Episode 1

I rush into the operating room at the immediate call of the emergency. After more than 4 hours fighting to save a life, I leave exhausted, almost dragging my feet through the hallways, when suddenly I see my husband and son with a woman.

I want to go in, but my feet won't move, especially after hearing their conversation.

"Mommy, you have to get well soon."

"Yes, honey, Mommy will be fine soon."

Mommy? Wasn't Saul's mother supposed to have died during childbirth? What is happening here, and who is this woman, really? A nurse was already changing her IV, so as she left, I rushed to ask her.

"Who is your patient?"

"Oh, a young family of three. The woman hurt her ankle skating with her son. Can you believe how that little one was taking care of his mother?"

"I see, how sweet."

I couldn't take the intrigue anymore, and the nurse's words only caused more doubts and pain in my chest. I enter without even knocking, with my professional smile.

"Good afternoon, everyone. What do we have here today?"

The astonished face of my husband makes it clear that he didn't expect to see me at all, while my son's gives me chills. He clings with great determination to that woman while giving me a threatening look.

"What are you doing here, Emily?"

"I work here. We've been married for 7 years, and you still don't know it, Ricardo."

The woman finally speaks, noticing the tension in the room. "She's your wife, Ricardo?"

"That's right. She's Emily."

"I see, nice to meet you. I'm Sabrina, doctor."

"Can we talk outside, Ricardo?"

"Yes, we can. I'll be right back, son."

Saul ignores me completely as he continues to cling to her arms. Am I really worth nothing to this child, to whom I dedicated 7 years of care and love? Ricardo reluctantly leaves and corners me to one side, but I'm not going to give in.

"What is happening here? Who is that woman, and why does Saul call her Mommy?"

"She is my son's mother."

"You told me she died during childbirth."

"I lied to you. She left, and now she's back to be with him. You can't be so cruel and deprive the child of sharing with the woman who gave birth to him, Emily."

"I'm the cruel one for wanting to know what's going on? I, who took her place and her responsibilities for 7 years, am the bad one, while the woman who abandoned him just hours after birth is the exemplary mother."

"Don't say those things, you don't know anything."

"You've been seeing her all this time in secret, taking advantage of my work hours, that's why Saul feels so comfortable with her. Why didn't you tell me anything?"

"It was a family matter, something that doesn't concern you."

Now I understand everything, his cold look tells me what his cowardly mouth keeps silent. I never meant anything to Ricardo or Saul, they just needed a woman to take care of them while this woman decided to come back.

"Fine."

I turn my back to get as far away from him as possible.

"Don't behave like a child, Emily, this is not what you think."

Every word he says is another knife in my heart. I met Ricardo when I was in a children's hospital doing my internship, he arrived agitated one night with a baby just over 4 months old with a high fever. I felt so sorry for him when he told me that he was a single father taking care of the baby alone and that he didn't understand many things.

His tears of desperation and pain at seeing his little son in that state melted my heart. The following days, while I was taking care of the baby, Ricardo began to tell me his story, and little by little we became closer. I loved Saul in that short period of 10 days, and little by little I grew to love Ricardo.

When the baby was well and discharged, Ricardo invited me to a dinner as a thank you, and since then we have been inseparable. Only a year later we got married. I thought we had a beautiful love, one of those that only appear in soap operas, with a chance encounter that unites two lives, in this case three.

I always saw and loved Saul as my own son, after all, I saw him take his first steps, I also heard his first words, his first tooth, how can I forget the emotion and sadness of his first day of school. All those moments were an invaluable treasure for me until today, when I discovered that everything was a lie and that even that little one who ran into my arms and called me Mom now turns his back on me as if nothing.

I collapse on the emergency stairs, letting out what is killing me, so many mixed feelings, so much disappointment to see that I was never considered part of his family.

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