Chapter 1

"In peace, I say I am the former of what goes forward. No more, I stay where I am, I prefer to remain distant..." - Answer, Skank.

The night was cold, the strong wind made the leaves on the trees sway violently, indicating that heavy rain would certainly start to fall any minute. Although the temperature was low, cold was the least of my feelings at that moment, as I was busy pouring champagne into the luxurious crystal glasses and arranging the sophisticated delicacies on the tray so that the waiters and waitresses hired for that typical upper class event would take them all away. I looked at that kitchen full of people running from one side to the other, all focused on doing their job in the most impeccable way possible, taking into account that this was one of the many exquisite parties of the brilliant and popular Carter family, known for its tradition in the law business, where Kyara and Henrico Carter were the most prestigious couple in this area.

Kyara is the most influential lawyer in the area of Family Law, where she is well known for her work in litigious divorces - divorces that occur in a non-amicable way, i.e., where there are conflicts in the conjugal life and this results in a lawsuit - and has received several awards, being also a partner in a renowned law firm. Henrico is a criminal lawyer and owner of one of the most powerful law firms in the country, gaining recognition by defending - and winning - famous cases that were covered in the media. The two had a son, John, who also decided to pursue a career in law, having graduated just over three years ago. They were definitely commendable in this regard.

I looked over and saw that my mother was running her hand over her forehead and sighing wearily as she finished cutting some tomatoes. I walked over to her and gently took the knife from her hand, receiving a confused look in response to my act.

"Let me do it, Mom. Sit down for a moment," I said, already starting to cut the tomatoes into small cubes.

"No need, child. You're already helping a lot, you're not even supposed to be doing this. And be careful, the knife is sharp." She argued, trying to take the knife from my hand, but I stopped her.

"Do you think I'm so clumsy that I can't cut some tomatoes?" She looked at me debauched, as if she didn't even need to answer me.

I stared at her dumbfounded.

"I want to help, don't be stubborn, Miss Mary." I giggled at her resigned face, already knowing that I wouldn't give up. I watched her sit down on one of the benches scattered around the huge kitchen and went back to my previous task, being careful not to cut myself.

My mother had long worked as a cook in the Carter household, and I have many memories of watching her cook while I drew and did my homework sitting at the table. After my father's death I began to accompany her to her workplace on a daily basis. When I started kindergarten, my mother would drive me to work and back, one of her friends would pick me up and drive me to the mansion, which became unnecessary as I grew older and was able to come and go on my own. During this time, I rarely saw John walking around the house, after all, he always had many activities to do, and you could often hear Ms. Kyara hurrying him to swimming lessons, horseback riding, guitar lessons, and everything else you can imagine.

I could never understand this fixation of rich people to cram their children with a million tasks.

With the death of my father, our financial situation went from bad to worse, to the point where we were in danger of being evicted from our house due to non-payment of rent. At that time it was horrible, I was still a child, I didn't really understand what was wrong, but I saw my mother constantly desperate and suffering to pay off debts. This was not possible with her salary alone, so Ms. Kyara offered the house in the back of the mansion for us to live in, as long as it didn't interfere with my mother's work income. 

It was an annex, like a caretaker's house, located in the back of the main house. She readily accepted and we live here to this day. The money that went to the rent and other expenses was invested in my education together with an amount that was kept in a savings account that my father had left for me, exactly for this purpose, and with this, in the first year of high school, I was able to enter a great and renowned school. In the beginning I had a hard time keeping up with the teaching - which was extremely demanding - and another annoying situation was having to deal with my classmates and even students from other periods. The vast majority - if not all - students at the school enjoyed an excellent financial life and lived comfortably, and when people questioned me about my parents' occupation, I was insecure about telling them that I was quite different from them in this respect, after all, people did not know how to deal with social inequalities and this led to jokes and mean comments. Even so, I decided to speak out, because I was never ashamed of my mother or her profession.

