This novel consists of a prologue and seven chapters. You can find them on this very blog.

CHAPTER II: Friends

And so, we arrive at the moment when Isaura and Erasmo became friends. It was in Fluid Dynamics class. Isaura was in the first row and Erasmo in the second. There weren’t many students, probably about 20. Erasmo looked at Isaura and thought: “How beautiful, who will be the man who is with her”. It should be mentioned that she was the only woman in the class. They were already in the fourth cycle and practically Common Studies (where one has classes with everyone and from all careers) had ended.

But there was a circumstance. Erasmo had missed the last class of Mathematics IV, a course in which Isaura was also enrolled. So, it was the perfect excuse to borrow her notebook and copy the missed class. And that’s how it happened. At the end of class, Erasmo approached Isaura and asked to borrow her notebook. She very kindly gave it to him and asked him to take care of her backpack (she did have a backpack) because she had to go out for a while.

Erasmo stayed copying the class in the almost empty room and wondered where the girl had gone. He must have gone to see the one in love with her, he told himself. Isaura finally returned, and laughing, explained that she had gone to see her grades from another course of hers. Erasmo finished copying the class, he returned the notebook to Isaura and they went to his Mathematics IV class where they sat together. But nothing else happened that night.

And so a few weeks passed. Erasmo saw Isaura by chance and hardly spoke to her at all. It’s just that he wasn’t thinking about her all the time. He still wasn’t too interested in who was going to become his obsession. What he did notice one day, when he passed by her, running, was that she was dressed in a well-fitting blouse that fit perfectly to her body, highlighting her large and beautiful breasts. But it was such a fleeting vision that it did not keep Erasmo awake at night.

Once, Erasmo was a little late for Mathematics IV class, and saw Isaura sitting well up front, surrounded by two of his (Erasmo’s) friends. One Saturday morning, shortly before the Mathematics IV midterm exam, students were outside the classroom, which was busy at the time, asking each other what questions might come up on the exam. As expected, our two protagonists were also present and, contrary to his way of being, Erasmo was one of the ones who talked the most. When almost everyone was going to the room, Isaura ran her index finger on Erasmo’s shoulder, almost as if scratching his shirt. Erasmo paid attention to her and Isaura asked him a question about the course. Erasmo answered her and they went to take the exam. But nothing else happened that day.

The following Thursday, around two in the afternoon, when the Fluid Dynamics course began, Erasmo got off the bus with a friend and went to the classroom talking with him. Erasmo let his friend enter through the front door and he left through the back door. He wanted to see if she had already arrived, which she was indeed. And as luck would have it, she had a classmate to her left, but none to her right. Neither short nor lazy, Erasmo left the room and entered through the front door, pulled up one of the individual chair that were there, and sat down next to Isaura, who greeted him with overflowing joy, which surprised Erasmo a little. Isaura was all smiles and between laughs she told him: “you have to help me”. Erasmo was caught by the moment and began to joke around with Isaura, making her laugh even more.

The teacher was still a little late in arriving, which gave the two young people a chance to continue laughing heartily. The one who laughed the most was Isaura, and each sentence that Erasmo let out was followed by laughter and more laughter that seemed to have no end. Isaura explained that the night before, in the midterm exam of the Solid Mechanics course, she had gone very badly, which is why, very sad and in tears, she left the university and took a taxi home, which should have cost her a fortune because her house was very far away. Normally, to get there she took two buses and it took a little over an hour. Finally, still smiling, Isaura asked him to be serious. But as soon as Erasmo pronounced solemnly: “Do you want me to talk to you seriously”, Isaura started laughing again, until the teacher arrived.

The die was cast. Erasmo couldn’t get her out of his head. That a woman laughs at everything you say, but not mocking but with a sincere laugh, with a laugh that comes from her heart, is more than enough for anyone to feel that he is very funny, that he has a great sense of humor, so that you feel important. If you add to this that she is the only woman in the class, your ego goes through the roof. And if to all this you still add that this woman is pretty, a little reaching “very pretty”, I doubt there is a man who can resist her charms.

The next day, Friday, Erasmo was studying with his friend Edwin Vértiz (Isaura’s “boyfriend”) in the library of the Faculty of Civil Engineering. At about four in the afternoon, Erasmo went down to a nearby room for a while, where he knew Isaura was having a class. He looked but didn’t see her and went back to continue studying with Edwin.

Erasmo had to wait until Tuesday morning to see her, which was when they had their Fluid Dynamics class. He saw her there, they talked a bit and now the wait was going to last until Thursday afternoon. They also talked a little that day. But by the following Tuesday, it was already evident that it was not just Erasmo who was waiting; she did too. It was already inconceivable that they would sit apart. The laughter hadn’t subsided. By Tuesday of the following week she arrived first and put her backpack in an individual chair next to her. When Erasmo arrived, Isaura very surreptitiously took her backpack out of that chair and put it in another one, further away. She had been saving room for Erasmo! Of course there was no need for that, like in Math III class, because there were very few students in this class, but I think everyone can perfectly understand why she did it. Erasmo sat down on the chair, now free, and they began their cheerful talk. The world had already ceased to exist for both of them. The only world he knew was her and the only world she knew was him.

Erasmo now tried to dress in the best clothes he had. He gave much more attention to his personal cleanliness. He even borrowed some nicer sweater from his older brother. Isaura, by her side, did the same. She began to hang on her chest, like a medal, a metal owl; an ornament that suited her very well.

Very happy girl next to her “sweet torment”

REFERENCES: For the article: none. For photos: internet.