Daddy's boy

Chapter 4

Chapter 9

O

he month of July passed quickly. From the 20th to the 29th, Anya visited her friends, and took the opportunity to go for a walk in the center of Bergen, have a party, have a picnic, spend sunny afternoons barbecuing, go to some mountain houses, the famous hytta. She studied wherever she went, wrote, worked until 3 pm, went to her house or her friends' house after work. Martin went to the family home, a few days with his father in Austevoll and a few days with his mother in Tysnes.

It was July 22 and Anya came home from work, the food was ready and Martin seemed quite happy to see her. He would massage her feet when she came home tired, they made food together, cleaned the house, listened to her favorite songs. They were starting to build a bubble of their own. She even tried not to like him, always keeping in mind that she didn't enjoy s*x with him, and that the relationship was just a passing rain, a distraction, and that soon in August the two of them would go their separate ways.

Her phone rang and she told him to answer it informing him that she was busy, in the bathroom. It was Noah. Martin was jealous, so he didn't say anything. Noah hung up.

- Who was that?

- Your friend Noah.

- Are you okay? Do you want to talk about it?

- Does he know you don't want him or do you keep getting his hopes up?

- I don't play at getting anybody's hopes up. You don't play with people's feelings. It's not right, it's not cool.

- I'm sorry. I just don't understand his insistence when you tell me that you have told him several times that you don't want to be his girlfriend.

- You've heard me talking to him and you know that I don't get his hopes up. I am only nice to those who are nice to me. You have read all the thousands of messages we have exchanged, so what's the doubt?

- He is very nice, very polite, a very wonderful person, and very helpful. He is in love, I am not, and that is all. I don't want to and I won't hurt him. There is no need, you understand?

- Yes.

- One of these days I'll talk to him on the phone and tell him some good truths.

- Are you jealous?

- No.

- Yes, you are.

Then the two of them started the tickle war again and running after each other like children, playing games and laughing.

- Look here, Martin. Read all my messages again, emails, snaps, whatever you want, read from the beginning as far as you can. I don't need to show you anything, it's personal, it only concerns me and him, no one else. I don't owe you any satisfaction, you know. You said that we are not together. You tell me this all the time. But I have nothing to hide, so just pick up the phone.

Martin took the phone from her and read everything, seeing everything he could while she took a shower, got dressed and got dressed. Anya thought it would be good for him to read everything on her phone. Then he would see that she was single not for lack of choice, as he was, but because she wanted to be. She thought this was a good time to break the pride and air of haughtiness he was sporting. Sometimes Martin behaved as if Anya should raise her hands to heaven for being with a guy like him. In fact, she was much prettier and more charismatic than he was. When Anya returned to her room, Martin was still snooping on her phone.

- Doctors, pilots, businessmen... 28 years old, 40 years old?

- You snooped through my entire phone? That picture there, with the doctor, was taken today, he is my friend from work, we are friends on f*******:.

- Yes.

- Good, then you will see that whenever I am at home it is because I want to be, whenever I choose to study instead of going for a walk, it is not because I am some spinster that nobody wants. And you think you are too much sometimes, that you are military, that you have this and that, that you can do this and that. But really, Martin, I'm different.

- Have you ever been married?

- Have you snooped through my photos?

- Yes, I did.

- I was married for many years.

- To a rich man?

- My three ex-husbands were very rich. The first one, who I was married to for 6 years, in Brazil, was the richest of them all. The second, a Norwegian I met in Brazil, a businessman, was richer than the third, and the third, a Norwegian I met here, was fairly, he is a master graduate in maritime engineering. Head of this and that and I don't know what else.

She told all this while rolling her eyes, miming the titles of her exes.

- I got married at the registry office and in the church, with a party for more than 100 people, with everything that a wedding can have.

- Why did you separate?

- My ex-husbands didn't talk to me like a normal couple, they were too full of themselves, "Daianne, don't do this, don't do that, don't drink, don't smoke, don't wear favela rapper clothes", it was all very formal. It was a wedding, not love.

- How?

- There was no tickling, no wrestling, no food fight, not a lot of simple little things, which are what make me happy. I want movie love. I want real, simple love.

- They gave you everything and you left them. Sooner or later you will leave me.

- Wow, what paranoia. I can't leave what I don't have. Isn't that right? "Ohhhh I'll never have your love; ohhhh we'll never be more than that, two people who meet sometimes and have s*x and have nothing to do with each other." Those are your rules. You don't complain afterwards. I'm very good at following rules, I've done that all my life!

