CROOKED: In love with my cousin's boyfriend

CROOKED: In love with my cousin's boyfriend

last updateLast Updated : 2025-03-06
By:  RanacienOngoing
Language: English
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Everything was supposed to be fine. I was dancing between success and happiness. My path was straight, with no major things to take away. All my things was going well, almost perfection, I swear, until I became the obsession of a boy named Maël, and my world became so crooked...

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Chapter 1

CHAPTER 1

(February 01.

2020.

Braga, Portugal. Quinta da Mafalaia).

Sandra thought I was a liar. Or maybe, on this strict occasion, everything I was telling her was a vile lie.

"You could say something," I said, after the silence that fell between us.

Sitting under that leafy tree that I loved, the beautiful shade of the Quinta da Mafalaia restaurant, I observed her oval face of light and soft brown skin.

She looked at me with astonishment and perhaps with something that reproached me.

"It would be good to have your opinion, Sandra, because I had sworn I wouldn't tell anyone about this," I told her. "Although, there're already people who know about it." I lowered my face a little embarrassed by that last piece of information.

I saw her swallow thickly. The story was something that could happen to many people, but not to me. These things should not happen to a mere mortal like me, who used to feel whole in the face of life. Telling something like this was not easy, I knew it wasn't.

"Well," she started to say, "I... I don't..." Yes, she was speechless. "Are you sure this all started when he was a... a child?" She wouldn't even let me answer. Sandra leaned forward and whispered energetically. "You're talking about a child. A little boy, a little boy, a youngster!"

I raised my eyebrows and she relaxed her body, understanding she was exaggerating. I might have made a thousand mistakes, but it wasn't "that" she ventured to think.

"But it can't be! You... The day I met him, he seemed empty, typical... immature, childish."

Staying still because I wanted to see in detail her reactions, and she didn't confuse mine above all, I emitted a small laugh with tinges of sadness. My best friend was wrong.

He was not typical. The protagonist of our conversation, the reason why I came to the Quinta to tell Sandra everything, was something very different.

"Trust me when I tell you what you thought he was until now maybe the opposite."

I sighed, uncovered the box of cigarettes I put on the table, and lit one.

Sandra looked at my cigarette, and for the first time in my life, I knew she was about to rip it out of my hands.

This is precisely what I was talking about, the effect some people have on others. Vices that break a chain of goodness caused by the anxiety of a story.

"What you are telling me is a bomb, it's such... intense."

"I know, and I came to tell you precisely because I can't hide it from you anymore." I sighed again, the weight on my shoulders pulsing for release.

She looked at the iron and wood table between us, and then stared at me, placing one of her hands on the only one I was holding free on my lap.

"I don't know exactly the reasons that forced you to keep quiet, but I understand that you didn't want to shout from the rooftops. I want you to pardon me."

"What? Why?"

She sighed, leaning back in her chair.

"Because I didn't notice, I never saw anything in your eyes. And I know you needed help, at least to get it off your chest, or to see things in perspective."

I smiled.

"I don't think I made myself clear." I kept smiling, a smile that now became compassionate since I had to understand that what I had told was not easy to digest. I'm convinced that the relief is not enough for me to overcome everything. "You're not the only one who found out about this, I came here to change that, not to cure my crazy heartbreak."

She couldn't help the sparkle in her eyes.

"Why didn't you tell me before? Why didn't you include me in that secret of yours? Who are those people who also know?"

After those questions that didn't generate immediate answers, Sandra emitted another one and that's when I straightened my back.

I went to that place to let it all out, the whole story I lived with "him," one of the best-kept secrets in my life, even though a small number of people knew about it.

"What are you going to do now?" was her question. And I didn't know what to say, I didn't know what the hell to do. I was at a loss.

I pulled my long black hair into a ponytail, took the last puff on my cigarette, and stubbed it out in one of the ashtrays Sandra's father set up at each of the tables in his restaurant.

I looked at her after a sigh.

"Do you have any coffee? I haven't finished telling you everything yet."

***

(11 years before.

2009.

North of Portugal).

I knew something strange was going on from the moment I was watched by "him". I knew it several years later, but I could never forget that expression so genuine, divine... horrifying.

It all started one day after I entered that house; I seem to remember that I stepped on that floor on October 4, 2009. I was only eighteen years old.

With a career in Education just starting and I wanted to abandon to focus on other things, my head was full of desires for the owner of that house.

I had no idea of the people I would meet there, apart from my boyfriend, of course; a young man four years older than me named Nikko Saravia, quite tall, with an attractiveness that threatened my emotional security, with a hair color that rivaled my long black hair.

