[EVE]

    I blinked, half-convinced that I was still dreaming. "Can I help you?" I asked, my voice groggy and laced with confusion.

    The older woman stepped forward, her smile growing wider and trembling with emotion. "You must be Eve," she said softly, her voice polite and gentle, but laced with something more—an unshakable certainty. "We''ve been looking all over for you."

    I frowned, confusion swirling in my chest like a rising tide. "Looking for me?"

    The moment those words left my lips, the woman burst into tears. Without warning, she stepped closer and pulled me into a tight embrace, her arms wrapping around me like she was trying to shield me from the world.

    "Eve! Finally! Finally! I''ve found you! My daughter!"

    My entire body froze. Her words echoed in my ears, but they didn''t make sense.

    Daughter? My mind struggled to process the gravity of what she''d just said. I couldn''t react, couldn''t move, couldn''t even breathe. All I could do was stand there, stiff and silent, as this stranger—this woman—clung to me like I was the answer to her prayers.

    Her tears soaked into my shirt as she sobbed against my shoulder. "I''ve searched for so long," she cried. "For so many years, I''ve prayed for this moment. My little girl . . . my Eve . . ."

    I blinked, my thoughts spinning out of control. This had to be some kind of mistake, a misunderstanding. I didn''t know this woman. I didn''t know any of these people. My voice, when I finally found it, came out shaky and uncertain.

    My vision blurred as tears began to well up in my eyes. I clutched the folder to my chest, unable to hold back the flood of emotions any longer. "So . . . my trip to Germany . . ." I whispered, my voice trembling. "It wasn''t for nothing . . ."

    The woman—my mother—nodded, her smile breaking through her tears. "It was fate," she said softly. "We were meant to find you, Eve. And now, we can finally be together."

    The dam inside me broke. Sobs racked my body as I threw myself into her arms, holding onto her like she was the anchor I didn''t know I needed. She hugged me back just as tightly, her tears mixing with mine as we cried together.

    "I missed you," I choked out, the words spilling from my lips before I could even think about them. "I have done everything to find you. My greatest wish is to find you and know my real parents. I thought that you have abandoned me."

    "We never," she said, her voice thick with emotion. "Every single day, we missed you, and we never stop looking for you."

    My newfound brother and sister joined in, wrapping their arms around us in a group hug that felt like the warmest, safest place in the world. For the first time in my life, I felt . . . complete.

    When we finally pulled apart, my father placed a gentle hand on my shoulder, his expression softening. "We know this is a lot to take in," he said. "But . . . we can start slow and fresh."

    I nodded, still overwhelmed but no longer scared. This was my family—my real family. And they had fought tooth and nail to find me, to bring me back into their lives.

    I wasn''t abandoned at all! I was love! I have real parents!

    As I sat down with them, listening to their stories and piecing together the fragments of my past, a sense of peace washed over me. For the first time in a long time, I felt like I was exactly where I was meant to be.

    And just like that, my life—so full of questions and uncertainties—had finally found its missing piece.