Martin wondered why she moved to Norway, how she met her Norwegian husband in Brazil, where she met him, what she did in Brazil before she moved. Every day more and more he wanted to know about her past, her whole life, even her childhood. Anya didn't tell her pains, traumas and problems even to her friends. And she didn't trust him enough to tell this kind of thing. She thought he was immature in that respect. He lived in a bubble that nothing could get in or out of, that was the world he had built. Only this bubble was so fragile that it could burst at any moment. He didn't care about problems, nor was he used to real third world problems. Poor little rich boy!

July 29th, Friday. The two of them were going out less and less. When they did go out, it was to dance. They saw nothing and nobody around, danced until they were tired, and then went back to his place.

- Do you want to go out, Martin?

- Only if you want to.

- I will if you want to.

- You like to dance.

- I do. But we can stay at home for all I care. It's not important to go out.

- For me it's the same thing.

- For me too.

They had this kind of discussion every time they went out. To go or not to go, that is the question! And many times they ended up at home. Like this time.

So Anya went to visit another friend in Fyllingsdalen, she wanted to give him a little space, she told him to call someone, visit a friend, have meetings at her place. But he always had an excuse. The next day Anya had a birthday to go to, in Sotra, at the house of another friend who used to throw Halloween parties. Martin didn't want to go. He went to Sotra too, but it was to meet up with an old friend from naval school.

ϸ ϸ ϸ ϸ

The two exchanged messages, talked about how much fun they were having, and everything was fine. As the night got longer, Martin already drunk and the respective parties they were at coming to an end, the two spoke to each other on the phone and there was a misunderstanding between them. Anya really wanted to go with him to his friends' party, to meet the people with whom he lived; this meeting was very close to where she was, but Martin never invited her directly. Since she didn't want to force a bar, she went to her friend's house. When they spoke on the phone at the end of their party, he commented that she should have gone there. That it wasn't as much fun going out without her. Anya loved hearing this, and offered to pick him up by car, if he wanted a ride. Martin said that she could go, get in, and talk to everyone, so that his friends could get to know her. It was agreed that she would pick him up, but that she couldn't stay at the party, but she didn't say because she had to work early in the morning the next day.

Angry, the man said that he didn't want her to pick him up because he didn't want to take advantage of her by making her drive so far away and so late just for that. She understood and accepted, then drove from Sotra to her home. Hours later, he called, when she was already in bed and showed a lot of dissatisfaction about the fact that she didn't want to go and say hello to her friends. He said that Anya only wanted him to stay among her friends, only he had to adapt to her world. Anya doesn't know how or when it turned into an argument, but the more she tries to explain, the worse she is understood. The disagreement turned into a fight, which saddened her. She slept, clutching her pillow amid tears. Her intention was that he would be at ease with his friends, and that if he wanted, she would have picked him up by car, given him a ride, nothing more than that.

The next day she called him after work, but there was no answer, nor did he answer her message. Whenever something bothered him, he would just give her a break. All it took was for Anya to say a word he didn't like, or anything else of that sort. She would eat herself up inside when he got really weird, or if he didn't answer a message, but that was all, she couldn't do anything else either. So after work she went to lunch at the house of a friend who lived close to her house. There were several couples there. Even Martin had been invited, but he declined. The lunch was very nice, the people were fun, Anya forgot a little about the negative side of life when she was with people from her same culture. There were four couples, the Brazilians and their Norwegian husbands. Anya felt a little lonely when she went to these meetings, because most of the time she was unaccompanied.

Around seven o'clock at night her phone rang, it was him. They greeted each other, asked if each other were okay, and she told him where she was, Martin said he could go and get her, but he couldn't stay too long, he could come in and say hello, stay a little out of politeness. So he did, he arrived very politely, sat for a while on the balcony, the nice weather helped people to be in a good mood, and then they went to the movies.

Chapter 10

O

Martin's father's birthday arrived and he was going to an island called Austevoll, where his father lived, that was an hour and a half from Bergen. Anya decided to bake a pineapple pie for him to take on his visit. It was August 2, a Tuesday, when she took the picture of the pie. She had bought a gray Jean Paul shirt from Laksevåg Shopping earlier and wrapped it up as a present. Martin was very grateful for this, but he asked her half-heartedly

- What am I going to tell them? My brother will be there, my sister. They know that I didn't bake this pie and that I didn't buy this gift.

Anya replied that he could tell them the truth, that it was a Latin friend. - Ah, Martin, you may never have introduced a girlfriend to your friends or family, but they certainly know that you are not gay. So what's wrong with them thinking that you have been with a woman and that she helped you in this? Relax.

