Bella
Bella watched Tomás from the kitchen doorway as he washed the dishes with his usual diligence. There was something in the way he moved, meticulous and constant, that broke her heart. Such a young boy carrying so much on his shoulders... she thought, biting her lower lip.
She didn't know how to approach him. In recent days, she had deliberately avoided him. Every time their eyes met, a knot tightened in her chest. She knew why he had been fired, she knew it too well, and the guilt was consuming her. Henrick and Amelia. What a pair of idiots.
And yet, what hurt her most was not her husband's deception, but how her own weakness had dragged Tomás to the brink of it all. She knew he wasn't to blame, but... how could she apologize to someone she had already failed so many times?
She watched her hands tremble as she crossed them over her apron. For an instant, she wanted to turn around, let things take their course and avoid that conversation, but the anguish in her chest was unbearable. She couldn't let him leave without telling him the truth.
Don't be a coward, Bella, she told herself before walking towards him.
"I haven't been good to you these past few days, and you don't even get angry with me. Are you never going to scold me?" she asked in a clumsy attempt to break the ice.
Tomás didn't stop washing the dishes. His answer was simple, direct, like everything about him.
"I couldn't get angry with you."
Bella felt her eyes well up with tears. Why is he so good to me? I don't deserve it.
"Sometimes I wish you would get angry with me, that you would show me more of yourself... just a little," she said, moving closer. Her hands trembled as she raised them to wrap around the boy's torso. She hugged him from behind, resting her chin on his shoulder.
The contact was warm, comforting, but also a cruel reminder of everything she could never have.
"Why did you come into my life so late?"
She felt Tomás's body tense under her embrace. His reply came, laden with a mix of sadness and resignation.
"Bella... someone might come into the kitchen."
But Bella didn't want to let him go. She couldn't let him go.
"Do you think at this point I care what happens?" she murmured, with a hint of desperation in her voice. "You know my life is ruined." She paused, searching for the courage to continue. "Why didn't you tell me? I thought you at least saw me as a friend. I hated you a little... for a few hours."
Tomás remained silent for a moment that seemed eternal before speaking with the same calm that always disarmed her.
"I tried to stop it, but I didn't have any proof either." His voice sounded low, contained. "Besides, would you have believed me? I'm sure it would have seemed like a child's tantrum. Isn't that what you always tell me? That I'm a child to you."
His words hit Bella like a hammer. He was right. I've always treated him like a child, she thought bitterly. But he never was. Not really.
She tightened her embrace, desperate to convey some of the warmth he had always given her, something to show him how much she needed him, even if she could never say it outright.
"Perhaps you're right. I didn't want to realize the truth. But what I want now is to apologize to you." Her voice trembled as she tried to hold back tears. "I don't want to be separated from you. Could you allow me to be selfish... despite everything?"
She felt Tomás sigh deeply, and his reply was like a balm, although she knew he was also broken inside.
"If that's what you want, then it's fine. You know I care about you too much."
Tears began to fall from Bella's eyes as she tightened her embrace further, wanting to stay in that moment forever.
"I care about you very much too... more than I should."
In that instant, Bella understood that, however much she wished it, she could never erase the damage they had both suffered. And although she loved him in a way she dared not name, she also knew that it was best for Tomás if their paths diverged. Because her love, no matter how much it hurt, was not going to save them.