It had already fallen, and the lights were very bright at the beginning of the night, traffic was at a standstill, it was a very common start to the week, many were already heading towards their own residence, while many others stopped along the way to enjoy some food, or some drink.

Leonardo was approaching the point where he made an appointment with Marcelle, he saw her from afar, she was looking at her cell phone, and sending some messages, while he arrived, he had seen all of Marcelle's beauty, and he was already completely melted thinking about her, about the two of them, together.

She wore a short burgundy skirt, and a dark green shirt, she wore high heels with details that went almost to the knee, she was completely beautiful, Leonardo wished that it was all a dream, and that she really only had eyes for him, it was everything he wanted most at that moment.

But when he saw Marcelle's smile at that cell phone screen, he couldn't hold back his emotions, and he immediately remembered Marcelle and Jonathan hugging after the competition ended.

Leonardo remembered them looking at each other, several times, and how it was hurting him inside, he looked at Marcelle, he really wanted to feel her completely, to see her taking off those clothes, and enjoy each other's bodies, but when he thought about it, he immediately remembered Jonathan, and how she had acted with Fernanda, and so many other things.

As soon as Leonardo approached Marcelle, she opened a smile and immediately went to hug him. She wore the same perfume that Leonardo gave her as a gift, and her hair had a smell that was already fixed in Leonardo's memories, but he had tried to erase those memories completely.

She held Leonardo's body tightly, and looked with her big brown eyes towards Leonardo, as if she was going to ask for something, and she just tilted her mouth towards him and closed her eyes.

Everything about Marcelle was beautiful, he could admire every part of her, but Leonardo's heart was already closed to that, and now he was more and more sure, and after a while waiting for Leonardo's kiss, Marcelle finally opened her eyes and asked what was happening.

Leonardo decided to sit at a table in that place, he just ordered a piece of chocolate cake and a coffee, the run had really left him exhausted, this helped him keep his emotions and body under control.

Marcelle was a little crestfallen, she looked towards Leonardo, and didn't know what to say, she just held his hand, while she tried to get Leonardo to say something about what was happening.

Leonardo was very light, even in that situation, he just wanted to hear what Marcelle was going to say so, as soon as his requests arrived, Leonardo started talking.

“I don't know exactly about starting to talk about this, but I just want to say that I've been trying to think of a way for everything to go as smoothly as possible.”

“What do you mean anyway? Yesterday you left without saying anything to anyone and today you are acting like this, what is happening anyway?”

“I... had been suspecting this for some time, but yesterday I finally managed to see... you and Jonathan together.”

After that last sentence, Marcelle let go of Leonardo's hands, and looked around, she tried to hide what she felt a little, but she just kept a long silence, and Leonardo didn't really know what to say either, he just waited for Marcelle's reactions, and everything she could say.

“I don’t really know what I want to say” Marcelle said, looking towards Leonardo.

Marcelle's eyes were very red, that was really something she didn't expect, she couldn't even know where everything Leonardo had said came from.

“I hope you can tell me about you and Jonathan, how long have you been together?” Leonardo tried to remain calm and kept the rhythm of his speech well under control, he even controlled the volume of what he was saying. He didn't want to let his emotions take control of the situation.

“Me and Jonathan… what exactly did he tell you?”

“Not much, I didn’t want to ask either, but Fernanda is already suffering from this situation.”

Marcelle until that moment was acting in a similar way to Leonardo, trying to keep her emotions under control, but as soon as he spoke about how Fernanda was feeling, Marcelle started crying.

“I don’t understand, did she talk to you?” Marcelle was already in tears, but was asking about Fernanda.

“She has been suspecting that Jonathan is cheating on her for some time, she already asked me something, but at that moment I didn't know what to say, now, if she asks me again, if I know something, what should I say?”

Marcelle covered her face, trying to hide her tears, but everyone around her was already noticing, and Leonardo just ignored every look, and his emotions began to rise and appear, a little anger, but most of it, incomprehension.

He didn't know why Marcelle had acted that way, and was now shedding tears like that, he didn't understand many things about people, but that was beyond his limits.

“I think I better go home, everyone is already looking” Marcelle said, got up and left.

Leonardo was confused with what to do, he just paid the bill and went towards Marcelle, he needed to end everything that night, he couldn't leave any loose ends, and it was better to decide everything with Marcelle, so that he wouldn't be left so much anymore thinking time about what to do.

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He ran a little and soon found Marcelle, she was heading towards her house, and when Leonardo caught up with her, they were right next to the same square where they met in the first few days.

Leonardo had told Marcelle to wait, and she walked towards the bench where they stood and kissed so passionately, and she just stood, still, looking at that bench while Leonardo was further back looking at her in silence.

While she looked silently at the bench, Leonardo took a few more steps, but she spoke again, without looking towards Leonardo, she continued with her back to him, and looking at the benches.

“You know, I really wish I had met you before, much earlier, I wish I had this with you a long time ago, but that wasn't what happened, that wasn't how our destinies crossed, I didn't meet you in the best moments of my life. I met you, in the worst moments, and I think that's why what we had was so intense, and it burned, without burning.”

