Hours later, Harold and Wallace are waiting for their test results at the General Hospital.“Wallace, are you okay with your mother calling you by the forbidden nickname?” Harold takes a risk while they are helping themselves to coffee in the lounge.“Who said calling me Wally was forbidden?” Wallace chuckles.“Uélton.” Harold takes a sip, “He said we can't remind you of the bitches who called you that name.”“That's true, but I don't want to be a coward.” Wallace helps himself too, “I need to remember the past from time to time so I don't repeat the mistakes in my future.”“That's nice.” Harold smiles, “So if all goes well, will you take the job Josias offers?”“Looks like we’ll have spots on Uélton’s team, right?” Wallace takes a sip, “Melissa's uncle is moving to Victoria, and Seu Simeon is approaching retirement age. Yes, I think I will.”Harold nods, but he doesn't want to say that Josias will probably put Wallace on another team, not the same one as Uélton, so there's no Indian
Flávia meets Isabel in the corridors of LCN. She has a victorious smile and her mother-in-law already understands what this is about.“No need to tell me: you got the house!”“I got it, Izzy!” Flavia exclaims exultantly, “We're going to live in Green Park!”The two ladies hug each other, excited.After the hug, Isabel sighs, “Now I just need to hear about my son. If he doesn't have any disease contracted from prison, Uélton will have one less reason to show prejudice.”Flavia loses some of the joy, “Izzy, I've been trying hard to instill common sense in his head. What else should I do?”“We must bend the knee and pray to the Lord, may Uélton become reasonable.” Isabel raises her hands to heaven as if she was a prophetess, “And let the harlots not return to the city.”“From what I've heard from Vera Reis, she will die of STDs before she can even think about coming back,” Flavia responds contemptuously.“Continuing the matter, Josias offered Wally a job. With your dad moving, there's on
In the Mountain Penthouse, Kelvin enters after a day at the restaurant. He finds Alan and Caroline play of dancing country music to the song “Any Man of Mine” by Shania Twain.Kelvin laughs, “Okay, looks like we're in a dance contest!”“I'm teaching her, Kelvin,” Alan responds with a wink.“And where is your mother?”“She's writing in the office,” Caroline responds.Kelvin lets the kids have fun and heads to the office.There, Melissa is intent on writing more episodes of “Sweet Love.” Kelvin notices that his wife is typing too hard and her gaze is narrowed, expressing anger.“Honey, are you writing a murder scene?” Kelvin closes the door.“Only if I write a scene like that with Angela Souza to use real bullets!” Melissa presses 'enter' very hard, almost sinking the button.Kelvin approaches her from behind and massages Melissa's shoulders, “Tell me what happened.”“She tried to break into Rocha Constructions.” Melissa reports in outrage, “I went to say goodbye to my uncles and Ben, a
Flávia and Uélton meet again at Harold's house to celebrate the acquisition of the new house.Isabel was pouring glasses of mango juice for everyone. The living room radio was playing “Vulnerable” by Roxette.“Do you have cake, grandma?” Reuben asks sweetly.Isabel laughs, “Grandma has carrot cake in the kitchen, do you want it?”Flavia stops him, “No, Izzy, this will spoil his appetite.”Uélton, as always, releases and allows everything, “Ah, honey, we're going to eat right here. Let our heir have fun just for today.”“Thanks, dad!” Reuben runs to the kitchen.Flávia surrenders to the men in her life and smiles again, “And the best of all is that the house is not far from here. Just three blocks away.”Wallace asks, “Does the house need renovation?”Uélton turns to him, “No, bro, my wife didn't choose a ramshackle house.”Flávia notices the discomfort and tries to fix it, “Well, there are some walls that need to be repainted.”Harold offers, “Leave it to me. And Wallace can help.”Re