When I was in my first year of high school John had just entered college, choosing not to move away to study elsewhere because at that time Ms. Kyara developed serious health problems, and since Mr. Henrico constantly travels out of the country, he did not want to leave his mother alone. John passed Law School in a great college - one of the best in the country and located in the city - being, coincidentally, the college I had always wanted to attend. With this in mind, I studied hard, tormented my professors, focused day and night on the books - often getting scolded by my mother for my lack of rest - and finally got my dream job. Now I was heading towards the end of the Psychology course, looking forward more and more to the day I would finish college and, of course, to the day of my dream graduation. 

I finished cutting the last tomato at the moment that the blessed slipped, causing the knife to run into my index finger, forming a rather ugly cut. I let out a murmur of pain, watching as blood flowed uncontrollably from the cut at the same time as I felt a throbbing burning sensation in it.

"Helena, what did I tell you?" my mother sprang up beside me, looking minutely at my bruised finger. 

"The tomato slipped" I cried making a grimace of pain, going to the sink in order to wash off the blood.

"Here, put this paper on to control the bleeding," She handed me the paper and I wrapped it around my finger.  "I'll go find a band-aid and merthiolate.

"Mary, I wonder if you could help me here?" A girl asked, pointing to a pile of pans.

"It's okay, Mom. I left the kitchen and headed for the small bathroom that was near the service area.

I opened the cabinets and looked everywhere, finding neither the band-aid nor the merthiolate. I huffed, holding the paper more firmly on my finger, and went to the pantry where the medicines and bathroom products were kept. I opened the door and went inside, starting my search again, feeling my finger throbbing more and more. I was distracted going through the shelves until I noticed a movement in the place. I turned around and jumped dumbly in fright when I saw that someone had entered.

John was standing near the door, looking at me with the biggest question mark possible.

He was wearing a tight white dress shirt with the sleeves folded up at the elbows; his tie and jeans were black, and his shoes were dark brown. His hair contained a mixture of charm and rebellion. He looked handsome and...

Whoa, wait a minute.

But what?

Yes, I was over-analyzing him.

I frowned at my attitude and came out of the moon world, returning to reality.

I noticed that his gaze was directed at something, followed his observation and saw that he was staring at my injured finger where the paper was crumpled and stained with blood. By instinct, I withdrew my hand and flashed him a wry smile when he returned to me with his usual serious expression. I turned back to the shelf, thanking heaven that I had finally found the band-aid and the merthiolate. I picked them both up and John was still standing near the door, running his eyes over the shelves, looking lost as he searched for something while waiting for me to leave, since the place wasn't big enough for the two of us.

"Can I help?" I subtly asked him, who looked away from the pantry and back to staring at me. 

"No, you can go" his thick subtly husky voice made itself present.

I nodded and left, wanting to get the dressing done as soon as possible. 

"Is everything okay?" the deep voice sounded again. I stopped walking and looked back, confused. He was still standing near the door, but now his hands were in his pants pockets and his face remained serious. Realizing that I didn't understand what he was talking about, John pointed with his head to my injured finger.

"Oh, yeah. It's all right. It's just a little cut," I replied, waving my hand as if it were nothing. Noticing his silence, I smiled goodbye, ready to leave the place for good. He nodded in return, and I walked back, hurrying to take care of the cut and help my mother again. 

I had lived here for many years, and in all that time the most John and I had said to each other was "good morning", "good afternoon" and "good evening". Well... Sometimes he would also ask me if I knew where something was.

From time to time I had the impression that he didn't like me very much, and the idea of bothering him made me uncomfortable.

John was in the office all day, and I was in college. On Saturdays, I worked part-time at a record store, arriving in the afternoon, and hardly ever saw John's car in the garage. I finished putting the band-aid on my finger and stopped my daydreams, going back to the kitchen and finding everyone the same way: working. 

"I thought you got lost in the rooms," my mother commented in a playful tone.

"What do I do now?" I asked, looking around.

"Nothing for now, daughter. You can rest. If I need anything, I'll call you." She was preparing some snacks that looked wonderful. I took one and received a scolding look. I laughed and looked out the window, realizing that, as predicted, a torrid rain was beginning to fall.

