Episode 18

Kate left and didn't look back. James felt an emptiness in his chest, a feeling of loss, as if he were going through two mournings.

He looked for Maycon and asked him to go for a drink and dismissed practicing any kind of sports, he was so depressed that he even lost the taste for sports.

Maycon tried to advise him, saying that if he was so bad because of Kate, it was because he really liked her and that maybe he should do a spermogram and see if he really was sterile.

James said that he had already done it, that when he did the treatments he did several tests and they all came back negative.

Then Maycon asked him if it was difficult to accept this child even though he was not the father, since he could not have biological children himself, he could accept and stay with Kate.

"There's no way… I'll never be able to look at that child with love. I will always remember that it was the result of betrayal. And if I do, I will totally lose my dignity, I will feel like shit, Maycon!"

"You already have no dignity… you're drinking yourself unconscious, you don't even look like the handsome man who walked around. You smell like alcohol, James. You haven't been going to the company to work, you haven't been exercising… Where's the dignity in that? You're doing everything your mother asked you not to do."

"I'll stop… I just need to forget about Kate and recover from my grief. Don't judge me, man! I lost both women in my life at the same time."

Maycon rolled his eyes and shut up, letting James drink, drink and complain.

James woke up in the morning dizzy and put his hand to his head, feeling a terrible pain. Slowly it dawned on him that he was naked and lying in his bed and it was awful not to remember how he had stopped there.

He got up and saw his clothes and some women's clothes on the floor. He wondered if Kate had come back and they had made love. This left him a little suspicious, as his relationship with Kate was very bad, but Kate being there was the only thing he could think of.

Grumpy and hungover, James put on a robe and headed for the stairs, when he got closer, he began to hear an argument downstairs.

He went down the stairs slowly, as he saw Miranda arguing with Kate.

"You are not welcome here. Go away or I'll call security. Only that crazy old woman defended you, now that she's gone to hell, no one will defend you anymore." Miranda says with disdain.

Miranda was wearing a robe and dropped the sleeve, showing that she was wearing only lingerie underneath, just to provoke Kate.

"My mother was crazy and went to hell, Miranda?" James said, making Miranda jump in fright.

Immediately she ran over to James and in a crying voice said:

"James! I… I wasn't serious, it's just that that gold digger started provoking me. She kept saying she was going to kick me out of here and she would never let you see me again!"

She tries to grab James' arm, who pulls his arm away sharply.

"Did you say that to her, Kate?" he asks, walking down the stairs, ignoring Miranda and focusing on Kate.

"I didn't say anything! I just said that I came to get my things and I wanted to talk to you! I don't care who you bring to your bed or ask out on dates."

"Bed?! I didn't ask anyone to come to my bed!" he says, massaging his temples.

"Yes you did! You called and we spent the whole night together!" Miranda runs and grabs James' arm, insinuating herself.

"Impossible! I was at the bar with Maycon, he left me here alone and it was already dawn… Look, I'm not in a good place, Miranda, you'd be the last person I'd call."

"You called me, look!" Miranda shows her cell phone screen where James' name appears in the call history, but she quickly tries to block the screen, but James is faster and grabs the cell phone from her hand.

Squinting, fighting back his headache, he analyzed the calls and said.

"There is no call from me to you! It's just that you've been calling me like crazy! If you continue, I'm going to block your number."

"Yes, I was the one who called… but, you answered and called me!"

"No, impossible!" James says and looks at Kate, who shrugs. James is angry because Miranda was making things worse, he was sure he didn't call Miranda and he was sure he didn't sleep with her.

"Miranda, get out of here now!"

"But James, now that your mother is dead we can date. You told me we couldn't have anything because of your mother and now you have no reason to push me away."

"Get out of here, Miranda!" Losing his patience, James grabs her arm and drags her to the door.

"My clothes, let me get dressed!"

"That's not my problem!" James says, pushes Miranda out and slams the door.

After that he looks at Kate and thinks how different she was, she was wearing a hospital gown, her hair tied back in a ponytail. She was calm and silent and he didn't know if it was because of her coolness to behave in conflict situations or because she felt nothing for him.

"Did you hear what she said? I didn't have anything with her, I only took her out on dates because her father is a big investor in the company. I always said we couldn't do anything out of respect for Mom. But the truth is, I never had any interest in her other than doing business with her father."

"Well, you don't have to explain yourself, we're separated, aren't we? We can go to your office, I brought the divorce papers."

James twisted his mouth in displeasure, while they were only separated there was still some glimmer of hope, but with the divorce, it would all be truly over.

"Go ahead!" he says, waiting for her to pass him.

The two of them entered the office and Kate was already taking the papers out of her folder.

"I took the lead in making the agreement, with everything I need. In fact, I don't want anything from you and I'm returning the house and 50% of everything Sara left me as an inheritance. I only held on until now because I didn't want your relatives to get anything and it would all be yours."

"Wait? What are you doing? Are you returning everything? Do you know how much this house and everything else is worth?"

"No…actually I don't care about any of that."

"You're going to give me everything, you're going to be left with nothing and pregnant? You're not going to ask for child support?"

"This child is mine alone and my responsibility alone. Actually, I… I want to keep one thing, yes. Before she passed away, Sara gave me this bracelet." Kate pulls it out of an envelope and shows it to him.

"That bracelet was mine. Wow, I didn't know Mom had this saved." he looks at the bracelet, thoughtful.

"Yes, she kept it and gave it to me to give to my son. I want this, because I want him to have a gift given by his grandmother…"

James drops the bracelet, abruptly. Irritated to hear Sara was the baby's grandmother.

He takes a deep breath, avoiding saying anything to start a new argument and tears up the divorce papers.

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