Strawberry Kisses Phavy Prieto (bookstand for reading TXT) 📖

mother saw me, I was not surprised that instead of rejoicing, she put her hands on her head in alarm.

"What happened to you, sweetheart? Have you been fired?"

I could have lied and said "yes" since I wasn't sure I wanted to keep working in the same company with the risk of meeting Damian in the corridors of the office or in the cafeteria.

My heart couldn't stand it.

"No, it's just been a pretty tough week at work," I lied with a big smile.

"Emilio! Tell your daughter not to work so hard!" my mother yelled to get my father's attention. "One of these days you are going to have a stroke, not to mention that at this rate you will become a mother only at forty."

I will not be a mother! After Damian I don't think there will be anyone else.

"Happy birthday, mom," I said hugging her and feeling the warmth of love that only a mother can give. Leaving town to spend the weekend with them hadn't been a bad idea after all.

I watched my mother in the kitchen as she prepared dinner, and she updated me on the affairs of my cousins and closest relatives. I didn't want to tell anything about me. Although my mother could suspect something, I was grateful to her for not having persisted with questions about my private life, something my aunts would not have stopped investigating. The bell rang and my dad got up to get the door.

"This must be your aunt Gertrude. I told her to pick up some boxes of clothes for the charity. She knew you would come, and she wanted to say hello."

Fantastic! Now the usual spiel would begin, "Where is your boyfriend?", "The biological clock doesn't stop", "At your age I already had three children".

I was thinking about the most appropriate answers when I saw my father and behind him not the stout middle-aged woman with a bun, but what I would call a vision: Damian Devoir in my parents' house.

"What are you doing here?!" I exclaimed before I could comprehend the fact that Damian was in the kitchen where so many family events had taken place since my childhood.

"You weren't responding to my calls and messages. We were supposed to come here together," he replied in a tone much calmer than mine. "I apologize for the intrusion. I hope I’m not invasive. I'm Damian Devoir, your daughter's fiancé."

Fiancé? No way!

"No, no, no," I denied. "He's not my fiancé!" I clarified disproving that vile lie. "He is the owner of the company where I work."

At least that was the only certainty along with the fact that I had been in bed with him.

"Will you excuse us for a moment to clear up this misunderstanding?" I politely asked my parents who looked at us bewildered.

Who knows what they were thinking of their only daughter? They didn't say a word.

"I'll be back in ten minutes," I said as I passed Damian so he could follow me and leave my parents' house.

The last thing I wanted at that moment was that someone could hear us. So I headed for the only park in the village far enough from prying ears.

"Could you tell me what the hell happened?" he asked after walking for several minutes during which I walked with my arms crossed and looking ahead.

"I don’t know. Maybe you should ask Rebecca."

"Rebecca?" he asked. "What does she have to do with all this?"

He looked confused, and I knew how good he was at pretending, but his false victimhood exasperated me.

"That's enough! Stop pretending! She was at your house, naked, when I arrived this morning!"

At that moment he frowned as if he didn't expect that answer. Didn’t Rebecca tell him? Was the slimy silicone blonde really silent about it?

"I don't know what you saw, but I assure you that whatever it was, it doesn't correspond to reality."

"Oh, of course! You mean your ex was naked in your apartment by chance? At least have the decency to admit it instead of treating me like a fool!" I said furiously.

"Michael called me last night at three. He was totally drunk. He had quarreled with Rebecca and left the hotel. I went out to look for him. When I found him, I spent the rest of the night trying to convince him to go back to her. Eventually I took him home where Rebecca unexpectedly showed up this morning. I assure you that the last thing I would do in my life would be to sleep with that harpy. I couldn't imagine she still had the keys to my apartment. And I never thought I'd have to change the lock. Finding Rebecca there helped Michael find out what kind of woman he married. Today he will start the divorce proceedings."

Michael had finally discovered it! I couldn't help but feel some kind of satisfaction. Although I believed Damian more than Rebecca, I was still not entirely convinced.

"She told me you were in the shower," I said.

"Well, you should have checked or called me, damn it! How can I convince you that I want only you? The only person I love in my life is you, Maria. Only you! You can call Michael, ask the bartender at the bar where we spent most of the night. My God, Maria! You can't really believe that I am so mean that I can sleep with my best friend's wife, let alone such an opportunist! My only misdeed was to trick you into taking you to their wedding with me, I admit it. But at that moment I was desperate and just wanted to look like a happy man who had rebuilt his life, even if it was far from the truth. Somehow you had bewitched me, so much that I started making up stories to keep you by