It was a cold, dreary day in January when Maria's heart was shattered into a million pieces. She had just received a text from her boyfriend of two years, James, saying that he needed to talk to her in person. Maria's heart sank as she read those words, knowing that something terrible was about to happen.
She walked to the coffee shop where they had agreed to meet, feeling like she was walking to her own execution. When she arrived, James was already there, looking serious and grave.
"Maria, we need to talk," he said as soon as she sat down.
Maria's stomach turned as she braced herself for the worst. She knew what was coming, even before James said the words.
"I'm sorry, Maria, but I think we need to break up," James said, his voice soft and sad.
Maria felt like she had been punched in the stomach. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. They had been together for two years, and she had thought everything was going well. They had talked about getting married, having children, building a life together. And now, out of nowhere, James was breaking up with her.
"Why?" Maria managed to ask, her voice barely above a whisper.
"I just don't think we're right for each other anymore," James said, his eyes downcast.
Maria felt like screaming. She wanted to shake James and ask him how he could do this to her. How he could just throw away everything they had built together, all the plans they had made. But she didn't say anything. She just sat there, feeling numb and empty.
James tried to explain himself, to tell Maria that he still cared about her, that he didn't want to hurt her. But Maria couldn't hear him. All she could hear was the sound of her heart breaking into a million pieces.
For the next few days, Maria wandered around in a daze. She couldn't eat, couldn't sleep, couldn't think about anything except James and what had happened between them. She tried to call him, to text him, to beg him to come back to her. But he didn't answer her calls or respond to her messages.
Maria felt like she was going crazy. She couldn't imagine her life without James. He had been her everything, her reason for living. And now he was gone, and she was left with nothing.
Finally, after a week of misery, Maria decided that she needed to get out of the house. She went for a walk in the park, trying to clear her head and make sense of what had happened. As she walked, she noticed a man sitting on a bench, staring off into space. He looked sad and lost, like he was carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders.
Maria felt drawn to him, like she could understand what he was feeling. She walked over to him and sat down on the bench next to him.
"Are you okay?" she asked, even though she knew he wasn't.
The man looked at her, and Maria felt like she was looking into a mirror. They were both heartbroken, both lost.
"No," the man said, his voice hoarse. "I just broke up with my girlfriend."
Maria felt a pang of sympathy for him. She knew exactly how he felt.
"What happened?" she asked, wanting to hear his story.
The man told her about his girlfriend, about how they had been together for three years, and how he had thought everything was going well. But then she had started acting distant, and he had confronted her about it. And then she had broken up with him, just like that.
Maria listened to him, feeling like they were connected somehow, like they were both experiencing the same pain.
"It's hard