Chapter 02 Disappointment

“ARGH!” Matthew screamed in pain.

Matthew was not a weak man. The difficult life he led made him endure a lot. He never shied away from hard work, causing him to gain stamina and physical strength.

But being completely taken by surprise by David, it was inevitable that he wouldn’t feel some pain. Still, David’s friends laugh thinking that Matthew was nothing more than a useless weakling.

“A light kick like that, and he screams like a little girl!”

“For a moment, I thought I was going to witness a real fight.”

“The waitress is lost if she really needed the grill cook!”

“Come on, man, get up!” David bellows imperially, “You asked, and now you’ve got trouble!”

But Clayton appeared from inside the kiosk, rubbing his hands on his apron, “Hey, you guys, stop it or I’ll call campus security!”

David looks arrogantly at Clayton, “Are you also going to call my father to teach this worm who dared to defy me a lesson?”

Patricia doesn’t remain silent, “Mr. Saldanha, that’s not what—”

“You know what, forget it, babe!” David turns to his friends, “Let’s eat at some real restaurant. I still don’t know how a kiosk like that is popular among students from the best families in the state.”

The friend who appears to be David’s faithful squire responds as he stands up, “It must be to appreciate the grill cook.”

“For they are blind!” David runs his hand over his chest, “They have better options. Especially Cindy Cardoso; I don’t understand what she saw in this guy here! She probably lost a bet.”

Matthew listens to the insults while still prostrate on the floor. His fingers feel like they want to dig into the concrete, due to the fury he feels.

However, he feels unworthy of doing anything against one of Josias Rocha’s sons. As long as Patricia was safe, he no longer saw the need to continue the fight.

“Let’s go.” David gestures like a monarch and his friends follow him like chamberlains.

The other university students who witnessed the near-fight began to murmur among themselves, mocking Matthew.

“This guy is studying Business Administration but works at the kiosk. Why doesn’t he try an internship in the area he studies in?”

“Probably no company would want to hire a loser like him. It seems to be written all over his forehead!”

“David Rocha has a point about Cindy: What did she see in him?”

Matthew decides to ignore the malicious whispers and turns to Patricia, “Are you okay?”

“Are YOU okay?” Patricia helps him to get up.

“It’s just my pride that hurts.” Matthew jokes.

Clayton helps him to his feet, “Sorry, Matt. I heard the commotion from back there. These people don’t take it easy, but we’re afraid to do something.”

Patricia shakes her head, “That’s not quite true. I’ve read enough about David’s father to understand that he’s a good person. The problem is that no one bothers to report the abuse of his abused son. A son who was sired by one of his lovers... He stays here as if he were something important!”

“Let’s forget about this, please.” Matthew shakes the dust off his clothes.

Clayton taps the aide’s left shoulder, “Matt, if you want, you can go. The students are leaving, there will be little activity. I’ll handle it. See you tomorrow?”

Matthew was going to refuse, but his eyes lit up. He had an idea...

“Thank you, Mr. Saldanha! Don’t worry, I’ll reward you for the hours given!” Matthew walks away to pick up his apron that was left on the ground.

Patricia smiles, guessing what Matthew intended to do.

******

Matthew arrives at his house.

“Mom, I’m here—”

Matthew is shocked to find his mother Sheila sitting on the sofa in the living room, still wearing a nightgown, coughing violently, but trying to hide it with her arm over her mouth. She looks at her son with apprehension, not wanting him to see her like this.

Matthew looks around. Their home doesn’t have the ideal environment. As they had always lived in poverty, the budget was only enough to pay for a place in the worst neighborhood of Blue Cove. The house was dark, the walls were stained, some of the window panes were missing and they were precariously covered with cardboard. The furniture was old and worn out.

The couch Sheila was sitting on was dusty and Matthew felt it aggravate her coughing, “Mom, what are you doing? This couch needs cleaning!”

“I know, son, but I wanted to watch the soap opera.” Sheila points out the TV that was bought ten years ago in installments.

Matthew swallows hard. His dear mother could watch the soap opera on her tablet or computer, but they didn’t have any of that.

“I’m going to buy you a cell phone as soon as I receive my payment. And we’re going to put Internet here at home. And who knows, we’re going to buy a new sofa—”

Sheila gets up. She is a forty-five-year-old lady who was beautiful in her youth, but the tribulations of her life have taken their toll. However, she was never one to complain and lived entirely for her only son.

She puts her right hand on her son’s face, “Don’t spend your hard-earned money on this old lady here. You need to invest in yourself. Look at your girlfriend, Cindy. She got an internship at LCN and is dressing and behaving like a higher-class person. You need to keep up with her, son.”

“Mom, what do you mean?” Matthew frowns.

“I’m telling you to worry about your stuff. Look at this t-shirt, for example, it’s full of bacon and cheese splatters. Our washing machine is old and I can’t clean it properly. I bet Cindy didn’t even want to hug you today.”

Matthew is embarrassed to see how Sheila guessed what happened without having witnessed the scene. Well, they say mothers know everything, right?

