👀 Different Eyes
Renata could not ignore the silence from Felipe’s room. One afternoon, she heard Sebastião kneeling by the bath, speaking to the boy in a broken voice:
“Come on, Felipe… show me you’re in there.”
The baby remained motionless. Renata knocked softly, entering the room.
“Do you have children?” Sebastião asked.
“No, sir. But I had brothers,” she answered.
“Then you know babies aren’t like this. They laugh, they cry… they’re alive. But mine…”
Renata swallowed fear and said, “May I… may I look at him, sir?”
Sebastião nodded. Renata knelt beside Felipe. She let drops of water fall near his mouth. He twitched. She hummed an old lullaby—he tilted his head. For the first time in six months, hope stirred in the baron’s heart.
