**Diary Entry**
*3rd June, 2024*
“Were you the man who left me at the orphanage door?” Roman asked the stranger, spotting the same birthmark on his chest.
“Right then, lads, my times up!” Roman called out, hopping onto the train as it began to move. His mates waved from the platform, one of them shouting something last-minute. He grinned.
Three years had passed since he returned from the army. In that time, hed found work and enrolled in university for distance learning. But packing up and heading off to another citythis was a first.
His mates shared a common historythe childrens home. Orphans growing up, now adults with their own dreams, goals, and plans.
Annie and Pete had married, bought a flat with a mortgage, and were expecting a baby. Roman was genuinely happy for them, though a little enviousthe good kind. He wanted that too. But life had taken him down a different path.
Even in his earliest years at the care home, hed wondered: *Who am I? Where do I come from? Why am I here?*
Memories were hazy, like fragments of a dream, but deep down, there was a warmthsomething good from before. The only thing he knew was that a man had brought him there. Well-dressed, in his thirties.
Hed learned that from Granny Norathe head cleaner, still spry back then.
“I was sharp as a tack in those days,” shed say. “I looked out the window, and there he was under the streetlight, holding the boys hand. The lad couldnt have been more than three.”
“Spoke to him serious-like, as if he were grown. Then the doorbell rangand off he dashed. I chased after, but he was quick as a fox, gone in a blink.”
Shed recognise him now. His nose was distinctivelong and sharp, like an aristocrats. No car in sight, so he mustve been local. Didnt even put gloves on the boy.
Roman, of course, remembered none of it. But over the years, hed settled on one conclusion: that man was most likely his father. His mothers fate remained a mystery.
Still, hed been brought to the home neatly dressed, well-kept. Only one thing unsettled the staffa large, whitish birthmark stretching across his chest and up his neck.
At first, they thought it was a burn, but doctors confirmed it was a rare hereditary mark. Granny Nora always said such things ran in families.
“Alright, Granny Nora, dyou want me wandering the beaches checking every blokes chest now?” Roman would joke.
But the old woman only sighed. To him, shed become family. After he aged out, she took him in.
“Stay with me till you get your own place. No sense drifting between rented rooms.”
Hed held back tearshe was a man now. But how could he forget the times hed crept into her storeroom after a beating and wept in her lap?
Hed always stood his ground, even against older lads. Shed stroke his hair and say,
“Youre a good lad, Roman. Honest to a fault. But life wont be kind to you. Not kind at all.”
Back then, he hadnt understood. It took years to grasp the weight of those words.
Annie had been at the home since birth. Pete arrived later, when Roman was eleven. He was lanky and tall; Pete, small and withdrawn.
Brought in after a tragedyhis parents poisoned by counterfeit vodka. At first, Pete kept to himself.
Then came the day that bound the three of them for goodnot by blood, but something stronger.
Annie was an easy target. Ginger, tiny, quietperfect for bullies. Some teased, others yanked her braids, a few just shoved. That day, the older kids were relentless.
Roman couldnt stand by. He leapt in to defend her. But the odds were against him. Within minutes, he was on the ground, shielding his face. Annie swung her satchel like a sword, screaming.
Thensilence. The shouting, the blowsgone, as if someone had flipped a switch. Hands pulled Roman up. Pete stood there.
“Whyd you jump in? You cant even throw a proper punch!”
“Was I sposed to just watch?”
Pete thought a moment, then held out his hand.
“Youre alright. Shake on it?”
From then on, they were inseparable.
Annie stared at her rescuer with such awe Roman had to cover her mouth.
“Close your gob, youll catch flies.”
Pete laughed.
“Listen, squirtif anyone bothers you, come to me. Tell em youre under my wing now.”
From that day, Pete took Romans training seriously. At first, it was dullhed rather readbut Pete knew how to motivate.
Soon, Roman thrived. His PE grades shot up, muscles hardened, and girls started glancing his way.
Pete was the first to leave the home. Annie cried, but he hugged her tight.
“Dont blub. Ill be back. Havent I always kept my word?”
He did returnoncebefore enlisting. When he came back in uniform, Annie was packing. He walked in, flowers in hand.
“Im here for you. Couldnt stand being without you.”
Shed blossomed into a striking young woman. When she turned, Pete nearly dropped the bouquet.
“Bloody hell! Youre a vision! Fancy being my wife?”
She smiled.
“I do. Youre not half bad yourself.”
After the army, Pete was stationed in the city Roman was now headed to. Hed visit themespecially once the baby came. Hed be the godfather, no question.
Roman settled into his first-class compartmentno skimping this time. He needed rest before work. A high-rise construction job, good pay, no overtimeplenty of time for studies and friends.
Just as he lay down, shouting erupted in the corridor. A man bellowed, demanding someone clear out immediately.
Roman ignored it until a familiar, tearful voice joined inlike Granny Noras. His chest tightened. He peered out.
A trembling young attendant stood by the next compartment.
“Whats going on?”
“Some big shot,” she whispered. “An elderly woman bumped his teaspilt on his shirt. Now hes carrying on like she ought to be arrested.”
The mans voice raged on.
“Get out, you daft old bat! Youre fouling the air just standing there!”
Roman stepped forward.
“Ease up, mate. Shes an old woman. Didnt mean harm, and she paid her fare same as you.”
“Dyou know who I am? One call, and youre off this train!”
“Dont care who you are. Jaws break the sameyours or mine.”
The man fell silent. Roman turned to the woman.
“Come with me. Well swap compartmentsmines yours.”
Tears welled in her eyesgratitude. The attendant watched Roman with respect. He returned to her compartment, tossed his bag down, unbuttoned his shirt. The man paled.
“Whats that on your chest?”
Roman met his gaze.
“Dont fret, its not contagious. Had it since birth.”
“Good Lord”
The man sank onto the seat. Roman frowned.
“Whats the matter?”
With trembling hands, the man unbuttoned his own shirt. Beneath itthe same birthmark.
“Were you the man who left me at the orphanage?”
“Yes. I was a coward. Im sorry. I was married. Your mother, Marina came to me, said she was terminally ill, hadnt long left. Asked me to take you in.”
“But my wife was due home any minute. I panicked took you to the home and we moved. Years later, Marina found me. Treatment workedshe survived and searched for you. I told her you were dead.”
“Where is she now?”
“After a stroke, she went into a care home. Two years back. And its in your city.”
Roman said nothing, stepped out, and approached the attendant.
“I heard everything,” she murmured. “If youd like, you can rest in my cabin.”
“Ta. And I think I know which home he meant.”
He skipped work, called in, explained. The attendantKatherinewent with him. He was grateful; going alone wouldve been too much.
“Marina admitted after a stroke two years ago”
“Thats her. Marina Pavlova. Lovely woman. Always said she had no oneson was dead. You?”
Roman shrugged.
“Maybe her son. If its really her.”
“Go on in.”
The woman in the wheelchair looked up from her knitting. Smiled