Nikko was a law student at the University of Minho, home to my district, where we met. It should be noted that he and I didn't live in the same locality, although we lived in the same Council. My house was in the District of Braga, and he was in Viana do Castelo, at a distance of 62 kilometers by road, one hour and forty minutes by car. At the time I went to meet his parents' house, we had already been dating for six months.

Until now I had never set one step in the Saravias' home. I used to travel by bus to visit him, but I never stayed there. We attended plays, we went for walks through the streets and boulevards of Castelo... I confess that I loved traveling there.

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Gladis Gonzalez
A novel somewhat different from what you can find on this platform. It has left me very intrigued. It's a very interesting novel and I already want to keep reading.
2025-03-07 02:55:27
1
12 Chapters
CHAPTER 1
(February 01.2020.Braga, Portugal. Quinta da Mafalaia).Sandra thought I was a liar. Or maybe, on this strict occasion, everything I was telling her was a vile lie."You could say something," I said, after the silence that fell between us.Sitting under that leafy tree that I loved, the beautiful shade of the Quinta da Mafalaia restaurant, I observed her oval face of light and soft brown skin. She looked at me with astonishment and perhaps with something that reproached me."It would be good to have your opinion, Sandra, because I had sworn I wouldn't tell anyone about this," I told her. "Although, there're already people who know about it." I lowered my face a little embarrassed by that last piece of information.I saw her swallow thickly. The story was something that could happen to many people, but not to me. These things should not happen to a mere mortal like me, who used to feel whole in the face of life. Telling something like this was not easy, I knew it wasn't."Well," she
last updateLast Updated : 2025-01-13
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CHAPTER 2
The Nikko family was gigantic, and they lived in the same housing complex. All of them. His grandparents had fought day and night to build an entire housing town development where the Saravias could live.When the story I've had such a hard time telling started, that explosion in someone else's mind, Nikko had convinced his parents that I could stay over there. We were happy and excited about the novelty.I met his parents, Adelaida and Nicolas; I also got to know his brother, Estefano, and some cousins, Eusebio and Harry (they are brothers and only one year younger than my boyfriend). I met Catalina too, a cousin of all of them contemporary with Nikko, and Marcelino, a sweet-faced but physically imposing boy, who was younger than all of us. My nerves were attacking me as the hours passed, and more so when they made me settle in Nikko's room. He was older not only in age but in... experience. I had only a few kisses from a few guys since then.So, without all the fuss, Nikko became m
last updateLast Updated : 2025-01-13
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CHAPTER 3
(2016). "Oh my. The ghosts hanging around." Maël's words made my face crumple and I turned to him. It was the first time that I heard his grown voice. As a little boy, he was playful and even tremendous with the grown-ups, but with me, he faded away and lost the ability to speak. I knew that for some reason, or several reasons, the cousins bothered him, sometimes they're cruel. Despite his behavior, he always struck me as a very intelligent one. But that teasing was seven years ago. His return to Viana was enough to suddenly remember that smooth and cute little face now, at the beginning of 2016, my eyes could see he wasn't longer an ordinary infant but a teenager whom no one made fun of anymore. I could feel how the character of a guy is formed when he grows up too soon. I always wondered what he felt when saw me after such a long time. How long did children's love affairs last? How long did they last in love with their teacher, for example? Is this the case when they leave sch
last updateLast Updated : 2025-01-14
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CHAPTER 4
(2018). I noticed the first hint of what happened two years later, at one of the children's gatherings organized by Nikko's family. I arrived at the beginning of June at a little party room that the Saravia grandparents had built for the family's enjoyment, and I noticed that Maël had arrived early to help with the setting up of the tables and tablecloths and all the preparations for that party. It was the fifth birthday of cousin Catalina's son. Wearing a simple and comfortable dress, I helped with the tasks. When everything was ready, I took advantage of the good Internet signal offered by the hall and sat at one of the first tables to check my emails and social networks while the guests arrived. There was Maël, and it didn't have to be like that, it was a children's party. Yes, I know, it was about his little cousin, but that was still unhinged. Or so I thought. Fuck, I didn't want to be near him. Maël was getting on my nerves! I looked at him out of the corner of my eye. God
last updateLast Updated : 2025-01-14
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CHAPTER 5
After nine years together, things between Nikko and I had reached an awkward point. He was a man who loved his freedom and made arbitrary decisions without consulting anyone about what would do next. Therein lay our arguments. His father was a lawyer for a small firm in Viana and before his oldest son graduated, he managed to get him on the payroll. Work, occupation, and our schedules, plus the condition of living in different districts, made him accustomed to not including me in almost any of his plans. However, we were still dating, because the little time together was good. Nikko's cousin Catalina, who owned a shoe store in Castelo, would occasionally receive us there. She was one of the cousins I got along best with, we hit it off, and she even knew my friend Sandra, and we used to meet in Braga when Cata traveled. Two days after her son's birthday, Nikko and I went into her store with the idea of saying hello and seeing her new merchandise. I love shoes, and Cata was selling
