CHAPTER 29 — Six and a Half Years of Quiet Brilliance
Time in the Azevedo and Duarte households flowed with warmth and familiarity, and in that flow, six months passed effortlessly. It was now September 2016, and Árman Duarte Azevedo, at only six and a half years old, had already changed the rhythm of everyone's lives—
not through arrogance, not through brilliance,
but simply by existing.
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◆ School Life — A Gentle Domination
Every morning, the black gates of São Paulo International Academy opened to four children walking together, hand-in-hand or shoulder-to-shoulder. They were a small, inseparable unit.
At the center of them, always, was Árman.
Beside him, the cousins who adored him:
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◆ The Duarte Cousins
• Lorenzo Duarte (7)
Calm, protective, and mature for his age. He naturally took the big-brother role and often walked next to Árman, making sure he wasn't swarmed by other kids.
• Thiago Duarte (7)
Competitive, energetic, mischievous—a boy who loved challenges and took pride in being Árman's "guardian knight," even though the younger boy surpassed them all.
• Emilia Duarte (6)
Sweet, affectionate, and clingy. She held his hand every morning and glared at anyone who got too close. She called him "Maninho"—little brother—even though they were almost the same age.
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Wherever they went, students stared.
Teachers paused to admire.
Teenagers whispered.
Parents gushed.
Not because he flaunted himself, but because Árman was simply unreal.
Silky, glowing white hair that flowed like liquid snow.
Golden eyes that reflected sunlight like molten amber.
Skin so perfect it looked sculpted.
And that face—too symmetrical, too angelic, too breathtaking for a child.
At first, people couldn't believe it.
Six months later?
They had accepted it.
This was Árman.
This was normal.
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◆ Academics — Effortless Excellence
Despite being the youngest of their group, he excelled in every subject:
Math: flawless
Science: intuitive
English: perfectly fluent
Portuguese literature: top of class
Geography & history: memorized instantly
Arts: frighteningly detailed for his age
P.E.: graceful and precise even without trying
His cousins joked:
> "It's impossible to beat him at anything!"
But they adored him anyway.
Teachers said:
> "If he wasn't so humble, we'd think he was designed in a lab."
Even though nobody knew the truth… it wasn't entirely wrong.
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◆ Parada Kids Global — The Explosion
Six months earlier, during the height of his growing fame, one brand came knocking harder than all others:
PARADA KIDS GLOBAL — a worldwide luxury fashion icon.
Their request was simple:
> "We want him as our FACE for the worldwide children's campaign."
No hesitation.
No second thoughts.
Leonardo Azevedo flew with him personally from São Paulo to Milan. Father and son—an unbreakable duo.
At the Parada studio, silence hit like a shockwave.
Photographers dropped their equipment.
Stylists froze.
The director stared as if witnessing a celestial being.
> "Meu Deus… he's unreal."
"This child's face… it's perfection."
"How can a six-year-old look like this?"
Árman didn't even need instructions.
His movements, poses, micro-expressions all flowed naturally, shaped by the merged, maxed-out modeling skills he'd perfected silently.
The cameras couldn't keep up.
When the campaign launched?
The world broke.
Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok—every platform exploded with his photos.
Europe worshipped him.
England obsessed over him.
Brazil claimed him as their national jewel.
He became:
"The Most Beautiful Child in Modern History."
"Brazil's Celestial Wonder."
"The Golden-Eyed Angel."
And yet… he remained humble, gentle, soft-spoken.
Just a boy who loved school, family dinners, and playing with his cousins.
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◆ Nightfall — A Quiet Moment
On the night he turned six-and-a-half, the Azevedo mansion was peaceful, glowing softly under warm lights. After dinner and a long evening with his cousins, Árman returned to his beautiful bedroom—decorated in golds and whites, his modeling photos framed on his walls like art.
He sat on his bed, looked out at the night sky, and breathed softly.
He had conquered:
✔ school
✔ modeling
✔ the internet
✔ every subject and activity his age allowed
But his eyes held a quiet fire.
He was waiting.
For football.
For the dream he had declared at six years old:
to become the greatest player in history.
A god of the sport.
And when that time came?
The world would finally meet the real Árman Azevedo.
The one they had no chance of preparing for.