1996Josias is taking the elevator up to the Mountain Penthouse. His face was serious and worried, trying to prepare himself to bring up a difficult subject to deal with. A personal and family affair, not exactly his family.When he got into the hallway, he walked unhurriedly to the double doors and pressed the bell. The residents of the penthouse already knew he was coming.With that, the door was opened. Melissa greeted him with the same concern visible on her face, “Good morning, Josias. Glad you can help us.”“I don't know exactly what to do.” Josias enters. He noticed that the penthouse had undergone a renovation.The wall with the radio and phone table is now orange, and the zebra-striped sofas have been replaced by more modern sand-colored ones.On one of the sofas, Maggie is still in her nightgown and pink robe, with no makeup, looking like she has the flu, but in fact, she's been crying. Kelvin is sitting in the armchair that used to be Josias's.“Good morning, everyone.” Jos
In the Mountain Penthouse, Maggie is being interrogated about her marriage and her job.After much thought, she decided to reply, “I want both. I want my marriage back and my job too.”“Excellent answer, Maggie.” Melissa compliments her, “We're proud of you.”Josias is a little embarrassed, “Excuse me, but isn't this about...?”Kelvin replies to him, “That's right, Josias. The intrigue between my mother and sister has reached this point.”“I never thought my mother could actually carry out the threat.” Maggie sniffles, “Or worse, that Bernie could have believed it! Because my mother has already hinted at it several times... But he never believed it...”“And I don't believe it either!” Kelvin thunders, “A strong accusation like that wouldn't go unnoticed! If it were true, how did Uncle Frank know and Daryl and I didn't?"Before Josias asks exactly what they are talking about, the doorbell rings. Kelvin gets up to answer it.Opening the door, it's Daryl, “Hello, little brother. How is M
In the Mountain Penthouse, Josias has realized that he is not welcome to help with Daryl's family problems.But he looks at Melissa, Kelvin, and Maggie and sees they're embarrassed.In order not to cause any more problems, he decides to withdraw, “Well, if you ever need me, I'll be there for you.”“We don't want to bother you, Josias.” Daryl reaffirms the decision firmly, “You have your family problems. Has that Angela Souza stopped causing trouble?”“She still hasn't shown up this year.” Josias chuckles, “See you, guys.”Josias hastily withdraws and closes the door.Maggie is the first to voice, “Daryl, you didn't need that!”“Josias came here willingly.” Melissa echoes what Maggie said.Daryl sits where Josias was, “I didn't mean to sound rude, girls, but Josias has a business to run and four kids to take care of. Two of these children came from the wombs of two histrionics women.”“Careful, bro.” Kelvin chuckles, “One of them hit the jackpot.”“Anyway, I want to know what Maggie in
In the Mountain penthouse, Maggie answers Daryl's crucial question. Melissa and Kelvin wait anxiously.Face straight and serious, she replies, “No, Daryl. I was not a prostitute. My mother lied.”Listeners are shocked to the extreme.Melissa stands up abruptly, “So this is the truth? We need to speak to Bernie immediately!”Maggie turns to her sister-in-law, “Melissa, didn't you know I already tried? I've written a thousand letters, faxed, phoned, but he seems to guess when I'm the one calling. Last week, Elza informed me that he no longer allowed my calls to be forwarded to his suite.”Daryl wiggles, “So someone needs to visit him. Or you can go to the company, little sister.”“Daryl is right.” Kelvin adds, “And before you got here, bro, Josias was talking about Maggie not giving up her job as editor-in-chief.”Daryl doesn't show impatience in front of the ladies, “Okay, this needs to be sorted out too. The public still doesn’t know that the great Marçal couple is separated.”Melissa
