Approved, he signed the authorization without hesitation. One more thing. Damian sat in the chair in front of the desk, the same chair where clients used to sit when he was the boss.
Now he felt like an employee in the director’s office. Cristina, I need to talk to you. I’m listening. I can’t keep living in Pedralves. With my new salary, it’s impossible to maintain that apartment.
Cristina put down her papers and gave her her full attention. “Have you found anything cheaper? There’s an apartment in No Barris, two bedrooms, €700 a month. It’s close to the metro, but it’s in a neighborhood that’s not exactly where I imagined I’d be living at 36.”
For the first time in weeks, Cristina showed something resembling compassion. Damian, I grew up in New Barris. My mother still lives there. It’s not the end of the world. I know, I know.
I didn’t mean to say it was a bad neighborhood, just that she ran her hands through her hair. It’s hard to accept that your life is going backward instead of forward.
Do you know the difference between going backward and starting over? Damian shook his head. When you go backward, you’re constantly looking at what you’ve lost. When you start over, you’re looking at what you can build.
They remained silent for a few minutes while Cristina went back to checking the bills and Damián watched from the window. Outside, Barcelona life continued at its usual pace. Mothers pushing strollers, elderly people playing pétanque in the park, teenagers laughing as they left school.
Cristina, can I ask you something? Go ahead. Why don’t you hate me? After everything I did to you, everything I did to you and the baby, why don’t you hate me?
Cristina leaned back in the chair, stroking her belly in circular motions. At first, I did hate you. When I found the first bills for the apartment, when I saw the bank statements, when I realized the magnitude of the lies.
Yes, I hated you. He paused. But hating is exhausting, Damian, and I needed all my energy to raise this child and rebuild my life. And how do you feel now? Now I feel sorry.
I feel sorry for the man I thought you were. I feel sorry for the time we wasted. And I feel sorry for Ruth, who fell in love with an illusion and is now paying the price for her own ambition.
Have you heard anything from her? Elena told me she’d tried contacting the company to clear up some financial misunderstandings. Apparently, she thinks she can negotiate some kind of compensation for the emotional distress caused by the divorce.
Damian shuddered. Even after he left her, Ru kept trying to profit from the situation. Are you going to talk to her? There’s nothing to talk about. Ru made her decisions with her eyes wide open.
Now she has to live with the consequences, just like you, just like me. At that moment, Cristina winced and clutched her stomach. Are you okay?
The baby’s been restless today. He’s been moving around a lot lately, like he’s impatient to come out. He smiled slightly. The doctor says it could happen any day now. Damian felt a strange mixture of excitement and terror.
His son was about to be born and he would be a father for the first time, but he would be a father as a divorced man, in debt, living in a €700 apartment in No Barris.
Have you thought about names? Diego. He’s going to be called Diego for a special reason. Cristina looked him straight in the eyes. Because it means “the one who follows his own path.” And I want our son to know from a young age that no matter what mistakes his parents make, he can always choose his own path.
Damian nodded slowly, understanding that the name was also a message for him, a lesson about second chances and the possibility of redemption. Cristina, when Diego is born, I’ll be able to be there for him.
I can be the father he deserves. That depends on you, Damian, on the kind of man you choose to be from now on. He stood up carefully.
The past is already written, but the future, the future is still blank. As Damian gathered his things to leave, Cristina handed him a light blue envelope. What’s this?
The address of the apartment I rented for you in No Barris. I’ve paid the deposit and the first two months’ rent; consider it an investment in Diego’s future. Damian opened the envelope and found the keys along with a rental agreement.
Why are you doing this? Because a child needs a stable father, and a father can’t be stable on sofas or living on the street. When Damian left the office, he walked down Montaner Street with wet eyes and a strange feeling in his chest.
For the first time in months, she felt something akin to hope. In her pocket, the keys to her new life jingled softly with every step. And for the first time since the day of the divorce, it didn’t sound like a sentence, it sounded like a promise.
Grace Health Center. Six weeks later, the contractions had started at 3 a.m., but Cristina had waited until 8 a.m. to call her mother. She didn’t want to alarm anyone unnecessarily.
And after everything she had experienced during the past year, she had learned to trust in her own strength. Now, at 10:30 in the morning, she was in the waiting room of the health center where she had worked for the last five years, surrounded by the familiar faces of her colleagues.
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