Forbidden

I climbed the tree behind the dormitory to confirm what I already knew. I never imagined seeing her with him on the balcony would awaken something between rage and desire I’d never felt.

Lucía came to the mirror naked and called me by the name only she uses. That night, with our parents gone, we stopped being just siblings.

I locked the door and turned off the lights in the study room. All I wanted that afternoon was to comfort her; all she wanted was to forget her boyfriend.

Three hours reading stories on my phone were enough for me to accept Iván’s proposal. The next day, that hidden camera changed my whole life.

She came in wearing her white uniform and her usual smile. What neither of them saw coming was that the other woman was on the sofa, three meters from the game.

An hour before dinner, the kids were watching cartoons in the living room and I crossed the garden looking for my wife. The laundry room door was ajar.

The rule was simple: keep the mask on, no talking. What Marcos didn’t know was who he was touching on his knees in my living room.

For years, Romina had imagined her mother while making love to her boyfriend. That night, with wine loosening her tongue, she could no longer keep it inside.

When I got into the car that morning and saw her alone at the wheel, I knew the weekend wouldn’t be innocent in the slightest.

I went downstairs barefoot for a glass of water, convinced I was alone. I saw the light on in the office and knew that morning wasn’t going to end the way it had begun.

When she walked into the office with those hips, I knew the appointment wouldn’t be routine. What I didn’t imagine was how far her exam would go.

I dialed her number when I figured he already had her beneath him. I wanted to hear her moan while another man paid for her, never knowing I was in on it.

At three in the morning, I pretended the blanket was covering my eyes. What I saw in my own living room I should never have seen, and yet I never looked away.

I recognized him the moment he turned around. He was going to be my gym teacher, and at the first touch of his hands on my back, I knew that day wasn’t ending there.

When I looked at myself in the hotel mirror, mascara running and marks on my neck, I knew no lie would be enough when I got home.

The lover’s initials weren’t written out in full, but they matched the man smoking on my balcony.

I used to dream about men. Now it’s only her: the stranger who touches me under the table and slips into my bed every night, even though my partner sleeps beside me.

We’re identical, she repeated as she painted her lips. And it was almost true: only one detail separated the twins, and it was the one Carla had never confessed to her boyfriend.

I accepted the date out of curiosity: to be the object my boss lends his friends. But what his partner wanted from me that night, I never could have imagined.

I went downstairs wearing the dress Mom had worn on her last vacation. When my father lifted his eyes, I knew something in him had broken forever.