Today I graduate from high school with my boyfriend Mario. We've been together for 2 years and I'm happy because I'll be meeting his parents since they're coming to the graduation, and I've waited so long for this. We have plans to get married.

I work at a law firm as the receptionist, the one who passes on the notices or appointments. I was recommended by a teacher. I don't do much, but the salary is very good. I'm the smartest in my class, which helped me get into the best university since they're offering me a scholarship with almost everything paid for. I chose architecture. Mario and I have plans to create our own company since he'll be taking the same course. I know his family is dedicated to that, and I like that it's independent of me.

Leaving work, I go to the plaza to buy the dress for the evening. Since it's a very special day, I go to my room to take a bath. I put on the dress and return to the plaza, entering a salon where they do my makeup and hair. When it's time to pay, I tell myself that I deserve it.

I leave the plaza and call Mario, but he doesn't answer. It's strange since he always answers my calls. I send him a message saying we'll see each other at the hall.

I take a taxi, and when I arrive, my classmates are happy. I join them since I've always liked having good communication. They ask about him, but I tell them he's coming. We enter the hall, and I take pictures with my group. We sit down, and Mario doesn't appear. I'm starting to worry. They hand out the diplomas, and I go up, receiving first place. When I'm up there, I see Mario sitting down, and I wave to him, but he only half-smiles.

Taken aback, I go down, sitting in my place, and a classmate arrives saying,

"Mario is here."

I just nod. They start handing out the papers, and this time he goes to get his documents, and then I go, but this time I avoid looking at him.

When everything ends, they announce that there will be a disco for those who want to stay. It hurts me because we planned this for 2 years, and now he's doing this to me.

I pour myself punch, and my classmates come over to chat with me.

"Can I be alone?" I tell them with a forced smile.

"Most of us wouldn't have passed if it weren't for your help," one of my classmates tells me.

"Come on, Mia, let's dance," one of my classmates pulls me.

I go up to the dance floor with them, we laugh and dance, and for a moment I forget everything until I feel someone pull my arm.

"What are you doing with that idiot?" Mario says, pointing to one of my classmates.

"What do you want, Mario?"

"I've been looking for you to introduce you to my parents, and you're dancing with someone else. What do you think my parents will think?" he complains angrily.

I'm about to answer when I see the people approaching.

"You're Mia, right?" the lady asks me.

"Yes, it's a pleasure," I say, greeting them.

"My son doesn't stop talking about you, and how could he not, you're a very beautiful young woman, and from what I saw, the smartest."

"Thank you, ma'am."

"Tell us, what will you do, what are your plans?" the man asks me.

"He hasn't decided yet," Mario replies seriously.

"Let your companion answer," his father says, annoyed.

"Companion?" I ask, doubtful.

"Tell us, who are your parents? Your last name?"

"Mother, please," Mario says through his teeth.

"I don't have parents, ma'am, and my last name is irrelevant. I don't see that anything can change if I tell you," I say seriously.

She looks at me scared, and what she tells me makes me feel so bad that I hold back the lump in my throat.

"You don't want to tell us your last name because you think you can take ours," she tells me.

"Ma'am, I have one, and that's enough for me."

"Mia, please leave us alone," Mario tells me.

I pass by his side, but what I hear from his father leaves me still.

"I told you, if you just wanted to have sex, you could have done it, there was no need to promise her things that aren't going to happen because you're too much for her."

When the song stops, I hear clearly how he tells her,

"I'm working on it."

I go back, slapping Mario. His mother looks at me angrily, and his father just watches me without saying anything.

"We're over. Don't look for me or call me."

I leave the hall. I know many saw what happened. Does it hurt? Of course, I confided secrets and dreams to him, but he didn't care.

I take a taxi since I want to get as far away from here as possible. I'm about to get in when I hear Mario talking to me.

"Mia, wait, I love you, okay? I love you more than you know. What I said inside was just so my parents would leave you alone."

"And what's next? Seeing each other in secret? Your parents are people who lack humility, and you know I'm not interested in having anything to do with them."

"I just wanted you to know that I love you. We won't be able to see each other anymore, but you know it wasn't just sex, because if it was, I would have left you since we made love."

"Don't repeat it, don't you dare repeat it. Forget about me, Mario, and you better make sure that neither you nor anyone in your family gets in my way," I say, pushing him.

"And what could an orphan like you do to us?" his mother says, arriving where we are.

"Watch your words, ma'am, because one day I'll make sure you swallow them all."

I turn my back, getting into the taxi that takes me back to my room. I wipe away the few tears that run down my cheek, fan my face, and the taxi driver speaks to me.

