Building My Life

Chapter 59 - The Two Rivals Meet

Pamela slammed the phone down, her heart beating fast. She strained to listen, but the footsteps in the hall had vanished. Seconds ticked by in a heavy silence.

Was she hallucinating? Was her guilt making her hear things that weren’t there?

She shook her head, trying to clear the fog of nerves. She needed to relax. She needed to find a dress even more scandalous than the last one for Saturday, something that would make Josias lose his breath and Fabrício lose his mind.

On the other side of town, Fabrício stared at the silent receiver before slamming it back onto the cradle with bone-shaking force. He was livid. How dare Pamela be so defiant? How dare a “bricklayer’s helper” dismantle his carefully laid plans?

He stormed upstairs, scrubbed the sweat of his workout away in a blistering shower, and dressed in his finest armor: a crisp yellow shirt that still smelled of the boutique, expensive jeans, and a cloud of designer cologne.

He grabbed his keys and tore out of the driveway in his Volkswagen Gol, the tires screaming against the asphalt. He drove like a man possessed, nearly scattering the same group of girls playing hopscotch when he reached the entrance of the Happiness Slum.

***

Near the construction site, Josias and Uélton were finishing a conversation when Romualdo approached them, wiping his brow.

“Boys, do me a favor? Run to the bakery and grab some bread and a few treats for the crew.” Romualdo held out the money.

“Our turn to treat the guys anyway,” Uélton said, taking the bills.

The two friends set off, laughing and talking. But as they stepped into the street, the roar of an engine cut through the air. Fabrício’s Gol was flying down the narrow road, swerving to avoid pedestrians who scrambled for the sidewalk.

“Who does this nut think he is?” Uélton barked.

“He’s going to kill someone driving like that!” Josias added.

Fabrício, blinded by his obsession with reaching Melissa, barely saw the two men in the road. By the time he registered them, it was almost too late. He slammed on the brakes, the tires screeching in a high-pitched wail as the car skidded.

Josias and Uélton dived backward, landing hard on the dusty sidewalk as the car finally lurched to a halt just a few meters past them. If they had been a second slower, they would have been crushed.

A crowd of neighbors gathered, shouting insults at the irresponsible driver. Josias, fueled by a surge of protective adrenaline, scrambled to his feet and marched toward the car.

“Hey! What the hell is wrong with you?” Josias yelled, slapping his hand against the driver’s side window. “Why are you flying through a slum at that speed?”

Fabrício rolled down the window, his face twisted in a sneer. “What were you two doing in the middle of the street, you distracted idiots?”

Uélton stood up, rubbing his bruised hip. “Distracted? You were doing eighty in a residential zone! If there were any police here, you’d be in handcuffs!”

“Well, since everyone is still breathing, let’s call it even,” Fabrício said, reaching for the gear shift. “No harm, no foul.”

He started to roll the car forward, but Josias moved like lightning, planting himself directly in front of the hood. He slammed both palms down on the metal.

“Stop; don't even think about running away! We still need to talk!”

Fabrício’s eyes went wide. The audacity of this common worker stunned him. “Hey, get your filthy, cement-stained paws off my car! I just had it detailed yesterday!”

“Oh, you ordered someone to wash it, did you?” Josias’s voice rose so the entire street could hear. “What’s the matter, playboy? Don’t know how to use a bucket and a sponge without your employees doing it for you?”

Uélton grabbed Josias’s arm, trying to pull him back. “Come on, buddy. This guy is crazy, he’ll run you over.”

“Move, or I’ll drive right over you!” Fabrício leaned on the horn, the blare echoing off the brick houses.

But then, Fabrício froze. He heard Uélton say the name. Josias.

He looked closer. The hands stained with white dust, the clothes splattered with mortar, the construction site just a stone’s throw away... and the path leading straight to Melissa’s door.

“Are you... Josias?” Fabrício turned off the engine and stepped out of the car, his height and expensive clothes meant to intimidate. “The one chasing my Melissa?”

Josias bristled. How did this stranger know his name? And why was he claiming Melissa?

“How do you know Melissa? And where do you know me from, you crazy?”

“Allow me to introduce myself: Fabrício Cerqueira. The man who is going to marry Melissa with her father’s full blessing. We were having a lovely family lunch until you decided to play ‘intruder’ and invade the Campos home!”

Josias and Uélton exchanged a look of pure, mocking amusement. They vaguely remembered this guy from the barbecue, the one lurking in the shadows.

“Ah, I see,” Josias responded with irony. “So you’re the famous Fabrício.”

“I don't understand that ironic tone, comrade!” Fabrício puffed out his chest like a prize fighter.

“Don’t take this the wrong way, Fabrício,” Josias said, stepping closer until they were nearly chest to chest, “but I think you’re a little behind on the news.”

He turned to Uélton. “Let’s go, Uélton. This junk pile is blocking the road.”

“Junk pile?” Fabrício shrieked, offended to his core. “Are you so uneducated that you don’t recognize a Volkswagen?”

Josias looked back over his shoulder. “My friend, I don’t have time for your car brochures. I’m a ‘mere bricklayer’s helper.’ I work for a living, I earn just enough to eat and keep a roof over my head. Forgive me if I don’t keep up with the latest ‘market news.’ That’s for people with nothing but time on their hands. Like you.”

Josias and Uélton walked away, leaving Fabrício fuming in the street. Several neighbors actually clapped as Josias passed.

Humiliated and shaking with rage, Fabrício got back into his car and sped toward the corner of Melissa’s street.

Uélton glanced back, his face falling. He tugged on Josias’s sweatpants. “Hey, buddy! He didn’t leave. He parked right on Melissa’s street. He’s going to her house!”