Chapter 90

POV NOAH

I didn’t wait any longer.

That house… that environment… that suffocating atmosphere…

Everything felt like it was crushing me.

I pushed the chair back with a sharp movement and walked out of my parents’ house without looking back.

I didn’t want to see.

I didn’t want to see my mother crying.

I didn’t want to face my father’s cold stare.

I didn’t want to hear another word from him.

If I stayed there for one more minute…

I knew I would lose control.

That I would say even worse things.

That there might be no coming back.

I needed to leave.

I needed to breathe.

I needed to get away before all of it consumed me completely.

My chest rose and fell heavily as I walked toward the car.

My steps were fast.

Heavy.

Almost uneven.

My mind was racing.

Anger.

Pain.

Guilt.

A chaotic mix I couldn’t organize.

The image of my mother crying.

My sister’s expression.

And my father’s cold smile.

All of it spun inside me.

Without pause.

Without rest.

As soon as I opened the car door…

I heard hurried footsteps behind me.

“Noah!”

The voice.

Familiar.

Cut through the silence.

My sister.

I stopped.

Closed my eyes for a second.

Took a deep breath.

Preparing myself.

I turned around.

Melissa appeared right behind me.

Her eyes red.

Her face was wet with tears.

Her chest was rising and falling unevenly.

She had run.

And that… that tightened something inside me.

“Noah…” her voice trembled, almost breaking. “Is it really true?”

I looked at her.

And in that moment, I saw something I had never seen before.

Fragility.

A raw kind of pain.

Unprotected.

“What you said…” she continued, swallowing hard. “Is it true?”

I took a deep breath.

My throat tightened.

Every word felt too heavy.

“Do you think I would lie about something like that?”

She looked away for a second.

As if she didn’t want to believe it.

“No… I just…” her voice faltered. “I wanted it not to be true…”

My chest tightened even more.

Hard.

Painful.

“Do you think I would destroy our family for no reason?”

She shook her head, crying.

“No…”

I ran a hand through my hair, nervous.

Trying to stay in control.

“I saw it, Mel.”

My voice came out lower.

Heavier.

Loaded.

“I saw it with my own eyes.”

She brought a hand to her mouth.

And her crying intensified.

Stronger.

More painful.

“That’s why you were acting strange…” she murmured.

I nodded slowly.

“That’s why I was avoiding you.”

“I thought you were just focused on the game…”

I shook my head.

“I didn’t know how to tell you…” My voice faltered slightly. “I didn’t know how to say it to you…”

I ran a hand over my face.

Tired.

“But I knew I couldn’t keep hiding it.”

She looked at me.

Confused.

Hurt.

“Because this goes beyond cheating,” I continued.

Firm.

“He didn’t just betray Mom… he betrayed our family.”

Silence fell between us.

Heavy.

“He betrayed years…” I added. “He betrayed everything.”

Melissa started crying even harder.

And that…

That destroyed me inside.

Because she didn’t deserve that.

None of us did.

But her…

She had always been so close to our father.

I always admired him.

Always put him on a pedestal.

And now…

Everything was collapsing.

I stepped closer.

Without thinking much.

I pulled her into a hug.

She clung to me immediately.

As if I were the only thing still keeping her standing.

Crying.

Breaking down.

“It’s going to be okay…” I murmured, even without being sure that was true.

She shook her head against my chest.

“I can’t believe he did this…”

I closed my eyes.

“Neither can I.”

We stayed there for a few seconds.

Holding each other.

In silence.

Trying to process something that felt too big to fit inside us.

Until she spoke, her voice low:

“I don’t want to go back in there…”

My heart tightened.

Hard.

“Do you want to go to my place?”

She nodded immediately.

“Can I?”

“Of course.”

I ran a hand through her hair.

Gently.

With care.

“Always.”

She took a deep breath.

Trying to pull herself together.

“Thank you…”

I opened the car door.

She got in.

And a few minutes later…

We were leaving.

(…)

The drive was silent.

Heavy.

Melissa stared out the window.

But I knew…

She wasn’t seeing anything.

She was lost in her own thoughts.

Trying to understand.

Trying to accept.

And I…

I just drove.

In silence.

With a full mind.

Thinking about my mother.

Alone.

Crying.

Probably trying to deny everything.

Thinking about my father.

The coldness.

The way he threatened me.

My jaw tightened.

That still bothered me.

More than I wanted to admit.

But I pushed it aside.

For now.

Because, in that moment…

My priority was her.

When we got to my apartment, Melissa walked in slowly.

As if every step took effort.

As if she were carrying an invisible weight.

“Do you want anything?” I asked, closing the door.

She thought for a second.

Then gave a small, sad smile.

“Popcorn…”

I raised an eyebrow.

“Popcorn?”

She nodded.

“And brigadeiro…” she added. “Like when we were kids…”

My chest warmed.

In an unexpected way.

“Deal.”

She sat on the couch.

Curled up.

Hugging her own legs.

While I went to the kitchen.

I made the popcorn.

The popping sound in the pot brought a strange sense of normalcy.

Then the brigadeiro.

Stirring slowly.

At the right rhythm.

And for a few minutes…

That brought me a kind of peace I hadn’t felt since earlier.

As if, for a moment…

We had gone back in time.

Before everything.

Before the pain.

Before the lies.

I went back to the living room.

Set everything on the table.

“Pick a movie.”

She grabbed the remote.

Choose anything.

I don’t even know what it was.

Because neither of us was really watching.

But we were there.

Together.

And that was enough.

She ate in silence.

Sometimes letting out a sigh.

Other times wiping away quiet tears.

I pretended not to notice.

Respecting her time.

Just staying there.

Present.

After a while…

She leaned in closer.

And rested her head on my shoulder.

Like she used to when she was a child.

My chest tightened.

I wrapped my arm around her.

Protecting her.

And we stayed like that.

In silence.

Until, little by little…

Her breathing became lighter.

Calmer.

She fell asleep.

I looked at her face.

And felt something tighten inside me.

She looked small.

Fragile.

Too innocent for all of that.

She didn’t deserve it.

She didn’t deserve to have her world turned upside down like that.

I gently ran my hand through her hair.

Be careful not to wake her.

And stayed there.

Watching my sister sleep.

While, for the first time that day…

The silence didn’t feel so heavy.

Because, despite everything…

Despite the lies.

The betrayals.

The pain.

We still had each other.

And in that moment…

That was enough to keep me standing.