Nicole's narration
I didn't realize how much pent-up crying I had inside me. When it came, it swept me away like a wave. It wasn't just because of Sophia. It wasn't just because of the sight of her on that bed, intubated, too small to bear so much pain. It was for everything. For the suffocated anguish I had been pushing down day after day. For everything happening all at once. For the return of that woman. For that damn Jéssica, who came out of nowhere and turned everything upside down. And me? I could barely breathe, as if my chest could no longer bear the weight of it all.
I left with Mrs. Vera, silently, on autopilot. And she... she noticed. She looked at me with that soul-reading gaze, but without pressuring me. When I took a deep breath, I let it out.
"Aunt Vera... I'm going to s
