Episode 5

(Nicolas)

Ah Nicolas, you are incorrigible.

I say to myself, realizing that I'm looking for a few condoms in my nightstand; and it's not that I have a girlfriend, or a date, or anything like that, I've never had a formal relationship with any woman.

And I think I never will, but that doesn't stop me from having fun with some beautiful woman.

I'm going to the best nightclub in Manhattan, and like every weekend, I'll go out with the company of some beauty, to make her enjoy for a couple of hours and I have some relief...

The truth... I really need to let off steam...

Those are my thoughts while I check my phone.

I grab my car keys and I'm about to leave, when I hear the doorbell of my apartment ringing, as if a madman was touching it.

I open the door quickly, to see who the hell is touching it like that... and I see who I didn't expect.

Well, it seems that my departure will be for later. I say to myself in my mind.

"Ah... Grandpa... I never imagined that you would ring the doorbell like a madman, and I remind you that you know the code to open the door, or is it that old age is making you forgetful."

And what are you doing here? It's the weekend, besides you just came back from a trip, you should be with one of your families.—I say to my best friend, Alessandro Sandoval.

He only listens to everything I've said and without answering anything he looks at me very seriously.

I give him space to pass, I stay watching him, because his countenance is not the usual one, his face reflects sadness and worry.

The strangest thing is that he is carrying a briefcase and two picture frames in his hands.

Although I can't see the photos because of the way he brings them, I suppose they are, of his lover and of the daughter he has with her, because that is the family he loves and recognizes as such.

"Stop calling me grandpa, Nicolas, and don't ask me anything, because I'm not in the mood for your childish annoyances."My friend tells me in a hostile tone.

I turn to see him, because I know him so well, that when I hear him and see his sorrowful face, I am certain that something really serious is happening to him.

And it is that despite being 9 years younger than Alesandro, we have been best friends for a long time.

I was 14 years old when I met him accidentally. Camilo, my older brother, in his youthful madness, was driving drunk and ran over another man more drunk than him.

The drunk run over was Alessandro.

I remember that day, my brother called me to ask for my help, because if our father found out, he would be in serious trouble, so I called a friend to accompany me, because I was underage and although I could already drive I didn't have permission to do so.

When I arrived at the place to take the car, my brother had run away, so as not to be arrested and I saw how the run over man was taken by an ambulance to the hospital.

The next day, my brother asked me to go and find out if the run over man was alive, because he was afraid of going to jail, so I went and there I met Alesandro.

The man was with 4 broken ribs and with serious bruises.

But his physical condition was better than his emotional condition, because his face was like that of a person with pain in the soul.

I spoke with him, I told him to forgive my brother, not to report him, because he was only 19 years old, he was too young to go to jail.

There he told me not to worry, that he had thrown himself at the car, because he wanted to die.

I until this day I do not know, if that is true, but from what my brother Camilo told me, the car went out of control because he was driving drunk.

That Alessandro told me that he was the culprit touched me, because Camilo said something else, I wanted to help the run over man, but I was a child, I didn't know what to do, so I just stayed talking with him.

He told me his story of heartbreak, I had never fallen in love, I didn't know what it was to suffer for love, I hadn't even had sex for the first time.

But I had seen my Father cry, when my Mother left him for another man, and he said; "she left with another I have no hope", so if my Father, being such a strong man, cried because his wife left him, it was obvious that it must hurt a lot.

Seeing the man cry, I said to him.

"Give me her number, if she didn't leave with someone else, you have hope."

Without thinking he gave me the number of the woman for whom he was crying and I called her.

I told her the same thing we would tell the police, that Alesandro Sandoval, had thrown himself at a vehicle and that he was very bad in the hospital and that the one he was calling on his deathbed was Marlen Morelos.

What I did, for me it was simple, but for Alessandro I became a hero who gave him medicine for his pain.

A couple of hours later, I saw a beautiful woman arrive, I was a child, but I could know why the man was crying for her, she was very beautiful, Alessandro's eyes lit up, his countenance changed immediately, so if she could make him be well, with her mere presence, I had to do something for her to stay, there I invented a story, to help him.

The woman was so moved that she took him to her apartment to take care of him.

Since that day we stayed in contact with Alessandro, I told him to call me if he needed something and he did call me, but it was to thank me for my help.

To me, it had seemed so great to help someone in that way, so I became interested in the man's well-being.

I became Alessandro's best friend, and that's why I know his life has not been easy at all.

I know his so-called official family, his manipulative Mother and his nefarious wife, I also know his capricious and spoiled daughters, well the daughters he has with his wife, I must admit that the blonde twins are beautiful, but they are easy, they screw half the world; they have offered themselves to me shamelessly, but I have two reasons not to do it with them, the most important one is that I don't screw women who sleep with people I know and they have been through the bed of half Manhattan, the truth is demeaning for my friend, how they talk about their daughters.

Besides that, they are the eldest daughters of my best friend.

And I see this friend of mine with a face of pain and hopelessness again, just like I saw him 19 years ago.

"Are you going to tell me what's wrong, friend?."I say to him from the mini bar, where I prepare two drinks of the whisky that we both like.

"My life is over Nicolas... literally."I turn to see him, because I am amazed by what he says.

"Alessandro, you're scaring me, what's wrong?."I say giving him the whisky.

"My relationship with Marlen, is over definitely and my daughter doesn't want to see me."Tells me the man who is sitting with his head between his knees, as overwhelmed as I have ever seen him.

"But that's not bad enough for you to be like that, or to say that your life is over."I say to my Friend who turns to see me with more disappointment than he already had.

"You say it, because you don't know what love is, you don't know how to love, you don't know what it is to want to protect a woman with your own life, you don't know what it is to feel your heart break, because your daughter, your greatest treasure is left without you, without your care."I listen to my friend and I see him shed tears in abundance.

And the truth is he is absolutely right.

I don't know what it is to love a woman and even less a daughter.

There is no woman to whom I have said or can say I love you.

There is not...

Listening to Alessandro makes me think and reflect...

And I can say that I can love, but there are only 4 people that I love and by chance all those people are men...

I love my Father Patricio Grecco, my brother Camilo, my nephew who has the same name as my Father and of course Him who is my best friend, almost like my brother.

And I don't think this is a coincidence, it's like that because I'm intelligent, and since I was young I put up a barrier that covers me from that so overwhelming topic.

Like falling in love with a woman.

I see Alessandro and I think I'm intelligent, because it's true that I don't know what it is to love a woman.

But I haven't suffered for one either...

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