Nathan gasped. He turned his head before opening the gate marked Grace Orphanage. He didn't see the two handsome men anymore. He immediately went inside and locked the gate tightly.
He was too panicked. When he stepped into the living room, he was surprised to see the children still playing loudly. He had forgotten that he was coming home early today. Usually, he came home late at night when everyone was already asleep, and he only saw them at breakfast for a few minutes before leaving for school. Even on weekends, he left for work early in the morning and came back late at night.
"Nathan!" The children, who were under six years old and were playing, ran toward him, carrying whatever toys they had in their hands.
Nathan didn't like people around him, but it was different when the children started to crowd around him. The fatigue, worry, and burden that weighed on his shoulders instantly disappeared.
Without realizing it, he spent half an hour playing with them instead of going to his room.
Lara, the thirty-year-old woman who ran the orphanage, came with a neatly folded cloth in her hands. Behind her, the older children followed and smiled widely when they saw Nathan there.
"You're home early today. What's wrong? Did they fire you?" asked Lara, looking worried. She was very kind and knew Nathan would have a hard time without a job when it was time for him to leave the orphanage.
Nathan held three-year-old Nina on his lap, who was happily opening a storybook in her hands. He looked at Lara and smiled.
"No, my boss just gave me... time to rest," said Nathan, lying.
Lara was silent for a moment before finally nodding. She looked at Nina, who was pointing at the pictures in the book Nathan was holding.
"Nina, it's time to sleep," said Lara, smiling as she picked up Nina.
But the child and the other children immediately protested because they were in the middle of the story Nathan was reading. It was rare for Nathan to be there to read them storybooks.
"Oh, Nathan must be tired. He needs rest, so let's go to sleep," Lara said gently. She asked one of the children to take the folded cloth in her hand to the supply room.
"It's okay, they promise to sleep after we finish this book, right?" Nathan said, making the children nod in unison.
Lara smiled. "All right, I think I'm interested in hearing it too."
Lara sat down, and several children immediately surrounded her and started chattering. The woman glanced at Nathan from time to time, feeling that he had two different sides. On the outside, he was known to be wild and troublesome, to the point where she often had to attend school meetings because of problems caused by him. But at times like this, the boy was so gentle.
All she knew was that Nathan was a strong and kind person. She would not be influenced by other people's opinions about him.
An hour later, Lara finally managed to get all the children back to their beds. She went downstairs, but her steps stopped when she saw Nathan waiting at the end of the stairs.
"Miss Lara, there's something I want to talk about," said Nathan seriously.
Lara was silent for a moment before smiling and nodding. They went to the dining room.
"What's wrong? Did you get into trouble at work?" guessed Lara.
Nathan stayed quiet. He did have a little problem at the cafe, which was why he came home early, but there was something else bothering him more at the moment.
"No. You said that I was found in front of the gate seventeen years ago, right?" asked Nathan.
Lara nodded. At that time, she had been helping her mother take care of the orphanage, and the discovery was quite shocking because Nathan was placed in a gold-plated basket with a note saying that the child should be named Nathan, without a family name.
Nathan's handsome appearance, even as a baby, caught everyone's attention. Many people wanted to adopt him, but the orphanage owner refused several times.
"Do you know who my parents are?" Nathan asked suddenly.
Lara had never heard him ask about his parents before, and the question made her look at him sympathetically. Whenever a child asked about their parents, she could only sigh.
"God left you here, Nathan."
Nathan shook his head. "I don't want to hear your motivational words, Miss Lara. On the way here, two men said they were my brothers."
Lara looked at Nathan, alarmed. "Two men? What did they do? Did they hurt you? Where did you meet them?"
Lara looked panicked because the orphanage was far from anywhere. If something bad happened, it would be difficult to get help.
"There, on the bridge," replied Nathan. He seemed hopeless about getting an answer from Lara. Maybe the two men were just pranksters, or maybe they were people with bad intentions.
If they were really his brothers, they seemed rich, so why had they abandoned him at an orphanage? Even if they had, why come back now?
Nathan felt dizzy. He shouldn't have thought about it.
Lara took it seriously, and that night she immediately called the police, forcing Nathan to fight off sleepiness as he answered all their questions until midnight.
Nathan didn't seem to care, because he was sure they wouldn't do anything.
It felt like he had just fallen asleep when the alarm went off. It was time to wake up and start the day. He opened his eyes. In his room were several younger children, already awake and getting ready to go downstairs.
"What happened last night?" asked one of them, because they had heard the police come and were curious.
Nathan only told them to be careful crossing the bridge because two people had stopped him last night. But they were mature enough not to say anything, except to warn everyone to avoid the area around the bridge.
"Because the snow is very thick there," said Lara to the little children so they wouldn't be curious.
That day, everything seemed to go well until it was time to go home from school.