GAEL SILVA

"Son, wake up! You're going to be late for your job interview."

When Gael heard the word "job," he jumped out of bed. He desperately needed to be hired soon. He had to drop everything and return home because his mother was sick. For four months, he had been searching for employment, only managing to tire his legs.

Finding a place in the job market was tough for someone who left college, even without being picky. He had applied for positions ranging from waiter to clothing store manager.

Currently, he survived on weekend gigs at his uncle's kiosk. However, it was a small business, and his uncle already had long-time employees. He didn't feel right taking someone else's job.

"Thanks, Mom, if you hadn't called me, I wouldn't have woken up."

He kissed his mother's cheek and ran to the bathroom. He couldn't miss this opportunity. The company he was interviewing with was one of the most respected in the fashion industry, led by the great businessman Ravier Valente.

Gael idolized this man and had an immense crush on him too. But Ravier was known for his romances with supermodels, in addition to his reputation as an icy man, without feelings or a heart. He would never be interested in someone like him, who, besides being poor, was far from a supermodel.

From everything he had heard about Ravier, Gael suspected he was also homophobic due to some statements he had made to the press. But that didn't matter much to him now, as long as he got the job and hid his sexuality from everyone, as he always had. Only his mother and the guys he hooked up with in college knew he wasn't straight.

Gael looked at himself in the mirror. He was wearing the suit he used to wear for his college internship. It wasn't worn out, and he looked presentable dressed like that.

In addition to the suit, he put on a smile because optimism was always his strong point.

Despite all her health difficulties, his mother always made a point of pampering him, like now. She had prepared a hearty breakfast. Gael sat down and ate with her; she was struggling to eat due to her treatment; Dona Iris always felt nauseous. But Gael was happy that she was making an effort.

When he finished, he said goodbye to his mother with a kiss on the forehead and left, filled with all the hope in the world of becoming part of the trainee group at Magestic, the largest fashion group in the country.

The vacancy was for the administrative area. Gael hoped that his four semesters in business school would give him some advantage.

If there was one word to describe how Ravier felt at that moment, it was irritated. He lacked control over his life, and it was frustrating.

His parents were pressuring him to marry Felicit, the eldest daughter of the Garbas family, as soon as possible. They even threatened to disinherit him, and he wouldn't lose everything he had. He had fought too hard to prove his worth. The worst of the two was his father; his mother was merely being influenced in that regard.

His fiancee was like all the other girls he had been involved with; she was beautiful, but none of them pleased Ravier. Deep down, he knew exactly what was going on with him, but he would never admit it. He was raised to be a family man and put the good of the business above any personal desires.

Ravier had a driver; however, he chose to drive so he could think.

His car was an electric Tesla, which he didn't like one bit because it lacked the characteristic roar of other cars. But that was another of his wishes he had to suppress for appearances. The car was beautiful, but it wasn't what he wanted. He only used it because everyone thought it helped preserve the environment.

What annoyed Ravier at the moment was Felicit's unfounded jealousy. She wanted to sleep with him every day, and because he refused, she had gotten it into her thick head that he had a mistress. It seemed like a joke to Ravier.

He urgently needed to figure out how to break off this engagement before he ended up married to a crazy woman.

Felicit's latest demand was that he fire his secretary. This was a significant loss for Ravier; the woman was quite efficient. Only a CEO would know how difficult it was to find someone competent to work as a secretary. But his mother pressured him to give in to Felicit's wishes, and so it was done.

Ravier's cell phone started ringing. He saw his father's number and picked up the device, which slipped from his hand. Reflexively, he tried to grab the phone, which distracted him from the road. He only realized what he had done when he felt the car hit something—or rather, someone, as he noticed from the rearview mirror the body lying on the ground.

Ravier couldn't believe the #$?%!¡ that had just happened. He had been distracted for a second, and everything went wrong.

He stopped the car immediately and went towards the man lying on the ground.

Traffic stopped, and several people crowded around the man. Some guys who were there went up to Ravier.

"Hey, you were the one who ran over the guy."

Ravier knew that if he wanted to, he could take care of them quickly, so he remained calm and said:

"It was an accident, excuse me, I'm a doctor, I can provide first aid."

This wasn't entirely a lie. He had studied medicine for five semesters until his mother had a stress attack and he dropped out of college to help her with the company.

RAVIER VALENTE

Ravier couldn't believe how the press vultures could be faster than the paramedics. In no time, they were taking pictures and asking questions, while Ravier was trying to understand what had happened to the man.

