03. In the coffee shop

A few people present were quietly observing the little scandal. Maximilian's veins are bulging out of his neck and forehead. James stands up.

"What's going on here?"

"What's going on?!" Max is upset. "I'm here to fix my marriage and get back the woman who loves me! Or at least, who I believed loved me!"

"What did you say?!" Mariana gets to her feet as well, feeling the tremors returning once again.

"I came after you, Mariana. I came after you because I love you, and because I want us to be okay. But the first instant you find yourself free, you're already on a date with a complete stranger!"

"How dare-"

"I should have known. All those years of leaving you inside, keeping you from working, from having to sweat or leave those hands.... Oh, those beautiful hands intact.... It was all for nothing, wasn't it? Because that's your nature."

"You can't be serious!"

James watches everything in silence, shocked. Maximilian is red with anger.

"Of course I'm serious! I am speaking what my eyes are seeing, Mariana. You wanted me to be blind, didn't you? Or mute. You wanted me to be a... A submissive, emasculated man who did all your bidding!"

"An idiot, that's what you are, understand? A complete and total idiot!" Mariana feels the tears coming down her face again. "You were literally cheating on me with your secretary, you bastard, and I have no idea how long you've been doing it! And now you're standing there, accusing me of horrible things, when you're the bastard in that relationship!"

"Listen here-"

"I'm not going to listen to anything! You are the one who is going to listen to me, do you understand me? Three years ago, you told me that you would take care of me in sickness and in health, in wealth and in poverty, and that the only thing that would separate us would be death. You took an oath, not only before God, but before all who were gathered there. Do you remember that, Maximilian?!"

"I told you I made a mistake, Mariana. As soon as you left, the very second you left, I kicked Michelle out of my room! Not just from my room, but from my life. I was crazy, completely delusional, but I could see it all! You are the woman of my life!"

Mariana lets out a sarcastic laugh, but every note she utters is filled with pain. The people around don't even try to pretend that they are not completely engrossed in the midst of that bafflement.

"Okay, now I'm the woman in your life. After I found out your true face, right? Well, it's too late now."

"What do you mean by that?"

"You're lucky I'm not a vindictive person, you know, Max? Because I could destroy you right now. I could release such scandalous information to the wind that you would be arrested at the very least!"

Maximilian steps forward and puts up a cocked finger as he speaks to his hitherto wife:

"Not another word, do you hear me?"

"Or what?" Mariana, her voice shaky, raises her chin to pass superiority, though she is much smaller than her then-husband. "What are you going to do, huh? Come on, I want you to speak out loud and clear. I want everyone to hear who you really are. No more pretenses. No more masks!"

The man walks away. James, embarrassed yet serious, clears his throat and says:

"Listen, I know you are very nervous, but I urge you to calm down and talk to each other. All of this can be resolved with dialogue."

Both Mariana and Max look at the writer as if he has committed a sacrilege. James raises his hands in a soothing gesture, keeping his voice calm:

"I know it's hard, but you guys really need to get serious now. All the more so because-"

The girl widens her eyes and articulates the word "no" several times. She doesn't want Maximilian to know about the pregnancy.

James hesitates. Then he completes the sentence:

"All the more so because you've been together for a while, it's not like you've just met."

"Your lover speaks well, Mariana. It's even like he's rooting for us," the businessman mocks, cracking a huge sarcastic smile soon after.

"I'm not her lover. In fact, we met today."

Max's eyes are filled with fury.

"Then that makes it even worse. You haven't even had a chance to sleep with her to know if she's worth defending that much."

"That's enough now," Mariana murmurs, looking around. Some of the people are wide-eyed and dozing, but others seem to be enjoying themselves. 

Yes, she had become a laughingstock. That tragedy happening before her eyes was being ENGAGED to the flock of vultures.

"That's what I get for believing in you, isn't it, Mariana? That's all I deserve for having loved every detail about you, of your body and your soul! For having believed that you would be mine, and mine alone, Mariana!"

"Shut your mouth!"

"Did you know that my whole family was against our marriage? Especially my mother. She kept trying to warn me of the headache you would give me in the future. She even said that if I didn't marry you, she would put me as her only heir! And I wouldn't have to share anything with Maxwell. Did you know that?!"

The girl can't say anything. Maximilian hated his brother, although he would never say why. To know that he chose him over revenge... She didn't know how she felt.

James tries to intervene, but is solemnly ignored. Max continues:

"All I wanted, my adored and beloved wife, was for us to be happy. I wanted you home, always beautiful and radiant, without stressing and without having to get into fights. I wanted you smiling, fulfilled! And I would do anything to keep everything exactly that way."

Mariana swallows dryly. She was so embarrassed, feeling so bad.

Her husband's voice becomes very different when he speaks again, almost as if the anger he was feeling totally changed his personality:

"I really thought you were different, you know? When we first met. You were never self-interested, you always knew your place, and you didn't challenge me. I really thought I had won the lottery. But that's your nature, isn't it? The nature of women."

The dark-haired girl can say absolutely nothing, overcome with grief at hearing such terrible things. He holds her face and caresses her, only to release her the next second and say:

"I guess I was too naive. You can't fight nature. At some point you had to give in to your own instincts, didn't you? Some time you'd have to give in to all that."

He pauses slightly, opening another cruel smile:

"You would have to give in to the emotional appeals that exist in your female subconscious and become the slut you've always been."

Mariana lets out a sob. That nightmare seemed to have no end. She hears a small sound of laughter in the background, probably from some teenager.

"That's right, Mariana. I came here to humiliate myself and ask for forgiveness, but I'm not going to do that "

Maximilian looks directly at James and blinks one of his eyes.

"After all, sluts don't deserve to be treated with respect."

The woman almost jumps back when, in an extremely quick and totally unpredictable momentum, James hits Max in the eye with a punch.

And the two begin to roll around on the floor, hitting each other.