Pavi Largo was not always the beauty-obsessed man he is today. In fact, once, he didn't care about being beautiful at all.
When Paviche was born, he was a beautiful baby. As he grew older, his face grew handsomer.
Pavi was six when he has his first "girlfriend." It was only a few days later that they "broke up" because her father was stealing money from Rotti's company. Rotti Largo is not a man that stands by while his money is being stolen.
He was the most beautiful child most people had ever seen. His siblings were very envious.
Amber wished she could be as beautiful as her brother, so as soon as Rotti allowed her, she began getting surgeries.
Luigi was a violent little boy. He wished he could ruin little Pavi's face, so HE could be the handsomest Largo child. One day, his wish came true.
Pavi was sixteen and totally in love with a wonderful girl. A girl that Luigi was also in love with.
"Pavi," she said one day, "how does your skin stay so soft and beautiful?"
"I take very good care of my skin, Juliet." Pavi smiled.
Luigi saw his opportunity. He hated that his brother was so beautiful, and he loathed him for stealing the girl that should've been his. 'Maybe,' he thought, 'if I ruin his face, Juliet will run from him in terror, and finally end up with me. It's perfect!'
The moment Juliet left the garden to go home, Luigi came in. "Pavi," he said, "would you tell me something?"
"Of course, dear brother," Pavi said. "What is it that you wish to know?"
"How you can sit there and smile like an idiot when I'm about to do this!" Luigi began to punch at his brother's face. Pavi's face reddened and became swollen, but this wasn't enough for Luigi, because swelling can go down, and redness can be taken care of. He paused for a moment to take out his knife.
Pavi gasped. "Brother, why are you doing this to me?"
"Because," Luigi said, angrily. "You get every girl that I have ever wanted because of your perfect skin and beautiful face. Well no more, little brother. I will be the beautiful Largo son."
He tore into Pavi's face with his knife, and with every slice, Pavi screamed in pain. Luigi had thought ahead and warned all of the guards on the Largo estate. "My brother and I get into fights and sometimes it comes to blows. He screams like a little girl," he had said. "Don't worry about it."
Finally, Luigi had finished his work, and left Pavi to hold his bleeding face and cry.
The next day, Juliet came to visit again. Pavi had not told her of the fight the day earlier, and she had no idea that his face would look so horrible. The moment she saw him, she screamed in terror.
She ran to his side. "Oh, my poor Pavi. What has happened to your glorious face?" Juliet put her arm around the boy, and her head on his shoulder. "Who would do such a horrible thing to you?"
Pavi thought better of telling Juliet the truth. Luigi would hurt him worse if she grew to hate the violent brother. "Juliet, it seems that my face will never be the same as it was. I know how you loved to touch the perfect skin of my face, but…"
Juliet stopped him. "Pavi, I did love to feel your skin, but I didn't love you just for that." She smiled at him. "You had a beautiful face, but just because it is gone doesn't mean that you aren't the beautiful person you've always been."
"What do you mean?" Pavi was terribly confused.
"My darling, Paviche," she said. "Your face is not what made me love you. You're wonderful. That is why I love you."
An angry scream echoed through the property. "Why don't you love ME!" Luigi, who had been listening from behind a bush, had had enough of the nonsense. "You loved his face, and now it's ugly. You loved his soft skin, and now it's scarred. Why do you still love HIM!"
"Luigi!" Juliet gasped. "You did this to my Pavi?"
"YES!" Luigi screamed. "I did it for YOU! I LOVE you!"
Juliet slapped him in the face. "Luigi Largo, I cannot believe you would do something so idiotic to get a girl." She turned to leave, "As long as you think that will work to get a girl to stop loving someone, you will NEVER be loved."
Luigi, in a blind rage, ran towards the house, destroying any plant that was seemingly hindering from hiding in his bedroom.
Pavi stood to wish his love goodbye, but she walked past him like he wasn't even there. "Juliet," Pavi called.
She turned around slowly, and he could see the tears streaming down her cheeks. "Pavi, don't. I love you, but your brother has driven me away from you."
Pavi walked towards her. "But, he will learn…"
"No, Pavi." Juliet backed away. "He won't. He'll just keep hurting you until I leave you. I will NEVER love him. So I have to leave you." She stepped toward him. "Understand that I'm leaving because of him, not because I don't love you."
Pavi nodded. "Will I ever see you again?"
Juliet shook her head sadly. "Unless Luigi leaves, or decides to focus his affection on another girl, you will never see me again." She sobbed softly. "Goodbye, Pavi." She kissed him softly on the cheek.
That one soft kiss caused a sensation in Pavi's face that he had never felt before. It was like a butterfly had flown by and its wings had fluttered on his cheek.
"Goodbye, my love," he whispered as she walked through the gate and out of his life forever.
Quite a few girls that had once been obsessed with Pavi had come to see him since they heard Juliet had left him, but screamed and ran when they saw his face. Amber and Luigi were getting tired of all the screaming, so they found a way to put a stop to it.
"Just let him get a new face, dad," Amber had suggested. "Nobody will ever have to know it's really Pavi under there. Just tell them Pavi died, and you adopted a new son."
Rotti would not accept this. "I will not have any of my children getting surgeries until their organs start failing."
Luigi found a way around his father's decision. He spoke privately with a few Genterns. "Just put these six clamps in his face, and when one mask wears out, put on a new one."
"But where do we get these masks you're talking about, Luigi," one of the Genterns asked."
Luigi pulled a knife out of his pocket. "Leave that to me."
The next day, Luigi returned to the Genterns and handed them three, freshly cut faces. "These are the masks."
One Gentern fainted, a second vomited, and the third took them in her hands. "These are real faces, Luigi," she said.
"You don't think I know that?" Luigi nearly shouted. "Pavi will choose the next faces, and I will cut them for him. All you have to do is attach them to his face, got it?"
"What do we get in return," the Gentern who had vomited asked. "I think we deserve extra payment for handling dead people's faces."
Luigi smirked. "Oh, they weren't dead when I took their faces."
The third Gentern put up her hand to quiet him. "We don't need all the details. The three of us want extra money, or we don't help Pavi. Got it?"
Luigi growled. "Fine. I'll arrange it. I will pay you myself."
Later that day, Amber blindfolded her brother and took him down to the labs. The Genterns smiled at him when Amber removed the mask.
"Why are we down here, sister?"
Amber smiled. "Luigi and I were tired of your situation with the girls. So we hatched a little plan and arranged for your surgery with these nice ladies."
Just an hour later, Pavi was walking around with a beautiful woman's face masking his own. The only drawbacks were the six horrible, painful clamps embedded in his face. He smiled at the mirror. "But one has to make some compromises if one wants to be beautiful, no?"