Josias visits the Rocha Hotel since he didn’t have a day off for the staff. In the management room, Eugenio gathered David, Benjamin, and Sybil. “Why is that mere cook present at this meeting?” David asked disparagingly. “Because that’s how our boss ordered it,” Eugenio replied dryly. “I didn’t say anything and didn’t call this meeting, so if you’ll excuse me...” Benjamin and Sybil were horrified to see David leaving the meeting just like that. However, when he opened the door, David came face to face with his father. “David, where do you think you’re going?” “DAD!” David exclaimed, extremely surprised. “I didn’t know you were coming!” “Didn’t Eugenio tell you I was coming?” Josias asked with a scowl. David understood who the ‘boss’ was. Benjamin and Sybil felt vindicated. Josias sat down at the desk, taking Eugenio’s seat, while the manager remained humbly standing. “Very well,” Josias began the meeting in a formal tone, “I’m here just to make things crystal clear. First
Melissa and Mary visit the Mountain Café.“A guava juice for me, Mr. Mountain!” Mary requested, smiling sweetly.“Of course, my princess!” Rodrigo replied, thinking Mary was very adorable. “Neil will make a delicious cup for you.”“Thank you. But the princess is Carol,” Mary responded, striking a serious pose.Melissa and Rodrigo laughed heartily. Mary is something else...“Rod, how has it been managing the café in your father’s absence?” Melissa asked seriously.Rodrigo served a baked chicken pastry with ketchup to Mary. “I'm getting by, Melissa. Josias was here earlier, more concerned about my loss than his own, as always. Isn’t he supposed to be resting?”Melissa nodded. “My husband is like that: he only relaxes when all of us are relaxed.”“An impossible mission because of certain people.”Neilton approached with the glass. “Who ordered a guava juice?”“I DID!” Mary grabbed the glass and went to a table.Melissa leaned forward, “Neil, Rod, how are Daryl and Diane? Behaving?”“Cont
At João Paulo’s house, he and Josias were about to have a significant conversation.“Walter, do you want to go with your mom to the kitchen?” João Paulo asked, looking at Helen. “I think she made some walnut cake.”“It was carrot cake,” Sandra replied, already getting up from the couch.“You got it.” Helen appeared and picked up Walter in her arms. “Let’s let Dad and Uncle Josias talk.”“Bye, Uncle!” Walter waved goodbye to Josias.“Bye-bye, I want a piece later!” Josias chuckled.Once alone with João Paulo, Josias became serious. “Don’t let anything or anyone ruin this family scenario, little brother.”“I’m fine. No one wants to ruin anything,” João Paulo replied casually.“Well, I hope David hasn’t caused you any trouble.”“He probably doesn’t even know I exist, man.” João Paulo shrugged.“But I stopped by Café Montanha and found out that the Vasquez family has replaced the Mountain family as the ‘annoying people.’”João Paulo sighed in disappointment. “Yeah. They—”The doorbell ran
Josias visits Café Montanha for a coffee and finds Rodrigo there. “Rod, how have you been?” Rodrigo is taken aback. “How am I? You’re the one who suffered a horrific loss recently!” “But you also lost your father. We’re in the same situation,” Josias explained as he sat down on a stool. “I’m okay, Josias. Life has a way of cheering me up. For example, I’m back at the diner after Thierry decided to take his place at the supermarket.” Rodrigo smiled. “What about the photography studio?” Josias smiled back. “It’s still going to operate, and Thierry will make periodic visits. But he’s going to appoint one of the staff to manage the studio.” Rodrigo served a pizza pastry to Josias. “Thank you. Well, I hope everything is alright between you two. I need to visit Rosemary and meet Jean Luc — is that the name of the baby?” “Yes, the name of the supermarket heir. Meanwhile, Frank will be here or somewhere else.” Josias interjected, “If Frank wants to work at Rocha Constructions, count
At the Rocha Mansion, Josias receives a visit from Benjamin. “How have you been, Ben? Any news about your parents?” The two embrace. “Actually, that’s what I want to talk about.” Benjamin scratches the back of his neck. The embrace breaks. “Let’s go to my office.” The two gentlemen enter Josias’s imposing office. “Any problems with Adolfo?” Josias asks, becoming serious. “Not yet, but I hope not to have any,” Benjamin replies with some sadness. “You know, Josias, what happened with your father made me think about my family, about how important it is for all of us to be together in the final moments.” “That’s true. João Paulo can tell you that better than I can.” “I think you can say it too. Vernon was the father you never had.” Benjamin clears his throat. “So, I’ve been looking into some hotels and realized there’s a demand at the Rocha Hotel in Victoria.” Josias looks at Benjamin, understanding where he’s going with this. “You want to go to Victoria to be close to your pare
