Ethan

ISABELLA — 32 YEARS OLD

Appearance: Long brown hair, honey-colored eyes, delicate features, and a warm smile. She has a simple and feminine appearance. She usually wears comfortable and modest clothing.

Before: She was a sweet, naive, cheerful, dreamy, and trusting 19-year-old. She believed in true love and always saw the good in people. She was shy and had trouble recognizing bad intentions.

Now: She is a loving, hardworking, patient, and protective mother. She is still sweet and sensitive, but the difficult years have made her more mature and responsible. Sometimes she hides her sadness so as not to worry Ethan. Her greatest fear is losing her son.

ADRIÁN — 35 YEARS OLD

Appearance: Black hair, dark eyes, strong jawline, and attractive appearance. He wears elegant suits, expensive watches, and designer clothing.

Before: Arrogant, womanizing, selfish, manipulative, proud, and emotionally cold. He couldn't stand commitments and always tried to get his own way.

Now: He's still exactly the same man. The difference is that now he has money, power, a luxurious life, and he's used to getting everything he wants. He's controlling, vindictive, manipulative, and extremely proud. He uses his money to buy affection and control others. He didn't come back out of love for Ethan, but to hurt Isabella.

ETHAN — 13 YEARS OLD

Appearance: Slightly messy brown hair, hazel eyes, and a youthful face. He is of average height and usually wears hoodies, trendy sneakers, and designer clothes.

Before: He was a sweet, cheerful, affectionate boy, very close to his mother. He loved movie nights, ice cream parlors, parks, and baking cookies with Isabella. He was her little companion.

Now: He has become proud, capricious, materialistic, and defiant. He constantly seeks Adrián's approval and despises his mother's financial limitations. He can be hurtful and disobedient with Isabella. However, he is still a 13-year-old boy, emotionally vulnerable.

Isabella was 19 when she met Adrian at university. She had grown up in a humble but loving family. She was a sweet, quiet, and naive girl who always saw the good in people. She dreamed of graduating, having a career, and building a future her parents could be proud of.

Adrian was the complete opposite. He was 21, attractive, arrogant, popular, and known for getting into trouble. He disliked commitment, loved to party, and had a reputation for breaking hearts. Many girls tried to get his attention, but he never seemed interested in anyone.

Until he met Isabella.

At first, Adrián was charming to her. He brought her flowers, waited for her after class, and said sweet things to her. Isabella, who had never experienced love like this, believed she had finally found someone special.

Her friends warned her to be careful, that Adrián wasn't a good boy, but she always answered the same thing: "People aren't bad, they just need someone to truly love them."

And that's how their relationship began.

Isabella fell deeply in love, ignoring Adrián's initial signs of indifference, jealousy, and selfish behavior. Every time he hurt her, she found an excuse to forgive him. She believed her love would be enough to change him.

What Isabella didn't know was that she was giving her heart to someone who had never intended to take care of it.

Months passed, and the relationship between Isabella and Adrián grew increasingly painful. Arguments, contempt, and Adrián's absences became commonplace. Isabella cried in secret, but she clung to the hope that one day he would be the boy she had fallen in love with again.

Until one morning she discovered she was pregnant.

At first, she felt afraid. She was barely 21 and still had so many dreams to fulfill. However, she also felt immense happiness. She thought that this news could change things, that Adrián would finally understand the meaning of starting a family.

But when she told him, he reacted coldly.

"I don't want to be a father, Isabella. I'm not going to ruin my life for a child. I want to remain free."

Those words shattered her heart. Adrián ended the relationship and disappeared, leaving her alone with a pregnancy and a future filled with uncertainty.

Isabella cried for days. She was afraid, she felt abandoned, and she thought she wouldn't be able to cope. But when she first heard her baby's heartbeat, something changed inside her.

She was no longer alone. She had a tiny life growing inside her.

When her son, whom she named Ethan, was born, Isabella realized she had found a reason to get up every morning. That little boy became her greatest joy, her strength, and her motivation.

She had to temporarily abandon her studies, work, and learn to be a mother without help. It wasn't easy, but she never regretted it.

Adrian had been her darkness, but Ethan became the light that allowed her to move forward.

The years passed, and little by little, Isabella managed to build a peaceful life with Ethan. They didn't have great luxuries, but they had something much more important: they had each other.

Isabella worked long hours at a tiring job. There were days when she came home with aching feet and a tired body, but just hearing her little boy's voice was enough to make all her worries disappear.

Ethan was a cheerful, affectionate boy, very close to his mother. From a young age, he was used to accompanying her everywhere. Together they had little traditions: ice cream on Sundays, movie afternoons, visits to the park, and evenings baking cookies that almost always ended with flour all over the kitchen.

Isabella cherished every second with him. Although she couldn't buy him everything he wanted, she always found ways to make him happy. She cooked his favorite meals, helped him with his homework, and never forgot to kiss him goodnight.

For her, Ethan was her greatest pride. She didn't mind working late or giving up certain luxuries if it meant giving him a happy childhood.

Sometimes, as I watched him sleep, I thought about how lucky I was. I had been through some very difficult times, but finally I had the family I had always longed for.

Isabella believed that this happiness would last forever. She thought that, even if life was difficult, as long as they were together nothing could separate them.

She never imagined that the past she had tried so hard to leave behind was about to return to destroy the peace they had both built.

After thirteen years of absence, Adrián reappeared in Isabella and Ethan's lives. But he wasn't a repentant man, nor a father who finally longed to meet his son. He returned with the same arrogance as always, and with a far crueler intention: to make Isabella pay for having continued her life without him.

Adrian had changed in appearance. Now he had money, a comfortable life, and a privileged position. However, he was still the same selfish and manipulative man Isabella had met at university.

It all started when he demanded joint custody of Ethan. Isabella was bewildered. The man who had disappeared for thirteen years, who had never asked about his son or helped support him, now wanted to be a part of her life.

Isabella tried to protect Ethan, but Adrian had other plans. He began to get close to the boy with expensive gifts, next-gen video game consoles, designer clothes, and promises of a life of luxury.

But gifts weren't the only thing he offered her. Secretly, he began to tell her lies about her mother. He told her that Isabella had been the one who separated them, that she had hidden her existence from her, and that she had even been unfaithful to her during their relationship.

Little by little, Adrian sowed resentment in Ethan's heart.

Isabella noticed the changes, but she still couldn't imagine how far her former love's manipulation would go. The man who had once abandoned her was now using his own son to destroy her.

And this time, Isabella wasn't fighting to win back a relationship, but to avoid losing the person she loved most in the world.