The weeks following the conflict were quiet — almost too quiet. The storm had passed, but it had left its mark. The easy rhythm they had built over the years felt broken, replaced by a careful, tentative politeness. Kael had canceled all the arrangements for the move abroad, just as he had promised, but the incident had exposed a truth neither of them could ignore: deep down, they still saw the world differently. Liam, too, felt the change. At ten years old, he was old enough to understand that something important had happened, even if he didn’t fully grasp all the reasons behind it. He noticed how his parents spoke to each other — shorter sentences, more pauses, a certain distance that hadn’t been there before. He became quieter, more observant, as if waiting for something else to go wrong. The Weight of Mistakes Kael spent much of his time alone in the days after, reflecting on what had happened. For years, he had worked to change — to let go of control, to listen, to put Liam’s
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