Chapter 13

A few minutes later, Luciene looked calmer.

There was no more weight, her heart no longer ached. She was tired, her eyes swollen and red from crying, but now she knew and felt completely safe.

The shadow that seemed to be lurking Luciene since she woke up in the hospital, creeping into the darkness of the room, melted away as if the heavy drapes that covered the sun's rays had finally been thrown open in the morning after the night's tortuous storm.

With her head pressed against her mother's chest, she listened to the rhythmic sound of Suely´s heartbeat, just as Luciene had done when she was a child, when she had nightmares at dawn, when she was sad and afraid, and when the yearning hurt so much she felt like she was going to die. There was her safe and sound place, no storm would take her away, no matter how hard it tried.

Luciene took a deep breath and lifted her head, seeing the large brown eyes that regarded her with all the affection in the world. They glowed deeply, focusing all their attention on Luciene. Searching for all the tears that were still running down on the young woman's face, Suely wiped them away by gently running her thumbs across Luciene's warm cheeks as she sniffled with a shy smile on her lips.

Suely held Luciene's face and pressed their foreheads "I love you so much my little one, you know right?" Luciene smiled at her childhood nickname. Hers always called the 'little one', even as she grew up and got bigger than Suely, turning into 'little-big-one'. And her father always called her a little star, a light that would always remind him of home.

With a warm heart, Luciene nodded "I know mom, I love you too" With the smile that her mother loved the most, that made her eyes, that weren't even that small, almost close in a half-moon.

Compared to many families, we could tell that Luciene's family was a little weird when it came to showing affection. In situations where many could say it was something cringey and die in shame, for the Dimar family it was something normal and pleasant.

Saying that they love each other, making jokes, praising, calling for affectionate nicknames as part of everyday life, and it was as common as having a good day.

Of course with people outside the family, they acted that way only when they were very close to that person, but they had no problem with other people seeing them, which on occasions could cause discomfort for those who were looking or not used to it.

In this situation, Francisco, who was already regretting having stayed in the room, thinking he could talk to mother and daughter about what had happened and the discharge procedures, was completely awkward in the corner of the room, wanting to merge with the white wall behind he.

Since he didn't leave before, Francisco also didn’t dare to slip out the door and made a noise, to ended up interfering with all that mother-daughter moment. So he looked up and down, sometimes scratching his head, as he waited anxiously, shifting his weight from one foot to the other, for an opportunity to slip away.

Realizing that they would start talking, he seized the moment by talking quickly giving the first excuse he could think of “Er, I'll take a look, um, I'll see if someone needs me. Anything you can call me when you're done. See you soon!" He opened and closed the door in a flash, with only the sharp sound of the hinges superimposed on the light laughter of the mother-daughter pair who saw only the white tip of the lab coat disappear through the breach.

The doctor started to exhale the air he didn't even realize he was holding when he gasped at the end of his breath at the scene in front of him.

A tall, black-haired man was standing with his back to him, facing a red-faced young man who looked like he was going to explode at any second, even having some neck veins visibly pulsing as his dilated pupils glared at the man in front of him.

The most surprising thing was not that a fight seemed to break out at any moment in the unusually quiet corridor of the hospital, since by the time several patients, family members, nurses, and doctors must have been passing by for tests and visits. What made Francisco's heart skip a beat, and his head starts to ache with a migraine, was the identity of these two people.

The young man already familiar to the doctor glared at none other than the clod idiot who caused that whole situation.

Dmitri, who after spending the night without an answer from Francis, probably because Francis was too busy working, ended up losing his patience for not knowing how the young woman he had attacked was doing.

She is fine? Has she regained consciousness? Is anyone with her? Has the family already been in touch? Does she even have family in town? -These and many other questions pounded in Dmitri's head non-stop, so he decided to go to the hospital to get news in person.

After Traveling the same path he had followed last night, Dmitri met the friendly nurse who had helped him find his way the first time and accompanied him to the place Francis would attend that morning.

This time, even surrounded by clipboards with medical records and talking to someone, perhaps a resident, the lady, who already had some gray in her black hair standing out in her full bun and a tired expression from spending the night working, still recognized him. She guided him with a smile on his face where he should go.

