But there was something else.
A quiet form of acceptance.
Not perfect, not complete, but real enough to hold onto.
When Mariana entered the room later, she did not hesitate before standing beside him, her presence natural, no longer uncertain in the same way.
“We’ll figure it out,” she said, not as a promise, but as a recognition of what lay ahead.
Ricardo nodded, not because he had all the answers, but because he no longer needed them in the way he once thought he did.
Outside, the light continued to fade, the day moving forward without pause, carrying with it everything that had been, and everything that would come next.
