Breaking Mariana.

Chapter. 2. Date Preparations.

Mariana was feeling a little nervous as she was suddenly caught off guard by Mr. Heart's sudden coldness, as the man lifted his left hand to give the young, light brunette girl the small, square gift box, which featured a Mexican pink ribbon and a very pale lilac-colored wrapping paper, both being Mariana's favorite colors.

“Is that for me? What is it?” Mariana replied with questioning eyes.

“Despite things… yes, all yours, it’s just a little something for when you come here to ride. Come on… open it.”

“Despite…?” Mariana asked as she began to unwrap the gift carefully and waited for an answer about what was bothering the man in front of her, but no answer came.

“Oh, my god, it is so beautiful, thanks a lot, and it has my name!” Mariana exclaimed as she tried her best to manage between holding the horse, setting her riding helmet and riding crop aside, opening the gift box, and taking the item out.

Mr. Heart had given Mariana a skintight, deep Mexican pink, short-sleeved horse-riding shirt with all the technology to make it comfortable and fresh. The shirt featured a small, cute heart with an M inside of it in a semi-circle on top of the heart, it said. “Team Heart” and, under the M Heart symbol, in horizontal writing, “Mariana B.”

Both the heart symbol and writing were stitched on the left chest with white thread, and the whole thing was small and classy, like a professional competition outfit. The shirt was paired with black, skintight equestrian leggings with FRE's custom seat and knee silicon patch system and a cellphone pocket, featuring the same symbol as the shirt on its left pocket. Mr. Heart knew that the young teen could easily use her parent’s money to buy high-quality riding gear, just like the one he just gave her, but the gift had nothing to do with money; but the emotional feeling of belonging he was generating in Mariana's mind.

The carefully selected colors, making sure the clothes fit the young girl perfectly, the small M Heart symbol, and her name, none of that was about money; it was about something money could never buy: the warming feeling of being acknowledged, taken care of, and belonging that was being awakened in the young girl.

“Come on, Mariana… Try it on.” Mr. Heart said, now with a firmer tone of voice.

“What? Here, there are people around, you know. I am a lady!” Mariana exclaimed as she tried to look cool and erase the strange, cold vibe she was getting.

“Not here, Silly, at Bucephalus stable. I will reach you there after I take the saddle off and get him ready. That should give you enough time. Go ahead, come on.”

“Uh, ok, I can do that,” Mariana said as she directed herself towards the horse stable, and then, making sure Mr. Heart was not spying on her, to her comfort, she was able to see the man in a position where he would not be able to see her quickly change her clothing.

“Ready!” Mariana called out to Mr. Heart as the man approached the stable with Bucephalus. “How do I look?”

“Like an equestrian model, really beautiful Mariana, I am happy the clothes fit perfectly; it took me a lot of effort to visualize things and select the perfect size and all.”

“Oh, lord, thank you so much. I loved it, but you shouldn't have to; there is no need.”

“I know, I did it because I wanted to, and because now, we are Team Heart, aren’t we?” Mr. Heart said as he extended his left hand and placed it where the M Heart symbol on the left side of the shirt was and then used his thumb to follow the heart and the M trace, while letting his hand rest on Addie´s chest, not to fondle her tits, but making sure the young girl felt the trace of the heart symbol as the man in front of her smiled and used his right arm to hug Mariana in a slightly strange way, instead of a normal hug, his right arm went around Mariana, but his hand rested on Mariana´s right hip, just slightly under her waist, firmly cupping and grabbing her and a second later, turning the young girl around, so now Addie´s back was pressed against the older man´s strong chest. Mr. Heart´s right hand now was pressing Mariana´s lower abdomen with open palm, covering the young girl´s mid-section completely in a confident hug while ensuring the young girl´s standing position as she could feel a massive hard-on pressed against her ass and lower back, considering Mr. Heart was taller than she was. The older man's left arm was now hugging Mariana too, but holding her slightly above her chest, while the left hand took hold of Mariana's shoulder.

The young girl, now restrained in the hug, felt a little blow on her ear and Mr. Heart's soft voice speaking to her as if a small whisper, while her nose detected the scent of the man behind her, the scent she had learned to identify with him. “We are Team Heart now, aren’t we?” came the whisper and a soft kiss on Mariana’s neck.

“Yeah, we are!” Mariana said as she tilted her head, and for a moment hoping to feel the man's touch once more, but instead of that, she got a cute squeeze as she was turned around, and Mr. Heart's hug had disappeared, just leaving his hand on Mariana's face as he tilted her chin and leaned forward for a quick peck kiss on the cheek, perfectly knowing he was already heavily teasing the young, inexperienced girl.

“Still, we need to talk; it is kind of serious, or at least I believe it to be.” Mr. Heart said.

