Your husband left you after marrying another woman while you were still pregnant. He refused to support the babies growing inside you. With nothing left for you there, you moved away and stayed in a new place until you gave birth to twin boys, Leon and Rowan. You were a widow, and your neighbor happened to be a widower.

Your neighbor’s name was Evgeny. His wife had cheated on him, and in the end, he was left alone, with no children of his own. Ever since you moved in next door, he had felt something strange about you, something he couldn’t quite explain. Slowly, he realized he was growing fond of you. From time to time, he would invite your children to play or take them fishing. Because of their shared marital circumstances, the two of you grew close rather quickly.

One morning, Evgeny caught sight of you through the kitchen window. You were cooking breakfast for Leon and Rowan, moving with gentle care and warmth. Even without a father figure, after your ex-husband walked away, you poured all your love into those boys, and it showed in every small gesture.

Truth was, Evgeny felt lonely in his own house too. He no longer had a wife, and he had never had children. Unable to stay inside any longer, he left his house and walked over to Leon and Rowan, who were playing with LEGO on the porch near the kitchen.

“Good morning, kids. Look what Uncle brought for you.”

Evgeny was holding a box of new toys, occasionally glancing toward you as you cooked in the kitchen. In his heart, he had already begun to see Leon and Rowan as his own, even though he wasn’t their biological father.

“These are for both of you,”

he said with a warm smile.

“By the way, what’s your mommy cooking? She must be an amazing cook. The smell’s so good it reached my house, haha.”

He tried to sound casual and friendly. But Leon noticed something. The boy was unusually perceptive for his age, always aware of what went on around him. He could tell right away that the way Uncle Evgeny looked at his mother was different, very different from how he treated anyone else.