From afar, the soft melody of some song could be heard. I went into the dining room and carefully approached the door that led to the huge living room where the party was taking place. I tried to stay as hidden as possible, since I didn't want to appear curious or nosy. I just liked to enjoy the atmosphere and the always beautiful decorations that were created. Several people were distributed around, all in their luxurious costumes, laughing and chatting, like in the most perfect milk powder commercial. The waiters circulated among the guests with great skill, everything in the most exquisite order as they distributed canapés and drinks, serving and handing out glasses to those who didn't have one. I continued to look around, stopping at a select group of people, and in the middle of them were John and his girlfriend, Cassie. They communicated with each other with smiles and laughter.

John was bare-chested with one of his arms around her shoulders, who in turn was keeping one of her own arms wrapped around his waist. I gave a faint smile and sighed, focusing my attention elsewhere.

"Haven't you ever heard that spying is ugly?" a voice blew into my ears, making me jump startled from the fright. I looked back immediately, and when I saw who it was, I rolled my eyes. It was Bryan, John's best friend. 

"Didn't you have a less cliché phrase than that?" I retorted, making the most bored face I could manage.

- Good evening, Lena. Enjoying the party?" he stopped in front of me with a cocky smile on his face. I took a deep breath.

"I glared at him, crossing my arms and continuing to look at the event, ignoring Bryan, who was standing next to me.

"Ouch, you're so hot. That makes me hurt" he retorted with a tone that emanated false offense. I rolled my eyes and decided I had better get out of there. I turned my back and walked toward the kitchen, but not before hearing him say one last time, "Leaving already? Does my presence affect you that much?"

I stopped halfway, giving him a crossed look and a disdainful smile.

"To affect me that much," I stressed, "your presence would have to affect me at least a little, which it doesn't. I just don't usually pay attention to the things that affect me. I just don't usually pay attention to what doesn't add up to me," I smiled cynically as he looked at me with a mocking frown, and I walked back to the kitchen without looking back.

The rest of the evening went on as usual. I stayed so busy that I didn't even notice how quickly the hours passed. I looked at the wall clock and was startled to see that it read 2:35. The kitchen cleaners were already putting away the utensils that were out of place, tidying, soaping and sweeping in order to leave the kitchen spotlessly clean.

"Lena, daughter. You can go home, you worked today. I'll stay here and finish helping" my mother said, appearing to be as tired as I was, as she dried the dishes. I nodded, picking up the dish she had just dried and putting it away. 

"Judith appeared in front of us, smiling tenderly. She was a nice lady who occasionally helped out at parties and in the kitchen, and I thought of her as a grandmother. My mother opened her mouth to contradict, but Judith held up one hand, showing her palm as if to say that she would not accept being contradicted. We smiled at her and said goodbye to the rest of the people there. The temperature seemed to have dropped a little more after the rain had stopped, and all I could think about was my warm bed. As soon as he saw me, Benedict, John's dog, came running towards me, rubbing himself against my leg begging for affection. He was an extremely affectionate German shepherd and couldn't see me and wouldn't let go.

"Look who showed up! You know your owner is going to freak out when he realizes that you went out and got your paws wet, don't you?" I said to him while stroking the back of his ears. Benedict stared at me as if he understood me, and I could have sworn that this dog would start talking someday. I was serious. I looked ahead of me and noticed that John and Cassie were saying goodbye to Bryan, who was getting into his car, ready to leave. John and Bryan had been best friends for years, by the time I moved here, they were already close and did everything together "Go over there with your owner and he is looking for you, tomorrow I promise I will play with you" Benedict tilted his head to the side and did not move "Go, look at him coming" I laughed and stroked his back, seeing, from far away, John coming to meet his dog, who looked at me one last time, finally running to his owner.

He put his hands on the dog's head, staring at its paws and saying something I couldn't hear. The two of them headed inside the mansion accompanied by Cassie, who was waiting for them outside. I assumed that she would probably sleep there. I felt the icy breeze hit my face and hurried into the house, already noticing that my nose was getting cold from the cold. I took a hot shower and fell into bed, falling fast asleep.