Passion Dance: Chapter 03

CHAPTER THREE

Spain, 1994

“Hello, Carlos, this is Senor Teodor. Si. Si. Has Maria left any message there?” Senor Teodor held the telephone with his left hand and sorted out the documents piled on his study with the other.
“No, senor.”
“No message whatsoever, Carlos?”
“I am afraid, nothing, senor.”
“Oh, si. Anyway, gracias Carlos.”
“No, no problem at all, Senor Teodor.” He paused for a second. Sensing that Senor Teodor was about to hang up, he chided in fast, “Oh, Senor Teodor. May I ask something?”
“Sure, go on Carlos, you know you need not be shy with me, por dios, call me papa. I’m pretty sure a few months from now Maria will decide that she’s ready and will marry you as soon as that!”
Carlos Jose del Espano’s face turned deep red, “Oh, no, Senor Teodor. Who knows? Maybe she has found someone better in Brazil, since it is known as The Land of Passion and Heat.”
“Por dios, Carlos. You are as good as my son-in-law already, she sure wanted you too, I could tell from the way she spoke about you proposing to her and all that...” Senor Teodor chuckled. He felt somewhat relieved, like a great warm light of happiness came down from heaven and pierced the dark clouds of his own misery and sadness. It felt good that he had someone to laugh with.
“Oh, I hope so, Senor Teodor. I really love her, from the very first moment my eyes fell on her...”
“Si, I know that feeling, Carlos Jose, I know. That was the very same feeling I felt when I first saw your Senora Ai. I have never loved a girl ever since. Good Lord, thank Him I was blessed to marry her.”
“Si, it is but the most wonderful feeling in the world. Even far greater than any ecstasy.”
“Si, si. I would love to continue on, Carlos Jose, I really do,” Senor Teodor said with all sincerity and a tinge of sadness, “But I really have to finish sorting all these documents. The government is just too nosy right now, doing too much investigating and nosing around. It’s such a pain.”
“Oh, sorry to have kept you away from your sorting, Senor Teodor. Thank you for calling.”
“No, just checking up on my son-in-law, that is all...”
Carlos Jose let out a hearty laugh and bid farewell in total politeness, “No, thank you, Senor Teodor.”
“Goodbye, my son...” There came a pause, quite longer than the ordinary but not that long that one feels quite uncomfortable about it.
“Oh, goodbye, Senor Teodor.” Carlos Jose put the receiver down with trembling hands, he knew lying to Senor Teodor, the father of his greatest and closest friend since childhood, was one of the worst things he ever did, and he realized that the simple lies about his proposal to Maria and his cover-up for her going to Brazil for “vacation” was going out of bounds. He knew that they were starting to hurt other people, though they know it not. It is so much of a risky game, so much to lose, so little to gain, so many people to hurt, so few to please. The petty lies and half-truths they have declared were now as big as nails to pierce the hearts of those they love the most. He didn’t know what to do anymore. He started to panic. He knew, right there and then, that enough was enough. He loved Maria more than a friend, and everything to help her through anything he knew he did, but those lies he told, the half-truths he used, he knew were all not merely lies as she might have thought of them. He knew in his heart they were all true, everything he said he meant, every clasp of Maria’s hand and every touch felt intimate to him, true and desiring. He loved her with all his heart and mind and being, his thoughts were always of her and his dreams of her unreturned love, but all of these had to end, he decided. ’I love Maria and did all my best to please her and win her heart, though she may know not, but I can’t continue to hurt Senor Teodor anymore,’ he was deep in his thoughts, ’I meant everything that I said and will be more than happy, rejoicing even, to really make her mine... I must do something, anything to make her love me, anything...’

Brazil, 1994

“Maria! Where have you been? I’ve been waiting for you since forever.”
“Oh really? Why haven’t you aged and become ugly, mi amore?” Maria laughed as she slid next to John, their skin touching through the shoulders that were left exposed by the spaghetti-strapped white ivory dress, probably by Dior because of the cut above her swelling breasts that let shone just a little of the cream-white skin there and the style of the light frills just at the end of the dress that accentuated her goddess-like figure and oozing youth. The brief and slight touch of their shoulders and arms gave her the feeling of warmth and indescribable heat shooting through his skin to hers. She felt like just taking her dress off and succumbing to her desires of appreciating him and enjoying his embrace, his taste, his warmth, his excitement, and his love, but she knew all things have their own proper time.
“’Cause your promise of returning to my arms and drowning me with your love kept me my youth and beauty and desire of just more of you...” He gazed into her eyes meaningfully, playing with the straps of her dress dangling over her bare shoulders, feeling the heat that suddenly but most pleasantly shot through his whole being.
“Now, now, John, you know I’m starving... Let’s just have dinner at the hotel lounge first then do what we want to do later.”
“Oh, how should I know? Besides, I feel the heat of your skin and hear the fast pace of your breathing, I know you also want to...” He then started shooting her gazes of seduction, sheer mischief and a rather childish excitement, “Come on...”
“Oh, John, stop it! Just let me eat first, I promise, I saved enough energy today to go with you in more rounds you could never imagine...” She then laughed as though trying to brush the thought away from her mind, concentrating on her grumbling stomach, though she knew there was no use because the thought would just keep on coming back and back again. ’Later, tiger, patience...’ She thought, ’Anticipation makes the fire burn even greater, amore...’
“Oh, fine, anyway, I’m as famished as you are.”
“Why, haven’t you had your lunch? Did you even get out of the hotel?”
“Me? Yeah, I went out a few minutes after you left yourself. I went to the Plaza Brasilia just a few blocks from here, it’s really nice, and neat too, a good selection of clothes, and my goodness, the best hang-out for chick-hunting! I mean, bloody hell! The women there are wicked!”
“Oh, so you’re out chick-hunting while I go shopping for clothes and stuff, you cheat and liar!” She felt the heat reach her cheeks and slapped John’s shoulder with a hard enough hit.
“No, I was just joking Maria, for crying out loud. No need to hit me!” Puts on a puppy face. “Don’t you know a joke from a real one?”
“Are you sure, ’cause if you are you’ll be sorry. Really, I mean it,” then she began to laugh too, her apprehension and horror dying away, “You nearly killed me there, never ever joke like that.”
“Oh, I’m sorry, really, I am. I shouldn’t’ve blurted out my secret hobbies,” he laughed and was slapped hard again by Maria, now eyeing him with worry, “Tell me, honestly, John. Do you that?”
“No, I mean, woman, I just joking! You know what, you hit like man!” Laughing softly, John massaged his shoulder, “I can’t believe you would fall for it again.”
“Oh, John, just stop it, all right? It’s not even funny.”
“Oh, all right, all right. Fine, let’s just have dinner and we’ll have our nocturnal activities afterwards.”
“Oh, good. All that hitting and joking around just made me hunger more. Dress up quickly, I’m really famished.”
“Okay, okay, just wait a sec, all right?”
“Okay, but you’ve only got a second and I’m off!”

(End of Chapter Three)