Prologue + Oyster

Prologue

Simon Salvatore ran in circles through the garden, his little arms open, a wide smile of satisfaction on his face as the wind's strength collided against it and tossed his hair around. It was like flying. He loved the sensation, but above all, he loved hearing the tiny laughter of his playmate, Paulina Perez, the daughter of the Salvatore mansion's housekeeper and driver.

The girl, two years younger, was sitting on the patchwork mat on the porch, her gentle amber eyes watching fascinated as her friend spun around and around.

"Come on, Lina! It's fun!"

"No. Last time, I got dizzy, fell, and Mom scolded me," she recalled, her cheeks flushed with the early November spring heat.

Simon stopped spinning. Upset, he climbed the three steps that led to the porch and sat next to her.

"It's not fun without you," he grumbled, pouting, earning the crystalline laughter of his friend, who, a little embarrassed, placed her hand on his.

Simon admired her small smile, her flushed face, and her beauty. Paulina looked like a porcelain doll, like the ones his mother kept on the highest shelf in the sewing room. Fair-skinned, rosy lips, delicate, always in a floral lace dress. The difference was that she had permission to play with Lina. Although she refused some games, such as climbing trees, spinning on the lawn, and playing with mud balls, Simon still liked her very much and wanted her to be by his side forever.

His attention was drawn to voices on the mansion's side. He saw his mother accompany his father to the car. Paulina's father was keeping the back door open for the boss. Simon smiled when his mother kissed his father's lips before letting him go to work. Every morning they repeated that gesture, and Simon wondered if that was what kept them together.

He turned to his little friend, who was also watching the scene, and, imitating his mother, kissed Paulina on the mouth.

That was when everything changed in his life. In that brief moment, after that brief kiss.

Suddenly, her mother appeared screaming and pulled Paulina away from him. Terrified, he heard the woman, always so kind, scold him harshly.

His mother approached, confused by the shouting, and Paulina's mother told her about the kiss and said that he had taken indecent liberties with her daughter. The two women started a heated argument. Confused, Simon cried out of fear that his kiss had hurt his friend and that was why her mother was so angry with him.

After that day, Paulina's mother never gave him permission to play with her again, nor did she allow them to be alone in the same place.

Simon didn't understand what was so wrong with his kiss, but he didn't have the courage to ask or complain about the growing distance between him and Paulina.

He became angry with Perez, with himself, and with the terrible idea of kissing her to unite them forever. The effect was the opposite; every day they grew further apart, ignored each other, and, over time, became strangers in the same house.

Oyster

As Simon Salvatore crossed the backdoor of the mansion, he cast a furtive glance at Paulina Perez who was talking to the gardener. Her presence was a lure for his curiosity. He had seen her only a few times in the last two years, always in passing. Now she was back to stay, according to the mansion's housekeeper.

He leaned against a beam on the porch and watched her, taking advantage of her not noticing his presence. She was about five feet tall and managed to look even smaller in the clothes she wore, a long skirt and a long-sleeved blouse. Simon never understood why she dressed like that even on extremely hot days like that afternoon. Her long black hair was tied up at the nape of her neck, her thick bangs hiding the eyes that reminded Simon of melted honey. Even from a distance, Simon knew that her fair skin was flushed from the heat.

He smiled and walked slowly towards her, presuming she would blush even more when she saw him.

Feeling observed, she stopped talking and, shielding her eyes from the strong sun with her hand, momentarily evaluated the man coming towards her and Pedro, her uncle. As soon as she recognized Simon, feeling her hands sweating and her heart pounding in her ears, she returned her attention to her uncle who was pruning bushes.

She squeezed one hand into the other, unconsciously biting her lip, the tension taking hold of her body as she anticipated what would happen when the youngest Salvatore was near.

In general, Simon was arrogant, conceited, and the worst kind of selfish, passing through women with devastating indifference.

His mother, Soraia Perez, always warned her about men like Salvatore, demanding that she maintain a respectful distance from the boss's son. Paulina grew up doing this, which wasn't difficult because Simon took a disturbing pleasure in provoking her.

Simon greeted both before concentrating on Pedro, politely inquiring about the gardener's work and praising him for his treatment of the gardens. Even trying to stay out of the conversation, out of the corner of her eye, Paulina analyzed Salvatore, realizing, not for the first time, that when he wanted to, he could be pleasant. It was moments like that, when Simon behaved kindly and smiled, that Paulina understood why women were hopelessly attracted to him.

Undoubtedly, Simon was a handsome man, with thick black hair, suggestive dark eyes, and an imposing stature. Even Paulina, who knew how much his appearance hid a terrible personality, had nursed a crush on him in adolescence. A feeling she suppressed both because of his insistence on embarrassing her and because of the warnings of her deceased mother and father to always remember that she was just a maid in the mansion, even though she was the daughter of the mansion's employees.

"We'll talk later, Uncle. See you later, Mr. Simon!" She said goodbye, uncomfortable at being almost forgotten by the two men.

She hurried off towards the side of the residence where her family had lived for three generations, planning to separate her clothes for the job interview she would have the next morning.

Although she enjoyed sharing the same roof with her younger sister again, living with her father was not easy. Since he lost his previous job, Paulo Perez insisted that she work as a maid or in some other lower position. For years she had fulfilled every whim of her father's, even the courses she took were following his demands, but as a graduate in hotel management, unless she was penniless, she would not accept anything less than a housekeeper position.

"Are you back indefinitely to the mansion?" Simon's deep voice behind her brought her back to reality.

Disturbed by him following her, Paulina wondered why Simon was fixated on her. She could continue on her way and ignore him, but if her father found out she mistreated the bosses' son, he would reprimand her.

"Only until I find a new job," she muttered, head down and avoiding his gaze.

He stopped in front of her, hands in his pockets, and from the curvature of the shadow on the ground, he noticed he was leaning towards her.

"You'll fry in that sauna you call clothes," he jeered. "Dressed like that, I assume you're applying for the position of a nun. Is that the job you're looking for?"

Paulina pulled her blouse sleeves, squeezing her fingers on the edges, hiding the few inches of exposed skin. She hated it when Simon mocked her clothes.

She pursed her lips, holding back the urge to retaliate, to say that unlike the women he dated, she was raised to value decency and discretion.

"Lost your tongue, Perez?"

She took a deep breath, trembling with the desire to abandon all the rules of good behavior implanted in her mind by her parents, and tell Simon to get lost.

"I'll work as a governess at a hotel," she finally replied.

The way she spoke would make anyone believe that the job was a sure thing when it still depended on one last interview. Paulina would rather swim with alligators than give Salvatore more ammunition to criticize her.

Simon straightened up, analyzing her coldly, his dark eyes stopping at her hands that were squeezing, noticing the whitish folds of her fingers, almost as if there was no blood circulating in them. Her face was also pale, and her lips were trembling and tight, a clear sign that Paulina was on the verge of collapsing with nervousness.

"I don't know who I should wish good luck to, you or whoever had the misfortune of hiring you," Simon said, taking a step back. "Try to act less like an oyster."

With that nonsensical advice to Paulina's ears, Simon moved to the side, getting out of her way. Grasping the opportunity, Paulina walked quickly towards the house she shared with her father and sister.

If she looked back, she would surprise Simon with a playful smile on her lips.