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
Zedekiah approaches the lobby counter with his face expressing suspicion, “Mr. Reis, this pack of pills is not mine. Mine is at home and it's not for high blood pressure.”Teresa smiles and understands that Beto used this as a ruse to talk to Zedekiah, “OK, I'm going to retire to my business.”Teresa walks away and heads back to the canteen. The radio now plays Westlife's song “If I Let You Go.”“What do you want to talk about, Mr. Reis?”Beto smiles blandly, “Zedekiah, I wanted to know your opinion about our children. It seems that Patrick... He's harboring feelings for my daughter.”Zedekiah smiles confidently, “Look, I know every father likes to protect his little princess. I assure you that my son doesn’t want to treat your daughter like Maria Clara.”Beto is intrigued, “And how did he treat Maria Clara?”Zedekiah smiles kinkily, “I'd b
In the Teodoro building, Zedekiah and Patrick have lunch in the canteen. Today the menu was mushroom stew in milk cream and Greek-style rice. The radio cheered the tenants on with Modjo's song “Lady (Hear Me Tonight)”.Patrick occasionally glanced at Rosemary who helped Teresa and Carmen in serving the tenants.Zedekiah notices his son's passionate gaze and remembers the conversation he had with Beto, “Son, we need to talk about Rosemary.”Patrick chokes on acerola juice, “Cough, cough! Dad, there's nothing to talk about.”“Are you still not dating her?” Zedekiah scratches his chin, “Mr. Reis is already asking when we will deliver the wedding invitations.”“Rosemary is still young to marry.” Patrick sighs in regret.“And you too!” Zedekiah is indignant, “Son, I told him you won't treat Rosemary like Maria Clara. Do you swear you'll behave?”
Rosemary appears in the lobby of the Teodoro Building to check the family's mailbox. She has the feeling that Beto was hurriedly swallowing something. She narrows her eyes and sees a glass of water.“Dad, is everything okay?”“I only had a glass of water, daughter.” Beto smiles.“But it looks like you did it in a hurry.” Rosemary goes to the mail shelf, “Don't hide it from me if you're feeling sick.”Pedro is helping by sweeping the floor, “Why would my Dad hide something from us?”Pedro has his back to the counter and Beto takes the opportunity to put away the pack of pills.Rosemary checks the mail. The radio starts playing “Private Emotion” by Ricky Martin & Meja.Patrick appears in casual clothes and again feels some strange coincidence of a romantic song when he is near Rosemary, “I didn't change the station.”Rosemary turns to him and
At the Campos Pizzeria, William surprises his son by announcing that he wants to be a shareholder of Rocha Constructions.Caio is at a loss to understand, “Father, what is your plan and what do I have to do with it?”William pulls out his chair and sits down. Patrick helps him with the crutches.“Caio, I know it's practically impossible for you to belong to that company in the normal way, no matter how much Josias talks. Alan and David will stop you. And I don't want you working on a construction site. So I thought the best way for you to have some power at Rocha Constructions would be to have a share of the profits.”“Are you going to pass these shares on to me?” Caio's eyes widen.“Yes, consider my gift, Sonny,” William replies excitedly.Caio shakes his head, “They should charge a buck for these actions.”“My loan at the bank has something to do with it. Well, I won'