At the end of the second month she found him sitting on his traditional tree. As Eduarda approached, she thought of him, how beautiful Igor was and how much she wanted him, even remembering the dream of strong erotic content that had with him the night before. No matter how hard she tried and wished, the young girl could never forget Igor.

She found it strange that the friend did not seem very serene that day nor smiled at her with the usual naturalness or left the traditional rose on her notebook. To avoid creating a climate, Eduarda pretended that nothing was wrong and smiled, sitting next to him.

"I waited for you for lunch, but I didn't find you," the girl began. "So, I ended up having lunch alone."

"It's because I had to go downtown to sort out some financial details at the bank," he replied. Once again she found the absence of the traditional sweet smile strange. Even that answer sounded cold.

"Any problem?" Eduarda asked, starting to get worried and feeling a serious threat to their strange relationship.

"No, nothing serious, just documents to be signed, because of my parents."

Looking for any excuse to stay close to him and talk, she said:

"I think I'll never find my Don Quixote again, you know?" she commented, sitting down. "Nor do they talk about the monster anymore!"

To her complete surprise, Igor got up and, with a sigh, walked away quickly.

"Igor! What happened?" she asked, getting up and going after him.

He, however, disappeared into nothing without leaving any trace, as there was no sign of the friend. He passed by the building where the academic directory was and went to the transversal building, where there was the library and many classrooms. In the valley campus, the buildings, all made of concrete, were two stories high with corridors on the side along their entire length. Every fifteen meters, maybe more, a similar, long and transversal construction connected the set both by the ground and by the upper floor with another group of parallel buildings, like several "H"s, stacked. She saw Valdo coming from the direction that Igor seemed to have taken and went to talk to him:

"Hi, Valdinho, did you see Igor?"

"No, Duda. At this time he is always with you," he replied, astonished. "Is everything okay?"

"I don't know. He was a little strange, not to mention that he spent the whole morning out. Then, I started talking to him and, suddenly, he gave a sigh, got up and left without saying anything," explained the friend, a little embarrassed. "Did you guys fight by any chance?"

"Fight, me!? Of course I didn't fight with him that I'm not crazy or suicidal!" he replied without understanding the question. "Only a big fool would fight with him!"

"You're not crazy why!?"

"Duda, you don't know why Jaime and his gang left us alone all this time, nobody told you?" Valdo asked, incredulous. "He dominated Jaime with one hand only. He left him prostrate on the floor, all pissed and threatened him with death if he touched you. Do you think I would be crazy to fight with a guy as strong as him? Besides, what reason would I have for that?

"I don't know." Eduarda shrugged. "Every couple fights from time to time, don't they? I've never seen him like this!"

"Ugh, Dudinha, so that's why, is it? You are really blind as a bat, girl!" Valdo said, exalted. "Do yourself a favor and go look for Igor. Whatever he has, it must be because of you. At least, you went back to talking to him about that damn Don Quixote of yours."

"Because of me?"

"Obviously, you fool. Do what I tell you and don't argue. Assume your love right away, damn it."

"Did you know about my love for him, Valdinho? Do you know where his house is?" she asked, even more worried about being guilty of something. "I've never been there!"

"No, I've never been there either. But you know very well that he has class soon, so he must be here on campus. Maybe he went for a walk to relax and soon shows up. As for your love, you silly, only he didn't notice. Wake up, beauty."

Increasingly apprehensive about the friend whose love she tried to ignore so as not to suffer, she realized that her life without Igor would be the saddest thing in the world, that he was her great and eternal passion no matter how hard she tried to deny it all that time. Walking at random, she came across the colleague inside his car, in the back of the Physics Institute. He had the door open, leaning back on the seat and with his legs stretched out, resting on the window also open, listening to a soft music with his eyes closed.

Feeling her heart pounding, she approached him, a little breathless.

"Igor, why did you run away without talking to me?" she began. "I'm worried sik!"

He opened his eyes, blinking a little because of the sun. He got up and asked:

"Ouch, girl, I'm not feeling well. Leave me alone."

"Come on, Igor, don't do this to me," she begged, almost imploring and feeling tears in her eyes. "I like you, I love you, even though you are gay and I miss you so much when you are not around!"

"I can't believe you're thinking I'm gay, damn it! Didn't you see that I have nothing of gay?" he questioned more dryly than he wanted. "If you love me why do you always talk about the damn guy who saved you, damn it!?"

"No!?" For the first time she felt a glimpse of reality and began to tremble a little.

"How can I be gay if I love you madly since the first day I saw you in that company?" he vented annoyed, getting out of the car and starting to walk back. He made a gesture with one of his hands moving it in the direction of the vehicle and raising it. The doors and windows closed at once, but she didn't pay attention. "Is it possible that only you don't see this!? Always talking about that damn monster and your blond savior. And me, how do you think I feel all these days listening to this and trying to control my irritation so as not to hurt you because you are the most important thing that exists for me?"

