A poor student took a job no one else wanted: cleaning the old house of a lonely old woman who lived hidden away in a narrow alley. But when he first entered, he discovered something that chilled him to the bone… The woman could barely walk, she was ill, and she lived completely alone. What began as a simple job for a few coins ended up changing his life. The young man didn’t just clean the house. He also started cooking for her, going to the market in the rain, and accompanying her to the hospital when the pain left her breathless. Many told him he was wasting his time helping a stranger. But he kept going every day… Until one morning, when he opened the door to the house, he found something on the table that made his hands tremble… and at that moment he understood that this old woman had never been just any ordinary woman.

I took a breath and began to read.

“Dear Diego,”

“If you’re reading this letter, it means I’m gone.”

“Forgive me for not paying you the money I promised you these past months.”

“I know you probably thought I was a stingy old woman or that I’d simply forgotten… but that wasn’t the case.”

“Every day I saw you cleaning my house, taking me to the hospital, cooking for me without asking for anything in return.”

“Many times I wanted to give you the money… but I needed to be sure of something.”

“I needed to know if there were still good people in this world.”

My hands began to tremble as I continued reading.

“My own children stopped visiting me years ago.”

“At first they called… then less and less… until one day they simply disappeared.”

“I wasn’t a perfect mother, but I loved them with all my heart.”

“When I grew old and sick, I became a burden to them.”

“That’s why I decided to live alone in this house.”

“I thought I was going to die forgotten.”

“But then you came along.”

My eyes were already completely clouded with tears.

“You weren’t my family.”

“You weren’t my grandson.”

“You didn’t even know me.”

“And yet you treated me with more love than my own children.”

“You brought me food.”

“You took me to the hospital.”

“You sat with me and listened to old stories you’d probably heard many times before.”

“And you never asked me for money.”

“Not once.”

I had to stop for a few seconds.

I took a deep breath.

Tears fell onto the paper.

I kept reading.