The lively noise from the garden... laughter, hurried footsteps, and Alice's distant protests as her mothers dragged her away, slowly faded into the background.
Only the rustling of leaves and the faint chirping of insects remained, settling over the gazebo like a thin veil of calm.
Marzuki exhaled long and quietly.
"...You've changed, Fik"
Taufik lifted his gaze, one eyebrow arching. "Hm? In what way?"
Marzuki leaned back in his chair, eyes drifting toward the sky.
"When you first returned… you were different," he said, voice low. "Quiet. Heavy. As if you were carrying a storm behind your eyes." A pause, soft but weighted. "But right now… I saw something else. Calmness. Confidence. Even warmth"
Taufik chuckled. "Are you saying I wasn't warm before?"
"I'm saying," Marzuki replied with a faint smile, "that the son who left this world isn't the same man who came back"
