My Plump Physics Teacher

Chapter 2

Urso

I'm not a nice guy, and over the years, it's only gotten worse.

I'm not a good person. Only two people in the world get the best of me. My daughter and my mother. No one else. When I was interested in someone, I offered everything good and the best. The only thing I didn't offer was my heart, my love, and even so, she won it over, she made herself cherished, made herself present, we lived many wonderful things, I started falling in love, giving myself to her, and in the end, it all seemed like nothing more than a game where I and our family were disposable to her.

The day my daughter was born, I was terrified, I had never been so scared as I was that day, it was terrible, it was simply devastating. I had never felt such panic, especially when we discovered she had a congenital heart defect and would need emergency surgery, so small.

Sophia wasn't planned. But from the moment I knew her mother was pregnant, I stepped up.

At the time, we were dating, I didn't love her when we started. But I found myself falling in love over time, I liked what we had, I liked adventuring with her. I liked our chemistry, how we understood each other, and it turned into a relationship. I was very honest with her, and she knew it. I never slipped up with her, from the moment I committed to her, I was all in for the two of us.

But from the day she came to me and said we were going to have a baby, I felt like I was reborn. I didn't expect that from her mother's belly, Sophia would change me so much. I didn't let anything lack for my woman, spoiled her a lot, changed the whole house for the two of us. I was over the moon. I was fulfilled; it was always my dream to be a father. And I had more than that, or so I thought.

With Sophia having been operated on for five days, we were still with our daughter hospitalized, undergoing tests. I had come to the hill because they were trying to pacify it, and I stayed here for two straight days. It was the longest period I stayed away from Sophia, and I was in contact with her the whole time, especially because she had just given birth, our daughter in that situation, it wasn't easy for anyone. I was very worried, tense, afraid of the whole situation, and still dealing with hell here in the slum.

Until she disappeared, and I freaked out, I really freaked out, left the hill in a rush, even with the police still there, but I panicked thinking something had happened to my daughter. Because they had called me from the hospital, asking for a responsible person to come, and I didn't understand at the time, my mind was in a whirl. But when I got there…

She had disappeared.

She left my daughter alone after surgery, while I was killing myself to secure my hill, our home, our livelihood.

I called, sent messages, I was furious, I lost it. And you know what I found?

Wrapped in Sophia's blanket, a note….

“I can't raise this sick girl. I'm full of life, I have so much to live for, people to meet, opportunities.

I don't want to take care of this sick girl. Don't look for me, you won't find me, and even if you do, you would never make me change my mind. It's over. Good luck with this girl.”

I was even more furious with that, and on that day I vowed to be the best for Sophia, I would be an awesome dad, and whatever she needed, I would be there.

Of course, I couldn't handle it alone, so I needed and still need my mother.

These four years have been extremely challenging; when Sophia was a baby, she also suffered from reflux, I didn't sleep, I could never be at ease. Every day brought a new situation, a doctor visit, or a rush to the emergency room, and I was there, me and my mother, steadfast for her.

I have a protective instinct for her that I confess is sometimes over the top. I'm terrified something might happen to my daughter. Even my mother judges me because I never think the professionals are qualified enough to take care of Sophia.

Which ends up being a torture for my mother too, but it doesn't help. If I see something wrong, I fire them, if I see my daughter isn't developing, I fire them, if they miss a day, I fire them. If I hire a service, I want responsibility, priority, and we're talking about my daughter.

I don't say it, but I suffered a lot. Imagine me, at 25 years old, king of the hill, with a lot of responsibility on my shoulders, seeing my life turn like this, out of nowhere, without explanation.

My daughter's illness, having to raise her, give attention, because I'm very present in her life, going to doctors, speech therapy, everything, and besides that, I saw my passion disappear, abandon our family that we talked and made plans with every night lying in bed. In our room full of her clothes, full of things, our daughter's room that we painted together, it was really tough to see all that, really. It was like I was drowning and had to gasp for air to reach the surface again and I did!

Today I'm a badass guy, respected, renowned, well-regarded. My hill is very strong, unfortunately very envied, but here I hide a lot of big criminals, who need shelter because they need to lay low, all this is charged, everything here has a price, and I think very carefully before taking any action because I think about Sophia in the middle of this favela, before anything else. Her safety and my mom's are priorities.

"Hey, where's the physiotherapist??" I ask my mother as soon as I get home.

"Missed again, had foot pain this time, look, honestly, these people don't want to work at all, I don't know what to do anymore," she says frustrated and does some exercises with Sophia.

"And that company you mentioned? Hire through them, raise the pay, I don't know, because this way it won't work, mom," I say annoyed, picking up my daughter who already grabs my chains.

"I'll call the home care now, to have them recommend someone as soon as possible," she says, getting up from the carpet in Sophia's room and walks out talking on the phone

I stay there playing with my baby and I remember that woman.

Damn, she's so serious, so firm, her gaze pierces right through you.

The way she pulled up to the boarding house, in that big fancy car, a Golf GTI, all modern, it was no small thing, white, draws a lot of attention, just like her.

She treated it as an achievement and you could see her effort, her glow when her mother hugged her.

I checked out the whole car, it even had a sports exhaust, damn, really a beautiful car.

I wish she'd give me a chance, right... but this was the first time she really looked at me, because otherwise she just passed by, didn't even notice me, it was really frustrating.

Everyone gives her a hard time, keeps commenting on her weight and body, but I notice that everyone follows her, likes her photos and all that. These guys are all assholes, I just want to smash all their phones to stop them from looking at her.

What a smile. I can't get the image of her smiling out of my mind, as soon as she got out of the car and damn, this woman messes with my mind.

Every time she walks by, my heart skips a beat.

I know I'm a bit of a wild card, but she's the one who really makes me weak at the knees... damn...

"Did you manage, mom?" I ask, shaking my head trying to get her out of my mind.

Because it doesn't help, she doesn't give me an opening, she doesn't smile at me directly, never talked to me directly, it's hard to make a move like this.

At the dance parties, I almost lose it when she shows up. Her beautiful moves drive me crazy, and she's so closed off, full of attitude, totally confident, not giving a damn about any jokes, damn.

"I managed, kid, I'm talking to you," my mom snaps her fingers in front of me.

"Oh, what's up?" I turn my attention to her.

"They're going to send me some profiles, and by tomorrow morning we'll have someone here," she says and I give the same speech as always.

Care, attention, don't leave her side, analyze everything, record it for me to see, in case I have to be out to handle something in the neighborhood. I have several recommendations about Sophia, and if they're not followed, I go crazy

I stayed there with her, sorted things out on the phone, and the girl I was with at lunchtime was already bothering me, giving attitude to a worker, you don't give me attitude, or you'll get a smack to smarten up.

That woman invades my mind again, the way she stood up to defend her mother, her eyes piercing through to my table, her scent, damn, I'm going to lose my mind soon with this.

Sophia fell asleep and I left the house, just told my mom and disappeared. I needed to blow off some steam with someone or I'd end up banging my head against the wall because this stuff won't stop invading my mind.