Brothers (Twelfth Chapter)

Twelfth Chapter
Most people formed a mistaken judgment about Blas and let themselves be carried away by his provocative behavior or his intemperate reactions, or by his supposed laziness and lack of interest, but not everything is as it seems, since the boy displayed an apparent apathy and lack of commitment. His father thought that the only things that truly motivated him were pushing him to the limit of his patience, surfing, the gym, and parties. He was right, but only in part: if he analyzed the facts in his son’s life, he could conclude that he was an intelligent, determined, observant young man with unmatched willpower.

He learned to speak English without needing courses, just by observing and processing; he passed his school courses with hardly any studying and despite having a horrible attitude and even worse discipline. Now, in three days as an apprentice at the hotel, simply by observing and listening carefully to Don Bernardo, he was already understanding with absolute clarity the details and the overall nature of the business, what was important and how to distinguish it from what was urgent, priority issues, the role of each employee, schedules, organization, departments, suppliers, the profile of the guests, etc.

He was fundamentally interested in the administration and management of the hotel, just listening, without asking questions, keeping quiet, not bothering anyone, and showing exceptional self-control. He did it out of genuine interest, and to gradually lower the security chief’s level of attention on him. With his usual ability to transgress and test how far he could stretch the elastic, he began committing small infractions to see how much attention the security chief was paying him: one day he would stay longer in one place, drifting out of his observation orbit. Small things.

The routine of removing his chastity device at night and then shackling him still continued, only to later release him, punish him, and impose the chastity device on him again. It did not bother him; he had accepted it. The punishments were lashes, punches to the abdomen, slaps, or torturing his nipples. He endured the lashes well (he even enjoyed them), but not so much the punches to the abdomen and slaps, and he handled the nipple torture outright badly, because the security chief was an expert at that and they literally hurt for several days after the punishment.

He was building in his head a map of the security chief’s routes, schedules, and routines. He was not doing it for any special purpose, but to be prepared for any eventuality or opportunity. He had decided that ever since his first plan with his brother Braulio to control Bautista failed.

And the opportunity presented itself precisely on the Monday of the following week. That day Don Bernardo arranged for him to support the hotel receptionists from 8 in the morning until 5 p.m. He had already studied the movements of that section, and...