She woke up as natural light filtered in through the blinds of her apartment. 

She found her phone on the floor and immediately checked the time; it was 8:25 in the morning. She was about to drift back to sleep when she realized it was Monday. 

She stood up and said, “Adrian, why didn’t you wake me up?” into an empty apartment. She forgot that he broke up with her and moved out without a word yesterday. 

She rushed through her morning routine and accidentally scraped her face with her engagement ring while applying makeup. Fortunately, it didn’t leave a mark, but she decided to return the engagement ring to its red heart-shaped box. She stared at the closed lid before texting Adrian to pick it up later.

Julieta stood in front of the large mirror. Over the last six years, she had slowly adapted the architect's uniform. Black pants, black shirt, black sweater, and black leather calf boots. It made shopping easier, but she did miss the splashes of color in her wardrobe.

She glanced at the clock again and raced out the door. She was in her seat and clocked in at 9:15 AM, later than usual but not disastrous. 

Julieta’s coworker, Michael, a junior architect, approached her. He was an intern two years ago but was hired by her firm after she gave him a glowing recommendation. He was bright, detail-oriented, and best of all, highly communicative, which earned him high praise from all his coworkers.

“Julieta, do you have a minute?” he asked.

“Sure ”, she said in response.

As he looked up from the stack of blueprints, he glanced towards her left hand and noticed her engagement ring was missing. 

She prayed he wouldn’t say anything out loud. Fortunately, he didn’t and just asked some of the questions he had about the project. Then he left to correct a few details. 

Two hours into her workday, her supervisor sent an invitation for a lunch meeting. Julieta accepted, grateful for the excuse to think about something else. Meetings would be easier than sitting alone with her thoughts.