It isn’t easy to fall asleep that night. Neither the exhaustion from the trip nor the weight of the pregnancy is enough to give Eloá any rest. Everything feels strange: the bedroom where she grows up, once so familiar, now fills her with a sense of melancholy and displacement. She feels vulnerable, alone, and Gael’s absence beside her makes her chest ache with longing.

When the first light of morning begins filtering through the window, she can no longer stay in bed. She slowly gets up, feeling