Chapter 2
I stared at Larissa, unable to say a word.
All that time, I thought she was the only person who could prove that I hadn't cheated.
The only person who had seen my effort.
But now I was discovering that she was much closer to that secret than I had imagined.
"Who was it?" I asked.
My voice came out lower than I expected.
Larissa closed her eyes for a few seconds.
He seemed to be trying to find the courage to say something he had been keeping to himself for a long time.
— I didn't want this to happen, Gabriel.
But it happened.
She lowered her head.
I felt a mixture of anger and sadness.
Because a part of me still wanted to believe in her.
Larissa was always different from the other students.
While many laughed when someone got a question wrong or received a low grade, she was one of the few people who stayed after class to help her classmates.
I never imagined she could be involved in something that destroyed one of the greatest opportunities of my life.
"Did you see who took my name off the list?" I asked again.
She took a deep breath.
- Yes.
Director Marcelo approached.
Larissa, before we continue, you need to understand that this information could change everything.
She nodded.
- I know.
Helena remained silent, watching her every move.
It seemed like she had been expecting that moment.
"It was in the coordinator's office, three days ago," Larissa began. "I had gone to pick up a document I needed for an assignment. The door was open."
She stopped.
His hands began to tremble.
I overheard a conversation.
My heart raced.
Between whom?
Larissa looked at me.
And it took him a few seconds to respond.
— Between Professor Sonia and someone from the administration.
The air in the room seemed to disappear.
I looked at Marcelo.
He immediately became serious.
"Is anyone from management?" he asked.
Larissa nodded.
I couldn't see the person. They had their back to me.
The disappointment within me grew.
Once again, I had a piece of the truth.
But that's not the complete answer.
It was like trying to put together a jigsaw puzzle with half the pieces hidden.
"What did they say?" Helena asked.
Larissa swallowed hard.
They said that if Gabriel participated in the selection process, the university would discover something that shouldn't be discovered.
My face looked confused.
Anything about me?
She took a while to reply.
Not exactly.
Those words left me even more lost.
So, what about it?
Larissa looked at Helena.
And that's when Helena opened the folder again.
She took out an old photograph.
A photograph of a group of students.
I recognized the place.
It was the school library.
But there was something strange about that image.
In the corner, almost hidden, was a printed blueprint.
The same symbol that appeared on my national team documents.
Gabriel, when you created your study method, did you think it was just your own idea?
I frowned.
Because it was.
Helena shook her head.
Not entirely.
My heart stopped for a moment.
What does that mean?
She placed the photo on the table.
This means that, many years ago, someone from this school created the first version of this method.
I kept staring at the image.
It didn't make sense.
I had never seen that person before.
I had never researched anything like it before.
I only started developing my own techniques because I needed to keep up with my colleagues.
"So someone's saying I copied this too?" I asked.
Helena replied quickly:
- No.
The firmness in her voice surprised me.
— We're saying exactly the opposite. Perhaps you've found an idea that someone has been trying to hide for years.
The room fell silent.
I felt a weight on my chest.
My whole life I had believed that I was only struggling with a lack of money.
Against the disparity between me and the students who had access to the best courses.
But perhaps the dispute was much greater.
Perhaps someone wasn't trying to prove that I was incapable.
Maybe he was afraid I would find out something.
"Who invented this method before me?" I asked.
Helena remained silent.
I realized she knew the answer.
But I didn't want to say.
Helena.
She looked away for a moment.
We can't reveal everything yet.
Those words irritated me.
I had already been accused.
Humiliated.
My exam had been torn up in front of everyone.
My name had disappeared from a selection process that could have changed my life.
And now everyone continued to hide parts of the truth.
— You want me to trust you, but nobody tells me anything.
My voice cracked.
— I spent years trying to prove that I was capable. Now I find out that maybe there's a story behind all of this and I'm the last to know.
Helena remained silent.
For the first time, she seemed to understand my frustration.
She approached and placed another document on the table.
— So check this out.
It was a copy of an old school inscription.
My name wasn't there.
But there was another name.
A name I had never heard before.
Gabriel Almeida.
My last name.
I looked at Helena, confused.
Why has someone with my last name been at this school for so many years?
No one answered.
But Marcelo's expression changed.
As if that information was something he never expected to see again.
"That's impossible," he murmured.
Helena turned the page slowly.
And he showed a date.
A date from many years before I was born.
At that moment, I felt a chill run through my body.
Because I realized that the person who created that method...
The person someone tried to erase from history...
He had the same last name as me.
Before I could ask anything, Larissa's cell phone started ringing.
She looked at the screen.
And her face lost all its color.
"Who is it?" I asked.
She didn't answer.
He simply turned the device towards me.
The screen displayed a message from an unknown number.
A single sentence.
"You shouldn't have told him, Larissa."
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And right below, another message appeared:
"Now he needs to know who his father really was."
