The next morning, Mrs. Anna went to the supermarket to buy some groceries.
She was walking through the aisles, picking up vegetables, rice, meat, and other things for the house.
At the same time, Mrs. Jennie was in another section, choosing the groceries she needed.
She eventually finished shopping and headed toward the exit.
Then she saw someone walking ahead of her.
Mrs. Jennie suddenly stopped.
Her eyes narrowed.
Something about that woman looked strangely familiar.
She watched as the woman continued toward the parking lot.
"Where have I seen her before?"
Mrs. Jennie tried to get a better look.
Then her heart suddenly skipped.
She remembered.
Years ago, there had been a woman she had entrusted with her child.
That face...
It couldn't be.
"Wait!"
Mrs. Jennie dropped the shopping bags in her hands and rushed after her.
"Excuse me!"
Mrs. Anna continued walking, unaware of who was behind her.
"Please, wait!"
Mrs. Jennie ran faster.
By the time she reached the parking lot, Mrs. Anna was already getting into a waiting car.
Mrs. Jennie stopped.
"Wait!"
Mrs. Anna briefly looked back.
Their eyes met.
Mrs. Jennie's heart pounded.
She was certain now.
"It is her..."
She hurried toward the car.
"Please!"
But before she could reach it, the driver started the engine.
Mrs. Anna looked ahead.
"Let's go."
The car pulled away.
Mrs. Jennie stood frozen in the middle of the parking lot, watching it disappear into traffic.
Her breathing became uneven.
"That was her..."
She couldn't believe it.
After all these years, the woman she had been searching for had appeared right in front of her.
And somehow, Mrs. Jennie knew this encounter was going to change everything.
### Inside the Car
Mrs. Anna settled into the back seat as the driver pulled away from the supermarket.
She looked through the rear window.
For a brief moment, she had seen a woman running toward the car, calling out.
Mrs. Anna frowned.
"Was she calling me..."
She looked back again, but the woman was already growing smaller in the distance.
"...or was she calling someone else?"
The driver glanced at her through the mirror.
"Ma'am, is everything alright?"
Mrs. Anna nodded slowly.
"I'm fine."
But she couldn't stop thinking about the woman's face.
It had looked familiar for only a second.
Then she shook her head.
"No..."
"It's been too many years."
Time had changed everyone.
Mrs. Anna herself had grown older, her hair now streaked with gray, her face lined with age.
She couldn't possibly recognize every face from decades ago.
"Maybe she mistook me for someone else," she murmured.
The driver continued driving through the streets of Manila.
Mrs. Anna let the thought go, unaware that the woman chasing her had recognized her immediately.
Mrs. Jennie couldn't bring herself to go home.
The encounter at the supermarket kept replaying in her mind.
Instead, she went straight to Nicholas's company.
She walked into the building, barely acknowledging the employees greeting her, and headed directly toward his office.
When she opened the door, Nicholas looked up from his desk.
His expression immediately changed.
"Jennie?"
He quickly stood.
"What are you doing here?"
She rarely came to his office without calling first.
Then he noticed her face.
She looked shaken.
Nicholas's concern deepened.
"What's wrong?"
Jennie closed the door behind her.
"I saw someone."
Nicholas walked around his desk.
"Who?"
Jennie struggled to catch her breath.
"At the supermarket."
She looked at him with disbelief still written across her face.
"I think I saw the woman we gave our child to years ago."
Nicholas froze.
"What?"
"I recognized her."
His expression became serious.
"Are you certain?"
Jennie shook her head.
"I don't know. That's the problem."
She pressed a hand against her chest.
"She looked exactly like her, but it has been so many years. I called after her, but she got into a car before I could reach her."
Nicholas stared at his wife.
"Jennie, are you sure it wasn't someone else?"
"I don't know."
Her voice trembled.
"But something inside me told me it was her."
Nicholas gently took her hands.
"Come sit down."
Jennie sat in the chair opposite his desk.
Nicholas remained standing beside her, trying to process what she'd just told him.
After all these years, the past they had buried might have just resurfaced.
And neither of them was prepared for what it could mean.
Jennie's eyes filled with tears.
"What if he's still out there?"
Her voice trembled.
"What if our child is still out there, Nicholas?"
Nicholas's expression softened.
"Jennie..."
She shook her head, tears spilling down her cheeks.
"It's my fault."
She covered her face with her hands.
"I shouldn't have been so careless. I should have protected him. I should have made sure he was safe."
Nicholas immediately walked around the desk and pulled her into his arms.
"Hey. Don't do this to yourself."
Jennie clung to him, crying against his chest.
"What if he's alive somewhere? What if he's been looking for us all these years?"
Nicholas held her tighter.
"We don't know what happened yet."
"But what if that woman really was her?"
"Then we'll find her."
Jennie looked up at him through her tears.
"You really think we can?"
Nicholas gently wiped her cheek.
"We have to try."
He pulled her back into his arms.
"You're not carrying this alone anymore, Jennie."
She closed her eyes, holding onto him tightly.
"I just want to know where my son is."
Nicholas kissed the top of her head.
"Then we'll find out."
Jennie cried quietly in his arms, unable to shake the feeling that after all these years, she had finally come close to finding the child she had never stopped missing.