Episode 3

"Everything okay?" I asked.

"All good, you were perfect. You got what no one else ever could. A scoop on “Mr. Perfect”." My teeth clenched upon hearing that nickname they’d given Caique at the newsroom.

"Don’t call him that, Jorge."

"You didn’t fall in love, did you, Joao Miguel?"

"Of course not. I did what I had to do for my job. It was either this or be out on the street."

"Wasn’t much of a sacrifice, was it? You're gay, and he's smoking hot. Killed two birds with one stone."

"Yeah, I guess you could see it that way... But I was just thinking about my job, Jorge. I hadn’t gotten any leads yet, and Sidney was breathing down my neck. Thank God he gave me these two months to come up with something good. I need to help with the bills at home; I wasn’t born with a silver spoon in my mouth like Caique. Well, it’s done. I’m gonna take a bath in this fancy tub here and get out."

"That’s right, milk it for all it’s worth and get the hell outta there. Any minute now, every website will be blowing up with photos of the hunk in the buff, along with your audio and all the other stuff you gathered during your encounters. Man, you got enough dirt to blackmail your mother-in-law! Tell me, where did you hide your phone while it was recording?"

"Under the pillow so they wouldn't recognize my voice." Jorge’s laughter on the other end wasn’t contagious. I felt strange.

"Smart boy!"

I hung up to go take a bath and get out of there. Later, I just had to stop by the boss's office and get my money.

Caique never suspected that he was seeing a journalist in disguise, and during our two months together, we had nine encounters. I confess it wasn’t bad at all being with him. Caique was an excellent lover, and he was very affectionate. Anyone could have fallen in love with him, but I needed my money and my job; otherwise, I wouldn't be able to stay at home. My mother would kick me out if I didn’t contribute, and I knew my stepfather had something to do with it. He already thought it was frivolous of me to go to journalism school; like always, he didn't support me in anything. Not having a scoop to secure my job could cause me to lose it, since I was still very green in the newsroom. That would be all the reason he needed to say he was right all along and that I should be out there laying bricks like him. Excuse me, but I wasn’t born for that.

All of this led me to the life of Caique, the millionaire owner of the largest construction company in the country, who was never seen with anyone. The newspapers called him “Mr. Perfect,” and Caique was hounded by gossip sites like Prince Harry over in England.

I met him at an event that I was able to sneak into with the help of a contact, and I struck up a conversation when we bumped into each other in the bathroom.

First, I needed to test the waters, so I made a joke that would tell me if he was gay or not. A look also came into play, and it was love at first sight. I hit on him right then and there, and at the end of that event, we exchanged hidden kisses in the bathroom again, which we practically closed off for ourselves. From there, it was easy, from the first date to this last one. Caique always struck me as just a young man who wanted to enjoy the pleasures of his age but had a lot of responsibilities on his shoulders.

Maybe I would miss him, but our worlds were too different, and now he said he was in love. I was young and didn’t want to tie myself down to anyone. I know what I did wasn't right, but it was done, and that's how life was; everyone did what they had to do to survive. Caique would just be another one out of the closet and would get over it soon enough. It was my stepfather who couldn't doubt my sexual orientation; if he did, then, yes, I’d be screwed.