He covered his face with his hands.
“I almost lost you because of my own blindness.”
Sophia looked at him – broken, defeated.
Part of her wanted to go to him, hug him, comfort him.
Together.
That word – together – became their mantra in the following months.
They attended couples therapy together to deal with the mess of old wounds.
Together they planned a future without their mother-in-law’s shadow.
Together they learned to trust each other again.
Richard visited them sometimes.
He would bring in old jewelry books and tell stories from his time as an expert.
He and Sophia became friends.
A unique friendship between a young woman and a retired forensic expert, but a true one.
“So how did you find me?” she asked him one day.
“On the subway,” Richard smiled.
“I wasn’t looking for you. It was a coincidence. I was on my way to work. I saw you pale, exhausted, and with a pendant around your neck. You know, when you work with poisoning for years, you start to notice things that others don’t. The color of your face, your weakness—everything pointed to chronic poisoning. And then I looked at the pendant and saw that line.”
“I wouldn’t be alive without you.”
“Maybe. But you’re gone. You’re alive, you’re healthy, and everything will be fine.”
And indeed, everything started to improve.
Slowly but surely, things improved.
Sophia’s health has returned.
Once there was no longer any poison in her system, the nausea completely disappeared.
Her appetite returned.
She gained weight.
Six months after the trial, she looked like a different person: rosy-cheeked, full of energy, and a twinkle in her eyes.
Her relationship with Alex also improved.
They learned to talk to each other honestly and openly, without fear of being hurt.
They learned to argue constructively and reconcile without resentment.
“Are you happy?” he asked her one evening as they sat on the balcony watching the sunset.
Sophia thought for a moment.
“Yes. Not like before—in a light, carefree way—but in a real, deeper way.”
“Me too”.
He took her hand and intertwined their fingers.
“You know, I’m glad it all happened. Not the poisoning, of course, but what came to light. I was living in an illusion, Sophia. I thought my mother was perfect. That you could love two women equally without hurting anyone. Now I realize how naive I was.”
“And how do you see it now?”
“I understand that love is a choice every day, every minute – and I choose you.”
Sophia rested her head on his shoulder.
“I choose you too.”
And in that moment she realized that they had indeed survived.
Not right away.
Not easy.
But they survived.
A year has passed – a year that changed everything.
Their relationship.
Their view of life.
Their mutual understanding.
Sophia sometimes found herself grateful for that terrible time—not for the pain or the fear, but for the way it had opened the abscess that had poisoned their marriage from the very beginning.
Eleanor was in prison.
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