- But they will speculate.

- And they will fill you with questions?

- No. Then that's it.

- Then that's it.

Anya almost always went straight from work to his house, since his children were on vacation traveling to another city. During school time, when they were at home, she stayed more at home, but the children were also always out with their friends, or visiting their Norwegian father. She would drive them back and forth when they needed a ride. After all, it was summer in Norway and nobody stayed at home when the weather was so nice.

Between rides, the two of them were always taking pictures, she had a picture of every ride, every special event. They were always taking care of each other, treating each other with great dedication, respect, affection, helping each other, always worried about pleasing each other, but it couldn't go beyond this. Anya couldn't talk about anything that had to do with the two of them in the future, or talk about feelings, because Martin would soon put an end to it. So she wouldn't try, since he was honest from the first day of their meeting, and she accepted the rules. Pure innocence of a person to think that in love there are rules to be followed.

August 5, 2016, Friday.

Anya was invited to another birthday party, this time in Lepsøy. She spent a wonderful afternoon with her Brazilian friends, while Martin was away in Bergen with his family. He even called to ask how she was, which was a great novelty in their relationship, since he usually only did this when he wanted to talk or arrange something. She liked this novelty very much.

On Sunday they got back together and went for their walks. Exploring the city of Bergen, enjoying the beauty of a city so beautiful and with nature so resplendent. Anya was dazzled by the Norwegian landscapes, she also admired the culture of the country, although she had the impression that the people, for the most part, were very closed and even gave the impression of being cold. For example, the natives find it strange that someone they don't know starts a conversation in places like bus stops, inside a bus, or even at work or school. Already for Brazilians this was very common in Brazil.

August 13, 2016, Saturday.

Martin had an invitation, to an art exhibition, from an acquaintance, the gallery was in the middle of Bergen. He never told her anything in advance, so Anya never knew about his plans, he either told her at the last minute or not at all. She could not charge or complain about any of this, but in return she always told him everything in the smallest detail and well in advance.

The same day as the exhibition was the birthday of her friend Marta's daughter, in Fyllingsdalen, at a party venue. So in her mind everything was fine, Martin would go to his art exhibition and she to her party. The two of them got ready together, he was even enjoying it when she chose clothes that would look better on him:

- Look at that, he wants me to pick his clothes! - He smiled at the joke. - I'm almost a wife already. - Martin suddenly became so serious that it disconcerted her. - Gee, I'm just kidding, relax. If I wanted to be married I still would be. Or if I wanted to get married again, I would. I'm not looking for a marriage. I don't see myself suffering the rest of my life with your sudden mood swings. You are bipolar, Martin. - He laughed again.

In fact, almost all the women in the world, when they loved a man, wanted him for life. There aren't many ways to distinguish between love and the will to be together.

After all Anya had been through in this life, of course she would have liked to have found a love for life. A love as calm as still waters, a best friend for all hours, a love without barriers, without prejudice. But how to convince her heart that all the magical moments she experienced with that boy, were just moments that she should not give importance to, so as not to get hurt? How to fight a sentimental battle inside her own chest, inside her own mind? How not to result in harm? Anya was already afraid of pain. Not for cowardice, not for giving up easily, but life had already caused too many wounds that she didn't want to open again. She was afraid to try and suffer again. As much as she lost herself in those vibrant blue eyes, she tried her best to find herself, to rescue herself in her own world of illusions. As if her ego, her conscience spoke in her ear, giving advice and words of comfort.

The two of them were ready, beautiful and well dressed. He was dressed in an indigo blue shirt, black linen pants, and a navy belt with a wide, aged gold buckle, very nice, matching perfectly. Black leather shoes.

- Blue is her color! It goes very well with your eyes! - she said.

Then blue would become his favorite color too.

Martin helped her with her coat, handed her her handbag, helped her buckle her high-heeled shoes. She smiled a wide, bright smile that could light up and reflect from her face to her soul. What a dangerous game he was playing with her. You don't treat a woman as if she were the most important thing in the world if, in fact, you don't consider her that way. It was a great cowardice!

They walked hand in hand to his car. It was an old, white van, with a little rust on some of the corners of the lower part of the doors. He stopped her, opened the car door for her, and helped her up. Then they drove to the art exhibit. She found everything very incredible. She was amazed by the paintings. If she could, she would have bought several. Martin liked her excitement about the simplest everyday things. Sometimes he repeated that his friends had a lot to learn from her, including him.

