My Second Chance

FOUR YEARS EARLIER

When Chloe was younger, she always dreamed of meeting a rich man, traveling the world, forming a beautiful family. The years went by and after a while all that changed. She wanted something different from what she dreamed of before, Chloe wanted her independence, she wanted to be free, to be the owner of her own destiny, without having to answer to anyone about her life. Of course, one day she wanted to start a family, but that would be a future plan, and a very distant future.

Chloe Rodrigues is the youngest daughter of Helena Rodrigues, a respected lawyer, and Samuel Rodrigues, a member of the armed forces. She is 24 years old, has two academic backgrounds, one in physical education and the other in pedagogy.

Her parents always tried to influence her career choice, but Chloe took a completely different path than they imagined for her. Chloe always thought it would be better to get paid little doing what she loved than to get paid a fortune sacrificing herself in something she didn't enjoy doing.

She still has an older brother, Nathan Rodrigues, who followed his father's profession. For that reason, her mother always expected her to follow hers, but Chloe was passionate about gyms and sports.

However, despite the hectic world of academia, Chloe has always had a private social life. She was never the popular girl, she had few friends, but true, which she carries with her to this day.

Chloe is an instructor at a renowned academy and a preschool teacher at a private school. Some said it would be impossible to combine two jobs because she was young, but she didn't give up taking chances.

This was the quiet and uncomplicated life of Chloe Rodrigues in the city of Gravatá, in the interior of Pernambuco, one of the many Brazilian states.

One day, after much insistence from her friends, Chloe decided to accompany them to a ballad, in a new nightclub that had opened in her city. Fate, believing that Chloe's life was too monotonous, made her meet the charming and conquering Thomas Werneck.

A young man with dark skin and piercing green eyes, an athletic body and a charming smile. Thomas was the boy Chloe looked up to when she was a student. The popular boy every girl wanted. After some charming conversations with Thomas Werneck, Chloe let herself fall in love with him all over again.

After that meeting, Chloe and Thomas lived an overwhelming love story. In less than a year, they were already living together and dreaming of plans for a lifetime. Like any couple, they had their differences. But even with Thomas pressuring Chloe to give up her jobs as an instructor and teacher, she never did.

Chloe liked having financial stability and she wasn't going to give it up. It has always been her goal to be independent, and Thomas has never been able to change that, despite many attempts.

Thomas didn't accept Chloe's profession, which led them to have some problems in their relationship. Thomas commented that he couldn't stand other men looking at Chloe and wanting what was his, as if that was a reason to make Chloe give up the profession she loved so much. Thomas hoped that Chloe would become his beautiful trophy wife.

Often, when Chloe came home from work, Thomas wasn't there, even when he was supposed to be. When she tried to reach him on his cell phone, she heard his answering machine asking to leave a message.

Once when Chloe went to work, she found out that it was her day off from the gym, and she had forgotten. Despite her manager offering her another day if she decided to stay. Chloe decided to go back home. She decided to surprise Thomas. But her plans went awry because once again he wasn't home when he was supposed to be.

Chloe's plans not only went wrong that night, but also piqued her curiosity to know where Thomas was. She decided to pay her dear friend Maya a visit, to distract her thoughts of Thomas. Maya lived on the same street as Chloe, basically they were almost neighbors. Maya was one of those friends that Chloe kept since high school. Thomas never really liked this friendship. He wanted Chloe to refuse to have friends.

Thomas knew all of Chloe's schedule. Your full schedule. The only thing he didn't expect was that tonight she would be on the couch waiting for him. The smile Thomas had on his face disappeared as soon as his gaze met Chloe's. His face changed, but it wasn't until Chloe got closer that she discovered the real reason.

Thomas had a woman's scent on him that wasn't Chloe's.

At the exact moment she approached him, she felt her body freeze, the shock was inevitable. Thomas walked to the bathroom, saying he needed to freshen up, arguing that he had gone to get some exercise.

But he remained in his work clothes, and a pair of shoes that are not appropriate for physical exercise. Either Thomas was nervous and slurred with words, or he thought Chloe was stupid.

Chloe's feminine senses knew what Thomas's true intent was. Erase all traces of the mistake he made in betraying her. After the shock of discovering that she had been betrayed, Chloe would become a ticking time bomb ready to explode. Chloe began to question Thomas, who defended himself with a series of nonsensical excuses. The end of the discord was the lipstick mark on his collar and the hickey on his neck, which Thomas tried so hard to hide, but was unsuccessful.

