Page 99 of Stronger Than Fate

Between that last message and the next one there was a difference of more than an hour. I remembered the fight he had with Bastián and imagined that, if he had gone to my office, the confrontation would have been during that time. Imaginingthem fighting made me shudder. It hurt. It hurt that they had hurt each other, it hurt that everything had ended like this. For a few minutes I stopped reading and observed the people walking by. I noticed that several of them were looking at me intently, and at that moment, I realized I was crying. I wiped away my tears angrily; I didn’t want to cry.

The song“Somewhere Only We Know”by the English band Keane began to play. The beautiful song made me think about everything I had experienced with him; it had been a short time, but without a doubt it had been intense. One part of the lyrics says“This could be the end of everything”.

“This could be the end of everything,” I said out loud, and I thought about our ending. I had imagined that our relationship had an expiration date, but I never imagined that we would end this way, with lies, betrayal, and disrespect.

I went back to the messages and continued reading. I knew they would only cause me more sadness and anger, but at some point I had to do it.

The next one was a voice message. I listened to it:

“You left me…you didn’t believe me. I can understand your distrust, but I think I deserve for you to hear my version. However, you left without listening to it. I’m not guilty, I never cheated on you. I don’t know how it happened, but we were set up, me by being drugged and you by being sent those photos. I also know that you saw me, your brother told me. I’m sorry about all this, but I’m not the traitor. If at some point you want to hear what I have to say, I’ll be here willing to explain it to you”

His voice sounded subdued and sad like I had never heard it before, and it also sounded sincere. Could it be that he wastelling the truth? But his friend knew the woman, I saw them greeting each other. I didn’t understand anything.

Again tears blurred my vision. Could someone really do something so cruel?

I read some of the following text messages:

“Where have you gone?”

“Is this how our relationship ends?”

“I just ask you to listen to me

Answer the phone, please”

I dropped the phone and began to cry bitterly. I covered my face with my hands and cried out everything I had been holding inside without trying to contain the tears, I let the anguish invade me and come out forcefully. And to think I believed I had already shed enough tears and that he didn’t deserve me crying anymore, as if I could stop them! I don’t know if the people near me noticed, but no one approached. I ended up with red eyes from crying and a heart shattered by grief. Time passed, but I didn’t notice, I forgot that I was sitting in a square, I forgot everything except Henry and his words. It was the sound of the phone that brought me back to reality. It was him. It was clear that we needed to talk; at that moment I doubted everything. I picked up the phone with trembling hands and answered his call.

“Henry,” I said, trying to keep my voice from revealing the anguish I felt.

“Dalina... it’s good to hear your voice,” he affirmed, with a weary voice.

“I just listened to your voice message.”

“I know. Where are you?”

“That doesn’t matter.”

“It matters to me. I want to see you.”

“I’m not in the country, I went on a trip.”

“So it’s true... your brother told me, but I didn’t believe him. I thought you were simply hiding from me.”

“We don’t lie.”

“Neither do I, Dalina. Do you understand what happened or do you still not believe me?”

“There are things I still don’t understand,” I admitted honestly.

We remained silent for a few endless seconds until he spoke again.

“You still don’t trust me,” he stated, but his voice wasn’t that of an offended or angry person, it was that of a sad one.

“It’s not easy to trust you after what I saw.”

“Help me understand, tell me what you saw,” he asked.

“I saw you leaving the bar with your arm around that woman and your friend, the one who called you when you were with me.”