Forbidden

I went for water at two in the morning and the blue TV light stopped me cold. My son was on the sofa, and I couldn’t look away.

Mateo nodded toward me and went upstairs. I followed without thinking, knowing his girlfriend was my best friend and that nothing could stop us anymore.

That first night, Vega crossed the hall barefoot, entered the master bedroom, and sat on the king-size bed. What they did in the neighborhood cot no longer had to be hidden.

That night I went downstairs for a glass of water and never made it to the kitchen. What I saw in the shadows of the corner left me frozen there for a whole hour.

When she approached with a cigarette in hand and tattoos gleaming in the sun, I knew I’d answer her messages even with my husband sleeping beside me.

I went into the booth thinking it was just another routine afternoon. I came out a different woman, with the taste of a kiss that should never have happened.

When she got out of the car to meet another man, I knew that night would no longer belong only to me. I didn’t expect her to ask me to pay for the room from my phone.

A blue robe, a book, and one careless moment. One look through the window across the street was enough to change my morning forever.

When Sofía walked into the living room and found the loan shark tied up and her husband holding a shotgun, she knew her lie had reached its end.

I opened the door to his apartment wearing the shortest miniskirt I owned and saw his expression crack as his gaze climbed up my legs.

When Bruno looked up from his monitor and saw his boss staring at his mother, he knew he had two options: make a scene or stay silent.

When she called me from her room that afternoon, I still didn’t know the exam she was about to ask for would change what we felt for each other forever.

When the others went to the bar and we were left alone by the pool, my aunt asked me something that changed the way I would look at her forever.

They fought over a shitty pizza. He went into the shower. When the delivery guy rang the bell, she’d already decided to settle the score in the worst way.

My father had been away for two days. The girls were asleep upstairs. And Elena, barefoot on the sofa, looked at me as if she’d been waiting for this moment all night.

While rain beat against the windows, my wife’s friend drank my vodka and asked the exact questions that made me reveal everything I’d kept silent.

I came back sunburned and my aunt called me to her room to soothe me with cream. When her hands reached my hips, I knew something between us had changed.

My friends were strolling past the display windows laughing. I stopped in front of hers and, by the way she looked back at me, I knew that night wasn’t for them.

I left the bathroom door half open on purpose and knew, from the mirror’s reflection, that he was watching me. That day I accepted the five hundred soles and everything that followed.