“Is everything ok, Miguel… What do you mean by that?” Mariana asked, concerned about what was going on and now craving a little more touch, and so she extended her arm and took hold of Mr. Heart's right arm, which was again holding the phone. Then Mariana took a small step forward, shortening the distance between Mr. Heart and her even more.

“Thing is… I don’t know if I can trust you or if you even want to be here with me.”

“Of course you can trust me, and where do you get that I don’t want to be here with you? That makes no sense.”

“Then, how do you explain this?” Mr. Heart said and then handed his phone to Mariana for her to see what he had been watching.

Mariana Bujaidar could not believe what she was looking at: a small video of her at school, during cheerleader practice. The video was taken just a couple of days ago. The scene started with Mariana talking to Stacy O'Donnel, her best friend, in the girls' locker room while changing into normal clothing after cheer practice. Stacy was not visible in the video, but her voice was clear, a voice Mariana recognized immediately, the same as for the moment when the whole chat thing happened. The video showed Mariana taking off her cheer sports bra and spandex shorts, rendering herself fully naked for a moment, while she changed into normal clothing.

During the stripping and dressing again process, Mariana was heard talking with Stacy about older guys, and Mariana mentioned the fact that she knew Mr. Heart from the equestrian club, and Bucephalus was the man's horse, to which Stacy playfully used to tease Mariana about meeting up with an older man.

"Eww, no, it is not like that, Stace… He is just a friend, nothing more, maybe not even that,” Mariana replied to Stacy's teasing, and in response, Stacy simply commented, “I would not mind dating such a handsome man!” Before laughing, and then the video ended.

Mariana was in shock as she was watching that video on Mr. Heart´s phone, the young teen had no idea what to say or do, what worried her the most was the fact the video even existed, and that for a very short moment Mr. Heart had seen her fully naked, changing into normal clothing. “That… where you… is not… like that!” Mariana said, trying to articulate a coherent phrase.

“Shush, and listen!” Mr. Heart said as he placed his index finger on Mariana's lips for a moment and then let go, also taking his phone from the girl's hand, and now, with a more serious appearance while Mariana looked at him, still trying to make sense of things.

“I do not know who took this video of you, and even less why it was sent directly to me; then that person made sure I saw it and then deleted the video, but gave me time to save it and show it to you to make my point. This only shows me that I can't trust in you to keep our thing private and not allow people to come in between to destroy all we've built and have, and really… Ewww, not even a friend?” Mr. Heart said as he turned on his phone and once again showed Mariana the message where the video was sent, now saying the video was eliminated, but clearly showing the phone number of the sender.

Mariana immediately recognized the phone number; it was Stacy O'Donnel's phone. Besides, Mariana knew that when that video was taken, only Stacy and she were supposed to be in the locker room, or if someone else was there, that another girl would not be even close enough to take a video. Mr. Heart, though, knew Stacy was innocent, and the man also knew that Mariana had several enemies inside of school, girls she had bullied or looked down on them, girls that could be persuaded to take a trashy video like that while remaining hidden, the same way they got a phone number and used a special app to make it appear that Stacy had sent the video.

“Look, Mariana, here it is.” Mr. Heart said as he deleted Stacy's contact, which only showed the phone number since the older man had not added her to his contacts. Then Mr. Heart showed Mariana the video on his photo gallery and deleted it completely from his phone. “There you have… no more video… but I think we are done here, so much for Team Heart… If you can't stand being with an older man like me, I won't hold that against you.”

“No… we are Team Heart… I… I just told Stacy that to defend you… like protecting you from her knowing we are friends, and you know… the chats we have.”

“I see, but… how can you prove that it is just words?” Mr. Heart said with a calm and cold voice tone as he stepped back, away from Mariana's touch and reach, as if he was about to turn around and go.

“Hey, don’t leave me like that… like… how can I prove it to you?” Mariana said as she stepped forward, but Mr. Heart took one step back, keeping the distance and already playing his angle on the mind games and rollercoaster he was building in Mariana's brain.

“I just don't know if you can prove it, or if it is even worthy…” Mr. Heart said, then paused for his words to sink in, but not allowing Mariana to respond yet, as he then continued. “There might be a way, an easy one. Next Tuesday, I want us to have a date after school.” Mr. Heart said, perfectly knowing that Mariana had recently gotten into a relationship with a boy her age, one whom her parents approved of, as the kid was the son of Mariana's father's most important business client.

“A date… but?”

“Yes, a date, hanging out together, and you not being weird about it, sure if you think that is too much, then point proven.” Mr. Heart said, again, knowing that Mariana would have to set her parents and boyfriend aside, at least while a supposed date with him happened.

“Ok, I will go on a date with you and prove you wrong!” Mariana said boldly as she thought she had the upper hand. “But… Tuesday? Why not the weekend when my parents won't object that much to me being out of my house?”

