Chapter 235: Finding answers (2)

Tao Yang looked surprised. From childhood until now, Nana had never asked about this. She never initiated this topic.

At some point when children grow a little older, when they start to understand the world and when they look at other families, every child in the orphanage at least once had asked about their birth parents.They wanted to know the answer. But Nana never did, neither when she was three years old, nor ever after too whenever she used to visit.

Nana asked further. “Or do you know anything about my birth parents?”

Tao Yang slowly said, “You never asked about this before. Why do you suddenly want to know about it?”

Nana looked at the children on the other side, playing cheerfully and without a care in the world.

Then she slightly touched her belly, feeling her baby’s existence.

“Because something related to my past is threatening to destroy my present and my family.” The light in her eyes held an unwavering force in them.

“And I won’t let anybody harm anyone who I hold dear to me.” She looked at him. “My birth parents and family are the only things that I don’t know about.”

Tao Yang thought for a few moments and said, “Let’s go to my office.”

—

Nana entered his small but comfortable office and realized that nothing had still changed. It still gave off a musky scent that she remembered from her early childhood days.

There was a classic, old-fashioned computer on his table which was utterly outdated, but which he still held dear. On a shelf were many photos of him with children having fun, some happy and some sad memories, sad of those times when the children grew old enough to leave the orphanage, leaving eighteen years of memories with him. On the other shelf contained stacks of files almost reaching till the end.

Tao Yang brewed a cup of tea for both and took a seat.

He said, “There is not much I know about your past.”

Nana nodded. She had expected it. Many parents or adults would anonymously leave the child at the doorstep to hide their identity.

“There must be something you remember about that person.” She insisted. “Please, Teacher, it’s really important.”

Tao Yang was the only hope she had to get a clue about that blackmailer’s identity. She couldn’t afford to leave empty-handed from here.

He nodded. “I said I don’t know about that person, but I remember her the night she came to this orphanage.”

Nana blinked her eyes. “She?”

“Yes. It was a woman who came here carrying you that night.”

He remembered it quite vividly as he told her about that night when she first came here. It was a stormy night. Heavy rain was raging over everywhere.

Tao Yang, holding an umbrella which was close to be flown away by the strong winds blowing, was about to close the orphanage gate when a car stopped in front of it. He was almost soaking wet with rain.

He was surprised that somebody came here so late at night and that too in such bad weather. It was nearly impossible to travel even one kilometer of distance tonight. He then heard the sound of a baby wailing.

A man got wearing an expensive suit got out, holding an umbrella in his hand, walked at the back, and opened the passenger seat door. A woman stepped out under the protection of the umbrella, carrying a crying baby in her arms.

Tao Yang tried to look at the figure, making her way towards him, but he couldn’t see her face. On top of the heavy rain, the woman had also covered her nose and mouth with a scarf, revealing only her eyes. She physically looked weak and tired.

The woman stood before him and said in a voice without even a drop of emotion in it, “I want to leave this child here.”

Tao Yang saw the girl in her arms; her eyes and cheeks were wet with tears. She looked so small, so tiny as if she had been just born a few hours ago. His heart melted at her sight. She looked like a little angel.

The baby girl looked at him with her big, teary brown eyes and stopped crying when her gaze met his. Tao Yang gave a gentle smile, and the girl broke into a small smile and eventually started giggling. Her sweet voice struck a chord in his heart.

The woman’s cold voice broke his stupor. “Take her, and I will leave.”

Tao Yang took the woman as the baby’s mother and said, “She is such an adorable girl. Why do you want to abandon her?”

Every single time when anyone would come to him, bringing a child with him/her, Tao Yang would always try his best to make them understand not to abandon them. Life is hard to live without the warmth and happiness of a family, and every child deserves to live a normal life.

The pain and loneliness of knowing that you are alone in this big world are hard to bear, even more so when the parents are alive and the child could have grown up happily with his family, yet they choose to throw away their child. And Tao Yang always tried to make them realize this fact. But sadly, no one ever heeded his advice.

The woman said nothing. Her eyes had a vacant look in them.

Tao Yang tried to convince a bit more. “Please think again. I know you might be facing some tough situation; maybe you cannot see your way out of it now. But don’t give up. Every problem comes with a solution, and you would also find yours, too, soon.”

“A child is God’s blessing. You mustn’t throw it away.” He shook his head.

The woman looked down at the baby girl and let out a soft self-deprecating laugh.

“Please take her.”

Tao Yang heard the finality in her voice and understood that she wouldn’t change her mind. His heart went out for the baby girl as he felt sad for her decision. He could only try to talk her out of it, cannot force her.

He slowly nodded. Then he heard another baby crying. He got shocked and figured out that the second voice came from the taxi.

‘There are two babies?’

One was in her arms and the other in the car.

He looked at the woman in confusion. “This..”

The woman understood his question and said, “Only her.”

He frowned and didn’t understand.

‘So, there are two babies, but she only wants to give up on one?’

Tao Yang tried one last time. “I’m asking you again. Are you sure?”

The woman looked indifferent. “Yes.”

He sighed and nodded. “Can I know your name?”

The woman shook her head.

He had already expected this, nevertheless gave a try. A part of their heart is always guilty of abandoning a child, so they don’t like to reveal their identity.

Tao Yang took the small bundle of joy in his arms. The girl started crying again, flailing her little hands towards the woman as she was separated from her. The woman turned her head away, and the girl cried harder. He felt a pang of sadness in his heart as he saw her desperate tries to reach the woman.

But, she remained cold and indifferent.

With the help of the mysterious man, Tao Yang took the small girl inside the orphanage. The man bowed and left. He settled the baby on the bed, and by the time he went back to the gate, the woman was already gone.

The loud noises of the children playing outside brought Tao Yang back to the present.

Nana silently listened to Tao Yang. And as she heard the entire story, she couldn’t help but feel just a little bit sad.

Why did my mom abandon me? Was I that much of a burden to her?

Tao Yang saw the gloomy expression on her face and sighed.

She asked in a barely audible voice. “So, you didn’t see her face? Can you not tell any other thing with which I can recognize her?”

He shook her head. “As I said, she had covered her nose and mouth with a scarf. The only other thing was that the back of her right hand was dressed with cotton and medical tape, like when you are admitted to the hospital, and they put you on saline? Just like that.”

Nana kept silent.

‘So, how is this connected to that blackmailer? Is he/she connected to the woman who left me? Is that woman no more in this world, so one of her relatives is blaming me?’

Even though Nana didn’t get the answers as she hoped, but she felt a good start. She thought she was finally heading somewhere.

She asked, “Is there a hospital nearby our orphanage?”

“There is a hospital, but not that big though, and it’s one hour away by road. I think that must be from where the woman came.”

Nana nodded.

The place where she could find more about the woman was the hospital. And that was her next stop.