Chapter 1 A Betrayal, A New Plan

• Dragging myself along, each step is a struggle under the weight of exhaustion, akin to the slow, aimless gait of a zombie. Today, I was able to leave work early because my dear boss, Mr. Delacroix, had a date with a supplier who only supplies him with casual sex, something that happens very often and with several 'suppliers.’
• What truly surprises me is that they canceled my class at seven in the evening, which was a partial exam in administrative law—an especially exhausting class for me as a future lawyer.
• Exhausted from having classes before and after work, I thank God for being able to sleep three more hours than the four I can usually sleep daily.
• Entering the apartment I share with my fiancé, Dante, I let out a sigh as home’s comforting embrace wraps around me.
• Walking with little desire, I trudge toward our bedroom, the sole haven in our cramped apartment. As I open the door, anticipating the comfort of my bed, the scene unfolding before me annihilates any trace of weariness or sleep.
• “Kim… I… I can explain,” Dante stammers, standing there completely naked, his fumbling attempts to assist his lover’s escape adding a layer of absurdity to the situation. Annoyed, a deep-seated hurt gnawing at my core, and an instinct to unleash a burning wrath, I draw in a slow, steadying breath.
• Determined to maintain a semblance of composure, I settle into the chair, nonchalantly tossing the woman’s bra aside as if discarding inconsequential debris. The room bears witness to the tension, and the air thickens with unspoken accusations.
• “Go ahead, explain it to me,” I order, closing the door to the room where I essentially stand guard, determined to prevent the girl from making a swift exit. The pungent scent of sex hangs heavy in the room, a bitter reminder of my fiancé’s betrayal but I gather the inner strength I have accumulated over the years and remain firm. This surprises the trash in front of me, who undoubtedly did not expect me to let her explain.
• Dante mumbles, “I…” and before he can utter more, the girl lightly hits him, hastily covering herself with the sheets I had purchased with my own hard-earned money. Both of them are damned.
• “First, let Lucía go, then we can…”
• Disgust overwhelms me as I realize she shares the same name as my best friend. The mere thought of her cursing and vowing to change her name makes me smile. However, my smile is not sweet, I know it by how they both recoil.
• “Kim, what do you plan to do with that?” Dante asks, a tinge of fear in his voice. It’s only then I notice the Swiss army knife in my hand, a precaution I always carry for those solitary walks home on lonely nights.
• “Oh, this?” I responded curiously. “It depends on you.”
• “Kim… you’re studying to be a lawyer, committing murder would be…”
• “Do you really think I would kill you?” I mock.
• “I would never stoop so low as to dirty my hands like that,” I declare, and they both breathe sighs of relief. “At most, what I could do is stab you in the testicle or lacerate your member. You wouldn't die, but it would be an incredible wound that would make you remember me,” I murmur, and Dante swallows hard.
• “Kim, don’t play with that.”
• “You played with me; now I think it’s my turn to play with both of you, isn’t it, Lucía?”
• “I… I apologize. But please, let me go. I swear I won’t see him again,” she pleads desperately. As if her words offered any comfort, I remain unmoved.
• “You can keep seeing him. But not here. Leave, you didn’t betray me, he did,” I murmur, and the girl hastily gathers all her clothes, ready to depart. However, I don’t allow her to even touch the door.
• “You said I could go.”
• “Of course, but I never said it would be through the door. I’ve paid for everything here. From the sheet you’re wrapped in to the door you plan to exit through. So, if you’re leaving, do it through the window and without using my sheets.”
• “But… it’s very high.”
• “If you had the audacity to get involved with a committed man, you should have the courage to jump from a tenth floor, don’t you think?”
• “Kim, don’t be irrational,” Dante pleads, and I truly wish I had the courage to take more than just one testicle from him.
• The pounding in my head intensifies, a relentless reminder of the legal knowledge that restrains me from acting on the impulse to harm him, as much as he may deserve it. I lament internally, cursing the fact that murder with motives could ruin my life.
• ‘What a shame that committing murder with motives merits going to prison,’ I complain mentally.
• “Go away and do it before I count to three, or I won’t hesitate to end your lives,” I assert, rising from the chair to prompt their departure. The woman named Lucía is the first to comply, but Dante remains stubborn. The fear he had when I mentioned how I was going to hurt him disappears.
• “This is also my house,” Dante asserts, and in response, I stride toward the coffee table, seizing a gun and removing the safety.
• “One… Two…” I start, ignoring his protest. Before I could even reach the second count, he vanishes from my sight.
• I pull the trigger, the gunshot echoing as I step out of these ruptured bubbles that fade from my vision, much like the hope I held for Dante. The imminent separation erases thoughts of the supposed marriage in two months and the fertility clinic appointment scheduled for tomorrow. Alone now, my dreams crumble.
• “Damn that bastard!” Lu, my best friend, exclaims, pacing back and forth in frustration.
• Without realizing it, I escape the suffocating confines of my apartment. When I finally regain awareness of my surroundings, I find myself in Lu’s apartment, three floors below mine. I had already confided everything to her, and though tears don’t fall, the anguish and anger simmer beneath the surface.
• “My two dreams have come to an end here, getting married and having a child,” I murmur, my disappointment palpable.
• “Damn bastard. You should have called me; I would have given him a few slaps and possibly cut off his dick so he couldn’t cheat anymore,” Lu asserts, her outrage matching my own.
• “Let it go. Hurting him will only bring us problems and won’t help at all,” I told her.
• “But what angers me the most is that the damn woman had the same name as me. Disgusting. Tomorrow, we’ll go change my name. I can’t be named after the slut my best friend’s fiancé slept with,” she complains, and I smile, shaking my head at her comment.
• “Let’s just let it go. The good thing is that I didn’t have a bad man by my side, nor did I give my child a bad father,” I murmur.
• “The only thing is, without him by my side, they won’t give me the sperm sample, and I… I’ll never be a mother,” I confess with pain, and Lu hugs me.