Brian was a poor man who worked as a grocery store cashier. He had always been an orphan, but one day he learned of a potential aunt and went to meet her. It went horribly wrong, and on the way back, he met a young girl at the bus stop who said something that stunned him. He knew he ought to do something to help her.”

It’s going to be a freezing night, “Brian mumbled to himself as he took up his blanket and slid into bed. He was residing in a supermarket’s storage section because he didn’t have a place to live. He used to live in a shipping container on the other side of town, but when he came to the store to ask for work, the proprietor took pity on him.

Amanda was the nicest person alive, and she tried to help as many people as she could. Although it wasn’t the ideal business strategy, she occasionally handed away free food to those in need. Most people liked her since her principles were more important than her money. Brian, who was 18 years old at the time, had little experience aside from a few concerts here and there.

He was an orphan with no home, and Amanda wasn’t sure if he’d be a good employee. She had taken a chance on him, and he had never let her down. He was always willing to work extra shifts, cover for other staff, and assist her with everything she needed. When she discovered he was destitute, she offered him the storage backroom.

It was a windowless room with an adjacent bathroom, so he could live there comfortably. Brian couldn’t believe her generosity, especially since she refused to charge him for his stay. Thanks to his pay, he was able to purchase a small hot plate and other items. The rest of his money went into savings in the hopes of one day being able to afford a nice apartment of his own.

However, rents in their Brooklyn neighborhood were rising, so it would take some time. He needed to remain patient. However, finding an apartment for himself was not a high priority. After settling into the backroom Amanda had given him, he began to consider trying to locate his birth parents. Brian had been abandoned as a toddler at an orphanage.

and no one ever took him in. He was moved about in foster care until he reached the age of 18. That’s when he found himself homeless. Fortunately, he met Amanda, and he no longer felt so alone in the world. She reminded him of his mother, and he fantasized of reuniting with his family. They had abandoned him, but perhaps they could reunite and form at least a friendly connection.

He would dream about all kinds of scenarios at night when he sat in his bed. He went to sleep thinking of a heartwarming reunion with his birth mother and how she would greet him. The idea made him feel happy.”You know… I think people are now using DNA to find their parents,” his co-worker, Alissa, told him one day. They were both on their registers, but there were no customers that early morning.”What is that?” Brian asked, pursing his lips.

“It’s like this kit. You buy it and have to like to swab your cheek with a Q-tip and then you send it to the company. The results come out, and they reveal all kinds of stuff like your lineage, your face, and other things. But I’ve heard that if someone related to you has taken the same test, it can appear on the website or something. You can apparently get their contact information,” Alissa continued.

“That sounds like magic,” he replied, and a customer showed up, so he got busy with work. After his shift, Brian asked Alissa if she could find out how much that kind of kit would cost, and she agreed to help him. They discovered how expensive it was, but Brian had enough money to buy one, thanks to his savings. This DNA kit could be the answer to all his questions.

“Let’s buy it!” he told Alissa, and she helped him arrange everything with the online website using his phone. It was cheap, but he needed an internet connection to get set up. All he had to do was wait for the kit to arrive. When it arrived, he followed all the instructions. He sent it back and waited for the results excitedly, although he tried not to get too enthusiastic about it in case nothing turned up.

Surprisingly, when he and Alissa checked the website, he matched with someone who was most likely his aunt. They searched for her online and contacted her through Facebook, explaining the situation. Brian was even more shocked when she told him to meet him at a café in the city. This was his chance, but he never imagined what would happen.

“I’m going to meet my happiness, Amanda! Today is going to be amazing!” he told his boss after asking for the day off to meet his aunt.” Congratulations!” she responded and waved at him from her office desk.” I came here only because I don’t want you to contact us again,” the woman, Christina, began. “The events around your birth and everything after were very painful for our family.

I can give you some money, but please, don’t contact us ever again or keep trying to find your birth parents. She passed Brian an envelope with cash. Brian looked at her, and his lip started trembling, but he was not going to cry in front of this woman. This was not the reunion he had daydreamed about, and he should’ve known it wasn’t going to be pretty. But at the very least, he thought she would give him a chance.

“I don’t want your money. I only ever wanted to have a family,” Brian said, working hard so that his emotions wouldn’t leak out. “We are not your family. Please, take this and leave,” Christina stated and stood up from the coffee table. “Please, just tell me why it was painful?” he begged her, grabbing her arm as she tried to walk away.

“Let me go right now,” she demanded, widening her eyes at him, and Brian couldn’t do anything else. He let her go and watched her walk away.
He stared at the envelope on the table for several minutes until the waitress at the shop approached and asked if he wanted anything else. He didn’t answer for several seconds, as his mind was almost paralyzed in shock. But he snapped out of it. “This is for you,” he stated, pointing towards the envelope and standing up to leave.

“Wait, this is too much money!” she called out, but Brian didn’t care. He didn’t want money from someone who refused to tell him why they left him. This had been a terrible idea, and his pain became worse as he walked toward the bus stop. He sat down as the vehicle drove off, and he resisted the urge to cry the entire way. He almost got off on his final stop in a trance, but something caught his attention.

