Chapter 3
I couldn’t be sure if it was Markus’s car. It passed too quickly.
In this neighborhood, someone like me hailing a taxi was rare.
The cab came from far away, and by the time it arrived, I couldn’t feel my legs.
When I finally got home, it was around three in the morning. The house was silent.
To the outside world, I looked like a woman with a perfect life—a happy family, a loving fiancé, and plenty of friends.
Others envied me, saying, “You’ve got the perfect life.”
But that was just not true. I had no family, no love, no friends.
When I was in middle school, my mother was diagnosed with late-stage breast cancer.
She had surgery, but it came back just six months later.
One morning, my father left for work and never showed up again.
He took all the money, leaving my sick mother and me, still just a kid, to fend for ourselves.
When she heard the news, she stayed unnervingly calm. She endured the treatments and hospital stays quietly, and on her good days, she cooked for me.
One evening, I came home from school to a table full of dishes. She sat across from me, smiling warmly.
Something felt off. The food smelled strange when I leaned in closer.
Then I remembered the bottle of poison she had bought recently. When she held me down, I realized for the first time just how strong her grip was.
I got desperate, and the moment she let her guard down, I broke free. I ran without looking back, somehow ending up on the rooftop.
She followed me and spread her arms for a hug. “Sweetheart, the world is too cruel. I can’t leave you here alone.
“Come with me. In the next life, we’ll still be family”
I broke into tears, too exhausted to keep fighting. And I longed for the comforting scent of laundry detergent on her clothes.
Then I thought maybe a life like this wasn’t worth living at all.
The wind on the rooftop was strong that night. My mother’s embrace felt so warm. She held my hand and led me toward the edge.
Just as we were about to fall, a guy grabbed me.
His hands were thin but steady, holding tight despite my struggles.
His bright eyes were all I could see.
I survived, but my mother didn’t.
That guy was Markus. He didn’t just save my life; he gave me a reason to keep going—to repay him.
I always felt like I had betrayed my mother. Back then, I was like someone drowning, desperate to cling to anything that could keep me afloat.
Markus became that lifeline.
Later, the fire trucks, ambulances, and police came. Amid the chaos, I held onto his hand, looking up at him. “How do I pay you back?” I asked.
I could still picture the 16-year-old Markus looking down at me, serious as ever. “Just come find me,” he said.
It felt like I had been stuck in that night ever since. I pulled myself together just for Markus.
Once again, I dreamed of those dark moments—my mother asking why I had betrayed her, my father’s silent face as he left us.
I woke up soaked in sweat, my throat raw. I was running a fever.
The thermometer read 38.8 degrees.
Usually, I would take meds and head to work like nothing was wrong.
But this time, I called in sick. I needed space to figure out where my life was heading.
***
Markus went to work as usual. When he realized Raquel wasn’t there, he asked around and learned she had called in sick.
He frowned and started to hate her fiancé.
Eva, her assistant, stepped in to cover her tasks. She brought Markus a coffee.
He took a slow sip.
It was sweeter than usual, with an extra sugar cube. Without a word or any hint of emotion, he set the coffee aside and didn’t touch it again.
Eva made another mistake with this morning’s meeting documents. Luckily, Markus knew the key points of the negotiation well enough to keep things on track.
The office felt colder than usual, and the humidifier was off, leaving his throat dry.
Nothing was obviously wrong, but it just didn’t feel right.
For the first time, Markus found himself thinking about Raquel. He realized she rarely crossed his mind.
She had a way of making everything fall into place so seamlessly that her presence was only felt in its absence.
Markus frowned again at the thought of Raquel’s fiancé.
He took away Markus’s most trusted assistant.
***
I spent the day lying in bed, lost in thought. But I still hadn’t figured out where my life was headed.
I felt like a ship adrift in a vast ocean.
The next morning, I got up and went to work.
Eva greeted me with a strange, cautious look. Then she whispered, “Mr. Serrano didn’t seem happy yesterday. He only took one sip of his coffee.”
The coffee was still on his desk. I dipped a finger into it, tasted it, and said, “Too sweet. Three cubes, no more, no less.”
I carefully showed Eva how to prepare the coffee.
By the time it was ready, Markus had arrived.
He seemed in a better mood than usual, judging by his faint smile. But his eyes told a different story, leaving me unsure.