“Mom, Cindy knows who I am and accepts me for it.” Matthew takes both of her hands, “She could break up with me now that she’s more important than me, but she didn’t. Yes, I’m not the most attractive man in the world after spending the afternoon and evening smelling like fried oil, but I believe this will be temporary. I’m trying hard to overcome myself and be worthy of her. In fact...”

Matthew looks at the clock on the wall, “She’s at LCN and I want to surprise her. Mr. Saldanha released me early.”

“Why did he do it?” Sheila becomes more worried.

“He wished it so.” Matthew blinks and goes to his room.

In Matthew’s cramped and messy bedroom, he has a little trouble choosing the cleanest and most suitable clothes to visit Cindy. His mother was right, she can’t wash her clothes properly. If they had enough to pay for a laundromat...

After finally choosing a dress shirt and the least worn jeans he could find, Matthew grabbed his towel and headed to the bathroom.

The enclosure was equally precarious. Sheila couldn’t bear to scrub the tiles, leaving them yellow. The shower was broken and only provided cold water. The latrine needed to be changed, the sink was a model from the 80s and the mirror was broken and dull.

Facing this calamitous situation, Matthew simply couldn’t think about spending money on himself. He wanted to help his mother. He wanted to prove himself worthy to Cindy. Then he would see what he would do with himself.

After getting dressed up and receiving Sheila’s blessing, Matthew headed to LCN.

******

LCN is a television station whose headquarters were in Lagoon City, but it now has smaller offices spread across the state to facilitate employee management and decongest the headquarters. In Lagoon City, were still located the studios of the soap operas, talk shows, and the main television news.

The branch located in Blue Cove served as a base for journalism in the city and surrounding region. The building was large, with five floors and a guarded entrance. Cars and passers-by needed to identify themselves at the entrance, with security guards and doormen located at the guardhouse.

Matthew, with a hopeful smile, waved a gift wrapped in fifth-rate paper. The people passing around him, all in business attire, looked him up and down, thinking he was lost.

It was half past six in the afternoon, it was getting dark. Many employees were leaving and came across the unusual visitor.

He stopped at the glass of the guardhouse. A doorman opened the tinted window with an obvious question in his eyes.

“Good evening!” Matthew beams, “I want to deliver a gift to Cindy Cardoso, she works here as—”

“I know who she is.” The doorman cuts Matthew off, “Leave the package here and sign this.”

The doorman brusquely passes a clipboard with a pen attached to it for Matthew to sign.

Matthew frowns, “You don’t understand me. I’m Matt Silva and I’m her boyfriend. I want to surprise her.”

The doorman holds back a laugh with his hand over his mouth, “PFFF... YOU surprised me, young man! What did you say? Miss Cardoso’s boyfriend?”

Matthew takes a deep breath, “What’s so wrong?”

The doorman looks Matthew up and down and speaks as if he belonged to the upper class, “My friend, from what I always see of Miss Cardoso, she would never date a guy like you. Besides, she—”

“Stop being a snob, sir!” Matthew defends himself, “If I bet, you also live in the same neighborhood as me, Lion’s Den!”

The doorman stops laughing immediately. Yes, he lives in the same decrepit neighborhood as Matthew. The job he has makes him delude himself and have airs of grandeur. Upset, he retorts, “Now, I won’t let you in, you impolite! First, you can’t just come here without prior authorization. Second...”

The doorman seems to have seen something out of the corner of his eye. He turns towards the inside of the company and smiles mischievously.

Turning to Matthew, he adds with a mocking voice, “I’ll let you see why I’m laughing because you said you’re Cindy Cardoso’s boyfriend!”

Matthew looks in the same direction as the doorman, and what he sees leaves him frozen like a pillar of salt.

Walking along the concrete path towards the electronic gate, Cindy was talking to another guy. He was tall, had brown hair, and wore a tie and designer clothes. The shoes were freshly polished and shined with the reflection of the lamps that illuminated the path.

Matthew wouldn’t have bothered about it if the other guy was just a colleague. But the fact that he had his arm wrapped around Cindy’s back and the fact that she was wearing his suit because of the wind left Matthew’s mind reeling.

This would explain the doorman’s initial disbelief when he identified himself as Cindy’s boyfriend!

“Cindy, we need to celebrate tonight.” The ‘colleague’ spoke in a deep tone of voice, as if he were a radio announcer.

“Well, Ricardo, as I intended to work all night, we can go to—”

Cindy freezes her words when she finds Matthew standing outside, holding the package that was supposed to be hers.

Matthew’s hand began to squeeze the package as if he were strangling Ricardo’s neck.

He recognized the name: Ricardo Montegrande, LCN’s most famous and experienced journalist who was transferred to lead the Blue Cove branch. His articles, mostly investigative, gave him fame and recognition in the journalistic world.

Ricardo has already appeared on the pages of Maggiezine involved in gossip about his personal life. This only increased Matthew’s anger, and he strode to the gate.

“Cindy! What’s going on here? Aren’t you going to work late?”

Cindy, however, retorts as if she were whipping Matthew’s back, “Well, Matt, what are YOU doing here? Shouldn’t you still be at the kiosk?”