Saulo and Oliver got into the car and drove toward the lake near the mansion. As they rounded a curve, Saulo spotted a large house.“You had the old cabin torn down?”“Yes. It wasn't doing the place justice.”“Why are you building a new house?” Saulo asked.Oliver turned off the engine, and the two men got out of the car.Workers were busy painting the house while others assembled furniture inside.“It was supposed to be a surprise for your wedding day,” Oliver revealed.“What?” Saulo asked in shock.“This was going to be my wedding gift to you two.”“This house?”“Yeah. What? You don't like it?”“Of course I like it, Oliver… you…” Saulo was speechless.“You know you're like a brother to me. And Aurora adores Denise. It'll be nice for us to be neighbors, don't you think? Besides, Denise will still be close to her aunt and uncle.”“Oliver, seriously, man… I don't even know what to say.”Saulo's eyes filled with tears. Under different circumstances, they would have been tears of joy. Bu

Two days after that unpleasant conversation with Denise, Saulo kept trying to get the idea of separation out of her head, but everything seemed pointless, because she constantly ignored him.It was Friday, and he was at the village office when his phone rang. He immediately saw that it was Oliver calling.“Hey, man.”“Hey, Saulo. Am I bothering you?” Oliver asked.“No, of course not. Go ahead.”“Could you pick Alice up from school for me? Aurora and I are in the capital taking the boys for their routine checkups, and Joaquim took Lúcia to a relative's house, but the car broke down on the way, and he won't make it in time to pick her up.”“Of course. I'll go right now.”“Thanks, my friend. Could you leave her with Fernanda at my house?”“Who's Fernanda?” he asked, confused.“She's the new nanny we hired. It's really hard to handle all these kids by ourselves.”“All right. I'll take her home.”Saulo left the office and drove to the village school. As soon as he got out of the car and en

After realizing she was already far away from the couple, Denise placed a hand on her head. It couldn't be real. First Alice had told her those things, leaving her completely confused, and now this couple had appeared out of nowhere, saying things like that without knowing anything.She decided to continue her walk, since she didn't want to go back and run into those people again. Taking the trail toward the river, she found the starfruit tree loaded with fruit, exactly as she had imagined it would be. That place filled her with nostalgia. Sitting beneath the tree, she enjoyed the fruit while watching the crystal-clear river flow gently by. She wished her problems could be carried away with that water. Maybe then she could move on and return to living her life normally.It was almost lunchtime when she looked at the river and noticed how inviting the water seemed. The day had become quite warm, and perhaps a refreshing swim in those clear waters would do her good. Remembering the past

The middle-aged couple left, and in that house, Saulo and Denise remained reflecting on everything that had happened. As painful as what they had gone through was, there was nothing more they could do about it.Before nightfall, Denise took all her belongings from her wardrobe and moved them into Saulo's room. She was willing to move in there and try to move on with her life.The next day, early in the morning, after Saulo left for work, she got ready to go for a walk, but this time she was heading to Aurora's house.It had been a long time since she had seen her, and their last conversation had been far from friendly.When she arrived at the mansion, she immediately spotted Aurora walking through the garden with Noah, who was already walking without any difficulty. Upon seeing her, Aurora looked at her in surprise for a few seconds, but soon a smile appeared in her eyes.“Denise, it's so good to see you here,” she said while Noah ran toward her for a hug.Her heart tightened. Even af

Upon hearing the woman's request, he quickly stood up and walked toward her.“Not that!” he replied firmly.“You said you would do anything,” she pointed out.“I never imagined you would ask me for something so absurd!”“Please, I need to look her in the eyes, Saulo.” She touched her fiancé's hand.“Why do you want to do that? Especially now that you're finally feeling better. Why would I take you back to the place that caused you so much pain and let you see the woman who brought us nothing but suffering and misery?”“That's exactly why, don't you see? I want her to see that no matter what she did to us, she failed. I'm sure she remembers me as a desperate and broken woman. I can't let her feel victorious, even while she's locked away in that place.”“Dê, didn't you hear what Francisco and Dalva said? They told us to leave the past behind and focus on the future.”“There's no way to leave the past behind when there's still something unfinished.”“Morena.” He moved closer to the woman