After the exhibition, they went to Marta's daughter Lena's birthday party. There were many Brazilians living in Bergen. Anya had an admiration for the beauty of the women of her country. For her, the Brazilians were the most beautiful women in the world, because they liked to take care of their skin, hair, nails, and clothes. They were dedicated and busy with beauty, not only of their bodies, but of their homes, their food, and of others.

The birthday was almost a parade, of so many different beauties in one place. Many Brazilians who were half Norwegian were there.

In Brazil it is not like Norway, which separates well the age groups of people who live together, who celebrate together. Young people 16 years old only hang out with young people 16 years old, even in public parties, pubs, the age range often can not go beyond, for example, 25, it varies a lot. Maybe this was to avoid mixing young girls with old perverts who can take advantage of them while drunk.

The night was very pleasant, Anya introduced him to everyone at the party, he fit in quickly, suddenly he was talking to several people. Everything was fine and ended well that fantastic night between the two of them.

During the course of the week, August 16, he even took her for a ride on his motorcycle. They parked in front of Zacharias Bryggen and went riding through the city that was full of people and the weather was very inviting!

Chapter 11

August 20, 2016

O

Anya's youngest son, Elias, was with her in Bergen. He lived with her until he started nursing school the year before, until he was almost 9 years old, when he asked her ex-husband, her first Norwegian husband, whom her older children called their father, to take care of him while she finished school, because she would have to travel a lot and work on weekends in order to keep her budget balanced. Well, Elias was in town to go to a concert by DJ Kygo, a musician who had become very famous in Norway and even abroad. Anya invited Martin to go with them, and he accepted. They met at the concert venue, Koengen, next to the medieval castle in Bergen Fort. It was 6 in the afternoon and another attraction had started to warm up for the show, and as it was raining, Martin bought them some raincoats. The three of them sat on the grass, with the raincoats on, and Anya made a kind of hut, Martin held one end and she held the other, while Elias lay down freely between the two of them, playing on his phone, drinking soda and waiting for the big attraction of the night.

This was incredible! It was unforgettable!

Anya, Martin and Elias under a makeshift hut, in the middle of a heavy and increasing rain, at an overcrowded concert in downtown Koengen. The three of them were laughing, Elias loving all the fun, after all he was 9 years old and at the first concert of his life, protected from the rain and cold, while waiting for his favorite artist to show up.

Martin looked at her delighted, amazed that they were doing this. Anya was a bit of a "crazy girl", so for her it was quite common and practical to do things like this for her children, friends and loves. She was happy to be with him there. And that he was so willing to dive headfirst into her craziness. Every now and then they stuck their heads out of their green bubble made of plastic sheeting, and saw only the feet of the crowd. After a while the rain and cold wind passed.

This is Norway, suddenly you can experience all four seasons in one day.

Anya remembered that sometimes it was sunny before she entered a long tunnel while driving, and when she came out of the tunnel, it was either raining or snowing. That was it, the weather got better, the rain passed a little, became very light, and slowly passed for good. The sky even looked beautiful and clear!

Martin met some friends from the navy and stayed with them for a while. Anya met a Brazilian friend, who had invited her and given her a ticket to come to the show as well. For a moment she thought he was embarrassed to introduce her, because it took forever before he approached her and introduced her to his friends. Elias had already gone up to him several times, and this is how they approached her and her friend. Elijah soon knew everyone's name, when Kygo came on stage Martin's friends revved up who carried Elijah on their shoulders so that he could see the whole show. Anya was amazed! She was all smiles. And little by little Martin was coming too. He wrapped her around his waist behind her and enjoyed the show.

Anya understood that he had never introduced a girlfriend to any of his friends and that he was very shy. She gave him space. The concert was very good, the joy of the people was contagious. When the concert was over the three of them went to Anya's house, Martin and Elias fell asleep in her room. Her bed was a queen size, huge, which would easily accommodate four people. Her comforter was also unique, the size of the bed. Yet she slept in the corner of the bed, almost falling off, because the two sleepers took up all the space. There were four bedrooms in Anya's house, but lack of bed or room was not the reason she had chosen not to wake them up. She simply found them so beautiful sleeping there that she didn't have the heart to end this moment.

The next day, Martin and Elias were already best friends. He went out with Elias to hunt Pokémon, and Anya couldn't believe how close they were. The two of them were only talking about the most polularpopular children's game of the time, Pokémon Go. They seemed to be getting along very well, and this somehow comforted her heart. Anya though expecting nothing from him, so she found it inevitable that she didn't feel happy and relieved that Martin was getting closer to his children, without prejudice.