Traps and conspiracies

Arriving in the parking lot they removed the bags, got ready and suddenly Dave leans against the car, kissing her fiercely. Messing up her hair, she was shivering. Nina felt he was going to fall apart right then and there! Her breathing quickened, the expression of astonishment on her face, Nina had to muster an almost supernatural strength to help him when she too was in need of help.

- Love comes! Open your eyes. Breathe. Look at me Dave!

With open eyes he stared at her.

"Dave, don't do it like this... come on, let's go!" Your flight is about to leave. Please, let's go! We can't go back now!

Nina, came out pushing the luggage cart towards the Departures Hall, they checked in “online”, the airport was practically empty. They were in masks, now wet with tears. Everything ready for him to board. Nina gave him a lingering kiss on the forehead and a soft seal on his lips. She barely looked him in the eye and said softly in his ear:

'Goodbye, Richard. Nice to meet you.

He held her with both arms around her back. He wanted her to look into his eyes.

- Do not do this. Please. Don't make me cry again. The scene will be horrible! Nina pleaded.

"Screw all this nonsense!" Nothing else matters, Nina... You can be so much more than that! You can have whatever you want.

"And what would I be that I'm not already, David?" And what would I have that I don't already have? Nina asked.

- Everything. he replied.

- Everything? Everything that? I already have everything. I have a house that I love, I have my car, my job, even my childhood friends from Brazil are here. I have peace. At least there was even before I met you. Nina remarked, smiling. He understood that she was kidding.

"Is that enough for you?" Not enough for me!

David no longer knew how to express his frustration right now. He was angry. It was aching inside his chest. He didn't know how to handle pain. And Nina wasn't making it easy.

She was also making a superhuman effort not to drop to the ground and beg him not to go. Flashes of Paul and Tony's threats echoing in his mind, images of women who have been involved with him, being cornered by a bunch of journalists and photographers, acting like vultures, thousands of derogatory comments posted on public networks...

— Yes, enough. Who knew I would open my heart one day? I will remember you dearly. Think of me, I'll think of you every day of my life. I swear! she declared in a shaky voice. One more word and she would collapse right there in the middle of the Bergen airport lobby.

“I'm mad at you, Nina. he said, his eyes tearing.

- Do not stay. Remember all the good times we had. Whenever you think of me, remember that you knew simplicity and were happy. Nina said, pursing her lips.

“You're being cruel, you're being mean. There's no need to end up like this. Do you want to end my psychological state? If you weren't supposed to care that way, why did you try so hard to change me? David blurted out.

- My God! We promised each other so much that we wouldn't do this... Now there you are at the last second wanting to fight me instead of hugging me and kissing me. Are you sure this is the last memory of me you want to keep? - Nina spoke, this time crying discreetly.

- I do not know what to do. - He said hugging her next. "I'm suffocating." I don't know how to lose. I do not want to lose you! Tell me what I do! What you want? Tell me! I hate you right now!

- Do not do anything. Do not hate me. I don't want to be your case, I don't want to be your crutch. I don't want to be dead weight in your glamorous life. We'll be fine after a few months... or years, I don't know. she said.

"It wouldn't be like that." It wouldn't be. - He replied hugging her tightly and kissing her hair. "I wouldn't let anything or anyone hurt you!" I would take on whoever got in our way.

Nina was thoughtful for a moment, remembering Tony and Paul. David continued:

- I will not be able to! I won't let you do this to us! Damn promises! I'm going to make a fuss, I'm going to knock on your door, declare to the world that nothing and no one will separate us!

- You can! We'll make it, can you hear me? We are going Yes! Come I'll take you! Don't look at me like that, for God's sake. I'm trying to be strong for both of us. You know you won't stay, and you know you can't take me. There are over a thousand appointments waiting for you on the other side of the shuttle. I will not end your life!

"It's already ending my life!"

“No, I'm giving you your life back. I'm giving you everything that no one in the world would give you. I'm giving you freedom! Choices. Certainties. I'm not making traps, I'm not playing a game!

— I don't want freedom! I don't want you free either! You didn't give me choices. Made me block your number, and blocked me! Made me promise this nonsense about never calling, what do you really want?

"That's what we promised each other, wasn't it?"

- Not! It was not! You made me promise!

“Please to Dave! Now it's your time, baby. You have to go. Go David. Goodbye! It is fine.

The two sought to demonstrate courage for this end of story.

"I...I...I love...

"For God's sake, stop!" Do not do that! You promised me you would make me sane...

He composed himself, let go of her hand, leaving a folded paper between her fingers. He slung his backpack over his shoulder, looked at her sharply once more, made a desperate gesture as if he were going to walk towards her, who quickly nodded her head saying no.

- You too. It is fine. - He said goodbye kissing her gently on the lips.

He walked to the departure gate, and the two of them stared at each other until the last moment their eyes could reach them.

