THE GLASS CAGE

Chapter 2

​Chapter 2

​How could you cheat on the person you loved? How could you be so vile? So shameless? I didn't understand anything. How in one minute I was happy, thinking they were going to propose to me, and the next, my heart was being broken into a thousand pieces? What was the need to do it that way, to have such an audience, to say he cheated on me and would now have a child with another woman? Nobody had ever humiliated me in such a painful way.

​I was in the room crying while my mother packed my suitcases and cursed under her breath. No one had ever made us go through such an embarrassment; no one had ever made a mockery of us. Because Leonardo hadn't just hurt me, but my entire family too. What would people say now? Everyone would talk about this; I would become the laughingstock of high society.

​"Are you ready?" Dad asks, entering the room and avoiding looking at me; the spectacle I was making was absolutely embarrassing. "Stop crying, Carolina," he scolds me, as if it were as easy as saying it.

​"But Dad, it hurts," I shriek, touching my chest. "It hurts right here inside." Many would say I'm dramatic, but surely they have never been in such a position.

​Being cheated on by the person you love burns inside; it's as if they are squeezing your heart, as if everything is being destroyed: your plans, the promises, all the "I love yous" spoken under the sheets. It wasn't easy; not everyone could understand how much it hurt to have the being you loved, to whom you swore loyalty, betray you in such a vile and shameless way—to make a fool out of you.

​"Yes, but not that i***t. Now let's go," he tells us seriously, and my mom helps me get off the bed to head for the exit; that was for the best. We couldn't stay here after being mocked in such a way. Leonardo had made a whole circus out of this. I just wanted to kill him; I wanted to make him suffer in the same way he was making me suffer at this moment.

​As I go down the stairs, I see something that leaves me in shock: him kissing that woman he always swore was just his friend. If I was destroyed before, now I felt much worse. I didn't know how to describe what I was feeling.

​I don't know where I got the strength, but I ran to them and separated them, pulling that shameless woman by her hair. She squeals while I push her, and she falls to the ground, only for me to slap the man who was the love of my life. I was so hurt, and that made me out of my mind—made me behave in an incoherent way, lose my temper, and act like a crazy woman, like a woman without class or manners.

​"What the hell are you doing, you crazy woman? She is pregnant!" he screams at me and pushes me with such force that it causes me to fall to the ground, hitting my ass and making my spine hurt from the whiplash of the unexpected impact.

​"Leonardo," says my older brother, José, grabbing him by the neck and slamming him against the wall. "Don't make me break your neck right here. Let this be the first and last time you touch my sister that way." Mom helped me get up from the floor, and she was just as nervous as I was; all of this was getting out of control.

​"And it will be the last, because I don't want anything to do with a crazy woman," he says, super annoyed, causing my brother not to hold back anymore and punch him in the face, then another, and another, until blood starts to fall, and people have to step in to separate them.

​"And you, Ashley, you should know that if he did this to my sister, it won't take long for him to do it to you too." With that, he spits on Leonardo, who is on the ground, and pulls my mother and me to leave that house that has only caused me pain.

​On the way to the airport, I don't stop crying. I can't believe it; I would never have imagined this day was going to end this way. It was supposed to be all happiness and celebration. I never imagined something like this could happen. A betrayal like this breaks your heart into a thousand pieces. I didn't expect it—I never expected something like this from him. He never showed he was that kind of man.

​I wanted to understand why he had cheated on me if I had given him everything. I had always been faithful and loyal. We didn't have problems since I always found a way to mediate, to make sure everything was fine between us. The s*x was incredible. We had such a good time when we were alone or accompanied. We were the perfect couple. I didn't understand what had happened, or how he could have failed me in such a vile and low way.

When I got home, I locked myself in my room since I didn't want anyone to bother me with questions, and even less did I want them to see me in this state. I was not available for anyone, and that's how I was for a week: locked in my room without going out, without talking to anyone, only eating when Mom forced me, without bathing or combing my hair. But nothing mattered to me. I felt that when I went out, everyone in the streets would make fun of me; everyone would call me stupid and say I had been replaced by a cheap slut—because that's what that woman was. Inserting herself into a relationship only further proved my theory. I was worth a lot, but at this moment, I couldn't hold my head high; it was impossible for me. Deep down inside, I was just hoping that he would come back asking for forgiveness, begging me to forgive him because he had come to his senses.

​"My God, it stinks in here," I hear a voice, and I turn to find my best friend entering my room. "I gave you your space, but that’s enough." She opens the curtains, causing my eyes to hurt from the brightness. My God, she was annoying. "Already, Sophia, go away," I growl, and she laughs sarcastically.

​Sophia was my best friend; we had known each other all our lives, and she was my other half. We were always together. She was beautiful, tall, a redhead with skin white as milk, huge green eyes, and a killer body. She worked her ass off in the gym every day and was a very intelligent person; she could study whatever career she chose, but she preferred to live off her body, and she wasn't doing too badly.

​"No, no, young lady. You are going to get up right now and go out to get some air... Well, after you take a shower because you stink." I roll my eyes. I just wanted to be alone; I was not up for this right now.

​"I want to be alone, Sophia. Do you not understand what being alone means?" I yell at her, and she puts a hand to her chest. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to yell at you, but please, you guys don't know what it feels like..."

​"You're wrong. You know very well that I know what it feels like to have your heart broken, Carolina, and you were there for me every step of the way supporting me, so you cannot ask me to leave you alone."

​She is right. When her boyfriend had cheated on her with another guy, she sank into a depression that was hard for her to get out of. I went to her house every day and forced her to go out with me, to go eat, to buy anything that would keep her entertained and not think about that i***t. But my breakup was not like hers. I know it sounded selfish, but at this moment, I couldn't believe that anyone had ever felt as bad as I did.

But I can't deny her anything, so I end up showering after a week. The water clears my thoughts but doesn't take away the pain; it doesn't help me forget what happened. When I finish, I get ready, get dressed, do my hair and makeup. She tells me to pack some clothes since we would be sleeping at her house. I don't like the idea. She also mentions something about a club that I don't accept, but I don't refuse either. It wasn't my style; I wasn't a woman to go to a club to drink and dance, but I think I needed it. I think I needed to try to forget all this s**t.