There was a little girl at the bus stop, and she couldn’t be older than five. She had stepped in front of him. “Sir, do you have anything to eat?” she asked in her tiny voice, and he noted her skinny frame. He knelt in front of her and shook his head sadly. “I’m sorry, kid. I don’t have anything on me. But why are you here all alone? I bet there’s food at home,” he told her gently.

The little girl swung her head back and forth. “Nope. There’s nothing. I had the last can of soup yesterday. Do you know where I could find food?”Her words moved his heart because he had known hunger at some point, as some of his foster homes were not great places. “Where are your parents, kid?” he asked.”Not home,” the girl said, biting her lip and fidgeting with her hands. Brian recognized immediately that this girl came from a bad situation, so he offered his hand. He asked for her name, and she replied, “Elizabeth.”

“Let’s go get you something to eat, Elizabeth,” he said, and they walked for a while until he saw a convenience store and bought a few snacks for the kid. He wanted to feed her something else, but he needed to get her help. They needed to go to the police station. He also called Amanda because he usually helped close the store even on his days off, and she insisted on meeting them at the station.

After she ate, they walked toward the station, and one of the officers recognized the little girl. Brian told them about finding her at a bus stop alone and asking for food. Amanda assured everyone that Brian was a good man and they were trying to get help for her. Fortunately, the police and CPS had been called to the girl’s house before, and she had been removed temporarily. But somehow, the parents got her back at some point.

“Elizabeth, where are your parents?” the officer asked.”I don’t know,” she shook her head, and surprisingly, she grabbed Brian’s pant leg to get closer to him. The cops knew Elizabeth’s address, and they went to find the parents while the three stayed at the station. A social worker, Mrs. Darcy, showed up, but they couldn’t get the little girl away from Brian for some reason. When the lady asked why she didn’t want to come with her, Elizabeth started to speak.

“He gave me food. He is the first big person to give me food,” she said to Mrs. Darcy, but she looked directly at Brian. “You gave me food and cared about me. Can you please adopt me? Can you be my daddy?” Brian was floored, and almost everyone who heard looked at them. Amanda started to cry at the thought.”Is there any chance we could take for her one night?” Brian asked Mrs. Darcy, and she shook her head.

“We can’t do that. It would be too dangerous for us. You could try becoming her foster parent, but that requires an inspection, and it’s a long process,” Amanda stepped in. “What if she comes with me? I have two kids at home. We could work something out. I live close to Brian.” But Mrs. Darcy shook her head again. “I’m sorry, ma’am. It’s just not possible.” Mrs. Darcy took Elizabeth away, in spite of the little girl wailing and hanging on to Brian for dear life.

“Don’t worry, Elizabeth. We’ll see each other again soon!” Brian called out, trying to get her to calm down as Mrs. Darcy placed her in the car. They were taking her to a temporary foster home. Elizabeth teared up and wailed. “I don’t want to leave him He cares for me. I want him to be my daddy! Please!””Please, Amanda. Is there any way you can help me? I really want to foster that child. She deserves a loving home,” Brian begged his boss on the way back to the grocery store.

“Brian, you need so much to become a foster parent, including a house,” Amanda responded, her hand on her lips as if she were in deep thought. “I have some savings. We could look for a cheap apartment. It could work,” Brian suggested, and Amanda saw the eagerness in his eyes. He truly wanted to help this little girl, and she felt pride for the person he was despite all his hardships.

She stopped right in front of the store and breathed deeply. “You know what, Brian? You are now the assistant manager. I’ve been meaning to hire someone because paperwork and everything have been stacking up. So I’m doing it now!” “Are you serious? Thank you!” “We’re going to do our best for that girl!! Amanda assured him, and he hugged her tightly.

With his new salary, Brian was able to afford an apartment nearby. It wasn’t anything fancy, but it worked, and Amanda and Alissa helped him furnish it as best they could. They lent him money, went to flea markets, gave him their extra things, and prepared everything.He signed up for foster parent lessons and started the process. There were a few problems with the social worker due to him being a young single man, but he was finally able to convince her that he would be a fantastic parent and that Amanda was like his mother, so she would be in Elizabeth’s life too.

Eventually, they allowed Elizabeth to stay with him, and he became her official foster parent. He enrolled her at school and picked her up in the afternoons. She did her homework in the store’s backroom and helped out whenever possible. Everyone loved the little girl, and she was flourishing in that environment. A few months later, he was having coffee with Amanda in her office, and she was praising him for doing such an excellent job as an assistant manager at the store.

But she suddenly changed the subject and started talking about Elizabeth. “You know that day months ago when you said you were going to meet your happiness?” Amanda asked. “Oh, yeah that,” Brian replied, smiling but confused. “I think you did,” she added, grinning at him and sipping her coffee. Brian laughed aloud and nodded earnestly. She was entirely right.