I knew that if I even moved a little, Ethan would wake up instantly and the enchantment would be broken, for I would have to put on my mask and deal with that arrogant man the way he deserved.

So I stayed still, simply enjoying the comfort of his strong arms and the warmth of his body pressed against mine, and it was only when the urge to go to the bathroom became unbearable that I decided it was time to return to reality.

"Where are you going?" Ethan immediately asked when I tried to free myself from his grip.

"Bathroom," I explained, already getting up in a hurry.

After I finished using the toilet and brushing my teeth, I decided it would be better to take advantage of the fact that I was already there and just take my shower before returning to the room. But before that, I looked at myself again in the bathroom mirror and grimaced at how the area around my eye was bruised and swollen, with a terrible bruise.

I wasn't the most vain person in the world, of course, but I wasn't comfortable with anyone seeing me like that, even if that person was the scoundrel Ethan. I seriously considered staying inside the bathroom until he gave up waiting for me to return to the room and ended up leaving for his own home.

I took off my nightgown and stepped into the shower, turning on the water, lost in thought. It was only then that I noticed the presence of another person in the bathroom.

"Do you have a new toothbrush?" Ethan asked, surpassing himself in terms of audacity.

He was simply opening my cabinets and looking for the toothbrush before I even had a chance to answer whether I had one or not.

"You can't rummage through my things like that, Ethan!" I scolded him irritably. "By the way, don't you have a home?"

"Found it!" he exclaimed.

"Your home?" I asked, not understanding.

"The toothbrush, Mariana!" Ethan explained, already seeming to be using the personal hygiene item.

I took a deep breath, trying to contain my irritation, and decided to finish my shower. Ethan was a serious case of shamelessness, and I wasn't in the mood for him when my whole body was sore.

To my surprise, after brushing my teeth and using mouthwash, Ethan left the bathroom. I confess I felt a bit disappointed that he didn't join me in the shower. But I would never let him know that I wanted him to do that!

When I finished my shower and dried myself off, I put on a terry cloth robe and stepped out of the bathroom. Two things surprised me, one positively and the other negatively.

Ethan had put the mattress on the bed since he couldn't fit on it, and we had to resort to the floor again and rearrange the sheets. But he wasn't there anymore.

"Idiot!" I muttered to the walls. "Not even a 'goodbye' from that rude guy."

I changed my clothes and put on a light, loose dress. After combing my wet hair, I decided to let it dry naturally since I didn't need to leave the house, or rather, there was no chance of me doing that on that day with my face practically disfigured from the bruise.

I looked at the clock and saw that it was a little past seven in the morning. My aunt probably hadn't gotten up yet, so I would prepare our breakfast. I walked towards our kitchen, already smelling coffee in the air.

Perhaps Aunt Celina had woken up earlier that morning and was already cooking for us. However, it wasn't going very well that day, as I also caught a whiff of something burning when I reached the door.

I stopped in disbelief, unable to believe the scene before me.

"What are you still doing here, Ethan Constantino?" I asked, trying to suppress my smile and pretend to be irritated. But I wasn't angry, quite the opposite. My heart was pounding in my chest, and a feeling that I didn't intend to name just yet was becoming clearer within me.

"I was preparing your breakfast," he stated the obvious but quickly corrected himself. "Or at least trying to."

Aunt Celina also arrived at the kitchen door at that moment, standing beside me. Unlike me, she burst into laughter, unable to contain herself at the mess Ethan had made. The table was a mess, the eggs in the pan were burnt, and there was spilled coffee on the countertop.

"I'll help you with that, dear," Aunt Celina offered, still laughing uncontrollably, as she helped him clean up the mess. Meanwhile, I went ahead and prepared our breakfast.

"But you have to admit that the coffee is great!" Ethan said, taking a sip of the coffee he had made himself.

"You're right, your coffee is really good," Aunt Celina agreed. "Where did you learn to make such good coffee?"

Ethan displayed one of his rare authentic smiles, without a trace of cynicism, and I felt another wall protecting my heart crumble.

"This is the first time I've ever made coffee in my life," he confessed, and even I burst into laughter this time.

We had breakfast in that warm and pleasant atmosphere, but I remained mostly silent, as everything felt so perfect there in that kitchen that I felt guilty for allowing it. Ethan was an enemy, blackmailing me and causing a lot of trouble for Murilo. I couldn't just forget all of that.

But maybe, if I could uncover the truth about what happened between Ethan, Beatriz, and Murilo, and reveal the truth about the woman Ethan believed to be a saint, just maybe, he could see how wrong he was and redeem himself from his many sins.

Perhaps he could become a better person, and... perhaps, who knows...