The woman froze with her hands still in the air.

“I never left you.”

The boy hugged the sandwich to his chest.

“They said you gave me away.”

Her face collapsed.

“No. They told me you died.”

The little girl stood behind her mother, crying silently now.

“Is he my brother?”

The woman nodded through tears.

“Yes.”

The boy stared at them both.

A clean white coat.

Warm gloves.

A mother who had searched for him while he slept in alleys believing nobody wanted him.

The woman slowly removed a faded photograph from her wallet.

It showed her holding two newborn babies.

One was the little girl.

The other was him.

“I woke up after the accident,” she whispered. “They told me only your sister survived.”

The boy’s breathing became uneven.

“Who told you?”

Before she could answer, a man’s voice came from the alley entrance.

“Step away from the child.”

The woman turned.

A well-dressed doctor stood beneath the streetlight, staring at the boy with cold recognition.

The boy immediately backed against the wall.

His hands began shaking harder.

“That’s him,” he whispered.

The mother’s eyes narrowed.

“Who?”

The boy looked at her, terrified.

“The man who told me my mother never wanted me.”