“Everyone called me crazy for marrying a 60-year-old woman,” but on our wedding night I saw a mark on her shoulder, I heard “I have to tell you the truth” and I understood that my whole life had been a lie

That night, when we were finally alone in a huge bedroom, Celia closed the door with trembling hands. Then she placed a thick envelope and some keys on a table.

“It’s your wedding gift,” he told me. “One million pesos and a truck.”

I smiled nervously and pushed the envelope back.

—I don’t need any of that. With you, I’ve already won.

Then she looked at me in a strange way. Sad. As if she were about to break.

— Son… I mean, Efraín … before this goes any further, I have to tell you something.

I felt a chill.

Celia slowly removed her shawl. And when my gaze fell on her left shoulder, I froze.

It had a dark, round moon with an irregular edge.

The same.

In the same place.

The same mark that my mother had always had on her collarbone.

I raised my hand, trembling.

—That mark… why do you have it?

Celia closed her eyes and took a step back.

The air grew heavy. The room stopped feeling like a suite and began to feel like a trap.

“Because I can no longer remain silent,” she whispered.

And when she opened her mouth to tell the truth, I understood that she couldn’t believe what was about to happen…

PART 2
I didn’t sit down. I couldn’t.

Celia did. She slumped down on the edge of the bed as if the years had suddenly fallen upon her.

—Twenty years ago —he finally said— I had a son.

First I felt strangeness. Then anger. After that, a kind of fear that tightened my chest.

—And what does that have to do with me?

She looked directly at me.

-All.