Ariella

- -

- -

- -

- -

[gentle dramatic music continues]

My name is Leandra.

Where are you from?

I'm from Sao Paulo, Brazil.

And what brought you to England

in the first place?

My boyfriend.

I just came here to be with him.

And he knows what you do?

Yes, yes, he does.

He's okay with that?

Yeah, he's not-- He's not jealous.

It's just-- It's a side thing I think like, for me to settle.

Um it really helps me to get money to study.

What does he do?

He--

He's a businessman.

I just really came here because I fell in love

and it wasn't like I was happy where I was.

So, no, it wasn't my dream to live abroad,

but now I like it.

- -dramatic music]

Whenever you are ready,

just start with your name, and your age,

and where you come from.

My name is Ariella Philippa Sousa de Silva.

I am 20 years old,

and I was born in Sao Paolo, Brazil.

People in London always ask me,

"What was it like growing up in a favela?

Was it as bad as it in the movies?"

[Ariella's dad speaking Portuguese]

- -

The answer is "no".

[Ariella's dad speaking Portuguese]

- -

It was worse.

I was not meant to have a shift at the restaurant that day.

I had done like 10 hours of cleaning.

- -

And I was a carer for the elderly.

[Sheila indistinctly speaking Portuguese]

[Ariella indistinctly speaking Portuguese]

And I was studying business.

- I guess I was greedy, -

maybe because I'd made enough rent for the month

and got enough food,

but I just--

Something felt right for me to go.

That's exactly what I want to do. Exactly. Exactly that.

I wanna bring what we've done in Soho

and I wanna create it here in the middle of Sao Paolo.

In this chaos,

- -I wanna bring the essence

of what we've done in London

and have you guys help us to set it up and launch it.

But yeah, I know, um--

Um, but I just wanna say thank you very much for your time.

When I get back to the UK--

- And there he was. -

I'm gonna get the check, but it was a pleasure.

Thank you.

This guy, this beautiful... guy.

He was bright and... so different.

- -Hey, do uh, you speak English?

-Yes. - You do?

-Uh, I'm Ben. -Ariella.

-That's a beautiful name. -Thank you.

We just-- We just hit it off.

I don't think so, no .

-I should probably pay, right? -

Sorry, there you go.

-Oh, sorry. -Oh, sorry.

It's all right.

- -Thank you.

Thanks. So, uh-- So, I guess that's it.

-That's it, I guess. -

Yeah, great, thank you.

In another life then, right?

Mm.

-Bye. -

I dunno, you're probably gonna think I'm crazy,

and this is a little bit mad,

but I have an hour and a half till my flight,

so I have some time.

You don't understand the word I'm saying?

- No, yes, yes. - You do?

It's okay, yeah.

I'm not speaking too quickly?

-No. -Okay, um,

I don't know whether you have time just to take a break

and sit and have a coffee with me.

I don't know, I just got here.

-He's saying "yes"? - Yeah.

-Yes? -Yeah, okay.

- You can, yeah? -Yeah.

Okay, cool.

Eh no, we are thinking about setting up one of the businesses

that we have because we have these clubs and lounges.

So originally, my great uncle started it

and then he kind of raised me actually.

Um, and then, yeah, I've just started working with him,

-and um-- -You're like the owner?

Uh, I'm gonna be one day.

Yeah, he's, he's-- It's his business,

but I'm kind of running it, I would say.

What about you?

What about your life, your family, your mom and dad,

where are they?

- I live with my mama. -Okay, and your dad?

Uh, he died, so it's just me and my mama.

-I'm sorry. - Sorry, I don't know.

I lost my dad as well.

- Oh, yeah? -Yeah.

He had lost his father too,

so we really understood each other, you know,

felt like we connected.

You ever feel like you just kinds know somebody

without knowing anything about them?

Mm.

-You know what I'm trying to say - Yeah.

When his eyes were looking in mine,

it felt like I could feel my father's hand on my shoulder.

You've never been, right?

- Nope. - Like,

Do you want to?

even that was okay because it led to this.

'Cause I met you 20 minutes ago,

but I would love to see you again.

It's like he made a deal with someone up there.

Yeah.

We did long distance for a bit.

He arranged like for us to play games online and things, and--

This is what happens every time. You don't trust me?

Yeah, we used to talk like whenever we could.

- Which one? - The best please.

- Okay. -

- Very nice. - Happy.

I'm happy, oh, I miss you.

I miss you.

He even met my mama like that.

Hi, Ben!

Mrs. Sousa, ola.

How are you?

Hi, ola , I'm good, good.

Finally, finally, once more, I was complete.

So I came to London.

["Mama Says No" by Michael Garsin]

[mid tempo mellow music continues]

Uh-huh.

Okay.

- -

- - Si. Si.

- - Mm hm.

- -

-I missed you. -

I missed you so much!