𝑰𝑵 𝑭𝑬𝑳𝑰𝑿 '𝑺 𝑴𝑰𝑵𝑫 [english]

3.

The next day was Sunday. Neither of Felix's parents had to go to work, so it was the only day the three of them could have breakfast together.

"And how did the dancer wake up?" Claudio asked when his son approached the table. The boy's yawn was interrupted by a giggle.

Aldana rolled her eyes and gave her husband a light blow to the arm. She was too worried about that matter, and she didn't need the man feeding Felix's imagination.

Claudio gave his wife a bad look. He was tired that nothing he said could calm her down. At the same time, he was hurt that she thought he didn't care about his son. Still, they both tried to understand each other, but never quite succeeded.

To Aldana's peace of mind, the circus was never mentioned again during breakfast. They talked about trivial topics, and also commented on how upset Felix was beginning to feel due to how close the end of the vacation was. He didn't want to go back to school, especially, he didn't want to deal with math again.

Once they were done, they went to relax in the living room. The couple sat on the sofa with their, for that time of the morning, sleepy little son in the middle. They always told him that he didn't have to get up early on Sundays, but Felix ignored them. He really liked being able to share that time with them, and his parents of course enjoyed it.

But all that well-being enviorenment had to be broken. Something had to happen. That Sunday had to be different.

"Mom, dad?" the boy called, still half asleep.

"Yeah?" they answered in unison while stroking his red curls.

"I have a question..." he began to say, leaving his parents expectant.

They just nodded and waited patiently for the boy to finally tell them what he wanted to know.

Felix contemplated the possibility of backing down and telling his parents to forget it, but then he decided that it was time for him to let out the doubt he had had for a long time: "Why can't you see my friends?"

His parents abruptly stopped stroking his hair. And under his watchful eye, Aldana looked at her husband with some despair. What would they do now?

The idea that the child would one day ask them such a question never crossed their minds, they were not prepared.

Claudio just remained silent. His mind was racing, urgently trying to find a way to explain the matter to Felix, without ending up being an idiot who would ruin his childhood.

Since his mother did not reply, the boy turned his gaze to his father. And the situation was repeated a couple more times, triggering some anger in the little one.

He had asked a question willing to listen to the explanation that his parents would give him, but the silence that they gave instead, bothered him a lot. So even though he hadn't planned it that way, he decided to add one more thing to the question: "I've also heard that you call them 'imaginary', and once dad said that I made up good stories..." his voice broke for a moment. Anger was momentarily replaced by sadness, accompanied by teary eyes.

"I know you can't see them, but why...?" the boy sighed. "Why don't you believe me?"

His parents looked at each other. "Let's talk about this at night, okay Felix?". That was the only thing his father managed to say, and Aldana nodded.

"No!" the little boy yelled. "I want to know why you don't believe me!"

"Felix..." Seeing his mother shake her head, he knew he would receive another silence in response.

He snorted and decided that it would be best to go to his room for the rest of the day. He thought maybe he could go with his friends for a while but he didn't think his parents would give him permission. In addition, he needed some time alone to update the diary where he used to write his friends' adventures.

His parents thought that in a few days Felix would calm down. And they were right. After a whole week of barely speaking to his parents, the redhead calmed down and returned to his usual self.

He continued to play with his friends in the vacant lot, but he refrained from telling his parents about this. He learned that he could only talk about it with his diary.

Aldana and Claudio ended the matter of imaginary friends, although later, the woman would think that Felix was still seeing them and that he was hiding them.

"He loved them, and he gets over them that easily?" She couldn't let go of her concern.

The man, as always, hoped that his words would bring her some peace of mind. "As far as I know, it's normal for children to forget their imaginary friends spontaneously".

Time continued to pass, and although it was difficult for her, Aldana managed to minimize the importance of the matter. The important thing was that Felix was no longer upset with them, and that everything was back to normal.

But for the boy, not everything was over. From the day he wanted to clarify his doubt, something broke in the relationship he had with his parents, something that wouldn't be easy to repair.