MY CHEATING HUSBAND'S VALENTINE SURPRISE.

“A Room Without Him”Elara's POVThe elevator deposits me in the lobby, and I realize I'm barefoot. My shoes are still in the suite. The suite where my husband probably put his clothes back on, probably kissed her one more time before chasing after his wife.The marble floor is cold against my feet. A couple walks past, holding hands, laughing about something private and beautiful. They don't see me. I'm a ghost already."Miss? Are you alright?"A young woman in a hotel uniform approaches. Not Lucía, thank God. This one has kind eyes and a name tag that reads "Sofia.""I need a different room." My voice sounds normal. How is my voice normal? "Please. Right now.""Of course. Let me check what we have available." She doesn't ask questions. Maybe she can see it written all over me, the specific kind of devastation that comes from being replaced. "If you'll just come to the desk?"I follow her on numb feet. The lobby swirls around me, all golden light and romantic music and couples who s

“Unlearning Love”Elara's POV"I have a tour booked at ten," Julien says, stirring sugar into his coffee. "Some architecture walks through the old district. Want to come?"I should say no. I should keep my distance, process what happened last night like a rational adult. Instead, I heard myself say, "Sure."His face lights up but not in the performative way Bryan does when he gets what he wants. Just sincere pleasure."Great. Fair warning, I might bore you with facts about flying buttresses and Gothic arches.""I teach literature. I can bore you right back with symbolism."We finished breakfast and headed out into the city. The morning air was crisp, clean, washing away the stale hotel smell. Julien walked beside me, hands in his pockets, not trying to hold mine or guide me or own the space between us."So about last night," he started.My stomach drops. Here it comes. The regret. The awkwardness."I don't want you to feel like I took advantage. You were vulnerable and I should have.

CHAPTER 6: What Happens in the MorningElara’s POVSleep never came.I spent the entire night moving between the bathroom and the bed, too afraid to close my eyes for more than a few second, afraid that someone was watching me. Every time I closed my eyes, the message flashed behind my eyelids like it had carved itself there.I know what you did last night. I have photos. Meet me at the café at noon. Come alone.I must have read it twenty times. Maybe fifty. Enough that the words started to lose shape while the meaning behind them only grew sharper.By dawn, the bathroom light made me look ghostly and pale. My eyes were swollen from exhaustion, too wide and too awake, like my body had decided danger was near and refused to let me forget it.I gripped the edge of the bathroom sink and stared at my reflection in the mirror.Someone knew.Not just about Bryan cheating.Not just about the divorce that was already forming in my mind.Someone knew about Julien.About the way I had fallen ap

Elara's POVI took a cab home.Not because my mother asked me to. Not because Bryan expected it. I took it because I needed my documents, my clothes, and the things that were mine before any of this started. I had a lawyer to prepare for and I wasn't going to do it from a hotel room with nothing but the clothes on my back.The cab driver didn't try to make conversation. I was grateful for that.I watched the city slide past the window and tried to organize my thoughts into something useful. Everything else, the blackmail message sitting unanswered on my phone, my mother's texts I still hadn't opened, the way Julien had looked at me in that café doorway, all of it could wait until I had what I needed. A divorce.One thing at a time.The house looked the same.I don't know what I expected. For it to look as broken as I felt, maybe. For something on the outside to reflect what had happened inside the marriage. But it was just a house. Same painted door. Same potted plant I had been keepi

This is not how it's going to end. I must find who this stranger is and this divorce must happen.Lucia's warning was getting on her mind already. She was shocked, confused and at the same time getting tired already.So she gathered her courage and walked away after she has gotten the conversation she wanted, she went out from the hotel and walked past everyone, cause she must be strong for herself and conquer, she began thinking she needs to stay quiet for now so she can know the next move to take she doesn't want to be in a haste, then she got outside and hailed a taxi to drop her at homeOn her way home there was traffic buzzing of horns people chattering and noises from cars and meanwhile she was lost in her thought Thinking -----Soliloquizing -----And at the same time lost in her thoughts.She finally got home, she abruptly walked straight into her room not looking through the walls of the house, when she got inside she removed her clothes took a shower, combed her long curly h