He did what he learned in his only semester of trauma, he kept the man still, stabilized his neck, and checked for any kind of bleeding until finally, the paramedics arrived. They then took over, and he stepped aside until they put him in the ambulance and he informed them that he would be accompanying the patient.

When they arrived at the hospital, besides the press, he had to give a statement to the police. Who, as soon as they saw his last name, treated him with great courtesy, even offering security, so the reporters wouldn't come near him.

Ravier didn't bother to call his family, he knows the news will get to them faster than a rocket. Even before those damn reporters can spread anything.

The man he ran over is Ravier's biggest concern. He was unconscious, and it's hard to know what's going to happen to him. He would never forgive himself if the man died.

The paramedics were going to take the man to the public hospital, however, Ravier insisted that they take the man to the Santa Cura Hospital, which belongs to his friend, Luciano Couto. There he will be better cared for than in a public hospital.

When it was time to fill out the form, it was another problem, because he doesn't know the man's name, only after they searched his belongings did they discover that his name is Gael Silva.

They found his mother's number on his cell phone, and the hospital staff already called the woman.

As Ravier predicted, his advisor walked through the door; he was saved by the doctor who called him into his office. His parents wouldn't even come, to further call the attention of the press.

As soon as Ravier sat down, he asked:

"So, how is the man?"

"He's doing well and he's conscious, so I think the worst is over."

Ravier breathed a sigh of relief, at least he won't have this weight on his conscience. This is when he resembles his family; he just needs to find a way to compensate this Gael and make him keep his mouth shut and away from the press.

"So I can see him?"

"Of course, Mr. Valente."

The doctor called a nurse to accompany him. The woman, a bleached blonde, looked at him with interest, but Ravier just closed his expression, it was clear that this woman was unprofessional.

When he arrived at the room, there was a woman at the door, hesitant to enter. Ravier suspected that this might be the mother of the man he had run over. She looks sick and is visibly shaken, surely afraid of what might have happened to her son.

"Hello, my name is Ravier Valente, unfortunately I was the one who hit your son, I apologize now for what happened and I want you to rest assured, because I will bear all the costs of his recovery."

The woman looked at Ravier and said:

"Just tell me my son is alive."

Ravier felt a little taken aback by the woman's emotional reaction. He opened the door without answering and both entered the room.

Before they entered, Gael was inside the room thinking about how unlucky he had been. He always had been actually, but this time he had outdone himself.

Just as he was crossing the street and only one block away from getting to Majestic, he was hit head-on by a luxury car, after that he blacked out. These damn rich people think they can do anything in this life.

Gael knows he should just be thankful now that he's alive, but he can't get over the fact that he missed his job interview, he needed it so badly and now he's going to have to stop for at least a week, time he doesn't have.

It was all a complete disaster and he closed his eyes tight to keep from crying. For this was the first time since he came back that he was actually close to getting a job.

After a while like that with his eyes closed, he heard a noise at the door and upon opening his eyes, he saw something he never imagined he would see, his mother Iris, entering the room next to Ravier Valente, the all-powerful CEO of Majestic.

Dona Iris immediately rushed over to her son:

"Honey, are you okay?"

Gael groaned at his mother's outburst, it hurt so much that he couldn't even speak at first.

"Oh my God! Honey, did I hurt you?"

He had cracked a rib and when Dona Iris hugged him, he felt the pain like a stab.

"Don't worry Mom, I'm fine. I want to know how you are."

"I'm fine, dear, if you're fine that's enough for me."

Gael had almost forgotten about Ravier's presence when he introduced himself:

"Hello, my name is Ravier Valente."

He is an imposing man and exudes arrogance, even in a simple introduction. Which made Gael stutter a little:

"I... I know who you are."

"Very well, then let's get straight to the point, unfortunately I ran you over and I'm here to compensate you, in addition to paying for your stay in this hospital."

Ravier's posture was completely arrogant and his good looks were nothing compared to his lack of humility.

Gael thought the rumors about Ravier's bad personality were just that, rumors, but now he could see that they were more than that, it was all true.

Gael knew this category of person well, he was full of them during college and he never wanted to get close to any of them.

"Thank you for your concern, but you have done enough for me today."

Ravier saw a (subtle) change in Gael's demeanor, he realized that he is just a poor ungrateful wretch. But, he can't leave here with the possibility of this guy saying something about him in the press, so he decided to go outside and wait for his mother.

"Excuse me."