“Doctor Francisco is in room 15 seeing a young woman right now. Poor girl, she arrived last night, was attacked by someone on her way home.” sighed the nurse. She shook her head, looking at the clipboard in the hand of the young man beside her, as she spoke in an annoyed tone: “The world is getting more and more dangerous. People no longer empathize with others…”

Dmitri nodded to her silently, not knowing how to react to the situation, for that young woman was probably the one he had attacked, it being his fault that she was there now.

He thanked her in a sad voice, and walked away, downcast.

As he approached the indicated spot, an elegant lady hurried past his side and entered the room that Francis should be in. I hope it's someone from her family, thought Dmitri, relieved to know that at least the young woman would not be alone at that moment.

Dmitri stood facing the door, hoping Francis would come out soon, but it had been a good 20 minutes since he'd been planted there, looking back and forth between the nameplate, the room number, and the hallway he'd from by.

Tired of waiting, absently looking around, he reached into his back pocket to pull out his cell phone, hoping that when he called again, this time Francis would come out to take the call or at least see his previous messages.

But instead of touching the cold metal, his hand sank into his seemingly empty pocket.

Realizing it, Dmitri started to take his hand away when he felt something on his fingertips, and, remembering what it was, he pulled it out to take a look.

In his hand was a delicate pendant made of small metal rings intertwined in a thin silver ring, and at the ends of the rings were small colored glass stars. The colors blue, red, yellow, green, and purple seemed to reflect the sunlight that was coming in slightly through the window behind Dmitri creating points of light when he raised it in front of his eyes.

Dmitri had found it under the bloodstained sheets on his bed, and imagining that it belonged to the young woman, who Dmitri discovered her name was Luciene by the little sign below the door number. Dmitri had cleaned it and taken it with him to return to the owner, as it should be something important. At least it was the excuse Dmitri would give Francis when he finally left that room.

Losing himself in thought as he watched the colored stars sparkling, Dmitri didn't notice when someone approached, stomping on the ground. He saw only one hand reaching out that seemed to want to take the pendant from him.

Closing his fist around it and taking it out of reach, Dmitri glared down, coming face to face with a young man with a red face and eyes that glared at him.

The young man stepped forward again, his hand aiming for Dmitri's clenched fist, but being faster than the younger, Dmitri caught hold of his wrist, pulling the other's hand to the left, and keeping it firmly pinned just above the young man's head.

As he didn't know what was going on, nor did he want to hurt the young man without understanding the situation, Dmitri decided to remain calm and ask what the other was doing. But Dmitri couldn't formulate the question as the other pulled his arm trying to free himself from Dmitri's grip and when he couldn't, he spoke angrily:

“What the fuck are you doing? Let me go!" It seems he still remembered where he was, as he didn't scream, even though he glared at Dmitri to dead.

“I'm the one asking. Didn't your parents give you an education, boy?"

Ignoring Dmitri, the young man inched his free hand toward Dmitri's right fist that held the pendant. “This is not yours! Give me back!"

If anyone saw the scene they would be shocked to think that a grown man was teasing someone younger and smaller, raising the arm above his head so the other wouldn't reach it. But as he didn't give Dmitri time to explain anything before advancing, again and again, Dmitri fumed, losing patience.

When the young man jumped on top of Dmitri trying to reach the hand holding the pendant, Dmitri moved out of the way, spinning on his feet, causing the younger man to lose his balance and go straight past the wall.

Being pulled at the last moment by Dmitri, his face was saved, but his pride seemed to burst through that window and shatter below.

Red with embarrassment, the boy looked up angrily at the taller one just in time to see the doctor leaving the room, which only made his feeling worse.

Francisco, who watched the scene in complete confusion, had no choice but to grin and try to fix whatever was going on there.

But looking at the pretentious and ironic smile Dmitri gave him as if that situation were his fault, Francisco bristled and kicked the bucket, speaking innocently.

“Ah, Dmitri, right? Thanks for bringing Luciene's things early. Have you ever met her brother, Matheus?" Francisco smiled like a cunning fox. At first glance, it looked nice, but to Dmitri, it looks like he was saying, 'Didn't you go in? Now go ahead!’.