Karina nodded to the caretaker to signal she understood. After the caretaker left, she approached Dylan's desk.

Squatting down to his level, she looked at Dylan, who was fully absorbed in his block puzzle. "I know how to put this together. Would you like me to teach you?"

Dylan paused for a moment.

Karina pretended not to notice. "It's tricky, isn't it? And it seems like this block is part of a set. Are there more pieces somewhere?"

Dylan glanced at her, and Karina initially thought he would ignore her entirely.

To her surprise, he responded. "Yes, there are... in the room."

The sentence was short, but it was enough to make Karina's heart soar. Communication-even this little bit-meant there was hope.

*

*

She followed him to his room to retrieve the rest of the blocks, and the two of them spent the entire afternoon building together.

caretaker brought in a meal, placing it on the table

the food, even as his stomach growled audibly. He

let

said, "This is the method I was teaching you, but I haven't shown you the rest yet.

Karina chose not to point it out, instead nodding with understanding. "Alright. But I am hungry. How about we eat first, and then we can

on an unexpectedly adult expression, as if he were

their brilliance often came at the cost of emotional barriers that

him, giving him the time

set

the meal, they continued working on the blocks together,

Dylan jumped in surprise and looked up, startled

of the other children were

children gasped in admiration at the completed puzzle.

play too! Can

gently. "Of course, but you'll need to ask Dylan for

girl immediately ran

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