Josias enters Alan's room and is surprised by the mess. The sheets are unfolded, the bed is unmade, there are cookie crumbs on the floor, cans of soda smell bad, and posters of half-naked women on one of the walls.Alan has his back to his father dancing to 'Nice Guys Finish Last' by Green Day. But Josias reaches for the portable radio and firmly turns it off.With the sound cut off, Alan turns around and finds whoever turned off the radio, “Hey Dad, I was listening.”Josias rips off the indecent posters, “Who or how did you get this pornographic crap?”Alan smirks lewdly, “One of my classmates is the son of a newsstand owner.”Josias rips the posters to shreds, “These things are forbidden in my mansion, understood? Don't offend Kate, don't pollute your little brother's mind!”Alan sneers at his father, “Are you mentioning Kate? Who says she wasn't like one of those girls before she met you?”Josias doesn't let himself be taken in by the provocation, “Young man, I've heard a lot of co
A few days passed, enough for Octavio and Jane to return from their honeymoon.Elza and Vernon welcomed the couple at the Rocha Hotel with effusiveness.“Own, my fake daughter...” Elza exclaimed as she hugged Jane, “You must have had fun, I hope.”“Oh, we sure had fun.” Jane blinks.Vernon asks Octavio, “Did any of my photographers reach you in Guarujá?”“I hope not.” Octavio chuckles.Jane breaks the hug and goes back to being the efficient secretary, “OK, let's stop the fun. Mrs. Queiroz, what are the tasks—”Elza makes a face and gestures frantically, “Hey, hey, HEY! What is that? Who said you came to work as a secretary?”Jane is stunned, “Ehr... did I get fired during my honeymoon?”Elza smiles at her, “No, my dear. You got a better job, that's what!”“I don't understand...”Vernon breaks the news, “Jane Motta, you are now the maid manager at the Rocha Hotel! Mrs. Rosalez retired. What do you think?”Jane is pleasantly awestruck. She turns to her husband as if asking permission a
Isabel celebrates LCN's decision regarding her book at Café Montanha. Francisco is obviously very happy for her. The radio fills the cafeteria with “Mujer Latina”, a song by Thalía.“Oh dear, I have never been so happy in my life!” Isabel vibrates, “And you?”Francisco kisses his girlfriend's cheek, “I'm really happy, Izzy. You deserve.”“You know, I thanked Daniel a lot.” Isabel sits down, “He went out of his way to convince the board to respect my decision.”Melissa listens to this but has her doubts. Such a thing could easily be arranged by Josias...Alan walks into the cafeteria wearing his school uniform, “Hello, Mom!”“Alan? What are you doing here? Shouldn't Hector take you back to the manor?” Melissa is surprised.Alan chuckles, “It's so good to see you too, Mom.”Melissa smiles and hugs her son, “I missed you too. So, have you been behaving in the mansion with your father?”“We had an enlightening conversation.” Alan blinks.Isabel, with her back to Alan, hears this phrase an
The next day, Beto was able to visit William at his house. But he almost fails again. The radio was playing “All Around the World” by Oasis, and Caio was still vacuuming the living room rug.When Beto decided to try one last time to knock on the door, Caio turned off the domestic appliance and managed to hear the knocking.Opening the door, he smiles, “Mr. Reis! Come in, my father is in the kitchen.”“You should have someone to do this.” Beto comments jokingly, “What missing does a Mrs. William Campos have.”“I'm used to it. My Dad...”Suddenly, the sound of glass breaking is heard coming from the kitchen.“What the h—”“Dad, we have a visitor!” Caio shouts to warn him.“Excuse me.” Beto enters the house and goes to the kitchen.William has difficulty doing dishes with limited mobility. He tries to crouch down, but the pain is excruciating.“Let me do it!” Beto arrives in time. He takes a broom and dustpan.“Beto, don't be silly. You are the visitor, you cannot do my chores.” William
Daryl notices how stunned Kelvin is by his question and takes offense, “Hey, I didn't ask such a stupid question.”“Actually, you asked.” Kelvin shakes his head, “You still don't get it? Octavio thought, as did Diane, that you just showed up that day to gossip against Alan!”Daryl finally understands. But something Kelvin said caught his attention, “Did you say... as did Diane'?”Kelvin smiles wryly, “And you know what? For a moment I thought about it too. Daryl, you've been such a nuisance with this talk that Melissa and I should focus on the twins and discard Alan and Caroline for being Josias's children. Afterward, Katherine appeared in the penthouse implying that Josias wasn’t going to pass the throne to Alan. Looks like you were the one who started the rumor!”“It wasn't me, it was that Katherine!” Daryl rages, “I won't take the blame for something like this, little bro. OK, now that I understand what happened, I need to meet with Octavio Motta—”But Kelvin frantically shakes his
Alan was delighted to see Cláudio Guzman interacting romantically with another woman. He was already thinking that...Simeon, however, was not very pleased, “Children, don't peek at these things!”Caroline covers her eyes like every decent little girl. J.J. shrugs, as he is not yet mentally old enough to understand these things. Only Alan has to struggle to get back to his grandfather.“Will I get a chick like that when I get old, Grandpa?”Simeon smiles at his eldest grandson, “Certainly, Alan. But remember, be like your father. None of that indecency among people. Your father always treated your mother like a lady. Have you ever had that conversation about... 'that'?”Simeon couldn't say the word 'sex' in front of the other grandchildren.Alan smiles and nods, “Kelvin filled me in.”Simeon got a little embarrassed. Kelvin?Meanwhile, Cláudio took the exuberant girl who was with him to a secluded corner of the beach. Simeon shook his head in disapproval, knowing full well what would
Later, Josias and Katherine return to the mansion. They find Simeon with his grandchildren in one of the living rooms. They had changed clothes and had a light tan.“J.J.!” Katherine exclaims, “My son, you are fine.”“Is that a question?” Simeon is confused.“No, Mr. Campos.” Katherine giggles, “I feared for my son's safety.”Alan says as if Katherine were insane, “Did you really think we were going to go to the beach alone? As soon as you left, I called Grandpa Simeon.”“And you acted very well, Alan.” Simeon pats his grandson on the head.Josias is happier to see Alan acting wisely. Katherine, however, continues to watch Alan as if she senses something... dangerous.“Daddy, I got a tan!” Caroline runs into her father's arms.“I see, little princess!” Even though she is nine years old, Josias continues to hold Caroline in his arms and kiss her on the cheek.Simeon gets up from the sofa, “Guys, I need to share something with you.”Alan smirks, already aware of what his grandfather is
The next day, Katherine is still arguing with Josias about Claudio's probable dismissal, something she never wants.Josias doesn't even have peace while taking a shower. The reckless wife opens the glass shower door with a bang, scaring her husband.“You're not going to fire Claudio, are you?”“KATE!” Josias instinctively covered himself with his hands as if they were both still single, “Get out, I'm bathing!”Katherine bites her bottom lip in lust, “There's nothing in there that I haven't seen. By the way, I saw it last night...”Josias scowls and closes the stall again, nearly breaking the door. Katherine takes a deep breath and counts to five.“You still haven't answered my question.”“What is there to answer?” Josias asks as he rinses the soap off his body.“Will Cláudio Guzman be fired because of what he does in his private life?” Katherine insists, “Honey, who are we to intrude on his privacy? He does what he wants when he's not teaching our son. It's not like he's doing drugs o
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