Slowly.
Me too.
The transplant went well.
Not without pain, not without minor complications, not without that unbearable tension of the following days where each result seems like a sentence. But it turned out well. The doctors were cautiously optimistic. Matthew responded. His body accepted. There was real hope.
That’s when something happened that I hadn’t anticipated.
Rodrigo came alone to see me.
Not to the hospital. To my work.
He asked permission at reception and waited downstairs until I got off. I found him in the waiting room of one of the clinics, sitting awkwardly with his hands between his knees, like a man who doesn’t belong where he was put.
—What do you want? —I asked for.
He stood up.
He was thinner, much more worn. Not for nobility. Due to collapse.
—Thank you.
I didn’t answer.
He swallowed.
—There is no worthy way to say this, so I will say it wrong. I… I ruined my life when I let them go.
I continued looking at him in silence.
—Not just because of what happened next —he added quickly—. Not because Camila died or because Mateo got sick or because I had to see my mother become someone whose guilt no longer allows me to breathe. I ruined it before. When I chose the comfort of agreeing with others instead of being a decent man.
I didn’t know what I wanted him to do with it.
Absolve it?
Move me?
Grant him a kinder version of himself?
No.
—You’re ten years late —said.
He nodded.
—I know.
—And not because you didn’t know where we were. Because you didn’t care until you needed something.
The phrase hit him as it deserved.
—Yes —he said, barely—. I know too.
I took a deep breath.
—Then you listen to something. My daughter did this because she is a better person than you. Not because you deserve a second chance at anything.
Rodrigo looked up. His eyes were filled with a pain that perhaps was sincere. I didn’t care anymore. Late sincerity does not undo a decade.
—I’m not going to ask you to come back —he said—. Don’t even call me family. Don’t even forgive me. Alone… If Ximena ever wants to know anything about me, really, I’ll be there.
