Camila patted his head tenderly, her heart swelling with affection.

"Right now, Joe, you are a little man, but when you grow up, you'll be a big man, and one day, I might need you to protect me," Camila said, lifting her son into her lap. “Do you want to grow up?"

Without hesitation, Joe responded, “Yes.”

Camila sighed deeply, pulling him into a tighter embrace.

Childhood is a time of longing to grow up.

Once grown, one often yearns for the blissful, carefree days of youth.

Indeed, the less you know, the happier you seem to be; with adulthood come complexities and concerns.

“Are you not happy, mommy?" Joe's voice broke through her reverie, his eyes wide with concern.

"I'm fine, sweetheart," Camila reassured him with a gentle kiss on his cheek.

Joe rubbed his eyes wearily. "Mommy, I'm sleepy."

Camila eyed him with a mix of amusement and disbelief.

Just a moment ago, he was a bundle of boundless energy, and now he claimed sleepiness?

She wasn't easily fooled.

“Leonel, you can't cheat; you're using the very tricks I used as a child. You can't pull the wool over my eyes," Camila gently scolded as she put him down at the study table.

“You haven't finished today's schoolwork yet. Sleep will have to wait."

She knew he was pretending.

Trying to play tricks on her?

But Joe was oblivious of one thing. The adults had once been children too.

Whatever he was attempting now, she had mastered long ago.

She saw right through such ploys.