Where is Ariel?

It had been two weeks since Ariel Sanchez had been at the Fendi home to become Alejandro Fendi's wife.

Evenings were her best time because Alejandro was there.

The rest of the day she spent locked in her room, sometimes not eating or eating breakfast unless Alejandro was present.

She refused to spend time with the rest of them, especially Mrs. Fendi and Annie who spent the most time in the house.

The hours for Ariel were very boring, until she decided to start going out the window while Alejandro was gone and then return before he realized she wasn't there, this way she spent her days better, prowling the remoteness of the Fendi's property, she would wander into the trees, enjoying the silence and solitude.

"Today is the day." Annie commented that afternoon, they were a little afraid to find out how far Alejandro was capable of going.

Every two months an important dinner was held at the home of Marco Albini and Alessia Fendi, attended by important businessmen, important figures in the country's economy and the occasional politician.

They gathered around twenty guests who would never think of seeing them together in the same space, but almost four years ago Alessia had achieved that, with the persuasion and instruction of her husband, in return they got favors, created new friendships and expanded their circle, it was the most important thing for Marco.

Alessia could reach where he could not, for without the Fendi's no one would know Marco Albini.

As usual, Abigail Clinton was going on behalf of her family, but that was not the fear, but that Alessia would be able to bring Ariel, the grubby woman from the street.

Mrs. Fendi was a bit mollified in her concern, for that sort of thing Alejandro was very absent-minded and if one of his sisters didn't remember, there was no way he could know that was the date of the dinner.

"I don't think he knows it's today." Said his mother confidently.

Lying on the bed was Annie, watching as her mother tried on that night's dress.

After lunch they were getting everything ready, they had to look spectacular.

"I just don't think he's himself, Mom. If he ruins tonight for Alessia, she may hate him for the rest of her life. It would be such a surprise for the guests if he shows up with a nobody. He can't even talk, he won't even know how to start eating and what we talk about he won't have the slightest idea. And I am very sorry because Abigail is one of the guests. I thought in a few days Alejandro would be done with the joke and get rid of that woman, but it doesn't look like it's going to be like that."

"Annie, don't worry, I don't think he's capable. Like I told you, he's not going to remember it's today."

But Alejandro had that dinner very much on his mind, as it was one of his moves when introducing his fiancée.

In his jacket pocket he carried the tiny box with a beautiful and expensive ring, to show off that they were already engaged and to announce the wedding date at his big sister's all-important dinner.

When he arrived home, with a dress for Ariel, he entered full of excitement for how the evening was going to turn out, to which his younger sister came out to greet him in the living room, surprised and at the same time distressed that on that Friday Alejandro had arrived so early.

Annie the first thing she saw was her brother's smiling face and then that bag completely covering some garment inside it, she wanted to imagine it was just a suit for him or things of that sort, flatly rejecting the possibility of it being a dress for the grubby young woman.

"A...Alejandro." His nervous tone pleased his brother. "Aren't you working late today?"

"Work? Just today? And miss my dearest sister and beloved brother-in-law's dinner?"

"But..." she felt like crying at the thought of the chaos that dinner would be. She knew it would not please Alessia at all and that her lover would be very upset.

"I spent hours and more hours looking for a dress for my girlfriend, I hope she doesn't overshadow you tonight."

"She's a savage! She shouldn't even be present at that dinner, Mom, Mom, come listen!" Annie had lost her cool, Alejandro sat down complacently to listen more placidly as his mother would try to talk him out of attending the dinner with her.

His mother came into the living room, fearing that Alejandro really had lost all sense of judgment.

"What's wrong?" She asked calmly.

"Look at him! He likes to tease us. He says he'll go with the filthy one even though he knows very well that she's not fit for that dinner."

"No, I don't think Alejandro would do that. He owes Abigail respect and she will be there, besides his sister has not invited that little girl. You can't take her, Alejandro. I can almost tell you that I forbid you."

