RED 2: A Trick of Mirrors [#Wattys2017]

32. Shatters

Her reasoning wore thin and she grew exhausted trying to justify to Robert and to herself Marco's indifference. She grew exhausted of tending hopes. Exhausted of fighting the senseless impulse to seek Robert's mouth and seal the pact for the new life he offered her.

She had already lost Marco, it was futile to deny it. The yen to throw away everything—her vain hopes, her vain suffering—was powerful, it was within the reach of her hand, grazing against her fingers, urging her to grab it. A new beginning. The unknown bore two faces: one terrifying, the other beautiful. And at each second the beautiful face exhorted her with increasing force. That she shouldn't fear. That she should trust.

It was easier to suffer in a known terrain than to be happy in the unknown. But living was venturing into the unknown. It was also venturing into the familiar to rummage the landscapes hidden there. Mystery existed everywhere. The question was deciding if she wished to venture into the unknown she in fact didn't know or into that one already familiar to her.

Anxiety burned within her and Marisa attempted to braid her hair. The newly trimmed strands eluded her fingers. Robert retained her hand.

"I'm getting a divorce. I want you, Marisa. Your relationship with Marco doesn't make you happy. I see you both disinterested. I see your frustration. You deserve more than that and I want to give you everything you deserve."

The repressed emotions broke the barrage, moved from the solar plexus to the chest and lodged in her throat like a concrete block. A teardrop rolled down the corner of her left eye, a prism holding all colors in the spectrum of pain to joy. From it stemmed an emotion that one day could become love.

Robert wiped off the tear with a kiss on her cheek. Marisa shrank away, still uncertain.

"I'd better be careful. You're a vampire, remember?" And the beginning of a smile blossomed.

"That's right. I promise you eternal life."

She laughed.

"Robert, the eternal life doesn't exist."

"But happiness does, Marisa. If you want it."

He turned serious.

"And what is happiness?" she questioned.

"You and I. Let's get to know each other better. Let's live, because what we call life today is just a shadow. Life can and should be light."

"It won't work. You live in the United States and I'm going back to Brazil. My roots are there. It's where I want to be."

Yet Marisa's voice mellowed without her awareness, it dropped one tone and sounded more intimate. Her body was already deciding for her, and what Robert said next astonished Marisa.

He wanted her to go with him to San Diego and postpone the return to Brazil for one year. He would rent an apartment for the two of them while he sorted out his divorce. If she didn't adapt, he would move to Brazil with her and establish his business there. Robert had made contacts during his trips to the country. After the divorce and asset distribution, he'd still have real estate properties and a reserve. He could invest part of it in a luxury clinic in São Paulo. With his prestige and proper promotion, forming a clientele wouldn't be a problem. And the best of all: he wouldn't work on Fridays during summer and they could spend the weekends on the beach.

More than surprised, Marisa was moved.

"You planned everything down to the last detail."

"I said I wanted to change. I want to change with you, Marisa. Do you think I won't fight for the woman of my life now that I finally found her?" Each sentence pulsed with life as he spoke: "I like your sweetness, your purity, your insights. When I'm with you, I feel I can be myself and you understand me. I've never met anyone who completed me this way. And I know you feel the same for me."