But it meant nothing to me.
“Elena...” he said quietly, taking a step toward me.
“Stop right there,” I snapped. “I don’t want to hear anything from you. Nothing you say is going to make me feel any better.”
I wiped away the tears that had slipped down again.
“Alright,” he said softly. “I’ll wait until you’re ready to talk to me.”
“Whatever,” I muttered, pushing myself up from the bed. I moved toward the bathroom slowly. No matter how shattered I was today, I still had to go to work.
“You don’t need to go to work today,” he said gently. “Just tell them you’re not feeling well.”
“Don’t pretend you care,” I shot back.
He didn’t reply.
I stepped into the bathroom, my movements robotic, as if my body was moving on its own. When I came out, Adrian was no longer in the room. I cried again while getting dressed, wiping my face only for tears to fall again. I kept asking myself how everything between us had come undone so quickly.
When I went downstairs, Adrian was already in the kitchen, preparing his coffee. He was fully dressed for work; he must have showered in the downstairs bathroom.
For a moment, I just stood there, watching him move around the kitchen as if everything were normal, as if nothing had shattered between us the night before.
He noticed me and straightened a little, his expression careful. He watched me getting ready for work. When I reached for my car keys, he stepped forward immediately, blocking my hand. He insisted on driving me, and I didn’t protest. I didn’t have the strength to drive myself in this state, and he knew it.
We rode in silence.
I rested my elbow against the window, watching the road pass by. One hand lay on my stomach. I knew Adrian kept glancing at me, waiting for me to say something. But I let the silence settle between us because I had nothing left to give.
Honestly, I should not have gone to the office. I could barely function, my mind scattered and my chest still aching. But I had no choice. There was a meeting I could not miss, and life, as cruel as it could be, did not pause simply because my heart had broken.
I walked into the office with a smile that felt glued on, nodding at people who asked how I was, pretending everything was normal. I held myself together in the conference room,taking notes, presenting, answering questions, doing everything except breathing properly. But the moment I stepped into the empty restroom, I broke. Silently. Desperately. Pressing a hand to my mouth so no one would hear.
—?—
When we finally got home that evening, everything I had been holding back cracked open. The questions spilled out of me. I asked Adrian everything. Every ugly detail and every moment I didn’t want to know but couldn’t stop myself from asking.
He never raised his voice, not once. He just looked ruined.
“I swear, Elena,” he told me again and again, “it only happened once.Just once. And after that, I never saw her again.”
But it didn’t make it hurt less.
“Why?” I asked him, my voice cracking. “Why did you do it?”
“I don’t know,” he whispered, shaking his head. “I thought it was just talking to an old friend, nothing serious. I didn’t realize how far it had gone until—”
“Until you slept with her?”
He swallowed hard. “Yes.”
I let out a hollow laugh. “And that’s what you call a friend? Someone who checks in every day?”
He said nothing.
“Did you ever mention me?” I asked, my voice tight. “Did you talk to her about me? About us? Did you make it sound like our marriage was unhappy? Like you needed someone else to confide in?”
“No, of course not,” he said quickly. “I never talked about you, or us. I only mentioned that you were pregnant. That’s it.”