Nina opened the little wrapped paper and saw that he had written with his own hands something that said: "Even for all the wealth of the Arab sheikhs, I will not forget you a day, not a day." It was an excerpt from Djavan's song Not a day, her favorite song. Holding the note, feeling the tremor take over her body, she whispered, "I love you too, life!"

Nina started to feel bad, she lacked the ground, her head was spinning.

Nina immediately went back to the car, trying to hide so that no one would see her cry out loud. She cried so much that she couldn't drive until she calmed down. She couldn't think straight, couldn't breathe. He changed the car stereo, because the music of Bruno Mars that was passing was to stun that poor desperate and helpless soul at that moment: “It will rain”. Exactly in the part where he sings:

“If you ever leave me baby (If you'll ever leave me baby)

Leave some morphine at my door (leave some morphine at my door)

'Cause it would take a whole lot of medication (because it will take a lot of medication)

To realize what we used to have (to realize what we had)

We don't have it anymore” (we don't have it anymore.)

Nina tapped the “Dub” button with her hand. And Løv Li's song I miss you continued to torture her:

Jet planes in the night sky with you

Getting high in the sunrise with you

Getting through all the bad times with you

I wasn't missing a thing, now I do (I wasn't missing a thing, now I do)

And I wish I could build a time machine (And I wish I could build a time machine)

'Cause times moves on (Because time passes)

And now you're gone (And now you're gone)

Oh, if only I could build a time machine (Oh, if only I could build a time machine)

I'd come and get you (I'd come get you)

I can't forget you (I can't forget you)

I miss you (I miss you)

I miss you

I miss you all the time (I miss you all the time)

I wish that

I wish that

I wish you were mine (I wish you were mine)

I miss you

I miss you

I miss you all the time

I wish that

I wish that

I wish you were mine

What the hell am I doing this for?... (Why the hell am I doing this?...)

She turned off the car stereo. Everything bothered her. Never again would songs and melodies have the same charm. Never again would she listen to the love songs, which she had always enjoyed so much, with the same feelings! Nothing would have felt without him.

Nina was aimless, without direction, without her safe haven. She was choking, filled with empty, dark feelings, she wanted to scream, but she couldn't. She asked God to help her, she asked for a relief for her heart.

Suddenly she no longer inhabited it. The pain of losing someone in life can be equal, or worse, than losing them to death. A pain that hurts your soul, that hurts just to exist, that rips a piece out of you, the wound is there open, and even if it scars, it will always be there to remind you. Not even time can ease this pain in some cases. There is evidence that the end of a relationship is capable of putting the brain through the same or similar sufferings as that of an addict trying to quit cocaine (according to a study published in the Journal of Neurophysiology).

Seated comfortably in his aircraft seat, Dave put on his headphones, looking for a distraction. The song When I need you, by Leo Sayer, made him empty his chest, letting the pain come, even though he wasn't ready to face it. Nina's voice echoed in her head: Let it come!

At no time did David feel ashamed of crying. He didn't care if anyone saw a man that size, curled up in an armchair, breaking down in tears. Men have feelings too, and some even more than some women. He wasn't playing a game either, when he went after her in Italy, he thought, and then fell asleep.

Arriving home Nina felt his scent spread through the air, went to bed and he was still there, she couldn't calm those impulses of sadness, which filled the emptiness he left, not even the tears made sense, although she couldn't. to contain. She cried until she fainted from fatigue, her wounded soul showed symptoms of emotional fever, that late morning, she raved in her dreams calling him, but he did not come to help her.

Nina woke up the next morning with her cell phone ringing, waking her up. Then it was David's turn, who had his phone bombarded with calls. His phone no longer had the battery or space for so many missed calls.

Nina and David's faces were plastered on every website, blog, magazine, YouTube channel, and every other gossip medium around the world. Everything David did, everything David said, everywhere he went, there were hired people taking pictures and recording their moments.

Nina's photos were purposely taken at angles and positions that photogenically diminished her. Naked photos in the mountains, photos in panties, bikini, lingerie, photos of the two in very sensual positions. David always in his clothes. Nina always disheveled and no makeup. Photos of absolutely everything they've done all these months. It was almost a reality show, a covid-19 diary. Step by step of everything the two have done. Practices, dances, games, and even hints of fights.

The material had been manipulated against Nina. It was clear that the intention was to shame her, to ridicule her in front of the world. There was nothing that could compromise David in any way. He appeared like a normal man, serving quarantine alongside an ordinary woman. Almost a hero!

Everything was already articulated before, so that David would be the subject for several months at a time. Everything connected with keeping it in evidence for the dissemination of several new works that were coming ahead. Nothing that had been disclosed would have any effect on his life. Her life would never be the same again.

David's agents had come up with a plan even from a distance to separate the two. They and some of the production team had been busy fighting the “corona virus”, but as soon as everything was back to normal they got together to come up with a plan to get her out of his life for good.

