Chapter 15 From Joy to Disillusionment.
Chapter 15.
From Joy to Disillusionment.
With that, he finishes, leaving the room, which he locks, limiting the nanny's access, as if Alicia doesn't allow it, she won't enter.
As soon as he returns to his room, Lucas takes a shower. In his mind, he can't stop thinking about Alicia, her surrender, and how amazing their time was—it was more than he expected. Perhaps this is how it feels when you give yourself to the one you love. There is a narrow difference between a casual surrender and one for love.
While Lucas prepares to start his weekend, Alicia wakes up on cloud nine, feeling like she's flying with happiness. She can't help but think about what they did—her first time—it was incredible, and this only confirms that he truly loves her, that he loves her as a woman. Overwhelming emotions consume her in her cloud of happiness, when the sound of a message notification he left for her makes her sit up abruptly. Wrapped in the sheets, she grabs her cell phone, noticing his message. Her gaze falls to the white sheets, stained with blood, and she gets up, surprised by all of this. She moves around the room, gathering her things and changing the sheets as he asked.
When finished, Alicia takes a shower, then comes out, changing into shorts, a tight top, and a knitted jacket. She puts on her slippers and touches up her makeup before leaving, bumping into her Nanny in the hallway.
"You're in a hurry, my child. I was just coming to wake you up. Your uncle is waiting for you in the dining room."
"I'm awake, Nanny. I stained my sheets. I have my period. I left them in the basket."
"Okay, my child. I'll put them in to wash."
Alicia rushes down the stairs with great joy, heading straight for the dining room, where she finds him reading the newspaper.
Upon seeing her run toward him, Lucas receives her in his arms, a little tense because of the servants roaming the house. He barely returns the intense kiss she gives him on the lips.
"Good morning, my love."
"Good morning." He smiles pleasantly, seeing how happy she is. "Get down, beautiful, someone might come." Alicia obeys, settling into her usual spot. "How do you feel? Did you sleep well?" he asks, focusing on her intently.
"Very well." She replies, enjoying her favorite strawberries in syrup. "And you? Do you regret what happened?" The Nanny enters at that moment, and Alicia settles into her habitual manner.
"Here are your scrambled eggs, my child, two slices of toast, and bacon."
"Thank you very much, Nanny."
"Eat well. If you have any pain, let me know. I prepared you some tea."
"I appreciate it, Nanny, thank you very much." Alicia replies, without diverting her attention from him.
"I'll leave you to eat. Enjoy your meal."
"Thank you." They respond in unison, and immediately she turns to look at him again.
"I don't regret it." Lucas answers, without hesitation and clearly. She smiles slightly, very excited. "Take this," he says, handing her two pills. "We'll meet somewhere else to talk better."
She looks at them and immediately understands what they are. She takes them without hesitation, enjoying her breakfast.
After finishing their meal, they meet in the music room, a place with sound-dampening walls, making whatever they talk about a secret between the two of them. She is expectant, waiting for him to say that he will make her his woman, his future wife.
They are on the sofa, she is on his lap, and they are kissing, when suddenly, he slowly pulls her away, focusing on her. He strokes her cheek, feeling her warmth, her agitated breathing from the adrenaline they both feel.
"What's wrong? I feel like you're going to tell me something bad." She says, focusing on him with apprehension because of his look.
"Listen to me, Alicia, I want you to know that I don't regret anything that happened. That surrender has clearly been a sign of your love, but we can't tell anyone about this." She looks at him doubtfully.
"What are you trying to tell me? Do you not love me?"
"I love you with all my strength, but as I explained last night, this relationship, in the eyes of the world, is an abomination..." She interrupts him.
"But not for me. I've read about this. There are cultures that even accept marriage between family members. Besides, we're not family."
"But I adopted you, literally. I am your father, your representative."
"I'm not a child, Lucas. We can dissolve the process. I'm already independent and I can handle it."
"I know, beautiful, but it's not that easy. Everyone in our circle, our extended family, those around us..." She interrupts him again.
"I don't care about any of them. I don't care what they say if I have you. We could leave, go far away, to another city, another country, where no one knows us, where it's just us."
"Listen, darling, it's not that easy. You're in university, barely months away from finishing your degree. The company depends on us, its employees depend on me. I can't just drop everything."
"You can't drop everything for me? Does what happened last night mean nothing to you?" Tears stream down, which he tries to wipe away, but she pulls back.
"It's not like that, Alicia. What happened has a very big meaning for me."
"I would be willing to leave everything for you, but okay, Lucas, what do you suggest?"
"I have a new contract with Carolina's firm. We have publicly announced that we are in a relationship..." She shakes her head, unable to listen to him. "It's just a facade, a cover-up, until you finish university and I manage to find a way for our relationship not to affect anyone else. We are currently in a difficult moment for the company, it needs to have..."
"What you're trying to tell me is that you're not going to leave Carolina, after everything that happened. You want me to be your mistress."
"You would never be my mistress, Alicia. I truly want you as my woman. If I didn't dare to tell you before, it's because I wanted to avoid all this, precisely. Yes, I won't deny that at first, I thought about making the relationship with Carolina more real, perhaps to get those ideas about us out of your head, but things are really not well between her and me. It's not what I want. If I continue with her, it's only until I find a solution to all of this."
"We'll keep playing the happy family, then." Her voice is a mix of pain, resignation, and anguish.