Alejandro felt the hospital floor move beneath his feet.

“No… that can’t be true,” he murmured.

Isabela kept her gaze steady.

—I wish I were wrong.

—But the ultrasound is clear.

—Lucía is not pregnant.

Alejandro’s heart was beating so loudly he could barely hear it.

—So… what’s inside her?

Isabela took a deep breath.

—A mass.

—A mass?

—A fairly large abdominal tumor.

The words fell like stones.

—But… she said she was pregnant… we saw the test…

Isabela frowned.

—Did you see the test?

Alejandro hesitated.

He remembered that day.

Lucía had entered the room with the test in her hand.

—Yes… it had two red lines.

Isabela sighed.

—The evidence can be manipulated.

The world began to spin in Alejandro’s head.

-I don’t understand anything…

Isabela moved closer.

Listen carefully. The tumor is serious. Very serious.

-Cancer?

—We don’t know yet. But the size explains why her abdomen seems slightly bulging… although not like a normal pregnancy.

Alejandro ran his hand over his face.

—So… why pretend?

Isabela looked at him harshly.

—That’s what I want to know too.

At that moment the door to the room opened.

Lucia left.

He walked slowly.

His face was even paler.

Her eyes immediately searched for Alejandro.

“Is everything alright?” she asked in a trembling voice.

Alejandro felt a deep pain in his chest.

But before she could speak, Isabela intervened.

—Lucía… we need to talk.

The three people entered a small private room.

The silence was heavy.

Lucia looked at her hands.

“The ultrasound was clear,” Isabela finally said.

Lucia closed her eyes.

—There is no baby.

Alejandro felt his heart break into a thousand pieces.

“Why…?” she whispered.

Lucia started to cry.

It wasn’t a dramatic cry.

It was the cry of someone who had been carrying an impossible weight for months.

—Because I was afraid.

Alejandro frowned.

—Afraid of what?

Lucia looked up.

—To lose you.

Tears streamed down her face.

—Five years without being able to give you a child.

—Your family is always asking questions.

—Your aunts whispering that I wasn’t cut out to be a mother.

Her voice broke.

—I thought you’d get tired of it someday.

Alejandro felt a mixture of sadness and confusion.

—Lucía… I never said that.

—But I heard it the same way.

She breathed shakily.

—Seven months ago I started to feel pains in my abdomen.

—I thought it was a pregnancy.

—I bought a test… it came back negative.

Lucia lowered her gaze.

—But I also discovered something else.

-That?

—That he had a lump.

—A tumor.

Alejandro was frozen.

—Did you already know?

Lucia nodded.

—I went to a small clinic.

—They told me it could be serious.

—But I… I couldn’t accept that after five years without children… I was also sick.

—So… —her voice broke— I invented the pregnancy.

The silence in the room was unbearable.

—I thought that at least for a few months… we could be happy.

Alejandro felt something inside him break.

—Lucía…

“I’m sorry,” she sobbed. “I’m so sorry.”

Isabela took a deep breath.

—The important thing now is to treat the tumor.

—We need to do more studies.

Alexander looked at his wife.

The woman he had loved for five years.

The woman who had lied… but also suffered in silence.

Isabela spoke again.

—Alejandro… what I told you before…

—About the divorce?

The doctor nodded slowly.

—I said it because I thought she had deceived you out of self-interest or manipulation.

He looked at Lucia.

—But now I understand that it was fear.

Alexander slowly approached his wife.

Lucia did not raise her gaze.

“Look at me,” he said.

She obeyed.

Her eyes were filled with guilt.

Alejandro took her hand.

—Did you really think I would leave you because you couldn’t have children?

Lucia was unable to respond.

He squeezed her hand gently.

—I wanted a child with you.

—But I loved you more.

Lucia’s tears started to fall again.

—Even now—Alexander continued—.

—Even if there’s no baby.

—Even if there is an illness.

—I’m still here.

Lucia looked at him as if she couldn’t believe it.

—Aren’t you angry?

Alejandro sighed.

-I’m sad.

—But not with you.

He hugged her.

—I’m sad because you went through all this alone.

Months later…

The diagnosis confirmed the worst.

Abdominal cancer.

But something unexpected also happened.

The tumor was treatable.

It wouldn’t be easy.

But there was hope.

During the treatment, Alejandro never left Lucía alone.

She was cooking.

I accompanied her to the sessions.

He slept in the hospital chair when necessary.

One year later…

Lucia was in remission.

One afternoon, sitting on the sofa in his house in Guadalajara, Alejandro told her something she would never forget.

—Maybe we’ll never have a child.

Lucia nodded.

—But we survived something much more difficult.

He took her hand.

—And that… is also a family.