After the double tragedy, the newborn Smile was taken in by the only person who didn’t see him as a curse—his maternal grandmother, a kind but aging woman named Elda Sonet. She lived in a modest home near the outskirts of town, surrounded by wildflowers and memories. Elda had just lost her daughter, but when she looked into Smile’s eyes—those same eyes Sarah once had—she felt a sense of purpose again. She didn't see a curse. She saw a child abandoned by the world before he even had a chance to take his first step.
But Alexandra was not kind to Smile.
The townspeople, cruel in their ignorance, whispered behind Elda’s back. “That’s the mother-killer,” they’d say, pointing at the boy as he walked past. Some believed Smile’s birth had brought death into the Millet family. Their children were warned not to play with him, and doors were quietly shut whenever he passed by. Smile heard the names, the blame, the shame—even if he didn’t fully understand it at first. But what hurt more than the words was the way people looked at him: with fear, with disgust, with pity. It carved silence into his soul.
Despite his name, Smile never smiled. Not once.
He grew up quiet and withdrawn, always clutching to his grandmother's sari like it was the only safe place in the world. Elda did everything she could—told him stories, made him toys from scraps, cooked his favorite food even when her hands trembled with age. She never told him he was cursed. She told him he was loved. That he was strong. That he would survive. But even her love couldn’t protect him from the wounds the world left behind.
As Smile grew older, he started to sense that something was different in him. He couldn't express joy like other children. He didn’t laugh. He didn’t play. His eyes seemed older than his age—filled with a kind of quiet sorrow no child should carry.
Still, Elda never gave up on him. She taught him letters, helped him read books, encouraged him to write his thoughts when speaking became too difficult. Slowly, she built a small world for him within the walls of their home—a world where he was not a mistake, but a miracle.
But time is unkind, and love, no matter how deep, cannot stop the ticking of life’s clock.
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