Chloe is the type of person who gets along very well with everyone, she doesn't make demands or make life difficult for others, but one thing she refuses to accept is betrayal, regardless of who it is.

Chloe went to the couple's room and got a suitcase, at that moment Thomas already had a towel covering her body, going after her, trying to figure out what she would do. When he noticed that she had the suitcase in her hands, he asked Chloe a single question.

"Will you be so foolish as to go back to your parents' house because of a betrayal?"

Chloe knew Tomas was right to insinuate that she would be a fool to give up her life plans for a betrayal, Thomas just didn't know what Chloe's intention was, until the moment he sued that it wasn't Chloe's clothes that were being packed, but his. At that moment, Thomas discovered that it wasn't Chloe who was about to leave the house, it was him.

After a few days, Chloe discovered that turning the word "our" into "mine" wasn't as easy as she thought. Nor was it easy for her to find traces of what appeared to be a love story and was now nothing more than a simple illusion. For days, she wished it had all been a nightmare, those nightmares that after a cold shower go down the drain with all her fear. But that's not quite how it happened. She felt like she had been split in half and her heart had been stepped on.

Maya was only two years older than Chloe, but with a lot more life experience than her friend. With patience, Maya got Chloe rid of the guilt she felt about her marriage not working out. That no woman deserves to be submissive to a man nowadays. Maya explained to Chloe that no one should give up their dreams for someone else, because one day, regret and guilt would weigh on that relationship.

When Chloe's parents found out what had happened and why Tomas was kicked out of the house, they gave Chloe their full support. Chloe was grateful for all the love and attention her parents gave her at that time, but she had to figure out a way to overcome everything she had been through alone.

She would have to realize that the expectations she placed on Thomas went far beyond the person he represented.But all of Chloe's suffering ended when she finally found out that Thomas was already living with another woman, just 15 days after separating from her, although Chloe still felt like a lifeless person.

The most extraordinary thing was that from this discovery, Chloe gained strength to go back to being who she was before Thomas. It was as if she had transformed into a phoenix, that after the ashes she rose more beautiful than before. Chloe surrounded herself with new goals, put her thoughts in order. There she decided to follow her plans and dreams and stop regretting a love story that seemed like only she had lived.

But life had other goals for Chloe. Goals she hadn't dreamed of and didn't even imagine having at the moment. After two months apart and without any kind of communication, Chloe discovered that she carried a part of Thomas with her.

The only part that still required the word "OUR" from both of them. Chloe might even want to hide it from Thomas, but she wouldn't be able to for long. Chloe was pregnant with her ex-husband's baby.

Chloe believed that Thomas would think that she acted on purpose by getting pregnant, as she still had hope of getting back together with him, as Thomas was a successful man. Chloe created her own routine and was fine without Thomas. Chloe didn't want Thomas to see that son as an obligation. She wanted him to see that baby as something that had survived the disaster of their relationship, the beautiful part of the love they'd shared in the past.

In the end, Chloe only had the courage to tell her parents, who gave her all the support in the world. Saying that even though she was scared, she had no reason to worry, because as her parents, they would be by her side all the time.

A few more weeks passed and Chloe was still surprised by her new situation. Her body was changing and there were no longer the curves that were there before. The life growing inside her was already her gravitational point. Everything revolved around that baby.

When Chloe completed the fifth month of pregnancy, life once again surprised her.

Her phone rang and when she answered, that voice that she didn't expect to hear anymore, Thomas, asking if he could go to her house so they could talk, because he had found out that Chloe was expecting his baby.

Thomas and Chloe clarified that the best way to fix things would be to not dwell on the past. They ceased to be husband and wife, but there began a new story for them, of parents, that was the only point connecting both of them, which they could never break.

When Chloe held her baby in her arms for the first time, she had never felt a greater emotion than this. Her daughter was a beautiful and perfect girl. Her baby would call Anna Luisa. Lulu would be the affectionate name she would call her.

Anna Luisa had the most beautiful green eyes Chloe had ever seen, a Thomas trademark. Anna Luisa managed to charm anyone who came close to her, as if she herself were the sun shining brightly.

Every day that passed, Anna Luisa became a more beautiful and charming child. Four months after the birth of her daughter, Chloe went back to work. Chloe enlisted the help of her great friend and Anna Luisa's godmother, Maya. It was Maya that Chloe left her daughter with so she could go back to work.

It was surprising that a month after returning to physical training as an instructor, Chloe had returned to her pre-pregnancy athletic body.