I saw her in Paris

Was it on a trip to Paris, where it all started... or was it because of a Facebook post?

About two or three years ago, Helena was dating Luiz, a UFC fighter she met at the gym... the funny thing is, she wasn't the gym-going type, let alone getting involved with a martial arts fighter. Nothing against it, but she's more the type who spends all day at a bookstore, library or some literary event.

She was a cultured and sophisticated girl.

Graduated in Accounting Sciences from the University of São Paulo, USP, with all the honors, something already expected by her family and friends. Despite her humble origins, she has always devoted herself to studies and work. It's no wonder that as soon as she graduated, she got a job at a fashion multinational... in the financial sector, of course!

And even though she holds a bachelor's degree and holds an important position in a great job, she is very proud of her origins...

Helena Petropoulos is the granddaughter of Greek immigrants, living in the Bom Retiro neighborhood, in São Paulo. She always attends traditional Greek festivals and almost every Sunday goes to the Greek Orthodox church with her mother and grandmother (on her father's side). She is a successful and self-assured professional, but she has an unconditional love for the traditions of her people.

In other words, she's super cool!

Tradition starts with itself. Her name was given by her father, Constantine Petropoulos to honor Queen Helen of Troy. Well, actually, the idea came from her grandmother, who wanted to remember the strength and courage of the Greek woman. Her name means "the one that shines", "the one that shines". It is a feminine name originating from the Greek Heléne, from heláne, which means "torch". The term hélê means "sun".

And indeed, both in appearance and in soul, Helena is brilliant. It is the sunshine of the home, the family and the entire Greek community. She is the eldest of three siblings and the only girl in the house. Her brothers Hector and Hermes adore their sister, especially when she helps them out of trouble...

Some friends jokingly asked if Helena was the reincarnation of Athena, the Goddess of Wisdom, a reference to the anime Knights of the Zodiac, which she and her siblings loved to watch. Even her parents got in on the fun!

The biggest dream of Helena's mother, Sophia, is to see her only child married in the traditional Greek Orthodox Church of São Paulo, the same where she was baptized and made her first communion. And woe to her if that doesn't happen...

But she doesn't want to get married, at least not now. She still wants to do a lot of things in her life, like traveling the world, getting to know other cultures and maybe going to another college or graduate school.

Like some women, she even wants to get married, wear her wedding dress, veil and wreath, as the tradition of her people dictates, have children, form a family... and, on top of that, also have a cat and a dog. But she still wants to keep her personal bank account. And she doesn't mind having a joint account.

- Well, nobody gets married thinking about getting divorced. But it's always good to have a plan B in case it happens, because we don't know tomorrow. - It is one of her allegations. It was difficult for women like Helena to find a match for her.

Unfortunately some men don't know how to deal with well resolved and independent women. She even got someone to share her life with, but it seems that the fact that her salary was way above his kind of ruined the relationship and so they thought it was better to walk away, before they hurt the other.

It's the price she pays for success.

But she doesn't intend to give up on love so easily, because she is a warrior. Not that she is desperately chasing anyone, quite the opposite. She just doesn't look. She knows that when she least expects it, love will knock on her door. Meanwhile, she enjoys her single life free, light and free.

She is also a fine and elegant woman. She doesn't wear designer clothes, but everyone around her admits that she has great taste in dressing. Always discreet, she only shows the basics of her body. She is beautiful without being vulgar.

In addition, she is very fond of reading. She is a true "bookworm", in her spare time, she searches for books on the internet and has credit in most bookstores, whether physical or online. She read everything and a little more, but her favorites were hot novels and she always prefers physical books, but she had no problem reading PDFs. Her bookshelf was bigger than her wardrobe.

- If you know a girl who has more books than shoes, marry her! - It was a phrase that Luiz always said in relation to Helena, who in turn, never understood the reason for not being able to reconcile her two passions, books and shoes. She loves books, but she is also very fond of shoes... despite having more books than shoes.

In fact, many wondered how two such different people met and dated. It was more or less like this... she has a childhood friend, Samantha, who works as a personal trainer at the gym where Luiz trains. She is a Physical Education teacher, specializing in Physical Conditioning.

