At the Seaside Orphanage, all the staff were looking around. One of the staff asked, " Did you find her?"
The other staff retorted, " No. She doesn't seem to be anywhere on the premises."
" How come no one noticed she was missing way earlier?" The eldest lady uttered in worry. " I hope she didn't encounter any trouble."
" I'm sure she's fine, Director. She must have run away again like she usually does. This won't be the first time and probably not the last."
The eldest lady found the young lady's words to be quite offensive and reprimanded her for it. " Don't speak nonsense and look for her! She mustn't have gone far."
Right at that moment, Luna appeared before the orphanage. The eldest lady was the first to notice her and irremediably ran toward her and held her in her arms.
" Where were you, Luna, and why are you only coming back home now?" She asked as she held her close. Luna didn't respond and kept silent.
When the director let go of her, she uttered reassuringly to Luna, " It's alright if you don't want to talk about it now. Go inside, take a shower, and change your clothes!"
—
" Once you're done, come eat!"
Luna didn't say a word and simply left as instructed. Once she was inside her room, she lay on the bed and fell soundly asleep in a fraction of a second.
An hour passed and Luna was getting back which worried the director who went to check in on her.
" Luna, why aren't you coming down—-------"
She had just pronounced her words when she noticed the sleeping face of the latter. She was sleeping so soundly that she didn't have the heart to awaken her.
Covering Luna with a blanket, she mumbled, " Does running away from the orphanage have anything to do with your wish?"
Gently patting Luna's head as she slept, the director was brought back to six years ago when she found Luna at the doorstep of the Seaside Orphanage—---
That day, six years ago, it was snowing heavily outside when the director heard a bang on the door. As she went to open the door, she found a basket with a baby held inside.
" What a cute baby?" The director reacted as she noticed the basket with the baby. Her second reaction was, " Who left this baby here to shiver in the cold?"
She gently held the baby in her arms. While doing so, she noticed the baby was wearing a silver bracelet with the insignia of her name on it.
" So, your name is Luna." She said as a bright grin was brought to her face as she looked at the baby's cuteness.
" I don't know why you were brought to my door and why you were left here alone to fend for yourself, but I'll keep you and raise you as if you were my own."
Taking the basket alongside her, she shut the door. From that day on, she's been caring for and protecting Luna the best she could. Thanks to her care and dedication, Luna grew into a lovely and amiable girl, but something was missing from her life, something which left a void in her heart, a void so great that nothing could fill it, and not even the director's love and care.
One day, as they were alone, Luna asked a question to the director. " Lady Claire, why are all my friends getting adopted while I'm not? Am I unwanted?"
She asked those questions as her eyes were filled with nothing but emptiness. Lady Claire looked at her with sadness depicted through her eyes.
Seeing as Lady Claire wasn't saying anything, the young Luna thought then that her words must have hurt the director to the core that she couldn't utter a word. Quickly, she apologized, " Sorry, Lady Claire, I didn't mean to say that."
" You've found and done so much for me. When my unwanted parents left me, you were the one who raised me and provided me with love. Sorry to have hurt your feelings!"
After that unprecedented conversation came to a close, things went back to normal or so Lady Claire thought at the time.
From that moment on, the young Luna would disappear for days with no one being able to locate or find her anywhere. It was as if she was searching for something and until she found it, she wouldn't be at peace.
A month later, as Luna came back to the orphanage, Lady Claire asked her, " Why do you keep disappearing without letting anyone know?" " Where in the world do you wander off every day? What is it that you're looking for so desperately?"
Looking at the director with a stern expression on her face, the young Luna uttered in response, " A wish, I have a wish that I want to come true."
" A wish?"
—
" Like every child, I want a family; that is my wish." Lady Claire was stunned by her response but appalled at the same time.
Noticing the expression she was making, she continued and said, " As much as I'd like to stay here forever with you, you won't be able to care for all of us soon enough."
" I don't understand."
Looking confused, Luna uttered, " I know the difficulties you're facing. There's been an increase of children coming to the orphanage every week and to feed all of us, revenue is needed which you barely have."
Stopping for a moment, she resumed, " I would only make things difficult for you if I stayed here and that is why for the past month, I've been looking for someone to care for and love me just as you've been doing since you found me at this very orphanage."
" I'd like to help you with the difficulties you're facing because here is also my home that I treasure. I want to help provide for my brothers and sisters just as you've been doing. Please let me help you, Mother!"
Lady Claire was stunned as she heard the way Luna addressed her and asked with a stunning expression, " What did you say?"
" I want to help you take care of my brothers and sisters."
" Not that. What was it that you said at the end? Would you mind repeating that?"
Grinning slightly, she uttered, " Please let me help you, Mother!"
Emotionally taken aback, Lady Claire held Luna in her arms lovingly. The two enjoyed the moment until one of the two broke the silence. " You never referred to me as Mother before. Why did you address me like that suddenly?"
" Because that's what you are, my mother and I love you a lot. Sorry for making you wait for so long, Mother!"
" My baby girl, why are you apologizing to me?" " You did nothing wrong, so don't apologize. If anything, you've brought me the greatest happiness just by existing. Thanks for coming into my life, Luna, my daughter."
