The billionaire saw a poor mother hug her son… and understood her failure

I wanted to keep watching. He wanted to understand why his son, who had a huge room, expensive clothes and access to everything, seemed for the first time quiet only next to an unknown soaked man carrying his own baby while stroking his hair.

The woman squatted a little, despite the obvious fatigue in her body.

How did you get lost, Matthew?

“I fought with Joaquin,” he muttered without looking at anyone. He told me to stop throwing tantrum. I got out of the car. Then I didn’t know where to go.

The woman looked at him without judgment.

That was wrong, yes. But we’ll talk about that. First, we have to get you out of this cold.

He then kissed the head of his baby, who let out a small whimper, and covered Matthew with his own body to prevent the water from falling from the edge of the awning.

Richard felt shame.

Not an abstract shame. Not the elegant discomfort of those who discover an image error. True shame. That of a man who, for the first time in a long time, sees himself from the outside and does not like at all what he finds.

He opened the car door.

The sound caused Matthew to slam up. The first thing that appeared on his face was no relief. It was fear.

Ricardo felt something sink inside him.

The woman turned around, too. He instinctively brought the child closer to her, as if protecting a child of her own.

Ricardo walked slowly to the awning. In the rain it seemed taller and more severe still, with the dark coat, the expensive watch and that cold security that had served him his whole life to command. However, in front of that woman, she noticed that she did not know how to start.

“Matthew,” he said at last.

The boy squeezed the paper bag.

“Sorry.

He didn’t say “dad.” He said “sorry.”

The woman looked up at Ricardo, and her eyes, dark and tired, stuck in it with a mixture of distrust and firmness.

Do you know him?

Ricardo felt that the question fell on him like a sentence.

I am his father.

There was a brief silence. The rain was still hitting the pavement, and the baby was removed in the woman’s arms.

She didn’t change her stance.