Last night, while I was asleep, I heard my husband give my PIN to his mother: “Withdraw it all, there’s over $120,000 in it.” I smiled and went back to sleep. Forty minutes later, his phone vibrated with a message from his mother: “Son, she knew everything. Something’s happening to me…” Suddenly, the phone died.

Filing for divorce turned out to be surprisingly easy.

Darío did not object.

He even showed up without us reminding him, silently signed all the papers, and left without saying goodbye.

Kiana watched him walk away down the polished hallway and felt nothing.

Without pity, without anger, without remorse.

Simply an emptiness that was not oppressive or tormenting, but rather liberating.

A month later, the divorce was finalized.

Kiana received the certificate, stored it in her document folder at home, and sighed with relief.

That was it.

Period.

A new chapter in his life.

In November, she enrolled in English courses at the community college.

He had wanted to perfect his skills for a long time, but he never had the time.

Now I had free time.

At night, she would sit at the kitchen table with her textbooks, listen to podcasts, and watch movies in English with subtitles.

In December, something nice happened at work.

Her boss called her into his office and offered her a promotion.

The head accountant was going on maternity leave and they needed a replacement.

"Kiana, you're our most responsible and competent person," he said, tapping his pen on the desk. "Can you handle this?"

Kiana smiled.

“Of course I can.”

The promotion meant a pay raise and more responsibilities, but Kiana wasn't afraid.

On the contrary, he wanted to immerse himself fully in his work to fill the void that sometimes still made itself noticeable.

By the beginning of the year, the apartment had been transformed.

Kiana finally began the kitchen renovation she had dreamed of for so long.

He hired a team of workers, chose the cabinets and appliances.

The process was slow, with setbacks and delays, but she didn't get stressed.

Now he had infinite patience.

At the end of December, Shauna called her and invited her to the office Christmas party.

“Kiki, how long are you going to stay home? Come on, let’s have some fun. My coworkers will be there. Great people. Meet new people. Forget about everything.”

Kiana initially refused, but Shauna insisted.

Finally, she agreed.

The party was loud and fun, and was held in a rented banquet hall at a downtown hotel, decorated with fairy lights.

Kiana was sitting at a table drinking champagne and listening to Shauna's colleagues swapping office anecdotes.

One of them, Michael, a tall man in his forties, with a kind face and pleasant eyes, sat down next to her and struck up a conversation with her.

"Shauna tells me you're an accountant," he said, smiling. "I respect that. I'm terrible with numbers."

Kiana let out a giggle.

“It’s just a matter of practice.”

They were talking all night.

It turned out that Michael was an engineer and worked at a design company; in addition, he liked hiking and photography.

He told interesting stories with a sense of humor, and Kiana felt relaxed and even laughed several times.

At the end of the night, he asked cautiously:

Can I call you, if you don't mind?

"Of course."

Kiana paused.

She wasn't looking for a relationship.

I hadn't even thought about it.

But why not?

"You can," she replied. "I don't mind."

She smiled, and there was something warm and sincere in her expression.

They called each other a week later, met in a cafe, chatted and strolled through a snow-covered park where children were sledding and couples were holding hands under the lampposts.

Michael was an attentive listener and an interesting conversationalist.

Kiana briefly spoke to him about her divorce.

He nodded understandingly.

“I’m divorced too,” he admitted. “Three years ago. At first it was difficult, but then I realized it was for the best. Life improved. It was easier to breathe.”

Kiana smiled.

So she wasn't the only one who felt that way.

They continued to meet once a week.

Not more often.

No rush, no pressure, no commitment.

Simply enjoying spending time together.

In January, I had an unexpected encounter at work.

Kiana was standing by the coffee machine in the hallway when a group of people got off the elevator.

Mrs. Sterling was among them.

Kiana froze.

Her former mother-in-law also saw her, stopped, and turned pale.

They stared at each other for a few seconds.

Then Mrs. Sterling turned sharply and hurried towards the exit, clutching her bag tightly.

Kiana watched her leave and smiled sarcastically.

Apparently, the mother-in-law had gone to see an acquaintance at another office or to take care of some business and certainly had not planned to meet with her former daughter-in-law.

Kiana poured herself some coffee and returned to her office.

She felt calm inside, with no desire to argue or make accusations.

All that was in the past, and she didn't want to go back there.

That same night, Darío called.

Kiana stared at the name on the screen for a long time.

Then, finally, she answered.

“Yes, Dario?”

“Hi, Kiki. Hi, it’s me.”

“I’m listening. What do you need?”

A pause.

Obviously, I wasn't expecting such a cold tone.

“I wanted to talk. Can we… talk?”

"Forward."

Another pause.

I live with my mother in her one-bedroom apartment. We're very cramped. Extremely cramped. We fight all the time. She nags me every day, saying that everything went wrong because of me. She says, "If I hadn't gotten involved in that card business, we'd be living a normal life right now."

Kiana laughed softly.

"And what do you want me to say? That I pity you?"

“No, I just… I just wanted you to know. I’m going through a tough time. A really tough time.”

“Darius, I’m sorry to hear that, of course, but it was your decision. You chose your mother and her greed. Now you have to live with the consequences.”

She sighed deeply.

“Will you ever forgive me?”

"Forgive?"

Kiana thought about it.

Perhaps one day I would forgive, when enough time had passed and the pain had completely subsided.

But she didn't want to forgive him now.

“I don’t know, Darius. Maybe. But definitely not now. And even if I forgive you, we’ll never be together again. That’s impossible.”

"I understand," she said in a low voice, almost in a whisper.

“Forgive me for everything.”

She did not answer.

She simply hung up the call and left the phone on the table.

Darío never called again.

There was news about Shauna in February.

One afternoon, her friend called her, excited and happy.

“Kiki, listen. Remember my cousin Tammy? She’s a real estate agent. Well, she says the two-bedroom apartment on your old street is up for sale. Darius and his mother are trying to sell her apartment and separate. Apparently, they couldn’t live together.”

Kiana burst out laughing.

"Oh really?"