Diane presses the intercom at the gate of the Teodoro building. Outside, she can hear the song “My Humps” by The Black Eyed Peas.“Some things never change.” Diane smiles.Diane hears the click and enters the lobby. Teresa was behind the counter, swaying to the beat of the music, feeling twenty years younger.“Oh, God, am I missing a performance?” Diane applauds, laughing. For a moment, she forgets her problems.“Life is too short to not have fun once in a while, my dear,” Teresa states.“And you have plenty of reasons to have fun, right, friend?” Diane leans against the counter. “In my case, we will have one more funeral to attend.”“To attend and to take care!” Teresa gets serious, “I heard about your uncle. Girl, I’m so sorry.”Diane sighs, “I don’t know if I can accept these condolences, Tess. Knowing what I know...”Teresa nods, “How is your family?”“They know.” Diane promptly responds, “I told Daryl, and he admitted that it was Ulysses who blew up the kitchen at the Rocha Hotel
The next day, Josias was meeting with his family to discuss the case. João Paulo and Helen returned from their honeymoon.In the living room of the Rocha Mansion, Melissa turns to Helen, “Later, I want to see the photos, Helen.”“Ah, of course, you’ll see them. They were perfect.” Helen sighs in wonder.João Paulo kisses Helen on the cheek. Then he turns to Josias, “What’s up, little brother? Did that anonymous phone call my father received tell the truth?”Josias smiles, “It wasn’t exactly anonymous. It was Daryl, confessing the truth and getting revenge on his uncle for sleeping with Shirley.”Vernon shakes his head, “I wonder what was going through his head.”Melissa sighs in regret, “Oh... Shirley was never a good person, huh? What happened to that lady who baked shortbread cookies?”“That was the mask she wanted us to see,” Elza speaks.“Only the family, especially Francisco and Isabel, knew who she really was,” Simeon states.“Well, with Diane confessing that the guy I killed wa
Vernon and João Paulo’s journalistic columns were the most read and sought after of the week, with thousands of readers wanting to read the outcome of the 2005 mysteries. Father and son agreed to write their articles together.The fact that Ulysses Cardoso decided to simply blow up the kitchen at the Rocha Hotel without ever having contact with Josias Rocha before that made a lot of people angry.“How could this guy?” Alfred complained through the halls of Rocha Constructions, “Was he so eager to please his nephew that he risked his neck for it?”“So you can see how crazy some people are.” Octavio chuckles mockingly, “And as João Paulo made clear in his article, Daryl discovered that his beloved uncle was sleeping with Shirley and decided to report him.”Josias magically appears, “Octavio, we need to talk about this. Come to my office.”Octavio is startled. Does Josias want to talk about the blackmail?The gentlemen enter the CEO’s office. Reuben was adjusting the air conditioning tem
After the success of the article revealing all the rot of Ulysses Cardozo, João Paulo and Helen decided to focus on their lives.And that included buying a beautiful house in Europe Garden.The house was built in the American style with two floors, a basement and attic, a dark gray roof, and walls with wood panels mixing white and lavender.The property had a stone wall flanking the house, a front garden for Helen to spend her time, a swimming pool and barbecue area in the back for leisure, and a covered garage to protect the brand new car that João Paulo intended to buy.Erasmo and Olivia were walking along the sidewalk and were shocked to discover it: they’ll be neighbors of someone from Josias’s family.“Holy Crap! What do you think you’re doing here?” Erasmo turns pale.João Paulo turns to him, proudly, “Hello, Mr. Vasquez! We’ll live on the same street as you! And it looks like the Lafayette Mansion isn’t far from here, right?”“A few blocks behind,” Olivia informs, only to be po
At Mountain Penthouse, Kelvin gets up and turns off the radio to talk better with Caroline. Felipe clears his throat.“Carol, would you believe me if I told you that my father had nothing to do with this?”“How can I believe something like that, Felipe?” Caroline is discouraged, “I never know your father’s limits. Please, don’t say that his late uncle acted on his own. Your father knew who blew up the hotel kitchen, did he?”Felipe sighs, regretful (or not), “Yes, he knew. And me too.”“FELIPE!” Caroline is horrified, leaving the cup on the coffee table, “I don’t believe it... How could you betray me like that? I thought we were friends!”“Forgive me, Carol. In this dispute between our families, I ended up going over to my father’s side.” Felipe lowers his head, “After all, I spent my childhood and adolescence without a family...”Kelvin adds, “I know, Felipe, but you’re also Caroline’s friend and Josias holds you in high esteem. You can be sure that you’ll have a promotion at the res
Melissa is startled by Alan’s sudden question.“Son, do you want to know if I noticed adulterous conduct between Cláudio Guzman and Olivia Vasquez?”“Maybe, if you had noticed, that photo had some truth to it,” Alan responds.“No, son, I didn’t stop to pay attention to that.” Melissa shakes her head, “Of course, we always suspected that Olivia Vasquez had a crush on Cláudio Guzman, especially with what happened at the fashion show in 2003. But, son, I definitely didn’t notice any of that at this year’s festival. I’ve been pretty busy, and I trusted Olivia wouldn’t do anything like that.”“Yes, she was left out of the fashion show last year because of the confusion.” Alan rubs his chin, “Well, Sofia doesn’t want to believe that her mother willingly got involved with another guy. In fact, she says that my future in-laws are increasingly romantically linked.”Melissa smiles, “That’s great. Now, son, as for your sister...”“Mom, Carol admitted that she’s been pretending this whole time to
Another day dawned in the glorious city of Lagoon City.Beto has a pleasant surprise when he finds Benjamin in the lobby. The radio doesn’t stop playing, as per tradition, now playing the song “We Believe”, by Good Charlotte.“This radio has no respite, huh? It’s the same device as when I lived here!”Beto laughs, “And so it will continue, Ben. Something tells me the building will become haunted if I change the stereo or stop the tradition. My father was a very mischievous man.”“OK, can we get down to business?” Benjamin deposits his documents on top of the counter.“Why are you giving me your documents?” Beto narrows his eyes.“You’re supposed to register me as a new resident here. I want to maintain my family tradition.”Beto starts to laugh. Flávia comes down the stairs, wearing a pantsuit to work at the orphanage.“Hello, little brother! What brings you here?”Benjamin turns to her, “Hi, Flávia. I’m happy to meet you. I decided to live permanently close to you. You know, the kitc
In Europe Garden, João Paulo and Helen slept together and spooned on the double bed in their room, located on the second floor of the new house. They maintained a smile as if their dream was something pleasant.However, what they enjoyed in dreams came to an end with the incessant ringing of the front doorbell.João Paulo grunts and rubs his eyes. Helen grimaces and crawls under the blankets.“I don’t want to go down, honey. Not now!” Helen grumbles.“But who is bothering us so soon?” João Paulo asks without being aware that it’s already ten o’clock in the morning.The doorbell rang again. Even though it imitated celestial bells, the fact that it was constantly pressed irritated the ears of the owners of the house.João Paulo gets up and goes to the balcony so upset that he forgot he was naked.When he appeared on the railing, he saw Sofia.Sofia took a few steps back when she felt that she was being watched and visualized her new neighbor. Even though he was visible to her up to his
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