"Is it serious, Igor, swear?" She ran to catch up with him and took his hands. "I'm sorry, but I don't even know why I talked about the guy who saved me because I love you too, Igor. I think it was because of jealousy, because I always thought you—"

Igor pulled Eduarda and kissed her eagerly, trembling and passionate, but still sulky.

"I love you, Igor," she said, happy and trembling. "That was just to try to fool myself into thinking you were gay."

"I think there was a lot of misunderstanding." Igor smiled and kissed her again, crazy with joy.

Panting, she felt all the sweetness of her feeling in that kiss, but also something much more familiar. She had kissed someone like that before and, when she realized, she felt a shock that left her wide-eyed.

"This kiss... this kiss is identical... equal to..." unable to bear it, Eduarda moved closer and kissed him eagerly, until she was breathless again. "I love you very much Igor, but I already kissed you before, you rascal. Why did you hide that from me? Obviously it could only be you, how silly I am!"

"Hide what, I never hid anything!" he said. "You kissed me after we had dinner together and I gave you a flower, remember?"

"No, my love. That was a peck on the lips," she laughed, "and I felt electric with it. A long and delicious kiss like this, the last kiss I gave to someone before meeting you and the best of my whole life, just like this one. You fooled me all this time."

"You're not going to tell me now that I'm the guy you kissed on the day of the party." Igor laughed and she nodded, smiling and moving closer to his lips. In the middle of the kiss she grabbed his face with both hands, happy. Suddenly she pulled away and said:

"It was you, you rascal, now I'm sure. All this time it was you and you hid it from me!"

"How can you be so sure?" he asked, awkwardly. "In spite of everything, it was all dark—"

"Don't wind me up, Igor. I was blind until I was eight years old, blind, blind and I can recognize anyone with my hands when I touch their face. There in my room I pulled your face and kissed you, but I also felt it because I knew I would recognize you as soon as I touched you again. It was you, especially since I never told you it was dark."

"Okay, I admit it." Igor laughed. "But for you not to have seen my face it had to be dark. You didn't even have to say it."

"And why did you hide it?"

"I wanted you to like me the way I am and not in the illusion of false heroes."

"I always loved you, Igor, but I swear I thought you and Valdinho were dating, so I tried to deny it."

Hugging and kissing, they went to class. On the way, she asked:

"Tell me something, my love, why do the flowers you give me never wilt?" Eduarda leaned her head on his shoulder. "My mother keeps commenting on that and jokes with me saying that I have an admirer with magical powers."

"They are impregnated with the energy of my love for you," he replied. Then he laughed and added. "Maybe I do have magical powers, huh?"

He finished saying that and kissed her again. As they walked to the classroom, they lost count of how many times they stopped on the way to kiss each other until they entered the classroom arm in arm and, when some classmates saw, they whistled and applauded them with some shouting:

"Finally they admitted it!"

They both smiled, awkwardly.

― ☼ ―

The next day, Levi called Igor. Smiling and with dreamy eyes, he entered the room after knocking.

"How are you, son?" he asked, smiling. "Are you enjoying the work?"

"Very much, sir," he replied, absent-minded. "I feel happy here. For me it was a very important therapy because of my parents, but now I'm really better."

"That's good, Igor." He pointed to a chair. "Sit down because I have more than one subject to talk to you about. First of all, I've noticed and I've been told that Anita has been committing a rather strong harassment, trying to even kiss you by force."

"That did happen, Levi, but I put her in her place. I talked to her and explained that I didn't want it to happen again. She apologized and stopped the harassment, so I ask you not to take any action against her."

"So that's over?"

"Yes, it didn't happen again. She is very beautiful and nice, but my heart belongs to someone else."

"Well, that relieves me because I hate to fire someone. As for your private life, it's something that only concerns you," he commented. Thinking about his daughter he continued. "I know someone else who won't like to know."

"Really!?" Igor was surprised.

"Never mind. Doctor Ernesto doesn't want you to do intern work in the research department anymore."

"I'm sorry, Levi, but did I do something that displeased them?" he asked, sad. "I like to stay in the research so much—"

"Calm down, Igor," said the superior. "It's because he wants you to participate in the research. They are too impressed with your mathematical knowledge and so am I, to tell you the truth. Ernesto and Nataniel said that the small help you have given has greatly accelerated the research of the new multifunction filter."

"I'm flattered, Levi," said Igor. Very cautious, the young man continued. "But the fact that I know all this math doesn't give me the necessary experience to carry out such advanced research. I'm afraid they'll be disappointed with me."

"You'll be guided by them, like a master's student, so don't worry about that. Do you accept the offer?"

"Of course I do." Igor smiled. "Do you want anything else?"