As soon as Dona Iris left her son's room, as he forced her to go to the cafeteria to eat something, Ravier stopped her.

"Dona Iris, is it?"

"Yes."

"Well, I want to talk to you about compensation for everything that happened because, clearly, your son will not accept it."

"What makes you think I would accept anything? We are poor, but we have dignity."

"Dignity will not help you and your son when he leaves the hospital."

Ravier has always been a very frank and direct man, although he has a very pragmatic view of life, he would not trade his entire life experience for another mediocre life.

Dona Iris said:

"My life and my son's life are none of your business, I think you have done enough for him already."

"I believe I had the impression your son was going somewhere important when the accident happened."

"Yes, he was going to a job interview, but that doesn't matter anymore, as I'm sure someone else must have filled the position already."

Ravier quickly realized that these two were the worst kind of poor, the proud ones, so he took another approach.

"Then I can hire your son at my company."

"I don't believe Gael will accept that, you saw that he didn't want to talk."

"I can make it look like it was random, my name will be completely out of it."

"You can try, but now, if you'll excuse me, I need to eat."

Ravier was left behind with a smile on his face, then called the company's HR to have them do everything they could to get Gael hired.

Gael was asleep again, with the medication he had taken and lying in that bed where he couldn't move freely, he slept.

He woke up some time later to his cell phone ringing insistently. He looked at the armchair nearby and noticed his mother sleeping sitting down, he was even angrier at Ravier, if he hadn't run him over, he would now have a job and his mother wouldn't have to be here sleeping in an uncomfortable position for someone in her condition.

He stretched, still feeling pain in his ribs, picked up the phone and answered, he noticed there were at least three previous calls from an unknown number.

"Hello."

"Mr. Gael Silva?"

"Speaking. Who's calling?"

"This is Majestic, we are calling because you did not show up for your interview."

Ravier had been surprised when he gave the order to HR and found out that Gael was going exactly to his company, but now he had other plans for him.

"I had an accident, that's why I didn't show up."

Gael didn't suspect that Ravier was behind that call, as he didn't think the man would bother to even look his way, especially for someone as simple as him.

"When will you be available for a new evaluation?"

"Well, I think it's best you call someone else, because I'm going to be on bed rest for at least two weeks."

"Two weeks?"

Gael heard the woman's voice hesitate on the other end of the line and he knew it was really all lost, he would have to look for another job.

"Well, come to our headquarters as soon as you are well. Our program always aims to bring talent to our company and we don't leave anyone out."

Gael was not expecting that and he decided to think about it while he was recovering. He closed his eyes again and went back to sleep.

The days passed and Gael was discharged from the hospital. He went home with Dona Iris, who had been by his bedside daily at the hospital, even though she was much worse off than he was.

When they returned home, reality hit them. Gael has no money for anything and the bills are all overdue. The little money he had, Dona Iris used to feed herself in the days he was in the hospital.

He thought life is really unfair, while he was hit, he had to spend what little money he had. Ravier Valente, the one who caused the accident, however, didn't suffer a scratch.

In the morning, he struggled to get up, he couldn't stand still. As he entered the kitchen, he saw his mother squeezing the medicine bottle, however, nothing came out of it, it was clearly finished.

At that moment, Gael decided that there was no other option but to return the call from Magestic. He has to try.

Ravier had almost forgotten about Gael Silva and his mother, Dona Iris, when the head of HR called him to inform him that Gael Silva had called to find out when he should go to the company.

He looked at the calendar on the computer and found that the two weeks of rest recommended by the doctor had not passed. But, if Gael was looking for the job offered, he has to accept, just that, for the plan to work.

Gael is the perfect plan for Ravier, as he, in addition to solving the problem of his fiancee's jealousy and the problem of his secretaries who always fall in love with him.

"Tell him to come tomorrow."

That was the order the head of HR followed when she told Gael to come to the company the next day.

After hanging up the call, Gael's heart was racing a bit and he said to himself:

"Calm down, Gael, you will rarely even see Mr. Valente, a trainee will never have access to the CEO."

And that calmed his heart. He looked at the bedroom door and saw his mother standing there.

"What are you doing, dear? By the way, you're pacing around the house, you look like a man walking towards his death."

Gael smiled and said:

"I think I'm just selling my soul to the devil."

"Don't say that, dear."

"It's the truth, Mom, tomorrow I'm going for a job interview at the company of the man who ran me over, you saw what he's like."

"I wish I could help you."