Meanwhile, Pedro had learned early that romantic relationships were synonymous with disaster — and it had shaped every relationship in his adult life.
At twenty-eight, Pedro managed one of the largest malls in Sao Paulo with a competence that impressed everyone around him. Employees respected him, investors liked him, and the numbers always closed perfectly under his watch.
He'd always been intelligent, organized, and above all disciplined — the kind of man who turned heads without trying.
Tall, with impeccable posture, his hair and beard always neatly groomed, and a serious gaze that made plenty of people mistake his silence for arrogance.
But Pedro wasn't arrogant. He was just tired of shallow relationships and let down by his family. Everything he'd been through kept him at arm's length from any feeling that might one day stir in him the desire to build a family of his own.
It had all started when his father destroyed their family by cheating on his mother — over and over, throughout the marriage.
After the divorce came the new marriages, the new families, the new conflicts.
His father never changed. Even when married, he kept getting involved with other women, swapping wives like he was trading in cars, until he married a young woman only two years older than Pedro.
That last marriage left Pedro with a memory he could never shake.
He was twenty-two the night he slept at his father's house — the last time they'd ever speak. He'd argued with his mother over his father, as always. He hated being caught in the middle of their fights, but it kept happening.
All he'd wanted that night was a quiet place to sleep. Instead, Pedro woke up startled to find his father's wife naked in his bed, trying to touch him.
Despite the panic and revulsion flooding through him, he didn't hesitate. He pulled away immediately and told her to get out.
But the next morning, his father accused him of harassing her.
The stepmother cried, invented a version where Pedro had tried to seduce her, and his father believed every word — without giving his own son the benefit of the doubt.
Pedro still remembered the crushing weight in his chest. The look of judgment and disgust on his father's face. The fight with his mother, who, when she found out what happened, wanted Pedro to do whatever it took to break up his father's marriage.
He found the whole thing absurd. He left that same day, cutting ties with both of them, feeling that something inside him had died.
After that, he never fully trusted anyone again — least of all women. Relationships became superficial, controlled, purely physical.
That Saturday night, the mall was practically empty when Daniel knocked on Pedro's office door and walked in without waiting for an answer.
"Pedro, don't you think it's time to go home?" Daniel leaned against the doorframe.
Pedro kept his eyes on the computer screen, finishing up the month's revenue report.
"I need to get this done tonight."
Daniel sighed — already used to that answer.
"What you need is a social life, man."
Those words finally made Pedro lift his eyes.
Daniel had worked with him for years and was one of the few friends who genuinely insisted on getting past the wall Pedro had built around himself.
"I'm heading out." Daniel held up his car keys. "My wife's waiting for me. God, I miss my girl."
"Okay. Good night. Tell her I said hi."
"And you're really staying?" Daniel crossed his arms, visibly concerned.
"Just a little longer."
"Dude, you need to snap out of this."
Pedro managed a thin smile, humorless.
"Out of what?"
"This obsession with work. You practically live here. You work too much, you never go out, you don't meet anyone, you don't have any fun."
Pedro turned his attention back to the screen. He knew exactly where his friend was headed.
"I'm fine."
"No, you're not. And I know it."
Daniel watched him for a few seconds before pressing on.
"How about getting out for once? Meeting someone? You know you're a good-looking guy. Women literally throw themselves at you."
"I don't want them to. I'm not looking for romance."
"You should be," Daniel insisted.
"It's not for me. And you know damn well why."
Daniel went quiet for a beat. He knew Pedro's past, understood the damage his family had done, and even understood why his friend refused to let anyone in. But he wanted Pedro to at least try.
"Maybe one day you'll change your mind. You could still meet the right person."
Pedro glanced away from the screen.
"The right person?" The words dripped with irony.
As far as Pedro was concerned, there was no such thing. There were only people who, sooner or later, betrayed and hurt you.
"Daniel — didn't you say you were leaving?"
Pedro turned back to the computer, shutting the conversation down.
"Fine, I'm going." Daniel raised his hands in surrender, but before walking out, he pointed a finger at Pedro. "But I'm going to introduce you to someone interesting."
Pedro's brow furrowed immediately.
"I don't want—"
"But I do, and I will!" Daniel just grinned and slipped out before Pedro could respond.
Silence filled the office again. Pedro stared at the screen for a few seconds, then rubbed a hand over his face, feeling the weight of the day settle into his bones. He didn't need love. He didn't want someone barging into the simple, organized life he'd carefully built over the past few years.
But the problem was that fate never asked what he wanted.
Pedro, 28
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