“I also went through a lot, and I certainly wish I had met you sooner, before I went through a lot of issues, but it was like that with me too, I had to learn to be with you at a time when so much was changing my life."

“A lot of things about myself, I ended up not saying, I left out a lot of things from you, Leonardo, because I lost myself completely, and I couldn't find myself again, and for a long time, I couldn't say who I was.” Marcelle spoke, she continued looking at the benches, with her back to Leonardo.

Leonardo observed the shape of Marcelle's body, and took a few more steps, she still hadn't turned towards him, she continued looking straight ahead, he was very close to her, less than a foot away.

He had been like that a few times, but always hugging her, he loved hugging her from behind, and kissing the back of Marcelle's head, and he really felt like doing that at that moment, but he managed to stay firm, and listening to everything Marcelle had to say.

“You know, what attracted me to you at first was that you were friends with Jonathan, he seemed happier when he was around you, and he always smiled when he talked to you, I think in the beginning, that's what made me get closer to you.”

“No… I don’t know what to say, I just never thought it was like that.”

“I've been meeting Jonathan for a long time, but it was just sometimes, sometimes it was just a few times a month, but since we started running together, I started meeting him more often, and I knew, that it couldn’t continue like that, that’s why I clung to you so quickly.”

Leonardo just remained silent, the desire to hug Marcelle at that moment no longer existed, neither anger nor pain, just a slight weakness and a small emptiness, which was increasing more and more in his body. Marcelle finally turned to Leonardo and continued looking at him with those big brown eyes, mixed with red, and tears.

“But as soon as I met you, everything changed, you could make me feel truly loved, I felt special and unique when I was with you, I could feel like that, and only with you, I could feel these things.”

“But still, you kept seeing Jonathan, after we started going out together, and after all the nights we had, you continued to be with him.”

“It's hard to explain, you two are very different, and for a long time, I really thought I was in love with Jonathan, and it was completely messing with my head, I needed to somehow get away from Jonathan, for everything to go well”

“But still, you didn’t separate from him, what happened anyway?”

“I couldn't, something was taking over me, I knew he would never leave his family because of me, I didn't even want that, I just wanted to have someone, special, like Fernanda also had.”

“And after all, I still wasn’t enough for you?”

Marcelle fell silent after this question, she looked directly at Leonardo's face, she no longer showed anything, and it didn't even seem like she was hiding anything from him, it seemed like he finally managed to get Marcelle to truly say what she felt.

“I think I started to like you both, at the same time, and in different ways, each one had their own way, and that was making me more and more confused, and more stressed, I thought... I thought... that maybe I could reconcile the two things, it seemed like everything was going well for both of us, I thought about continuing the same way we were.”

“So, you gave up on ending everything with Jonathan, or at least I can say that I wasn't enough to make you abandon him.”

Marcelle turned back to the bench, and remained silent, she couldn't say anything else, and Leonardo understood everything, once and for all.

“I will be away from the tracks, I will no longer race with you, or with Jonathan, and I also don't plan on talking about what was going on between you, I will just follow my conscience and hope that one day, you will awaken your own, and you can realize, everything you are causing to the people around you.”

“You don’t need to abandon everything and everyone because of this.”

Leonardo turned his back to Marcelle, he was ready to leave, and the feeling of helplessness was making him tremble inside, now he felt angry, but not for Marcelle, he felt angry, for his own weakness, somehow, he started to blaming himself for everything that was happening to him and everyone around him, including Fernanda.

“I wasn't enough for you, I couldn't even be, I think that here we will undo the bond of our destinies, we will each go our separate ways, I certainly won't stop running, but I won't be at the same time anymore, and maybe, not even in the same place, maybe I need to breathe new air, and I’ve been preparing for that for a few weeks now.”

“Weeks? How long have you known about me and Jonathan?” Marcelle walked slowly towards Leonardo, trying to change his mind, but she didn't have much to say.

"Enough." They were the last words that Leonardo said to Marcelle.

He walked as calmly as possible out of that square, he didn't want to show what he was feeling or even what was going on inside him. Hiding all the pain he felt, and his eyes heavy with tears, Leonardo walked out of the square and then took a taxi, as soon as possible and returned home.

As soon as Leonardo arrived home, he took another very cold shower, trying to remove his emotions from his body, as if the water could wash away everything he was feeling. He dips his head under the cold water and thought about everything Marcelle said, at the same time, he wanted to forget it all, and he also wanted to understand, to know where he went wrong, and where he could have gotten it right, he wanted to understand what he could have done to change that situation.

The water helped a lot to drive away those painful emotions, and he put on new, clean clothes, and sat on the sofa to think, and breathed in a melancholic and fragile way at the same time. His body emitted all the fragility he felt at that moment, and it was hidden.

He turned on the television and played some old anime songs that he liked to listen to in his school days, which at the same time made him happy and sad. Joy spoke louder, imposing positive emotions on Leonardo's thoughts, and he soon thought more positively.

He got up, went to the bedroom, and looked directly at himself in the mirror. Even with his serious face, his expression seemed to smile, as if saying that he had done very well.

While he was talking about everything he felt in the mirror, the phone rang with some messages, as soon as Leonardo picked up the phone he saw some messages from Jane, asking how he was doing.