Crystal Blue, noon. Jake receives Reynaldo with all due reverence. “Mr. Borges, welcome once again.” “Thank you. You know I have a table for two, right?” “Yes, the waiter will escort you.” Jake signals to the available waiter. J.J. enters next. “Oh, I made it just in time.” “Come on, J.J.” Reynaldo gestured, and both followed the waiter. After they sat down, Reynaldo asked while flipping through the menu, “What did your half-brother want?” “We’d better not refer to each other that way.” J.J. replied, his eyes on the menu. “Why, isn’t that what you are?” Reynaldo raised his eyebrows. “My father prohibited that in town. He doesn’t believe in ‘half.’“ J.J. smiled amusedly. “Okay, as Mr. Rocha wishes.” Reynaldo shrugged. “Shall we order the famous grilled salmon?” “I’ll have that and toast with cheese and oregano as an appetizer.” J.J. looked up to meet Reynaldo’s gaze. “Reynaldo, regarding your request...” Reynaldo stared at his friend. “I know it sounds like an unreasonable
General Hospital, afternoon.Thierry is pacing in circles in the maternity waiting room. Beto, Teresa, Pedro, and Daniela are with him, anxiously waiting as well.“Why is it taking so long?” Thierry looks down the hallway where Rosemary disappeared, being pushed in a wheelchair.“Calm down, Thierry.” Pedro holds him back. “These things usually take a while.”Beto smiles. “I can attest to that, my young friend. I’ve had to wait like this once or twice.”Teresa corrects Beto. “Three times, right?”Beto smiles awkwardly, forgetting that Rosemary is also ‘his’ daughter.Matthew appeared, smiling. “Guys, the news has spread all over the hospital. Josias Rocha’s protégés are always gossip-worthy. Congratulations, Mr. Lafayette.”“Thank you.” Thierry smiled.“Does the baby have a name yet?” Matthew asked.“We decided on Jean Luc,” Thierry replied proudly of his heritage.“Nice name.” Teresa nodded. “May he grow up beautiful and healthy like his father.”Rodrigo and Nadia arrived next.“Hey!”
In Vaztrans, Erasmo was shocked to see David slap Alan. “What the hell is going on here? Where’s the respect for your older brother?” Erasmo asked as he grabbed David by the sleeve of his shirt. “Let go of me, you old hysteric!” David shook himself free, feeling disgusted at being touched. “Besides disrespecting me, you’re disrespecting my father-in-law!” Alan grumbled through clenched teeth while massaging his cheek. David might be weaker than Alan, but Alan felt a sting from that slap. David had put all his fury into that attack — extreme hatred. “Come on, say something about my mom again!” David puffed out his chest as if he were a fighting rooster. Alan looked at David with contempt. “I won’t give you that satisfaction,” Alan replied. “You’re leaving here the same way you came in. We don’t want fights in this company. Have you found out if there’s a hotel of ours in Salvador?” “Yes, there is, in Pituba!” David exclaimed angrily. “Great. Keep mingling with your part of our
The website ‘Noon Mysteries’ has been launched on the Internet. Since it was something confidential, William decided to take some precautions so that people wouldn’t find out where this blog came from. For example, he made sure to visit João Paulo to notify him.“Hello, Mr. Campos!” Sandra greeted William as she opened the door.“Hello, Sandra. Wow, you’re growing up, huh?” William ruffled Sandra’s hair.When he first plotted anonymously on the Internet, Sandra had just been born...“Do you want to talk to my mom or dad?” Sandra turned to look behind her.João Paulo was coming down the stairs still shirtless and in dress pants, somewhat hurried to have breakfast.“I’ll talk to your dad,” William winked.“Will, what do you want?” João Paulo approached, “Sandra, my daughter, you need to get ready for school.”“Okay. Excuse me.” Sandra curtsied like a polite young lady and stepped away.William chuckled. “Sandra is such a sweetheart and well-mannered. You and Helen should be proud.”“Yes
At Maggiezine, Maggie, Bernardo, Henrique, and several staff members celebrated the sales success of the latest edition featuring Rosemary and Thierry on the cover.“Guys, we’re selling like never before! It seems we still have space in the print publication, even though online access grows every year! Congratulations to everyone involved!”“Hooray!” Everyone cheered and applauded.Henrique approached Maggie. “Mom, do you think the printed magazine will still exist when I take over?”“Of course, my son!” Maggie caressed her son’s hair carefully so as not to mess up his hairstyle. “I just think there will be a smaller circulation than today. People, including the new generation, prefer reading on the computer.”Henrique puffed out his chest. “I will prefer the printed version to keep the tradition.”Bernardo approached them. “Are you interested in Maggiezine now, son? Before you said it would be an exclusive subject for Caroline and Mary.”“And it still will be, but that doesn’t mean I
Pedro enters the Teodoro building. Daniela is at the counter, noticing her husband coming in with a scowl. He slams the shopping bags from Lafayette Supermarket onto the counter.“Pete, be careful! Didn’t I ask you to buy eggs?” Daniela exclaims, rummaging through the bags immediately.Pedro seems to have awakened from a trance. He shakes his head. “That’s right! Damn, they must be broken!”Daniela finds the bag containing a carton of eggs. Luckily, the bag was on top of others. No eggs were broken.“Great, Tess wanted to make a quindim. You know we need fresh eggs for the recipe,” Daniela sighed in relief. “What happened?”Pedro shook his head. “What do you think happened? Felipe Mountain. Of all the people I could run into in this town, I had to bump into him while I wanted to grab a snack at Café Montanha.”Daniela grimaces. “Oh, what a difficult life. He’s probably complaining about you to someone at the restaurant.”“Why would HE feel entitled to complain about anything? Do you k
In the Teodoro Building, Beto prevented Daniela from calling Felipe for obvious reasons. But it didn’t seem that the answer was obvious to Daniela.“Beto... Dad... what happened?”“You’re calling Felipe Mountain, right?” Beto still held the phone, preventing Daniela from dialing. “Don’t do it. You’re still married to my son, and he loves you deeply. We’re rejoicing in the birth of Jean Luc. The Reis family is happy!”“Dad, I don’t want to ruin the happiness of the Reis family,” Daniela swore.“Then put that idiot Felipe Mountain aside,” Beto suggested with a mischievous smile.The phone at the counter rang. Beto answered.“Teodoro building, good morning?”“Hello, may I speak with Daniela Reis?” Felipe’s imperial voice came through the line.“This is Beto. Felipe, from now on, you are prohibited from calling; do you hear me? Would you like someone to call your wife like this?”“I don’t have a wife,” Felipe retorted bitterly.“And that explains the reason! You’ll never have one because
Suzy gossips with the maids in the hallway of the Rocha Hotel. David walks by them and finds their behavior strange, as if they were gossiping about something sinful and forbidden. “Ladies, why are you being so secretive?” He approaches them gently, not intending to reprimand them. But that’s how they react. “Oh, Mr. Rocha! We're so sorry, we’ll get back to work right away...” “If you’re on your break, don’t stress because of me.” David gestures. Suzy takes the floor, “OK. We were talking about Mrs. Vasquez’s strange and unusual illness.” David rolls his eyes in insensitivity. “Oh, come on! Are you sure that’s strange and unexpected? What else could happen to that family of hysterics? Olivia Vasquez should make passionfruit tea a regular habit.” Suzy narrows her eyes. “Why do you think they’re seeking that, David?” “Well, a guilty conscience is poison for our bodies.” David insinuates maliciously, “They know they’re hiding dark secrets. It’s painful to keep them for so many yea
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