"Forbid me to take my fiancée to a dinner for which I don't have to have an invitation? As I recall, every year since Alessia started this, I have been the connecting wire between each of her guests. They call me before confirming their attendance, you know why? To find out if I will be there. I already said yes, I was going to attend. How do you think the dinner will go if I don't go? One thing I assure you, they'll be talking about how much I'm missing at that dinner. How about calling Alessia and telling her that I won't be attending this dinner? Even that idiot Marco knows that without me the dinner won't work. Who are they? Why do they know Alessia? Just because she's my sister." He wasn't trying to brag, just make it clear that even if they didn't like the idea, the dinner wasn't going to be the same if he wasn't present and confirmed that without his fiancée he wasn't planning on going to this dinner. It was either go with her or...not go to the dinner.

"Alejandro Fendi, when did you become such a selfish being?" his mother asked, outraged by her son's decision and his strong interest in ruining that dinner by taking the filthy young woman. "What part does she play in that dinner, why your insistence on taking her, have you lost your mind?"

"She is my fiancée, did I cause any harm by taking her with me? Unless your dislike is so strong for a young woman whom you hardly know and certainly has done nothing to you." He stood up and walked past his mother. "I promise she's going to behave." He said mockingly before leaving the room.

Opening the bedroom door, he called out her name loudly, expecting Ariel to come out to greet him with a huge smile, happy to see him arrive, but...there didn't seem to be anyone there.

He left the dress on the bed, took off his jacket and knocked on the bathroom door.

There was no answer.

But the door was unlocked and locked.

He opened the door, she was not there.

A small thread of despair visited Alejandro. Several things crossed his mind and one of them was the possibility that Annie had done something to Ariel, he just didn't want to go ahead and create a scandal without being sure of anything.

He knew Ariel wasn't leaving that room, where could she be?

Where was Ariel!

He looked under the bed, in the bathtub, in the closet and finally he went down to the kitchen to talk to the maids, they had not seen anything and assured that the young woman had not even gone out for breakfast, let alone for lunch.

Now she was beginning to worry.

He walked around the house without finding her.

With nothing else to do, he went to look for Annie to ask her for an explanation about Ariel, considering that she had to be the guilty one.

(...)

Marco Albini used to smoke behind his house, his wife could not stand the smell of tobacco and refused to let him set a bad example to his children by smoking in her presence, so the only place left was behind his house.

He began to walk aimlessly, thinking about that night ahead. These days Alessia was getting very unbearable, more than usual, with all the stress of the dinner, the guests and making it look perfect, but what had Marco worried, more than usual, was the fact that Alejandro still wouldn't get rid of the barefoot young woman.

What if he was serious, would he really marry this woman?

She made a mental comparison between Abigail and that young woman, she didn't understand how it was that Alejandro had chosen her over Abigail. He was curious what else Alejandro saw in her.

"Perhaps her innocence. Maybe she took great pleasure in having someone with little experience underneath her and it was introducing her to sex that was Alejandro's delight. I hadn't thought of that. How perverse, well played, he had her with no chance of anything. Who knows what things he could think of doing with her." Marco thought, feeling a little envious that such a sadistic idea had not occurred to him.

His member grew hard as he ran through his mind a preservative idea of the things Alejandro was likely to do with that young woman.

He took a deep drag on his cigarette and then thought he saw someone when he looked up, thinking it wasn't possible, that yard only connected to his mother-in-law's house and he had access to nothing but a long lot flooded with trees and weeds, impossible to walk through for a stroll.

But he wasn't going to stay in doubt.

He ran there and then saw her, unable to believe it was her, he looked back, confirming how far away he was from both houses.

"Apparently I'm a lucky man." He couldn't believe she was there.

What could she be doing there, alone, unprotected and sitting under that tree as evening fell?

Many things went through his mind and the strong certainty that if she screamed no one would hear her.

Perhaps she could release some of her stress with the young barefoot girl and realize the ideas that only a few seconds ago had crossed her mind.