Chapter 1 The Discovery

Ana had started the day as usual. A cup of strong black coffee, with the exact flavor that woke her up every morning. She had checked her emails, with nothing urgent to pull her out of her comfort zone, and then tidied up her room as an automatic act. Her routines were predictable, safe, and in her world, everything aligned with the peace she desired. It was a day like any other, and as always, she felt in control of her life. But the afternoon came, and with it, a rupture that would change everything.

Nothing, not even the smallest sign, could have prepared her for what she was about to discover.

That night, after a long day at work, Ana headed to her apartment. The fatigue was noticeable in her steps, and her thoughts were already drifting toward the little everyday things waiting for her at home: dinner, a relaxing shower, maybe reading a bit before sleep. When she arrived at the door of her apartment, something strange stopped her. It was ajar. The door had always been locked by Javier, her boyfriend. Over the years, this routine had been unbreakable, a habit they both shared to feel safer. But today, that habit had been broken without warning, and something inside her warned her that it wasn't just a coincidence.

With a mix of uncertainty and a small spark of anxiety, she pushed the door open. At first, the apartment seemed calm. The soft lighting, the long shadows of the afternoon, and the muffled sound of the wind passing through the window slats. However, as she moved down the hallway, a sound caught her attention. Soft laughter, hushed murmurs. This was unusual, and her mind started to race as her steps slowed. The bad omen grew inside her like a thick fog, invading every corner of her consciousness.

She approached the bedroom cautiously, not knowing what to expect but fearing the worst. When she opened the door, it was as if the world vanished around her, leaving her suspended in the air, unable to move a muscle. There they were, Javier and Clara, her best friend, naked and entwined in bed. The scene seemed straight out of a nightmare, one Ana could never have imagined living through. She couldn't process it, couldn't understand how it had come to this point, how something so devastating could have happened in her own home, in her own refuge.

The silence was immediate, dense, unbearable. The laughter stopped, the murmurs ceased. Javier looked at her, his eyes wide open, filled with surprise and, for some reason, guilt. Clara, upon realizing her presence, instantly paled, her eyes widened, and a mix of panic and shame crossed her face. Ana stood there, paralyzed, watching the scene as the pain washed over her like a wave she couldn't stop. There was no room for explanations, no space for the "I'm sorry's" that were already starting to spill from Javier's mouth. The physical and emotional pain, all that she had never imagined feeling, hit her with a force that almost brought her to the ground.

Javier quickly jumped out of bed, as if merely being naked in front of her was a greater sin. He tried to cover himself, but he couldn't hide the guilt reflected on his face. His voice sounded trembling, empty of justification, but still, he tried to make her understand.

- "Baby!" -he shouted desperately, extending his hands toward her in an attempt to approach. But Ana stepped back, as though just being near him could contaminate her.

- "Please, I can explain, my love." -he continued, his voice breaking as he tried to find words that could repair the irreparable. But at that moment, Ana didn't listen. She was trapped in a bubble of disbelief and pain, where the sound of his voice was just noise, devoid of meaning.

Tears began to fall down her face, though she couldn't tell if they were from anger, pain, or confusion. Her mind couldn't process the magnitude of what she was seeing, and her body felt as if it were floating outside of herself. She closed her eyes for a moment, searching for a sliver of calm, a breath to think clearly, but nothing could relieve the suffering that gripped her chest. Every beat of her heart reminded her that everything she knew, everything she had believed, no longer existed. The world she built with Javier had collapsed before her eyes, and there was no turning back.

- "What do you want to explain?" -she managed to articulate. Her voice was a broken whisper, trembling. Anger was starting to replace the pain, and though the tears kept falling, they no longer mattered. Her eyes shone with contained fury, but also with an aching exhaustion. - "How can you explain to me that you told me you had a business meeting while you were in bed with my best friend? Is that what you have to explain?"

The words were like knives, and she felt each one of them pierce her soul. But despite everything, something inside her kept her anchored to the moment. She needed to hear, she needed to understand. Maybe, somewhere deep inside, she still hoped that the explanation would be something she could process. However, something told her that nothing could be explained anymore. Everything she knew about her relationship, about the promises they had made, had evaporated in that instant, like a lie that had never existed.

Clara, unable to look Ana in the eye, got out of bed, her movements clumsy and filled with a shame that Ana had never witnessed in her friend. Ana felt the betrayal on her skin, in her bones. It was as if the air were thick with poison, a poison that burned her from the inside. She couldn't look away, but she didn't want to keep seeing either. She didn't know if she wanted to scream, run, or simply vanish.

Javier, seeing Ana's reaction, tried to take a step toward her, but something in Ana's attitude stopped him. She raised a hand, not in fear, but with a firmness that even surprised herself. She wasn't going to listen to any more lies, she wasn't going to accept any excuses. The truth no longer mattered; all she had left was the decision of how to move forward.

The sound of her breathing became the only noise in the room. She turned slowly, not saying another word, and left the room. She didn't need answers, she didn't need explanations. The pain of the betrayal was too fresh, and her mind could only think of escaping that nightmare. The world had changed forever.

And as she walked down the hallway, tears fell silently. But, unlike before, they were no longer tears of confusion. They were tears of loss.