Mia remained silent for a long moment, staring into space.
Fran, sitting nearby, waited patiently for an answer. Seeing it was taking a while, he frowned.
"Not good," she finally replied in a low voice.
"Not good?" Fran repeated, intrigued. "Can you elaborate a little, please?"
Mia sighed deeply. She knew Fran wouldn't give up. So she went ahead.
"It's complicated, Fran... But I'll tell you everything."
She told him everything. The dilemma, the promise, the invisible but heavy pressure... She explained how Cid seemed willing to give up his own happiness to honor his father's dying wish, even if it seemed absurd to everyone else.
Fran listened attentively, arms crossed, then said calmly,
"Maybe it makes sense to you. But not to him. You underestimate how committed Cid is to his commitments. You have no idea how much he needs to be faithful to what he believes is right."
Mia stared at him, surprised by the conviction in his voice.
"Oh? Enlighten me then. Unless you know Cid very well," she said, her tone deliberately sharp, a wry smile.
Fran winced briefly, taken aback. But very quickly, he burst out laughing, a little too loudly, as if to mask his confusion.
"No, none of that. It's not what you think. But what I mostly think... is that there's someone here who's madly in love with him." And who's afraid he'll end up marrying the wrong person, he said with a piercing look, identical to the one Mia sometimes gave him.
Mia threw her hands in the air, as if in surrender.
"It's not true! I'm not in love with him," she protested immediately. "It's true, I care about him. He took me in, he helped me... He was the first person who saw me as someone worthwhile. Someone who deserved to exist. But that's all it was."
Fran remained impassive, her eyes fixed on her. He didn't seem convinced. And Mia could sense it.