“On Tuesday, after school, I will text you the details during your lunchtime at school on Tuesday. For now, I must go, Mariana. See you on Tuesday. Drive safe back home.”

Mr. Heart then left Mariana standing there; without being able to answer or reply, the man just left, and even when Mariana tried to contact him that same night and the following two days, there was no response, even when on Monday, Mariana texted Mr. Heart a few minutes before lunchtimeand then sent a photo of what she was about to eat. All texts came through, and all were seen by Mr. Heart, but he gave no reply, while Mariana was already craving to get the man's attention, especially now that she had gotten into a massive fight with Stacy O'Donnell, her best friend.

Once Mariana reached her house on Saturday after equestrian practice, she called Stacy and screamed at her about having taken a video and then sending it. While Mariana raged against Stacy, the Irish red-haired girl on the other side of the line denied everything. While Stacy tried to soothe Mariana, the honey-colored-eyed girl kept complaining about the conversation they had that day about older men in their lives.

On Monday at school, Mariana bullied Stacy in every way she could, using her huge popularity to set Stacy apart and embarrass her, as a supposed vengeance for the video that Stacy kept denying. Mariana, though, was not able to push much more on the issue because it would mean exposing Mr. Heart and herself, so she resorted to disqualifying and slandering Stacy's name.

The break between the two best friends was something Mr. Heart was expecting and something that would help him further his training with Mariana, molding her into all he wanted, especially now that Mariana felt frustrated and had no one to talk about things. While she had many other friends and school puppies following her, she could not really talk much about the reasoning behind her mood changes. The only man that actually understood her was Mr. Heart, and she knew it, but now, because of her own doing, the man was acting as a stranger, and Mariana was desperately thinking about how to fix things so all could somehow come back to normal.

On Tuesday, Mr. Heart waited until the right time, just a few minutes before Mariana's lunchtime at school, to send the text, taking into consideration that he needed to leave the young girl little to no time to think or even get ready for a date with him, making sure the conditions would be given for him to push the pedal with the emotional roller coaster he had already created in Mariana's head.

“Mariana, I will wait for you at the Waterfront Luxury Mall underground parking lot, southern entrance. Search for the D-marked area at 2:30 pm. Until then, when you prove me wrong, we shall not talk.” Mr. Heart texted and knew that on that specific Tuesday, Mariana had a carpool, where one of her friends picked her up early in the morning and had to take her back home after school, and if Mariana didn't want to raise flags or get in trouble with her parents, she had to follow that part of the daily schedule.

Mariana read the message and immediately felt frustrated, already knowing that no matter what she replied to the text, it wouldn’t be seen or answered, at least until she proved Mr. Heart wrong. The young teen knew that school ended at 2:00 pm. At times she could leave school ten minutes earlier, but not this time, as she had to ride with her friend who would take her home, and that the ride would not be exactly pleasant since nearly half her friends were supporting Stacy, some others didn't get involved, and just a few supported Mariana, mainly out of fear that she would use her popularity against them.

The drive to reach Mariana's house would take around fifteen to twenty minutes, depending on the traffic. Once at home, she needed to manage getting a permit to leave the house right away, while at least taking her uniform off and getting some random clothing, and that took time, even if Mariana rushed. Then, even if it all was done very fast, it would take, because of the hour, at least 20 minutes to drive and reach the Waterfront Luxury Mall. Which immediately meant she would not be on time for her date. Then also came Mariana's emotional state of mind; while she wanted to prove herself to Mr. Heart, she was also somehow mad at him for not answering her texts and leaving things like that, as if she were not worthy of his time and care, which kept conflicting the girl's mind between rushing or not caring if she was late to her date.

Mr. Heart arrived at the Waterfront Luxury Mall at 2:00 pm to finish preparing things for his first date with Mariana, but more than a date, what the older man wanted was to open the young teen girl's eyes and awaken in her different feelings, even before love was involved. One of the first steps Mr. Heart had already been working on was having Mariana see him with a different set of eyes in a more flirtatious and romantic manner. Even if the whole push had been veiled and soft up to that moment, the man had taken Mariana to a huge high in her emotions and down, up again, setting things ready for him pushing the pedal in what he had planned next. The man had ample experience dealing with different kinds of girls of all ages, backgrounds, and personalities, aside from being well-learned in neurolinguistics and detecting even the slightest muscle movement that could speak far more than words would when reading people.

At 2:25 pm on Tuesday, Mr. Heart was already leaning next to his 2025 black Mercedes-Benz G-Class vehicle, waiting for Mariana, knowing that there was no way she could make it on time, which is why he had even gotten a hot coffee to sip while he waited and before he started his act.

Mariana, though, had no idea what awaited her as soon as she arrived.