"Bad night, miss?"

"Yes," I reply.

"Don't be sad. I have a daughter your age, and believe me, if someone made her cry and I saw her, it would break my heart. So, show me a smile because I imagine it's my daughter, and my heart breaks."

I smile at him, and he smiles back at me. We arrive, and he gives me his card.

"I do all kinds of trips."

I pay him and take it, thanking him.

I enter my room and see my cell phone where I have missed calls and messages from Mario.

I leave everything aside and lie down trying to sleep, because even though I have vacations before entering university, I have to work, and in these days I plan to double shifts to not think so much and thus earn some money that I will need with the expenses of the university.

I wake up to the sound of my alarm, and the sadness comes as I recall what happened yesterday.

I get dressed and head out to work, I flag down the bus and get on, putting on my headphones. A call comes in from Miguel, one of my friends.

"Hello, we couldn't visit you, since Mario was expecting us to do that to follow us."

"Thanks, I'm on my way to work," I say, changing the subject.

"I still don't understand how he didn't know where you lived, but I think it was good after all."

"Miguel, I'm going to leave you, I'm about to arrive," I say, but he speaks again.

"Are you going for your things? Today is the farewell and we have to empty the lockers."

"Yes, see you there."

I end the call and get up to get off the bus, I enter my workplace and see them almost running.

"Mia, please, my pending tasks," my direct boss tells me.

I look in the agenda and take it to him.

"What's with that face, young lady," he says, looking at me and continuing to write, I'm about to leave when he speaks again. "Everything okay?"

"Sir, I wanted to talk to you about double shifts."

"Of course, we have more work this vacation."

"Thank you," I say, returning to my workplace, the hours pass and I hear the same thing wherever I go.

"Mr. Walter is returning from his trip today and we found out that he is looking for the best lawyer," I hear them talking.

"If he chooses our law firm, we will be the best in the city."

"Why is he looking for one?" they ask.

"Being such a large infrastructure, architecture and real estate agency, I know they also buy companies to demolish them, and since they are the largest in the country, they need to have one, you know, just in case."

"Mia, my appointments," my boss tells me and I get up to deliver them.

"If that's all, sir, I'll be leaving."

"And that?" He points, I look behind me and they come in with a bouquet of roses.

"How beautiful, Mia," the people who see it tell me.

The boy who brings them approaches and hands me a card, I open it to read it.

"I have tried to locate you, I spoke with my parents and they will not interfere between us, our plans are still on, I know I need to do a lot for you to give me another chance, I just hope you are willing to give it to me, I love you."

I grab the flowers signing for receipt.

"I already saw the reason for that sad face," my boss tells me, "I know, because that face is now very illuminated with happiness."

I say goodbye leaving and take the flowers with me, I take another bus to the high school, when I enter my classmates are happy, they tell me how Mario got angry with his parents and asked them where I lived but they didn't want to tell him.

"Thank you guys," I tell them.

"Hopefully Mario will do things right this time, because it seems that his parents are very special," Miguel tells me.

"Since this school is one of the best, it's for people who have money, maybe that's why they thought you came from a family like them," one of my classmates tells me but she realizes what she just said.

"Maybe, but I never pretended to have something I didn't have."

"That's true."

I walk to my locker and take out all my things, but I see something that is not mine, it is a white box, I open it and there is a ring inside, I turn around and Mario is standing there.

"Tell me you accept," he says, taking the box away from me and taking out the ring asking for my hand.

"We have a lot to talk about."

"But this is what we always talked about, when we graduated we would get married."

"It was before I realized that you don't know much about me."

"Now we will live together and there will be no more secrets, please, they are watching us, just accept the ring and we have to go somewhere else to talk, don't throw away two years of dating just because my parents don't know what you and I have been through."

He takes my hand putting it on, I am surprised by what is happening, I do not give answers but I do not prevent him from putting it on, we leave together to a coffee shop, we arrive and order, I put the bouquet on the table and anyone who sees it is surprised, he grabs my hand giving me a kiss, as he usually does.

"I will rent near the university, my parents don't want me to live in the rooms there, they want me to concentrate on my studies to achieve my dream of managing a large company like my uncle's."

"Your uncle who you say your whole family hates?"

"Well, not the whole family, just my father, since his brother managed to go further than everyone."

His cell phone rings and he gets up to answer it.

I get a message from my boss, that today I start doubling shifts, I look at the ring and take it off, the waitress leaves the desserts on the table and Mario returns.

