The oak of promises

The village of San Juan de los Olivos had a guardian: a centuries-old oak tree that stood on the highest hill. Under its shade, in the summer when they were six years old, Julián and Elena sealed their destiny.

He was a shy boy who found his only refuge in Elena's laughter. That afternoon, Julián took a sharp stone and carved his initials into it. With his heart pounding, he asked her for something, which she, amidst games and jumps, accepted as one accepts a piece of candy:

"Elena, when we're twenty-two, if neither of us is married, we'll get married. Promise it here, before the oak tree." Elena laughed, a crystalline melody that Julián captured in an imaginary bottle. "Done! It's a blood oath, Julián," she said, linking their little fingers before darting off after a butterfly. For her, it was the afternoon's game; for him, it was a lifetime's contract. The Silence of the Years Decades passed. Julián grew up protecting Elena from the distance of "best friends." He was there when she scraped her knees at ten, when she cried over her first failed exam at fifteen, and when they moved to the city for college.

Julián was always the guiding light. He kept his feelings locked away, feeding on the hope that, when he turned twenty-two, fate would claim its due. He never dated anyone; for Julián, the space beside him already belonged to someone else, even if she didn't know it. The Cruel Encounter Elena's twenty-second birthday arrived under a gray sky. Julián summoned her to the old oak tree, the place where it all began. He carried in his pocket a small velvet box and a speech he had rehearsed a thousand times.

However, when he reached the hill, the sight hit him like a whirlwind. Elena wasn't alone. She was entwined in the arms of a square-jawed, easy-smiling boy: Mateo, the captain of the faculty's debate team.

—"Julian! You're here!"— she exclaimed, her eyes shining in a way they had never before.

Seen. —"I wanted you to be the first to know. Mateo and I... we're moving in together. He asked me to be his girlfriend!"—"It wasn't for me," Julián shouted, letting the tears flow freely for the first time in sixteen years. —"It wasn't a game, or a story, or a distraction. I've loved you every second since I was six. I've saved every place for you, I've turned down every opportunity because my goal was always this day, this tree, and you."

The silence that followed was deafening. Elena let go of Mateo's hand, taking a step back, her face pale with the realization that, while she lived her life, her best friend had been building a temple dedicated to her in the void. The Truth Behind the Wound Julian's world shattered in an instant. The air grew heavy, and the old oak tree seemed to shrink. Matthew extended his hand in a friendly gesture, but Julian didn't take it.