last updateLast Updated : 2025-01-17
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CHAPTER 6
On Tuesday, July 10, 2018, with my briefcase ready to go home, I heard a noise coming from the living room. I went out of Nikko's room and noticed the arrival of many young men, some with their girlfriends, all well-dressed with cans of Corales, Sagres and Super Bock under their arms.'What's going on out there?" I asked my boyfriend. "Shit, I forgot to inform you," Nikko said, putting his hands on his head in an exaggerated way.Then, he burst out laughing and I made my bored face. "Very funny. C'mon, tell me, what did you forget?" "Today is Maël's birthday and they're going to celebrate it here."I wrinkled my face. "And why here? Why not at his house?"He sighed and raised his body a little on the mattress of the bed. "Since his family is in Lisbon, Mom offered him the house for the celebration.""And why are they in Lisbon, isn't it their son's birthday? Shouldn't they be here with him, or he with them?""I don't know, Delu, you know my uncles live on the road. Dad told me a
last updateLast Updated : 2025-03-05
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CHAPTER 7
I confirmed later that Maël's show of goodwill towards me was nothing more than a false pink cloak. Moreover, there was a rumour in the family that his girlfriend had broken up with him.I heard from Nikko's aunts that sweet Katty left him a week after his birthday because of some mistreatment the boy had done to her or cheating things young people; I didn't know the details. But I did learn that something serious had happened between them, and it was in those days that I saw in him something so different, one of his annoyances about life took a giant leap.Sitting next to cousin Harry and Nikko in an area of the house that I adored: a set of armchairs that my mother-in-law placed near the garden, I was reading a script that a friend sent me home via local mail.To each his own, until the boys started laughing at something they were watching together on Harry's laptop.I coughed a little to shut them up."Delu, if it bothers you so much that we're here, go read in the bedroom," my boy
last updateLast Updated : 2025-03-05
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CHAPTER 8
I stared at her, hidden behind a bottle of cold beer. The suspicion that something was going on between that woman and my boyfriend even made me want to smoke.We were at another family party; this time, it was being held at Catalina's house and not in a living room. This was a celebration in style: Aunt Chia's birthday.Belinda, Catalina's friend and part-time employee was there, of course. She was the one I saw.An unhinged grimace furrows my face at the memory of her. A huge front yard, surrounded by pots hanging on the walls. At the end, a roof strategically covered the porch of the house. It was a structure similar to the home of my boyfriend's parents, with the difference that this space was located in the back of the house.After smoking, I sat a little away from the two of them, Nikko and Belinda, in chairs just behind theirs. They had been sharing a conversation for too long that, studying their body language, seemed to hold a halo of mystery that almost drove me crazy. Wha
last updateLast Updated : 2025-03-05
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CHAPTER 9
He denied it to me, of course, but I found out that he liked her. Nikko liked that woman a lot, and she liked him a lot. What a curse! So I decided to continue the relationship-focused only on sex and the company we sometimes gave each other. Why? Well, because a part of me prevented me from letting him go completely. I know it sounds pathetic, but at the time I didn't see it that way. Shortly after leaving the party, Pina contacted me that same night to tell me that those two had been behaving strangely, very close together and sharing secrets on other days before that. Her own eyes, according to her mouth, saw it all. Pina didn't have to tell me too much, she already knew. They were having an affair or had been, I was sure of that. Still, my eyes and those of Harry's young wife were not enough evidence to make a fuss anymore. Again, I let it go because, after all, I felt a little freer being with Nikko that way.September came, and Nikko (who from time to time traced joy and benev
last updateLast Updated : 2025-03-05
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CHAPTER 10
Every time I recall the vicissitudes of my destiny, I feel pressure, and my abilities slow down. It was so stupid! I didn't know how to handle living so close to Maël and I regret the thousand foolish things I thought of telling him, or the catastrophic scenarios I imagined with him, so sure I would come up with something good or to his liking.Something bad was happening to me, I was caught between the enormous desire to leave and the strange desire to stay and see everything. To see, to see, to see... to be seen too, to be seen by "him". I wanted to study him, to channel his way of living and being. He was already old; he was a man who looked older than he was, and I was nervous about his proximity, although I was always hiding that nonsense. I think that the enormous curiosity to know the source of his energy was what kept me with anxiety inside Nikko's new house. I had to go back to Braga and lock myself away, to get away completely, giving the best excuse of the year. But when
last updateLast Updated : 2025-03-05
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