They even let David relax for a few months during the isolation with her, as she was doing him a favor by healing him and keeping him emotionally stable. But under no circumstances did the agents change their minds about publicly massacring her and making her hate David and everything that went with him, as they did with the other girlfriends who had been through his life.

There were several videos circulating on the internet. A dossier of photos. The plan was to expose her to the fullest. Nina's house was made of glass. Behind her house there was a forest that gave access to the view of everything from inside her house. So was the mountain house where she and David spent a period of quarantine, which made it a lot easier for the hired paparazzi.

Nina always with a drink in her hand, naked or in some pose as if she were fighting. The headlines hinted at the worst of her. Everything planned. One said, "Know who is the mysterious woman who made David Nichols infected with covid-19 in Italy." Another said: "Finally the face of the villain who made David go into a nursing home to sell the photos to the paparazzi." So many lies, so many sensational stories released in such a short time. They wanted to turn David's twenty million followers against Nina, and they succeeded.

Her image was stamped on absolutely every gossip channel on Instagram, Facebook, circulating in WhatsApp groups, open television channels, radio stations and news and gossip sites around the world. There were several stories claiming that she was a scammer, that she had approached him to gain fame and money, and that it was all part of a scam to sell the photos and become famous and a millionaire. Paparazzi claiming they had a deal with her. Documentaries talking about what a woman could do for fame.

Everything had been implanted months ago, they were just waiting for David to get back to work away from her to dump all the accumulated material on the internet. As soon as David informed them that the two had broken up and would not be in contact, the agents blew up the bomb! Her life's nightmare was just beginning. Thousands of Internet users, online haters, wasted no time in making thousands of comments and bullying... Her phone kept receiving calls and messages from numbers all over the world. She had to keep it off until she could change numbers.

In a week her life had already turned into a nightmare! She was the laughing stock of the moment. Every unscrupulous comment, one worse than the other. The agents gave ammunition, they had certainly manipulated websites and even hired many of them, but it was the common people who fired, with a “weapon” called a cell phone in their hand. It reminded her of the time of the guillotine, the time when people were burned at the stake, where a huge audience gathered to witness and inflate the death penalty and murder events imposed by the local elite, the Catholic Church and the king.

Women all over the world, the famous “fandoms”, spared no effort to belittle her, to ridicule her. There were so many insults, so much humiliation, so much injustice and cowardice, that you can't even start quoting one. I'll start with the least aggressive: “ugly”, “what a horrible woman”, “how did he fall for a scam like that?”, “It's the end of the world that he got involved with someone so low”. "He could only be really sick in the head to get involved with an ugly woman like that." "She was supposed to pay him to keep her." “We're going to virtually lynch the scammer,” said others in a group, asking everyone to pass on her image and the news.

Everything was set up in a way as if David had been the victim of a scoundrel, who deceived him and wanted to grow at the expense of his fame. Nobody bothered to publish something that hadn't been induced, articulated by the greatest agents in Hollywood. Two old foxes, media dissemination machines. There was no way to beat them.

David didn't know what to do. He couldn't talk to her. Her phone was out of range the entire time. He had already called a thousand times. He didn't know how he was going to stop this, and his team and everyone around him were trying to manipulate him, not letting on that they had anything to do with it, of course.

“We're sorry, David. We liked her too. We were suspicious at first, when that scandal broke out in Rome, but you convinced us she was different. We would prefer the evidence not to be so obvious. See yourself with your own eyes, these are selfies, pictures she took of you two in the most intimate moments. There was no way a paparazzi could publish these photos straight from her cell phone. It's obvious she sold these photos. And worst of all, she didn't even wait to cool off, broke up with you one day and published everything the next. But we won't take it for granted! You bet! If it was fame she wanted, she'll have it. You will regret it for the rest of your life!

"Don't do anything to her, can you hear me?" No one here is going to move a finger against Nina. I won't allow it.

"But David... There is irrevocable evidence!" You're a smart man, there's no denying it was her! Look for yourself and analyze everything that came straight from her cell phone.

"I'm saying: it wasn't her!" I already explained how I found her, I had access to her cell phone, if anyone was hacked it was me!

And David continued to defend it irrefutably. The agents tried to maneuver the next interviews he would give, making sure the exclusive journalists didn't touch on Nina's name, just keep their focus on work matters. They were afraid that David would spoil their plans if some journalists brought charges against Nina, taking the blame.

Nina had nowhere to hide. I couldn't travel to Brazil, there the harassment would certainly be much worse, very aggressive. She didn't have the money to hide in a luxury hotel with security guards who could get her out of there. I couldn't go back to work after this emotional hit. I was lost.

Her curtains on the windows at home were drawn day and night. I was living under house arrest. She couldn't even turn on the phone anymore with so much call and so much news coming. Even her phone number had been posted on the internet so the world could attack her with messages and phone calls. It was what Paul and Tony wanted. Let her be out of communication with David. And they did.