A few more days passed, and Katherine was able to return to the Rocha Mansion.
All of Josias's friends and family felt forced to come to the mansion to 'celebrate' the victory. Yes, no one wanted Katherine's extreme to die (except for a few), but no one wanted to be friends with her again either.
And Katherine, sensing that people would judge her, cast a look of disdain and superiority as paramedics helped her through the entrance of the mansion.
“Hello, my dear friends. I'm so glad I survived, what about you?”
Elza replies on behalf of everyone, “Take advantage of the second chance God has given you, Kate.”
Katherine counters contemptuously, “God was merciful, but that Everaldo was disgusting! It's a shame he doesn't show up here in March, because I'd like to exchange a few words with him!”
Isabel turns pale, “Do not speak ill of an anointed of the Lord!”
Katherine bursts out laughing,
At Crystal Blue, Daryl and Diane hurriedly instructed the chefs and sous chefs to prepare the famous grilled salmon and at the last minute instructed the waiters about the 'promotion' so that Josias doesn't find out the truth.So when customers started arriving, there was indeed a sign advertising a discount on the grilled salmon dish.“Look, let's enjoy it!” They said.Kelvin takes up his post as maître d and is amazed at his older brother's ingenuity, “That was pretty quick, huh? Sorry for making up the lame excuse, bro.”Daryl smiles contentedly, “Don't feel guilty. No one wanted to celebrate that bitch's victory. She's laughing now, but tomorrow the crying will come.”“Especially if she comments negatively about Everaldo, just like she promised Alan.” Kelvin shakes his head, “Meanwhile, we have her rival's son watching everything.”Daryl giggles, “That's Alan's talk.
Vera is shocked when Wallace reveals to her that Beto was having chest pains. She straightens up on the couch as Wallace crouches down to face her.“Honey, what did you mean by that? Is my brother going to die?”Wallace takes both of her hands, “No, Vera. Your brother, for now, is healthy. But he has been feeling some discomfort and dashed to the hospital to see what it was. A cardiologist said he doesn't have anything serious, but with him getting older, he'd better prevent it.”“Poor Tess...”Wallace frets, “This is where we have a problem, dear: your brother had asked me for a secret. He's taking pills to control his blood pressure on the sly.”Vera gapes, then comments, “But... Well, I'm his sister, these things I deserve to know. My brother will listen to me!”“Because your father died of the same ill, he saw fit—”Vera nodded, “Yes, these things
The noon service is over. Kelvin and Daryl count the earnings in the latter's office.“We made extra money by promoting the grilled salmon dish.” Daryl jokingly comments, “Who would say? A lie of yours has become a blessing to our pockets.”“I hope I don't have to lie to Josias all the time because of the whore.” Kelvin is embarrassed.“Soon, bro, and you won't have to lie anymore. Gabriela Alves is giving her best shot to win over our friend.” Daryl smiles hopefully.“I hope it goes well.” Kelvin makes the sum on the calculator.“Now we have an obstacle to overcome.” Daryl breaks out his smile, “Octavio Motta.”“I still don't understand what he’s up to.” Kelvin scratches the back of his neck with his pen.“He wants Josias to divorce Kate, like we want.” Daryl explains, “But he also wants you to divorce Melissa so sh
The following week, Maggiezine's cover featured a photo of Katherine walking in the pool area of the Rocha mansion wearing a swimsuit and yoke at the waist, international brand sunglasses, and a straw hat. A victorious smile adorned her face.Underneath, the title of the story is in bold letters: ‘Kate Rocha: How She Overcame Death and Paraplegia!’The issue sold well, with countless readers wanting to know what happened to the current lady of Lagoon City. Some internal tittle-tattle said that the first lady, the wife of Mayor Tobias, burned with envy and talked about killing Kate in front of the employees and secretaries.At the Rocha Mansion, Katherine laughed and rejoiced in one of the living rooms with the Maggiezine copy in hand. Josias watches her contentedly like a child.“Kate, I'm so glad to see you happy.”Katherine stares at her husband adoringly, “Thank you, Josias. I need to know if you're happy or not.&rd
Gabriela enters Rocha Constructions and is led by Pollyanna. But Gabriela narrows her eyes and begins to scan the corridors.Where are the other photographers and journalists?As they stop at the door of Josias's office, Pollyanna smiles, “Mr. Rocha awaits you, Miss. You can come in.”When Gabriela enters, she widens her eyes in surprise.There was no one else but Josias with his back to her, in the pose of a master and successful businessman, staring out the urban skyline through the wide windows.“Josias...?”Josias turns around with a captivating smile, “Good morning, Gabriela. I'm ready for your interview.”Gabriela closes the door and approaches in uncertain steps, “I... I was told it was a press conference...”“If I said you were going to interview me alone, you wouldn't have come to preserve your dignity,” Josias responds with his seductive voice that sends shiv
At Rocha Constructions, Josias and Gabriela continue to talk. That's right, talk. Gabriela hasn't even taken her notebook out of her bag and is sitting at ease on the couch with a glass of whiskey on the rocks.“Ha, ha, ha, ha!” She laughs heartily at a dated joke told by Josias, “I've never heard a funnier joke in my life!”“Glad you liked it.” Josias smiles widely.“Maybe I'll write in the article.” Gabriela gestures to grab her purse, but she shows signs of drunkenness and can't pull off the action. Instead of picking up the purse, she almost drops it.Josias notices her state, “I think we'd better end the conversation. I need to meet an appointment. But I really enjoyed talking to you, Gabriela. This needs to be repeated.”“Hiccup!” Gabriela stands up with difficulty, “Yes, we need to repeat that! See you later, Josias, and send my improve wishes to Katherine.”<
At Marçal Publishing, João Paulo frowns and is upset with Gabriela drunk and talking disrespectfully about Josias. Little does he imagine that Gabriela is putting out what she really thinks of his cute brother.“Yes, your big brother is pretty hot!” Gabriela pulls out a chair to sit on, but she nearly misses the direction of the chair and falls to the floor, “Oops! That was close. Finally... Hiccup! Where was I?”João Paulo is outraged, “You were disrespecting my brother.”“Oh, yes! Anyway, I thought it was a press conference, but I found out that Josias just called me... Hiccup! Finally... We talked, and we discovered intimate things... Josias told me a lot about his life. I'm going to write my article, excuse me...”Gabriela tries to get up, but João Paulo decides to get up to help her still angry with her, “Careful, Miss Alves.”“Thank you, João
The next day, in the Teodoro Building, Beto takes advantage of the fact that no one is around and takes another pill for high blood pressure. The radio is fulfilling the tradition by playing Khaled's song “El Arbi.”Rosemary and Pedro come from the canteen pretending to be dancing like the Arabs.Beto has fun with his children and forgets to hide the pill pack, “Ha, ha, ha! I'll take you to Algeria, huh? Maybe you can be famous!”“I can't speak Arabic.” Rosemary jokingly comments, “Unfortunately, it's not easy to understand the language.”“But the music is still fun.” Pedro giggles.“OK, are you ready for another day of school?” Beto cheers up the kids.Before Rosemary repeats that she is ready to face Maria Clara, Patrick appears and answers for her, “I am ready to defend her, Mr. Reis.”Pedro bursts out laughing, “Ha, ha, ha, ha! Rose and Pat a
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