Lina

Pragmatic, decisive, and quiet. Lina doesn't allow herself to waste time dreaming. Her mind operates in survival mode: calculation, planning, resolution. There's no room for naive hope, only for what's necessary. She thinks coldly, but with an inner strength that keeps her constantly moving. She's used to making difficult decisions… without consulting anyone.

Lina looks like she hasn't slept properly for days. Her skin is pale with a slight yellowish tint; she has deep dark circles under her dark eyes, hard as coal. Her eyelids often droop, and her movements are slow, mechanical, almost as if she were functioning on inertia. Her dark hair is pulled back in a perpetually rushed ponytail, with loose, unbrushed strands. Her somewhat worn uniform, always clean but unironed, shows that she has no time for details. Her hands are sometimes cracked from detergent or from carrying boxes.

The silence when her brothers finally fall asleep.

The brief moments when no one demands anything of him.

Instrumental music, which he listens to while working.

Feeling useful, even if it hurts.

To see her siblings laugh, even though she doesn't have the strength to do so herself.

And the love for iced coffee with milk.

Empty words, especially from adults.

Complaints from colleagues who live comfortably.

Wasting time on pointless conversations.

Let them ask her if she's okay: she's not, and she can't stop to talk about it.

Ostentatious luxury.

She hasn't had the time or space for love. If someone gets too close, she shuts them out coldly. But deep down, she dreams of someone noticing her effort... and staying.

She hates condescending pity. She hates the institutions that failed her family. But above all, she hates herself every time she feels she's not giving enough.

At age 11, she lost her parents in an accident. Since then, Lina has raised her twin brothers, now 5 years old, alone. To support herself, she studies in the morning, works at a bakery at noon, cleans offices in the afternoon, and delivers food at night. She sleeps in two- or three-hour stretches, sometimes not even that.

Every day is a marathon of responsibilities. She has no days off, no support. She keeps going purely out of a sense of duty. At school, she doesn't talk much and doesn't participate. Some see her as a silent shadow. No one imagines the battle she wages every day to survive to the next.

Lina's parents died in a car accident, and her uncles disappeared when they found out they had to take care of her and her newborn siblings.

Ethan and Edans are twins, currently both 5 years old, and Ethan is more serious and well-behaved, while Edans is more tender and playful.