Chapter 1

Life hurts, they say but mine has been hurting for a while now. I am sick and tired of living a lie. My marriage sucks, this freaking plandemic almost ruined my career as a fashion photographer. By the way, who is buying high end shit that only fits a selected group of people, when the majority of the real humans are still fighting over toilet paper? That is why I had to adapt my professional pathway and opened an online store with high quality apparel items that are accessible to all kinds of body types. "Divine Diva" is my new endeavor and against all the odds is is doing really well. But, it not the same for many people in the whole entire world and things

keeps getting worse. It really pains me. Watching my friends and coworkers going broke is no joke. A few of them even committed suicide after losing an entire life of hard work, blood, sweat and tears. All that chaos just because some greedy politicians and the so called elite love to play God, so they can control everything and make shit loads of money at the cost of the collapse the world's economy and consequently a lot of lives. It's disgusting. I ponder.

I roll to the other side of my bed grab my phone and sign in frustration. It's already 10:45 AM and I am still in bed commiserating to myself like the rest of humanity. I hate feeling so hopeless, lonely and frustrated. I cannot even visit my mom and  my siblings in my home country because they just closed the boarder from anyone coming from South America.

I am " Me" the famous, rich and devastatingly handsome 'Le Raymond.' Male model, photographer, entrepreneur and philanthropist. I am used to a life of wealth that looks, feels and smells like wealth, beauty, glamour, money and lots and lots of hot people throwing themselves at me. Either for my influence, money or of course my glorious body and flawless face. Now everyone is hiding somewhere. We are all getting depressed and gaining weight. New York and LA are in shambles. They look like post apocalyptic scenarios of sci-day movies. I turn to the other side of my bed and continue my mental monologue. How in the world they let my two favorite cities become desolate shit holes?

"I am depressed and lonely and if I don't get out of this huge house I will go crasy. The park it is."I say out loud as I struggle to roll off bed. At least there will be people there and fresh air. I sit up as fast as I can and go to the bathroom take care of my needs and my morning wood. I miss having sex but Harper will be coming home anytime soon. Gosh, I really miss having sex.

Vegas in the winter makers me happy. You got this delicious cold and the sun is out there bringing light to what could be gloomy days. The parks here are awesome and very well taken care of. Lots of trees flowers and and shrubbery carefully implanted into the four corners of sun city, adding a touch of green to the middle of the Nevada desert.  "It's nice" I think out loud breathing the fresh air and

seating on the grass to relax a little bit after my long walk. I lift up my head to contemplate the sky when an impossibly cute creature approaches me and when I am not expecting it jumps on my lap.

" hey little guy" I said to him while looking around to see if the owner is anywhere near. He is gorgeous Brittany Spaniel puppy. And adorable little dog that came to me when I need him the most. When I am almost ready to throw the towel. I see that he has a tag but no name on it just a phone number. "Whomever this number is I am not calling it." I told him, holding him with both hands and looking at his loving eyes.

"Unless your mom or dad shows up here today to claim you...but if not, you are mine. You were sent from above for sure. It means that someone up there likes me." I stayed with him and for a long time I was simply silent. Not thinking about a thing. Just admiring this beautiful being that has no care in the world and it is here now bringing me joy.

Time flew when I was with my new friend. And not to say that I am not a good person, I waited there with him for almost 40 minutes and no one came to take him. I made the decision to wait no more.

"Their loss! Let's go home!"I told him with the happiness of a kid that just found the coolest

toy and got to take it home. Praying that nobody sees it. His warm and fuzzy body felt so great in my arms that I forgot about the insanity of the world we live in. The thrill is delicious and no, I am not giving up this dog. He is definitely mine now.

The feeling that this beautiful and adorable dog belongs to me renewed me entirely and immediately.

" now I am a dog dad." I announced. I was ready to do everything a super dog dad does. I left him home and went to the grocery store and spent a lot of money in dog stuff. Went back settled him in and started doing some work. When I was not paying attention the 'little pewk" made a huge mess in my house. There was dog poop everywhere and he also got into books, art pieces and upholstery that belong to Harper.

"Oh! My goodness! Your little shit!" I yelled at him. "Harper will kill both of us." I said furious- my fury only lasted a few seconds though. My heart melted when I looked at his eyes and see that he us scared of me. I am just very glad that Paris is in another continent and by the time Harper comes back. This mess will be cleaned.

Worried to my bones I called Ana, our lunatic and super organized house keeper to take care of that inconvenience. Instead, she  convinces  me to call the phone number on the dog's tag and return the dog to his owner or else, I will have to deal with all that shit. Literally unless I found a dog trainer soon.

" Mr. Raymond, you don't have time for this shit. You got to get your shit together and make shit loads of money to pay the bills, cause Harper will not come home anytime soon." She added ironically.

" I know but, meanwhile clean this shit, and cook me something very delicious. Let's do Brazilian today. I said mouth watering and almost accosting her so she would do exactly what I say.

" I want fried yucca, mandioc creamy, rice, beans and shrimp stew. Mango juice and Brazilian flan for dessert. She looked at me puzzled with a pinch of disbelief.

" how am I going to come up with all this banquet?"

She inquired while marching to the kitchen. I followed her and showed her my brand new hand made shelves that were nicely placed in the corner of our huge pantry with the sigh " foods for when Lê Raymond is pissed." She laughed at my proud face and grabbed dry ingredients.

"The shrimp and the yucca are in the fridge. Thanks Ana." I winked at her and strolled my long legs back to the chic, modern, spacious and very messy and stinky living room. The little guy came closer and looked at me with his puppy eyes. He missed his owner and I know that. " ok, fine I will call the number tonight." I yelled so Ana could here me.

"Misericórdia, aleluia!" She shouted in Portuguese. " I hate dog shit." She added after going busy preparing my dinner.

Time flew by and on the middle of the afternoon I decided to take to little guy out again for a walk. "Damm, he is cute! And he is also so loving and makes me very happy. I want him to be mine. It feels like I was supposed to be his person and he my dog. I never felt this way for a dog before." I told myself however, when I was almost to the dog park nearby I saw a sign with the picture of  whom? Of course, the little guy's. The owner really seemed desperate to get him back...Yep, that is definitely a sign that I need to call this lady named Ella ASAP. "Neglectful woman must be a stoned hippie old lady with early signs of dementia. Gosh, who does that? Who lets this cutie of a dog get lost?" I asked myself while picking him up and petting him on his belly. He loved it and he loved me too. But, since this person is after him I got to do the right thing I guess.  I tried to debate with myself weather or not I should return my new, very messy, very poopy but extremely lovable new friend to his apparently very irresponsible person. All of this when I thought I was getting better...

The evening came sooner that I expected. I had my wonderful Brazilian dinner with Ana at the table as always and when the little guy showed  up in the kitchen she promptly reminded me to call his person.

" I know you are in love with this dog, ok? He is a blob of cuteness. You better Le, that this is wrong.

First- she said counting with her fingers- his person must be in up and arms going crazy looking for him.

Second, he is a shitty and messy little thing.

Third, you are too busy to take of him.

Fourth and most important HARPER HATES DOGS!! She emphasized with her knife in the air.

"I get it, and yes I will call the lady after dinner. Happy now?" I asked her irritated.

An hour later, Ana went home and texted me with a funny meme of a 'woman screaming something' that I had to call the dog's lady. I answered her with a another meme sticking my tongue out.

With the dog in my lap I finally got the courage to call the crasy bitch. The seconds that took for her to pick up the phone sounded like an eternity. Irritation was pouring in buckets from my face. Until...

"Hello!" Said the most soothing and sensual voice on the other side of the line.