Daniel stood like stone. Everything inside him was turning upside down. The boy’s words echoed again and again:
“She said you would find me…”

Suddenly, he noticed — the child’s face was… familiar. The forehead, cheekbones, even the shape of the lips. Not a coincidence.

— How old are you? — he asked, trying to stay calm.

— Six… Almost seven, — the boy replied, not lifting his eyes.

Daniel suddenly sat on a nearby bench. He started counting… Six years. Just when Helena left…

Could she have… hidden it? Not told him?..

He looked at the photo. It was one of the old pictures he himself hadn’t seen in a long time. Where did the boy get it?!

— What’s your name?

— Theo. But Mommy sometimes called me Tem.

Daniel never chose that name. But it sounded oddly familiar. He suddenly remembered a letter where Helena joked:
“If we ever have a boy, I want to call him Tem.”

His heart tightened. He already knew the truth but was afraid to say it aloud.

— Where did you live before? Who took care of you?

— Aunt Sophie… She was from the orphanage. But she died. She said if anything happened to me — to come to the cemetery. To Mommy.

Daniel couldn’t hold back anymore. He stretched out his arms and gently hugged the boy. He tensed at first but then simply clung to him — as if he’d been waiting for this moment his whole life… 🫂

For five years, he had lived in emptiness, not knowing that somewhere in the same city, his son was growing up.