Sofia finally spoke, her voice softer than I expected. “I’m sorry,” she said, and for a moment, I sensed sincerity in her. Her eyes, though, were filled with questions she wasn’t ready to voice.

After they left, I lay in the stark silence of my hospital room, grappling with the realization that my life was about to change irrevocably. The burden of pretense had been lifted, and I felt a strange sense of liberation mixed with heartache.