"I'm sorry, there will be a meeting at my house, as you can see it's my family and I have to take care of them just so they don't think our family is going through a family crisis, but they won't interfere in our relationship."

"Ose that?"

"Mia please I don't want to argue."

"Mario we are not going to get married and we are not going back together, you don't know me, I don't know you, and last night when I saw your parents I realized that I don't want to have anything to do with people like that, and a wedding? Forming a family? nothing assures me that at any moment for any problem you will run to your parents."

"It won't happen, I love you and just imagining losing you, nothing is worth it."

"That's what you say now."

"You won't fight for this, for us?" He says trying to grab my hands.

But I move my hands away leaving the ring, I get up taking money from my wallet and leave it on the table, paying the bill.

"Don't do this," he says.

I turn around walking, I wanted to give him the opportunity but something in me says no, of course I love him but I don't want to hurt myself, his family will never accept me and he has his own plans and it's time for me to make my own.

I enter work, leave my things, and concentrate on what requires my concentration.

I go out for my lunch break, to a stall I always like to be at.

My cell phone won't stop ringing, so I silence it. I swipe to see the messages Mario left on my phone, without opening them.

"Mia, you've made me suffer a lot already, what do you want? Tell me anything but something that has to do with my parents."

And there are countless messages like that, which I ignore.

I return to work and everyone is sad. Apparently, the man they were talking about chose another law firm.

I finish my shift and go out very late to wait for the bus.

"Come on, I'll take you, Dario my boss says. He's an elderly person."

"Thank you, but your family must be waiting for you."

"Come on, it's on my way."

I agree since he's always been very kind to me, and he always gave me a ride whenever there was a gathering.

"Everything okay with the handsome guy?"

"We're not together anymore."

"You're still young, you have a whole life ahead of you. Let me give you some advice: first it's you, then it's you, and lastly it's you. Whenever I want to explain something to my daughter, I always use you as an example. I tell her that you're a young woman who has come far because of this, he says, touching his head."

"You alone have gotten where you are because of you."

"I've had a lot of help."

"But because you encourage them to help you, you make yourself noticed, don't let a small stone in your path prevent what you want to achieve."

We arrive and I thank him.

"Don't make plans for tomorrow, it's my daughter's birthday and my wife said she'll invite you."

"I don't have plans and thank you, boss, I say and he leaves until he sees me go inside. Tomorrow is my day off, and I need to distract myself a little. I change clothes, put on my robe, and sit on the bed with the laptop on my lap. On my cell phone, I write down all the expenses I will have. I'm very frugal, and I'm almost there."

For a month, this will be my life: working and resting. I lie down on the bed and look at the stuffed animal Mario gave me.

I don't want to think about that so I start looking at information about modern architecture. There's a photo where the best architects are shown, and Mario's parents are there. I remember what they were talking about in the office, so I Google it but there are no photos or information.

I give up, and seeing that it's very late, I force myself to sleep since I have to do some shopping tomorrow. My boss's daughter is my age, and I wouldn't know what to give her since she must have everything.

I wake up to the sound of the door. I open it and, being a separate room, it has some stairs at the entrance.

My best friend Karla comes in. She was traveling and hugs me as soon as I open the door.

"I heard what happened, that little, spineless, idiot, imbecile. I hope his dick falls off, she says, and that last part makes me laugh."

She comes in and sits on my bed.

"I love your style, you should be a home decorator."

"As Shrek says, what someone can do with a small budget, I say and she laughs, lying down on my bed."

"I told you to go with me on the trip, my parents really like you, they love you more than me, you're the daughter they would have wanted to have, she says and I put water on to boil for coffee."

"Everyone says the same thing but that didn't stop my parents from abandoning me in that orphanage."

"We don't know if they did it because they wanted to or maybe something happened to them."

"Did you already pick up your papers?"

"We already went there and then I escaped to come see you. I got punished for crashing the fifth car, and not only for that but for crashing it into my mother's."

"Is she okay? I say, giving her a cup and taking a sip of mine."

"Yes, her car was parked."

I laugh at what she tells me.

"I bought you something there, she says, giving me a bag."

I take it out, and it's a dress.

"I bought it for you so that idiot Mario would drool when he saw you wearing it, but now it gives me more pride, so he can see what he's missing out on. Tonight is singles night."

"I already have plans."

"Where?"

"My boss's daughter is having a birthday, and I was invited."

"Let's go and from there we go celebrate."

"Aren't you grounded?"

"If you ask my parents for permission, they'll let me. I'll stay with you today and tomorrow when you go to work I'll go to my house, let's go."

"Okay, I say."

She throws my pillows, jumping on my bed like a little girl.