FLASHBACK – 20 YEARS EARLIER

The orphanage where Lucía lived was on fire.
Screams.
Smoke.
Flames everywhere.

Little Lucía was trapped.

— Help! Please!

Suddenly, a man rushed through the flames.
She didn’t know him.

He wrapped her in a wet blanket and held her tightly.

— Don’t let go, little girl! the man shouted.

Lucía felt the fire burning the man’s back…
because he was taking all the pain to protect her.

Before she lost consciousness, she saw the tattoo on his shoulder:
an eagle with a rose.

When she woke up in the hospital, firefighters told her that a “good Samaritan” had saved her and left without giving his name.

She never saw him again.

Lucía returned to the present.

With trembling hands, she touched Don Rafael’s scars.

— Was it you…? she sobbed. Were you the man who saved me?

Tears rolled down the old man’s face.
And with great effort, he closed his eyes — a sign of “yes.”

At that moment, the phone rang.
It was Daniel.

— Is everything okay with my father? he asked anxiously.

— Daniel… Lucía cried. Why did you never tell me?
Your father is the man who saved my life when I was a child!

Silence on the other end.

— You went into his room… he whispered.

— I saw the scars! I saw the tattoo! Why did you hide this from me?

Daniel let out a deep sigh.

— Because that was my father’s decision…
When he met you, he recognized you immediately. But he asked me never to tell you.
He said:
“I don’t want her to love you out of gratitude. I want her to choose you out of love, not out of debt.”

Lucía collapsed to the floor, shattered.

— That’s why he never wanted you to see him like this…
He wanted you to be free from your past.

Lucía hung up.

She knelt beside the bed and embraced the old man gently.

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