Episode 4

Bruno

I was chilling at my mom's diner, alone. I just stopped by for coffee. As I was about to leave, Bia arrived with two friends. I overheard them talking about a book.

"Seriously, girls, this new fic by the author is so good, there are some hot scenes that are so good they'll make you wet your panties."

What the hell is this? Does my brother know about this crap?

"Yeah, I agree, girl. How can you not? Now I'm addicted to reading romances about two guys getting it on."

"And you're telling me, this Morro owner is so handsome and sexy, and he's so whipped for the cute guy. Awww, I can't wait for them to get together and get married, so they can rule the Morro together."

"Yes!" - The three said in unison.

What kind of crazy talk is this? I've never seen a gay drug lord who owns a Morro.

"Hi girls, can I know the reason for so much shouting?"

"Of course, Aunt Nena, check out this app for reading romance stories, it has every kind of story."

I saw that my mother was interested, and the girls told her the name of the app and the gay book they were reading. Well, I'm going to read this crap just to see what it's like. I downloaded the app, found the story, and was about to read it when that fat nurse showed up to bug me.

"Excuse me, Bruno, can I talk to you?"

"You already are, fatty, spit it out."

I saw him twist his mouth in anger but he was smart and didn't say anything.

"I know Dr. Carlos already talked to you, but I really think this idea could help save the lives of your men."

"What are you talking about? The doctor didn't say anything to me. What's the idea?"

"Do a health fair and see all your men. We'll create their medical records, do routine exams to detect any pre-existing conditions, blood typing in case they need transfusions, and every exam we can do to help save their lives when needed."

"That's going to take forever, Ze."

"Yes, but we don't have to do them all at once. They can come in groups of 5 in the morning and another group in the afternoon. I'm committed to taking care of everything personally."

"Fine, you can expedite it then."

"Thank you."

As he was leaving, an old lady who's friends with my mother arrived and went straight to hug the fatty and pinch his cheeks.

After a lot of fuss, they let him go.

"Ah Bruno, my son, the best thing you did was bring this boy to the Morro. He takes such good care of us old folks. He's patient and caring with everyone."

"We're here, Dona Lourdes."

"It's true, son. Now we're treated like people in that clinic. Dudu is the best nurse ever, you should give him a raise."

The conversation is starting to turn sour for me. I dismissed the old ladies and went home to read the damn book. At first, I thought it was cool, the Morro owner was tough, a real badass like me, driving everyone crazy. It's strange that this author knows life in the Morro so well, being from the asfalto. She's probably some bored rich girl.

The story was good, I couldn't stop reading. I wanted to know if the Morro owner was really going to take in the skinny kid, like people were going to accept it just like that? His family, his crew? Come on, that's not how it is in real life in the favela, things are different here. Here, to be respected as a leader, you have to prove you're a man. I'm not saying that no one can be gay in the hood, they can, but being a leader and being gay doesn't fly.

I decided to intervene and give this author a reality check. I sent her a message, and we started talking. Her excuse is that reality is too harsh and she wanted a happy ending, even if it was just in fiction.

She asked if I was a drug lord who owned a Morro, then asked a bunch of questions about how to manage things in the biz. I only answered what I thought I could, I'm not going to go around talking about my Morro to strangers. You have to sleep with one eye open in this life.

Then we talked about other things. I asked for her number so we could talk more, but the woman was suspicious and said she would only give me her Skype. I had to install that app too. She used the same profile picture and name as the app. The picture was a drawing of a girl with pink hair, and the name was "Lovely Writer." These English names that we don't understand at all make no sense.

I liked her, I thought she was cool. I think I'm going to pursue this. In a while, I'll ask her to show me a picture, or if we can meet in person.

Two whole weeks talking to my writer girl. The first thing I do when I wake up is send her a good morning text. We talk all day long. At lunchtime, I always tell her what I'm eating, and she laughs and says I'm too boring with food. We talk about everything, and at night we talk until one of us falls asleep.

It's strange because I've never experienced anything like this with anyone. Like, I've never talked to anyone for so long. I'm really enjoying it. She's the only woman I've ever thought about taking seriously, and the messed up thing is that I haven't even seen her face.

When it had been a month since we started talking, I decided to put the pressure on her so we could meet soon. I'm dying to meet my Goddess, kiss her, and have sex too, you know, if the mood is right.

B1: Good morning, my sunshine!

Lovely Writer: Good morning, gangster!

B1: I want to see you, gorgeous. Let's go out today? I'm dying to meet the face of the woman of my life!

Lovely Writer: Woman?

B1: Yeah, why, princess? Are you going to tell me you're underage?

Lovely Writer: It's not that, I'm 28 years old.

B1: So you're already my Goddess. Let's go out today, tell me where you want to go, and I'll take you.

Lovely Writer: I'm not a woman, I'm a man.

B1: What? Why didn't you say anything before?

Lovely Writer: I thought it was obvious, you know? From the content of my writing.

Lovely Writer: Hey, are you there? Yeah, of course not.

Damn, how could I have been talking to another dude all this time?