Someone rings the doorbell at João Paulo’s house. The homeowner goes to answer after taking a shower and putting on clean clothes. But when he opened the door, João Paulo felt like slamming it in the visitor’s face. “Don’t be rude!” Erasmo exclaimed. “What do you want, you old bore?” João Paulo shot back. Erasmo barged into João Paulo’s foyer. “The mourning is over. Let’s pick up where we left off.” “Are you crazy? Who decides how long mourning lasts? We just got back from the trip!” “Not exactly, it’s been a day. Life goes on, my friend!” Erasmo replied mockingly. João Paulo remained serious. “But I don’t want to continue living this way, where fights and intrigues are the order of the day. Mr. Vasquez, you have a business to run, and I have a family to raise.” “But you found time to slap my son-in-law when he was here defending his family, didn’t you?” “Alan was extremely rude, but that was some time ago.” João Paulo frowned. “I don’t feel the same anger as before.” “So a
At the Vasquez Mansion, Alan could hardly believe that the people were thinking about more intrigues and disputes. “Guys, don’t you understand that I even forgot the reason I slapped Uncle João Paulo?” “Ridiculous!” Erasmo gestured. “You just maintained respect because it was a difficult occasion. But now, the mourning is OVER!” “Do you think João Paulo will rest, dear?” Sofia asked, sitting next to him. Alan shook his head. “If Uncle João Paulo doesn’t want to rest, then he is truly despicable. But my dad is back in town. He wouldn’t dare to do that.” The news should have been uplifting, but the members of the Vasquez family merely exchanged silent glances. With Josias present, it’s quite likely that he will put a stop to their fighting. Alan turned to Olivia. “In the meantime, we should celebrate the recovery of my dear mother-in-law!” Olivia and Sofia smiled awkwardly because of the secret they were keeping. “That’s right, let’s celebrate life!” Erasmo wrapped his arm arou
Josias Rocha and his family returned to Lagoon City. Those who were waiting for them stayed in the mansion and greeted them cheerfully in the foyer. “WELCOME BACK!” Melissa, crying, embraced her parents, William, and the twins fervently. Josias greeted them with a light smile. “Where’s João Paulo?” William asked. “He went straight to his house. His kids needed to rest from the trip.” Melissa wiped her tears with her fingers. “Alan went straight to his mansion. Especially now that his mother-in-law has woken up from the coma.” “That was a scare; I thought we’d have two funerals,” Simeon commented. Everyone headed to the living room. “Is Paris very beautiful, Mom?” Mary asked. “Yes, sweetheart, it’s stunning. We’ll go shopping together another time, okay?” “Do you have pictures?” Ignacio asked anxiously. “Yes, son, we took some pictures.” Melissa sat on the couch, pulling out a package from her bag. Josias sat in the armchair, taking a deep breath. William approached him.
At Café Montanha, Daryl walks in for a coffee and finds Rodrigo at the counter while Neilton serves the others. “Hey, are we back to the old tradition?” “Don’t be a clown, man.” Rodrigo laughs. “Yes, Thierry is at the supermarket, as we agreed.” “Hi, Neil. Can you make me a cappuccino while I enjoy a natural sandwich?” Daryl places his order. “Sure thing, Mr. Mountain.” Neilton heads to the back. Daryl sits on the stool. “So, how do you feel after getting back to your element?” “I don’t regret at all helping my dear wife at the supermarket, Daryl,” Rodrigo admitted while preparing the natural sandwich. “I’m not talking about regrets.” Daryl joked. “But it’s undeniable that after Uncle Francisco’s passing, you prefer to stay here, carrying on the legacy he left.” “Just like Crystal Blue.” Rodrigo smiled. “Hey, I’m aware that you’re looking to open another restaurant in Sunset Village. Do you think you can manage it? How’s the prospecting going?” Daryl picks up the sandwich but