The silhouette of what appeared to be a man quickly approached Victor who was sitting on the bench. The boy, unlike Lester, didn't try to escape; he was a great adventurer who faced any challenge imaginable, but pretending to be asleep was an absurd idea.

However, he had an ace up his sleeve for a situation like this.

Victor never used violence as a method to resolve conflicts unless it was absolutely necessary. He was a stubborn, rude and sometimes mocking boy with his words, but he always tried to face any problem with his special technique of looking at people with eyes from hell itself.

But,... this time it was different? It seemed to be a real danger. Fortunately, when he was able to better see this individual's face through one of the streetlights near him, he understood that everything would be fine.

“What are you doing here, Victor? It's very dangerous,” said Lester's father, James.

“Mr. Haydar” answered Victor in amazement.

James was carrying his old briefcase - along with some grocery bags - it was his turn to prepare dinner.

“I'll take you home. Your aunt will be worried,” said him.

“She doesn't, sir. Je vais bien, merci." (I'm fine, thanks) Victor responded.

“I don't think that's true,” James said. “You speak French! You and your brother are very smart. It wouldn't hurt if you taught my son, math or history. It would be good for me to study languages too. I would pay you and Benxamin.”

   

“We know a bit of everything, our mother wanted us to never stop learning and even hired three tutors at the same time to teach us gastronomy. I'm surprised that Benxamin has adapted so easily. But sir, being smart doesn't make people like you,” Victor said sarcastically.

So James sat down next to the boy and took a small yellow rubber ball out of his briefcase.

    

“I give it to you. This helps me a lot to relax. I like to play with it when I have a bad day at the office or have problems with my boss. But I think you need it more than me.”

Victor took it delicately as if it were a fragile object and carefully put it in his pants pocket.

     

“You know,” James continued. “A little bird told me that you were angry with him and that he wanted you to forgive him.”

    

“Who?” Victor asked confused.

“Well, who else? I mean Lester,” Mr. Haydar responded.

 

“I'm not mad at Lester. He takes everything personally.”

  

“But then,... why did you come here instead of going to the movies with him?”

“Because he didn't have to. I just wanted to be alone,” said Victor.

That seemed interesting to James. Victor preferred solitude to having friends. Still, he invited the boy to dinner at his apartment because he knew that Mira was the right person to intervene in this.

***

Later, members of the Haydar family and Victor were sitting around the dining room table. It wasn't the sumptuous food the boy was used to, but it was undeniably delicious. Lester looked at Victor several times to tell him that he was very sorry, because he still believed that he had been disrespected. Mira looked at her son, and then her eyes fell on Victor and his posture, eating his dinner quickly, completely ignoring the others.

     

“Sit properly,” Mira said as if she were a commander giving orders to her battalion.

Victor often did what he wanted until the people around him stopped trying to correct him. But this time, the commander was in control of the situation.

Lester tried to be an intermediary with a slight movement of the hands because he knew that when his mother got angry it was better to use his father's strategy. But James asked him with a wink not to say anything, because if Mira talked to Victor like that, it could be that she had a plan in mind.

“Don't make me repeat it!” the woman said out loud.

The Machiavellian gazes from those two made the atmosphere feel stifling in the room, neither was going to give up.

“Listen to me…”

“You aren't my MOTHER!” Victor yelled

“I know, and you're just our neighbor. This is Lester's home and you have to respect him and us, his parents,” Mira said firmly.

Those words took effect immediately, Victor finally accepted Mira's orders and finished eating everything on his plate. But, little by little the tears began to flow, he tried to show that he was a strong boy. His life was now very different from the comfort of his old home and the affection of his mother. Lester looked at him, thinking of what he could do to comfort him, but still, he didn't know how to approach him.

Then, the commander put her hand on Victor's head, caressed it without saying anything, and her reaction was one of great surprise; he hugged her and screamed with all his might.  

Victor and Benxamin were alone without their mother and Stella wasn't the right person to take care of them. Mira made the decision that it was best to talk seriously with her about it and if there was not an immediate solution, she was going to call the proper authorities about what was happening with the children.

***

Hours later, James spoke to August about Victor's behavior. His boss told him that the twins' mother and named Anaís, died in a car accident. Her sister Stella was the one driving and had a problem with the brakes. As a result of this, in addition to the death of Anaís, she was about to lose one of her arms.

It was something traumatic for Stella, she was an artist but she couldn't use her dominant hand well - at least for that moment - besides that she had lost her only sister and that from then on she had to take care of her nephews. Still, it wasn't an excuse for her attitude towards them.

She avoided having close contact with her nephews, especially with Victor, since he was a much more difficult boy to carry. Instead, with Benxamin, she at least was relieved that he was a good student and didn't give her trouble.

James asked August to let Victor spend the night with them and, if necessary, stay there for a few days until he felt calmer.  His boss had no choice but to agree.

Victor went to sleep in Lester's room, while young Haydar was with his parents. At midnight, the green-eyed boy got out of bed and went to the window that was right in front of him, looked at the street, then at the sky and asked his mother as a wish that he would like to return to the island with Benxamin.

***

The next day, Lester waited for morning classes to end. This time everything was different, he felt able to talk to Victor. He looked for it where he suspected he would find him: the music room. Lester walked quickly, watching Victor for a moment as he played a jazzy song on the grand piano. He took two tickets to a movie premiere from his shirt pocket, walked up to him and asked.

“Would you like to go to the movies with me? It's today and I… ”

“Hmmm… ,” Victor said.

“Don't you like movies?”

“It's not that. It's just... I'm not… ” Victor hesitated.

“You're not... what?” Lester asked confused.

“I'm not your friend. Do you understand? But… ”

“W-well, I don't mean to force you to do something you don't like,” Lester interrupted, holding the tickets to his chest with the intention of leaving.

“But… that doesn't mean I don't want to be, crybaby. Also, I'm a picky guy. If I don't like something, I'll tell you to your face,” exclaimed Victor with a mischievous smile.

All Lester did was smile at such an answer.

That was the beginning of everything. Lester and Victor became friends over time, but even so, they weren't close enough for Lester to know what the real life of the Dautt brothers was.