I’m Worried About Him

RICHARD

“Dad, I’m very worried about Marcelo. He’s been locked up in the room for three days. He doesn’t want to let anyone in, not even me. And what hurts me the most is that he’s pushing me away.

“I do not know what to do. Can you come, please? Maybe today he’ll be willing to talk to you.”

This was Mandy’s third call of the day. I knew that she was having a hard time because Marcelo completely closed himself off to everyone. Not just her. From the day of the fight, everything fell apart.

I knew that Marcelo would not have it easy. But I did everything I could to make him see his mistake. The overconfidence he had in himself blinded him. And this led to being overconfident.

Ronald beat him not by much, but he did take the title from him. And now I didn’t know what to do with him. The fact that he had locked himself away was disturbing. I didn’t know where his mind was going.

“Daughter, give me a couple of hours. I promise I’ll be there as soon as possible. I need to train two new boys who have their classes booked. I can’t let them down. But don’t despair.

“This is a process Marcelo has to go through alone. He’s the only one who can help himself to get out of the hole only he got himself into.”

Mandy began to sob. I sighed and ended the call.

“Richard, something new?” I turned around when I heard Charly. He was standing at the entrance to my office.

I shook my head and said, “No, and I know his tantrum will not end any time soon. His pride has been severely damaged. Marcelo felt invincible, and that was his downfall. Thanks to that, he no longer has the title.”

Charly was visibly stressed. He and Marcelo had been mates since they were teenagers. He nodded his head and returned to resume training with my new students. I picked up the new student applications.

When I was about to enter their details into my database, the phone rang. Through caller ID, I knew it was Raf. I didn’t want to talk to him, since I had nothing to say.

I put the documents on my desk and reluctantly answered. “Raf, to what do I owe your call?”

“Hey! Richard, how are you today?”

I shook my head in annoyance. Raf is a businessman with political attitudes. Anything that came out of his mouth was for his own interest and benefit. “I’m good, thanks. Why are you calling?”

“Oh! Straight to the point then.”

Yes, that was what I wanted. Straight to the point without wasting my time.

“Okay, Richard. I need to talk to Marcelo, but he doesn’t answer the phone. Some pending issues need to be addressed as soon as possible. You understand, don’t you?

“There are papers that he must sign and give his consent. You know how these things are. Due dates must be respected.”

“For your information Raf, Marcelo is not here. He remains at home and refuses to have contact with anyone. I’m sure that when he gets bored of being in that room, he will come out and catch up on all his business.”

“Pray it’s soon, Richard, as we don’t want to get into legal trouble. If you see him, tell him that I urgently need to talk to him. Otherwise, I will have to go to his house and insist.”

I hung up the call without saying anything else. That fucker was threatening me. I would not allow that.

After a while of working on my new students’ data, Charly signaled to me with his hands from the training platform. He had already finished training. I nodded my head and got up from the chair.

Once I locked my office, I walked to where Chary was waiting for me. “Come with me to Marcelo’s house. It is very wrong of him to do what he’s doing, and I fear that his depression will worsen.”

Charly followed me, and we left the gym. We headed to the car park. We got in my SUV and took off. Ten minutes later, we were parking outside Mandy and Marcelo’s house.

I took out my set of keys and opened the door. The house was completely silent. We entered and headed for the living room. There was no one there. Then I decided to go to the kitchen.

Mandy was sitting in a chair looking out the window. Her gaze was lost. Seeing her like this, I was filled with anger against Marcelo. I didn’t understand how he couldn’t see what he was doing to his wife, and to all of us.

His tantrum was getting ridiculous. I walked over to her and put my hand on her shoulder. She quickly turned her head. Seeing me, the tears she was holding back came out freely.

Mandy got up and hugged me with all her might. I hugged her back. Then I put my chin on her head. We stayed like that for a few moments. Mandy wouldn’t stop crying, and her pain was piercing my heart.

Finally, Mandy calmed down. She wiped away her tears with the sleeves of her jumper and took a step back. She looked at me and forced a smile. Over my shoulder, she saw that Charly was here.

“Hi, Charly,” Mandy said. She turned around and put on the kettle. A good cup of black tea would do us a lot of good. Then she went to the refrigerator and took out some sandwiches.

She put them on the table, and we all sat down. The kettle finally screeched and Mandy brought it to the table. She poured us some. We sipped our tea in silence.

“How are you?” Charly asked Mandy. She looked up and looked him straight in the eye.

“I don’t know, Charly. Since we came back from the fight, he hasn’t come out for a second. He hasn’t eaten. I don’t know what he’s been doing locked up all these days. I’m going crazy here.

“He’s locked me out, and I don’t know how to help him.” She took a deep breath. It seemed that if she didn’t, she was going to lose what little composure she had left.

Suddenly, we heard a door open and close. The three of us stayed still, trying to listen better. Nobody moved. After a few minutes, Marcelo entered the kitchen as if nothing had happened.

He walked over to Mandy and kissed her on the head. Mandy couldn’t take her eyes off him as she followed him wherever he went. Then he went to Charly and patted him on the back.

Finally, he stood in front of me. I got the impression that he was waiting for the time when I would start the sermon. But I didn’t. So, I got up and embraced him.

He was taken aback at first, but then reciprocated. When we parted, we stared into each other’s eyes. I wanted to discover through his eyes what was going through his head.