Chapter 13 - THE WOMAN IN THE MIRROR
The first time I saw my reflection without flinching, I was standing in a dressing room.
I had gone shopping for a dress.
Not for work.
Not for a wedding.
Not because someone expected me to look a certain way.
Just because I wanted one.
The dress was green.
Soft fabric.
Simple neckline.
Nothing expensive.
I turned toward the mirror.
For a moment, I remembered the cracked bathroom mirror in the apartment I'd shared with Marcus.
The concealer.
The bruises.
The way I used to study my face and wonder how much longer I could hide what was happening.
Then I looked at myself again.
The woman in the mirror was smiling.
I began crying.
A sales assistant knocked gently.
“Everything okay?”
I laughed through tears.
“Yes.”
And I meant it.
That evening, Dante took me to dinner.
I wore the green dress.
He stood when I arrived.
His expression changed.
“Mia.”
I smiled.
“What?”
“You look beautiful.”
I laughed.
“Thank you.”
He stepped closer.
Then stopped.
“Can I say something?”
“Of course.”
“I love you.”
My heart stopped.
Dante looked nervous.
Not powerful.
Not untouchable.
Just a man waiting for an answer.
I studied him.
Then smiled.
“I love you too.”
He closed his eyes.
When he opened them, they were shining.
Our relationship wasn't perfect.
Sometimes Dante became too protective.
Sometimes I withdrew when I felt overwhelmed.
Sometimes we argued.
But we learned.
He learned to ask instead of assume.
I learned that disagreement didn't have to end in fear.
We learned to apologize without demanding immediate forgiveness.
And slowly, we built something neither of us had known how to build before.
Trust.
One Sunday, I visited my mother.
We sat in her kitchen drinking tea.
She looked at me for a long time.
“What?” I asked.
She smiled.
“You look different.”
I laughed.
“New haircut.”
“No.”
She shook her head.
“It's not that.”
I waited.
She reached across the table and took my hand.
“You look like yourself again.”
I started crying.
May you like
Then laughed.
“I think I am.”
