Page 10 of Minha Dona

Helena had considered denying it because the last thing she wanted was for it to get back to her sister that she was into the dominant submissive scene, but she’d known Juliana for long enough to know she could trust her and Juliana’s directness deserved an honest response. “What is it you want to know?”

“I want to learn,” Juliana had said. “I’ve been curious for a long time. I’ve tried things with partners and it always feels like we’re both guessing. I want to understand it properly, from someone who actually knows what they’re doing.” She’d paused, then with characteristic bluntness added, “I’m pretty certain that I’m naturally dominant. I want to learn how.”

Helena had told her she’d think about it, and she had, for a week, carefully. There were obvious complications. Juliana was her sister’s best friend. Mariana would find out, inevitably, in some form or another. The age gap, while only two years, carried different weight when one person was the teacher.

But Juliana was an adult, she was asking clearly for something specific, and Helena was, she knew, well placed to provide it. She’d agreed, with one condition.

“Before I teach you to dominate,” Helena had told her over coffee, “you need to understand submission. Really understand it, from the inside. Not intellectually… you need to understand it physically, emotionally. You need to know what it feels like to surrender before you can ask someone else to do it for you.”

Juliana had agreed without hesitation, which told Helena something important about her character: she wasn’t interested in dominance as a power trip. She was genuinely curious about the whole dynamic, both sides of it.

The first time had been weird, but good weird because they could both laugh about it. But then, initial awkwardness out of the way, they fell into it fully. The first month had been all about Helena dominating Juliana, teaching her what submission felt like, showing her how a good dominant operates, letting her experience the trust and vulnerability from the receiving end. Juliana had taken to it with the same enthusiasm she brought to everything, asking questions afterwards that showed she genuinely wanted to understand the mechanics as well as the experience.

Then they’d switched, or at least soft-switched, Helena coaching Juliana through her first attempts at dominance, patient and encouraging, correcting gently. Juliana had been nervous and clumsy at first, over-thinking every command, apologising when she didn’t need to. But she’d improved fast… she was smart and observant but more than anything, crucially, she listened.

Now, three months in, they switched regularly. As much as anything, Helena realised, Juliana had learned all she was going to learn… from here on it was all about her finding her own styles, her own techniques, and Helena was more than happy to be her test subject. While she naturally leaned heavily towards dominance, Helena had had several relationships where she was the submissive since Alessandra. She enjoyed both sides, all depending on the other person, and what she could see with Juliana was that she could very easily turn into the right person… there would come a moment, Helena suspected, not too far from now, where something clarified between them, where Juliana’s growing comfort as a dominant would become so great that Helena would naturally submit to her. And then, well, there’d be an interesting decision to make because it was one thing fooling around with her sister’s best friend, quite another becoming her submissive.

Still, they weren’t quite there yet. For now, Helena remained the one in charge.

Just about.

“So,” Helena said, pouring the wine and handing a glass to Juliana. “How have you been practising?”

Juliana took a sip and her grin widened. “I’ve been thinking about what you said last time you let me take control. What you said about confidence. About how the dominant needs to project certainty even when they don’t feel it, because the submissive needs to trust that someone else is in control.”

“And?”

“And I practised in the mirror.” She laughed. “Which sounds absurd, I know, but you said it would help and it did. I practised giving commands. Looking at myself and saying things with authority.”

“Show me.”

Juliana put her glass down and straightened up. Helena watched the transformation, not complete, not yet, almost but not quite, but there was a visible shift. Her shoulders went back, her chin lifted slightly, her eyes took on a seriousness and a passion that hadn’t been there moments before.

“Come here,” Juliana said. Her voice was firmer than her usual light, playful tone. Not harsh, not cold, just certain.

Helena felt a little flutter of pleasure. Juliana was getting better at this. She wanted to obey. “Good. That was good. Your voice is much more assured than last time.”

Juliana broke character immediately and beamed. “Really? I’ve been working on it. Fernanda, she doesn’t know why obviously, but she told me I sounded like a different person on the phone the other day. More assertive.”

“The trick,” Helena said, stepping closer and taking Juliana’s hand, “is that it’s not acting. Not really. You’re not pretending to be dominant. You’re allowing yourself access to a part of you that’s already there. The confidence, the decisiveness, you have those already, you show them at university all the time. Here, you’re just directing them differently.”

“Towards you.”

“Towards me.” Helena smiled. “People make the mistake of thinking that being dominant means being a bitch to someone. That is absolutely not the case. You,” she squeezed Juliana’s hand to emphasise her point, “you can be something special, bringing the joy and fun that you bring to your everyday and making your submissive’s surrender a joyful experience.”

Juliana’s grin got wider. “You think I can make it joyful?”

“I know you can.” Helena let go of her hand and took a sip of her wine. “Let’s focus on that tonight. I want you to take the lead. I’ll guide you if you need it, but I want you to trust your instincts more. Ok?”

“You’re telling me to be dominant?”

Helena laughed. “The submissive’s the one with…”

“… the true power,” Juliana finished. “Good point. I’ll try to get it right.”

“That’s what this is for, for you to learn. There’s no penalty for getting it wrong, only for not trying.”

“You sound like my supervisor.”