I went back to bed with my ex-wife during a business trip, and in the early morning, a red stain on the sheet took my breath away. A month later, a call from a hospital in Cancun made me understand that that night had not been a mistake… but the beginning of something much darker.

Next to her bed was an older woman who got up as soon as she saw me.

His mother.

She had aged ten years since the last time.

She looked at me for a long time.

Then she started to cry.

— She didn’t want to call you.

– For what ?

The woman clasped her hands together.

— Because she thought she didn’t have the right.

I watched Elena.

Then her mother took a crumpled envelope out of her bag.

— She wrote that just in case.

My fingers were trembling when I opened the letter.

“Carlos,

If you’re reading this, it means things have gone wrong.

I wanted to tell you the truth that night. I swear I wanted to tell you.

The blood on the sheet wasn’t what you thought.

Three weeks before seeing you again, I learned that I was sick.

Cervical cancer.

Already well underway.

The doctors told me I needed surgery quickly. Very quickly. But I couldn’t. I didn’t have enough money. And above all… I no longer had the strength.

When I saw you in that bar, I remembered what it felt like to be alive. I just wanted one last night where I wasn’t a sick woman, a lonely woman, someone waiting for the end.

I wanted to be Elena one last time.

I’m sorry I hid the truth from you.

And there’s something else.

I never left because I didn’t love you anymore.

I left because I couldn’t bear to see what we had become.

I still loved you too much to stay

Elena.”

I don’t know how long I sat there, unable to breathe properly.

When I finally looked up, her mother was crying silently.

“Why didn’t she tell me anything?” I asked.

— Because she knew you would have given up everything for her.

I sat down near the bed.

I took her hand.

She was cold.

Fragile.

As if life itself had begun to leave her long ago.

Then, gently, her fingers moved.

Her eyes barely opened.

She looked at me.

And despite the machines, despite the pain, despite everything that had separated us, she recognized me immediately.

— Carlos…

I leaned towards her.

– I am here.

She closed her eyes for a second.

A tear rolled down her cheek.

— I didn’t want you to see me like this.

My throat tightened so much that I thought I was going to suffocate.

— So look at me closely, Elena.

She opened her eyes again.

— I’m still here.

She tried to smile.

A small, broken smile.

“You’re always late,” she murmured weakly.