Back to the present, Lady Claire uttered, " Did you finally make your wish come true, my daughter?"
Days later, Takumi who was at work was unable to concentrate due to his mind being elsewhere. Ever since Luna left his parent's house without a word, he'd been looking for her, but he didn't find a single clue.
He couldn't understand why Luna left without saying anything. The more he tried to find a reason to explain her behavior, the more he was confused by the turn of events and why they happened in the first place.
He was without news for days until one day, a miracle occurred. He received a sudden phone call and when he attended to it, the caller uttered, " We've found the girl with the description you provided—-------------------"
Once the phone call ended, Takumi headed toward the Seaside Orphanage leaving his work piling on the desk.
Meanwhile, at Takumi's parent's house, Takumi's mother was looking through pictures when her husband joined her.
" What are you doing?"
Retorting to the question, she uttered in response, " I've selected new potential brides that I intend to present to our son. Although he has no interest in marriage for the time being, there's no harm in looking, is there?"
—
At Seaside Orphanage, Takumi was directed to Lady Claire's office as he came in for information about Luna.
Lady Claire showed up before Takumi moments later. As she sat down at her desk, she asked, " What may I help you with, Sir?"
" Hi, My name's Takumi Hasegawa and I'm searching for a little girl named Luna." " I was told that she resides here and if possible, I'd like to see her."
" Luna, you say!"
" Yes, that is correct."
—
" If it's not too presumptuous, may I ask how you know my daughter?"
" Your daughter?"
Takumi was in a state of shock but told Lady Claire everything about how he and Luna met, how she stayed with him until his discharge from the hospital, and how he brought her along with him to his parent's house, resulting in her disappearance soon after.
Lady Claire was taken aback by what she heard from Takumi. From the explanation he gave her, she was able to understand at last why her daughter had been missing for so many days, but there was still an unsolved puzzle in her mind.
—
After a moment of silence, Lady Claire spoke again and uttered, " Before I let you see her, I need to consult with her first."
" If you have something urgent to do, maybe you could come back another time."
" No, there's nothing more important than this right now. I'm willing to wait for as long as it takes, so take your time and don't rush because of me."
Seeing as Takumi was quite determined, she stood and said, " I'll be right back."
Lady Claire left her office and headed toward Luna's chamber. Knocking on the door, there was no response, so she invited herself in.
" Luna, there's someone here for you!"
Luna was lying down on the bed when Lady Claire entered and informed her that she had a visitor who wished to see her. Sitting on the bed, she asked, " Who is it that's here to see me?"
" Takumi Hasegawa!"
Hearing the name of the individual, she flinched and quickly laid back down. Her back turned to her mother, and she uttered the following words in her regard, " I don't wish to see him; tell him to leave!"
Lady Claire found her daughter's behavior to be confusing. Based on the explanation given by Takumi himself, he and Luna had a great time together, so why was she behaving like this, was she now wondering?"
Taking a gamble, she uttered, " I know why you've been missing for so many days. Takumi gave me the deets just now."
" He came all the way here just to see you, but you refuse to see him. Why?"
As her mother was persistent about the matter, Luna sat down once more and as her mother sat beside her, she uttered to the latter, " If I see him, I'd want to stay with him and if I do, I'll be causing him nothing but trouble."
—
" What do you mean?"
—
Luna narrated to her mother how Takumi risked his life while saving hers in a car accident even going as far as bringing her along with him. She also told her how he wished for her to stay the night but due to a conversation she accidentally heard between him and his mother, she had to leave on the spot.
Telling her mother what exactly it was she heard, she told the latter as she was done narrating the recent events, " Mr. Hasegawa is a nice man, and among the people I encountered in the past months, Mr. Hasegawa is by far the nicest among them all. Without hesitation, he pushed me aside as the car was about to hit me and took the hit in my stead and I'm grateful to him for that."
" During the shortest time I stayed with him, I could see how noble of heart he was and also how kind. He's as nice and virtuous as you, Mother, but he's facing some hardships of his own and I don't want to add to that by being a burden."
" Please, Mother, ask him to leave! I don't wish to see him."
Leaving her daughter's room, she wondered on the way back to her office where Takumi was waiting for her return—------------
' After months of searching, my daughter finally found what she'd been looking for and I won't let her wish to stay unfulfilled. Ever since the moment I carried Luna in my arms, I've felt deep affection for her. I've loved her from the moment I laid my eyes on her and I've taken care of her the best I could, but even though I was doing my best, I knew I couldn't give her the most important thing—------'
' A place she could call her own, an education and all of those things. Luna is a bright child but her life was bound to the orphanage and there was nothing I could do against it. Growing up, she understood on her own that she was adopted, but she never resented me for it and kept grinning at me whenever she saw me.'
' When she told me her wish, I wasn't sad because of her words. The true reason for my sadness then, was my helplessness. Now that I have the opportunity to make my daughter's wish come true, I shouldn't hesitate.'
' For six years, she stayed in this orphanage without any hope of a future, but that would end today. From this day on, Luna shall no longer be caged in this orphanage and there's only one way for me to do that.'