During the car ride home, the weight of everything finally sank in for Christina.

The emotional chaos of the wedding seemed to blur in her mind, but one thought stood out—Arturo. How could he be engaged? They had flown in together, rented the house they were staying in together, and spent the night prior in bed together. When did Carmen even arrive? Did she come with his family?

A knot tightened in her stomach as she replayed the night repeatedly.

She could not shake the feeling of betrayal; she instinctively reached for her phone, desperate to verify if this engagement was real. If it were real, someone would’ve posted it by now. But as she rummaged through her purse, panic set in.

It’s not here.

Christina’s heart dropped. She quickly realized where it must be, in David’s jacket.

She had slipped her phone into his pocket. “Fantasico,” she muttered bitterly, frustration bubbling up inside her.

---

The silence felt unbearable when she arrived at the home she and Arturo had rented. This was supposed to be their special weekend, the weekend she would finally introduce him to her family. They were supposed to make everything official: no more hiding or playing games.

Instead, she discovered that the man she thought she knew, he man she had shared most of her life with, was engaged to someone else.

She wanted to scream, cry, tear apart the house.

“Tanto viaje, tanto esfuerzo… ¿y todo para que me engañaras así?” she said aloud, her voice shaking with disbelief and anger.

She thought about Arturo and then her cousin Jessica. It was she who “introduced” them to her. Jessica knew that the rumors were true, and she wanted validation. She wanted to see her crumble; this was just like her cousin, always jealous and looking for a way to hurt her. A big part of her regretted even coming at all.

“Entre su hipocresía y su compromiso falso, deberían brindar por lo bien que engañan.” she muttered darkly, bitterness seeping into every word.

But before she could fully indulge in her sadness, she remembered her phone. She needed it—needed to confirm that what she’d heard and seen was real. Sitting down at her computer, she began tracking its location. As expected, it was with David.

Y ahora cómo se supone que voy a recuperar mi teléfono, she thought, annoyed. She had no landline to call her cell phone, and even then, it wouldn’t ring because it was on silent. Pinging it would instantly alert David. She wouldn’t risk him arriving this late to drop off her phone. Because if he did, she knew she wouldn’t ask him to leave, especially tonight, when more than anything, all she wanted was to forget.

Instead, through her drunken state, she felt that her only hope was to turn to social media, hoping to find a way to reach David through Jessica’s profile. And not look so desperate.

But as she scrolled through, something hit her.

She hadn’t realized just how disconnected she’d become from her own family.

No cousins. No Jessica. Not even the narrator—me. There was no trace of them in her followers, no mutual tags, nothing.

Out of curiosity, or maybe desperation, she searched the wedding hashtag Jessica had created. Dozens of filtered posts, recycled captions, and curated chaos filled her screen.

And David?

He was like a ghost. No tags. No mentions. No trail.

The only way to reach him now… would mean sending a follow request.

Or worse—a DM.

---

Defeated.

Christina leaned back in her chair, her thoughts turned back to Arturo. With her hands trembling, and against her better judgement she opened his social media.

There, her worst fears were confirmed. Staring back at her was a photo of Arturo and Carmen, smiling as though they hadn’t just shattered her world. The caption read:

“Dijo que sí 💍 Gracias por hacerme el hombre más feliz del mundo. Te amo infinito. #Comprometidos #FuturaEsposa #TodoEsPerfecto”

The words felt like a punch to the gut. She slammed her laptop shut, unable to look at the photo any longer.

Hot tears welled up in her eyes, and this time, she couldn’t stop them.

The reality was too much.

“Perfecto,”she sobbed, her voice breaking. “Mi vida amorosa es un desastre… y ni siquiera tengo mi maldito teléfonoo.”