CHAPTER 1: THE DOOR THAT SLAMMED OPEN
The heavy door behind them suddenly burst open.
A loud bang shattered the freezing silence.
A woman in a red coat stepped out, her heels striking the concrete like sharp knocks of anger. Her face was pale with fury, her eyes locking instantly onto the scene—two children sitting on the ground, a broken loaf of bread between them.
“What are you doing, Clara?” the woman snapped.
The girl in the camel coat tightened her grip around the homeless child.
“I’m just helping her.”
“Helping?” The woman let out a cold laugh. “Do you even know who she is? This is none of your business.”
The homeless girl immediately pulled back, as if the woman’s glare was more painful than the cold itself.
Clara looked down but didn’t let go.
“She’s hungry. I can’t just walk away.”
A heavy silence fell.
Then the woman stepped forward and grabbed Clara’s arm.
“Come home. Now.”
But as she pulled her up, a small folded paper slipped from Clara’s sleeve and fell to the ground—wet, crumpled, stamped with an official seal.
May you like
The woman bent down and picked it up.
And her face changed.