"Not with you. I have to see a new intern for there. I had my daughter in mind, but due to the circumstances it might not be a good idea. Well, I'll see that tomorrow."

― ☼ ―

The next day, Igor found Eduarda waiting for him in the parking lot. They kissed and he said:

"My love, if you want, I can stop by your house and pick you up to come here. And I can also take you home from work."

"Later," she said, hesitant. "Let my parents get used to it first. My dad works at the company, so I usually go home with him."

"Really?" Igor laughed. "You have to introduce me, then he will trust me."

"He's not controlling, honey," she said, also laughing. "I'm the one who wants to take it slow because I love you very much and for me this is not just a casual dating. For me it's very serious."

"For me too, sweetie," the wizard said, kissing the girl again. "I swear I never felt anything so strong before I met you."

"Okay then," she said, determined. "We'll go slow with my parents. Actually, my mom already knows everything. At the right time, I'll introduce him to you and I just want to see your face, sweetheart.

"Why?" he asked, not understanding.

"Never mind," she said, mysterious. "How was yesterday? You didn't even stop for coffee!"

"Yeah," Igor smiled, happy. "Levi promoted me to research and I had to catch up on a lot of new things."

"Really?!" Eduarda hugged him. "Congratulations sweetheart... tell me something, did anyone get the intern spot there?"

"He said he would think of someone, but he didn't tell me anything."

"I think I'll apply," she said laughing. "That way I'll keep an eye on that witch Anita and rope her if she messes with you again."

"So you were really watching me there? She's been behaving, my love." Igor laughed. "Do you want me to talk to Levi?"

"No, Igor," she said determined. "I'll talk to him myself. I have to make my own decisions. My love, go to class that I'm going to the bathroom."

"Okay." They kissed and Eduarda walked away quickly.

As soon as she entered the bathroom, she locked herself in the stall and picked up the phone.

"'Hello, Dudinha'" said the father when he answered. "'Are you okay?'"

"Hi, dad," she replied. "Everything is great and it will get even better because you're going to put me in the research internship today. Don't make a fuss that I found out that the spot is open."

"'I can imagine it's because of Igor, sweetheart'" said the father, hesitant. Trying to dissuade her, he said. "'He has a girlfriend and you're going to end up disappointed, Duda.'"

"Come on, daddy, I also have a boyfriend since yesterday. A beautiful blond cat just like him," she replied, laughing. "Dad, I love research, so think of your little girl who's there in production as lost as a nun on a honeymoon—"

"'Okay, honey,'" said the father, laughing. "'The spot is yours, but don't harass the guy that the poor thing already had more than his share with Anita, okay?'"

"Okay, dad, leave it that I'm very happy with my boyfriend and this one is very serious, okay?" she said, laughing a lot. "Thank you, dad, kiss and I love you. We'll see each other in the afternoon."

Very happy, she went to the classroom and sat next to Igor, turned into smiles.

― ☼ ―

Igor was nervous, because he was going to meet his in-laws because Eduarda said that her mother had summoned him to dinner with them and, after a week, it was time for the father to meet the boyfriend. Things were going wonderfully for him, especially after Eduarda started working with him, but, at the company, they hid everything.

He parked the car right in front of the house and knocked on the door a little nervous, since it was all new to him. A woman of great beauty, but shorter than the girlfriend, opened and smiled at him, saying:

"I suppose you are Igor," she extended her hand, kind. "I'm Fátima, Eduarda's mother. Come in."

"Nice to meet you, Mrs. Fátima."

"I can see that Duda has good taste—"

"Hi, my love." Eduarda appeared and ran to his neck, kissing him as if she hadn't seen him for a year. "I missed you."

"Calm down, angel." Igor laughed. "We haven't seen each other for only two hours."

"Let's see my dad. He's in the office. I just want to see his shocked face." She pulled the boyfriend by the hand.

"Why would he be shocked by me, if I never saw him or did anything to him... damn!"

Igor stopped and raised his eyebrow, looking at the boss. Levi saw the young man and, distracted, asked:

"Hello, Igor, any problem?" He didn't wait for an answer because he just saw that his daughter was holding hands with him and widened his eyes, astonished. After a few seconds, he burst into laughter. "So, when you said that your heart belonged to someone else it was Duda? And I was worried about her, thinking she would be heartbroken."

"You are her father?!"

"Well," said Levi, looking around, "this house is mine. So, I presume I am."

"Of course, how stupid I am!" Igor hit his forehead and laughed. "Eduarda Vargas and Vargas Engineering."

"Exactly," continued the father. "And Levi Vargas too."

"Now I understand your insinuations, Eduarda," said the boyfriend, shaking his head.

"There is no doubt that fate is very funny." Commented Fátima, laughing at her husband. "Too bad I already knew everything, but your face was priceless, Levi."

― ☼ ―