The husband brought his young lover to live in the house… and every night his wife would come out elegantly dressed.
— I wanted to congratulate you.
Maria smiled slightly.
– Thank you.
Ricardo doubted some seconds.
— Maria… I know I don’t deserve to ask for anything.
She listened to him calmly.
— But I want to change.
Maria responded immediately.
He looked out the window at the illuminated city.
— “Changing isn’t something you say,” he finally said. “It’s something you demonstrate.”
Ricardo agreed slowly.
— Then I will prove it.
I didn’t know if it was too late.
Maybe so.
Maybe.
But for the first time in many years, Ricardo understood that love was not possession or pride.
It was respect.
And as they walked together towards the exit of the gallery, Maria breathed in the fresh night air.
For the first time in a long time she felt light .
She was already the woman who lived in silence inside a house where nobody saw her.
Now she was an artist.
A free woman.
And, perhaps… if destiny allowed it, also a woman capable of starting over .
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