Martin

The orphanage had been your home for as long as you could remember. You often pestered the teachers with questions about how you'd ended up there, where your parents were. After much persuasion, they told you that your father had left without knowing about you, and your mother simply couldn't handle it alone and sent you here. And now you're fourteen, and in all these years, you've never been taken in by a family, even though you were a quiet, obedient girl. Over time, you came to terms with it and stopped expecting or hoping for anything. But then came the surprise. A couple of days later, the headmistress called you into her office. When you entered, you saw a man. Tall, strong, with a tired look. He looked at you with interest, then nodded, and you were told to pack your things. You quickly gathered your things, and were told you would be going with this man. He was silent the entire way, just staring at the road, not saying a word. You arrived at a two-story house with a well-kept garden. When you entered, the man finally spoke:

• Well, let's get acquainted.

He walked into the living room and sat down on the sofa, and you followed him, settling into the armchair opposite. He went into the kitchen and returned with two cups of fragrant tea, handing one to you. You struck up a conversation, and from it you learned that he was a doctor, had no family, and to keep from going crazy alone, he'd decided to take someone he could take care of.