If it was Samantha who introduced Helena to Luiz? No. Sam, for his closest friends, didn't even talk to him much, just complimented him for politeness and what little I knew about him, it wasn't a good thing...

Luiz was the conqueror type and the girls threw themselves at him. Well, he really is the kind of man who charms women, tall, strong, dark, green eyes... and he knew how and when to seduce them. According to gossips, he had already dated most of the academy students.

No wonder Helena was fascinated by him!

One day, at Samantha's insistence, she went to the gym for a friend's experimental class and took a tour of the place, who ended up meeting Luiz. And she also couldn't resist the charms of that beautiful brunette with straight, long and well-groomed hair, owner of a well-formed body and a charismatic smile. For him, Helena was the height of beauty.

And let's agree, she is very beautiful, a rare gem, coveted by most guys, who can't resist her charms. She doesn't know how much desire arouses in men and several times this has been a problem for her. But thanks to her inner goddess, she always finds a way out of awkward situations.

Helena never allowed herself to "lose her head" over a man. If she has one thing she doesn't do at all, it's run after a man, because she's too proud to submit to such shame. She has already had a few serious relationships, connections and "affairs" at the moment, but when she saw that the relationship had no future, she gave up. Also, she always put herself first.

When Luiz and Helena started going out together, she told how much she liked to read. So much so that when he asked her on a date, he asked with a book. And always at Christmas time, Valentine's Day, birthday or dating, he would give her books.

- Wow friend, he is really very passionate about you! - Samantha said, every time Helena won a book from Luiz: - To the point of giving you books. It's not his part.

- Ah, he likes to please me... And let's live together...

- WHAT? HOW? WHEN? WHERE?

- Calm down Sam, one question at a time! - She asked, amazed and having fun with her friend's fright: - We've been talking about this for a while. He said he needed to get out of the republic...

- So he just wants to live with you to leave the republic? - Concluded Samantha.

- It's not like that either! - Helena protested: - we want to combine the useful with the pleasant. It seems that he and his friends are having problems with the owner of the house where they live. He needs a place to live and why not live with me? Since he is always there at home, then let him stay at once.

- Well, if that's the case... but have you ever thought about what your parents are going to say?

- Yes and that's what worries me... I'm going to have to ask the gods for a lot of courage to face the two. And ask my grandmother to pray for me.

Constantina Vardalos Petropoulos, better known as Grandma Tina or giagiá Tina in the Greek community, the matriarch of the family, was the person Helena most admired in the world. She was a woman ahead of her time. Of course, she was attached to the traditions and beliefs of her people, but she knew how to be flexible with certain concepts of life, especially when it came to the role of women in society.

When Europe was being ravaged by World War II, at a young age, Tina fled to Brazil with a group of refugees, after losing everything she had. She helped form the Greek community in São Paulo, becoming something of a community leader. And even in her old age and as a woman, she still led with an iron fist.

Thank the gods, Helena could always count on her grandmother's support. When she started working and dating as a teenager, it was that scandal, but luckily for her, her grandmother took her side and knew very well how to get around the situation. When she decided to leave the house and go live alone, of course her parents were against it, as they were very traditional.

They believed that children could only leave the house only to marry, preferably in church, especially she, who was an only child and of course, with a man worthy of being her husband.

- She doesn't need it. She just wants to earn her own money and that's wonderful. She shows that she wants to be independent. And she's just leaving the house to have her own space and because she's closer to work, not because she's upset about something or because she doesn't love them anymore. She just wants to be free!

Those were Grandma Tina's wise words. And she was right, Helena was an indomitable spirit who just wanted to be free. And when it came to sex, she always gave certain advice that made Sophia embarrassed.

- In the living room or in the kitchen, the woman must act like a lamb. She must be kind and talented. But in the bedroom, especially in bed, a woman must act like a tiger in heat. She must be wild and fiery! - It was what his grandmother always told him.

And Helena always followed Giagiá's advice, especially the latter.