Chapter 15

The weird silence was broken by Suely, her voice filling the room with a comfortable warmth. “Is this a friend of yours, Matheus? What's your name, dear?” She looked at Luciene and shook her hands affectionately before standing up to greet the newcomer.

Dmitri shook his head and opened his mouth to speak, but the words seemed to have been taken away by a tsunami, leaving only the wreckage of jumbled thoughts as he watched the woman approach him.

"Oh no. We just met actually.” Matheus replied.

"Really? Hi, I'm Suely, mother of these two who love to give me a heart attack.”

“Here it comes…” Matheus spoke to himself, being heard by Francisco with a questioning look, but he only received a shake of the head, while Matheus gave space for his mother to pass, approaching the foot of his sister's bed.

The sympathetic smile eased his nerves from the initial thud of "Ah, um, I'm Dmitri" he managed to push out a few words, letting out the breath he didn't even realize he was holding. Francisco was amused by the other's nervousness. He leaned against the wall with his arms crossed like a spectator watching a beautiful spectacle.

Seeing Dmitri tangling with words was pretty rare these days. After he took those boring courses in public speaking where people just say the same thing and set up Lineages, I never saw him get caught up in a conversation again. It was so cute when he hid behind his mother because he couldn't reason with his father, now it's interpersonal communication over here, emotional intelligence over there, it's fun to vary once in a while.

Suely stopped in front of Dmitri, close enough for her to hear a whisper, but not close enough to be uncomfortable or uncomfortable.

"Dmitri uhn, it's a very different name." She held out her hand, inviting him to shake it, but leaving the opening to greet her with a hug if he wanted to.

“I hear that a lot when I introduce myself.” Dmitri shook the outstretched hand, still awkwardly, earning a wink from the woman as she placed her left hand over his.

"It's beautiful. The name too, of course,” Suely said, looking him up and down, stopping directly in his eyes with a playful smile that shone in her gaze.

“Thank y… EH?” Dmitri froze, brows furrowing deep and eyes forming a perfect circle in surprise like it was a terrifying compliment, which only made Suely laugh out loud.

"Mom!!" “Don't start, mom…” Dmitri heard Matheus and Luciene talking, one annoyed and the other tired. It seems that this was a normal action for the young lady, which didn't make it any less embarrassing.

“Oh, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, haha.” Suely shook Dmitri's hand between hers, patting her chuckles, who ended up following her sheepishly with a puffed smile.

"Don't mind, she does it all the time"

"Always, and with everyone"

The brothers rolled their eyes and faced each other for a sigh in sync that made their older partners jealous.

"Now he looked so nervous, I couldn't resist." On tiptoe, he swung Dmitri affectionately by the shoulder.

“R-right, sorry. It was rather sudden, you might say.” Though still planted in the same spot, wanting to run through the half-open door, Dmitri couldn't pull away.

Somehow that lady in front of her, even if strangely and unusually, to say the least, possessed a magnetic heat that made people want to approach her. It was comfortable and light as if you didn't have to worry about anything anymore because everything would work out at the right time.

“Were you waiting to speak with Dr. Francisco? I saw you standing there waiting outside when I arrived, sorry we held him too long didn't we?"

Suely lifted her hand from his shoulder to stroke it, but stopped in midair for a moment, seeming to think better of it, placing it on his back and leading him to sit on the bench beside the head of the bed, and standing next to Luciene again who hugged her sideways lightly so as not to pull the string of the IV that was still in her hand.

Dmitri looked to Francisco for help, but received an ironic smile in return, albeit with a touch of understanding.

"Are you okay? Are you feeling bad?" Suely put a hand on her arm, with worried eyes that seemed to search her soul for the answer.

He must be bad, just not for anything I can help now, Francisco sighed inwardly.

Dmitri waved his hands in front of him. “No, no. I'm fine, I just came to bring the pendant.” Suely saw the sadness in her eyes before Dmitri looked away to Matheus giving a simple smile, but that mother's eyes felt a pain that did not fit in that single smile.

Luciene followed Dmitri's gaze to her brother who sat beside her with a controversial expression. Luciene widened her eyes, looking around finally remembering that she hadn't seen her stuff. "Which pendant?" she asked in a choked voice, touching her empty neck, pulling her hand away feeling the sting of the needle, and letting out an 'ah'.

"Lu!" Suely and Matheus yelled at the same time.

“Take it easy” Francisco approached in surprise.

Suely took Luciene's hand, gripping the IV line before stepping over her. "There, better this way." Dmitri and Matheus, who started to get up at the time, went back to sit down, Matheus with a sigh saw Dmitri uneasy and smiled at him, not quite knowing what else he could do.

Francisco knelt in front of Luciene and took her hand to examine her. "Because of the sudden movement, some blood has come up, but nothing you need to worry about." He said looking at Luciene and then Sueli who was frowning in concern. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw that the serum was practically empty. Then I'll ask Diana to come put the last one." The doctor closed the valve so as not to reflow any more blood, removed the equipment from the connector, and got up to leave the empty bag on the tray that was on the table.

“Sorry…” Luciene bit her lower lip and focused on her hand, avoiding the gaze of her mother and the doctor, running her fingers lightly around the tape that held the needle to her skin.

But remembering the central point of the conversation, she looked up in veiled despair to her brother.

When she looked up and saw the small glowing object in front of her eyes, she felt it burn with the small drops that fell silently.

She took it gently, putting it between her two hands close to her heart. She felt the warmth as her mother hugged her from behind and her brother pressed his forehead to hers.

She closed her eyes, feeling the security and the care. She remembered those cold nights, when the stars seemed to hide in mourning, the corner of her lips trembled, but the memory of her put a shy smile on her lips.

Luciene sighed and opened her eyes, ruffled her brother's hair, who smiled back at her. She turned and hugged her mother, whispering an 'okay', saw her nod, getting another smile full of love. They were the best family she could have.