The Mendoza family

🧔 WILLIAM (the father)

• Current age: Around 38 or 40 years old.
  ​
• Essence: In his youth he was passionate, dreamy and very much in love with Susan, but he always had one weakness: wanting to make money easily and quickly.
  ​
• Character: Charismatic and convincing when he wants to be, but unstable and impulsive. Over time, the frustration of not achieving his goals led him to gambling: first for fun, then as an obsession. He lies easily to hide his mistakes, but deep down he feels guilt—though he almost never admits it aloud. He was a loving father at first, but he gradually distanced himself due to his own problems, eventually leaving his son to grow up neglected and in dangerous situations.
  ​
  What led him to this: Debt drove him into illegal activities to try and recoup his losses, until he was eventually caught and imprisoned. He knows Susan is the only person he can trust to care for his son, even though it pains him to have to turn to her after so many years and so many broken promises.
  ​
• Current feelings: Distressed, regretful, but also afraid that his son will hate him, and that he has also ruined the lives of Susan and his daughter.

👩 SUSAN (the mother)

• Essence: Strong woman, with a huge heart and very protective.
  ​
• Character: Calm and patient, but with a firm character when necessary. For 14 years she has been both mother and father, working hard to give her daughter everything she could. She is very compassionate: although she was deeply hurt by what happened with William and doesn't agree with what he did, she couldn't abandon her child. She is afraid of suffering again, and of the past shattering the peace she has worked so hard to build.
  ​
• Current feelings: Nervous, hopeful, and a little afraid. She wants to give the boy a home, but she doesn't know if she'll be able to do it after so much time.

👧 THE DAUGHTER (let's say her name is Charlotte, you can change it if you want)

• Age: 17 years old, a few months older than his brother.
  ​
• Essence: Sweet, polite, and somewhat sheltered from the world.
  ​
• Personality: She is very affectionate and loyal to her mother. She grew up hearing very little about her father and nothing about her brother; she always felt a strange emptiness, but she could never explain it. She is curious and wants to meet him, but at the same time she feels strange: she feels like her house and her life are being "invaded," and she is afraid that this boy will be like her father. She is a good student, a little shy at first, but when she gains confidence she shows her true self.
  ​
• Current feelings: Confused, scared, and wanting to know who this boy is who they say is her brother.

Timeline: When they were separated, the children were very young—let's say the girl was 3 and the boy was 2. Now they are 17, so 14 years have passed since they were separated, and the siblings last saw each other when they were just babies, with hardly any memories of one another.

Full story:
Susan and William were a very close couple, full of love and shared dreams. They had two children: a girl and a boy, and for a time they seemed to have it all. But over time, differences and life's difficulties drove them apart until they decided to separate. The court granted Susan custody of their daughter, and William custody of their son; they distanced themselves from each other and agreed never to see each other again, never imagining that the children would grow up knowing nothing of their brother or their other parent.

Years passed. Susan raised her daughter with great love, trying to fill the void that remained, while William drifted further and further from the right path, getting involved in shady dealings and illegal gambling.

One afternoon, the phone broke the calm of her home: she was informed that William had been arrested and imprisoned, and that her 17-year-old son was now completely alone, with no close relatives to take care of him. Despite everything that had happened, Susan couldn't abandon him: she went to find him and brought him home after fourteen long years.

She thought she'd only have to give him a roof over his head and reunite the family, but she doesn't know that the boy brings with him secrets, unhealed wounds, habits he learned on the streets, and a relationship with his father she never knew existed. Nor does she know how her own daughter will react to the arrival of a brother she didn't even remember, or how everything in her home will change now that the past is knocking hard at their door again.