Later, in the hallway, Sam was waiting.
The second he saw Leo, his face lit up.
Leo ran to him without hesitation.
“I thought I was in trouble,” he said.
Sam laughed. “Worth it though!”
Leo smiled.
“Yeah,” he said. “Absolutely worth it.”
That night, I stood outside Leo’s room for a moment before going in.
He was already asleep.
The patch sat quietly on his desk.
And in that stillness, I realized something that settled deep inside me.
You can’t control everything your child goes through.
But sometimes…
you get to see exactly who they choose to be.
And when that happens, all you can do is stand there—quietly grateful—
that when it mattered most…
they didn’t walk away.
