Part 1
A homeless boy stood every day next to a school bar at lunchtime, and a rich girl always secretly shared half of his meal…until one day, a family adopted him. Before he left, he looked at her and said,
When I grow up, I’ll come back for you.
No one believed in the promise of a child who had no home.
But twenty-five years later, he fulfilled it.
That half cake was nothing more than the lunch of a girl, but it became what saved the life of that boy: a life that, years later, would be worth more than 950 million Mexican pesos.
Isabella Montes was just nine years old.
She was the only daughter of the Montes family, one of the richest families in Guadalajara. His father owned a chain of luxury hotels and restaurants all over Jalisco, and his mother was a woman who always taught him:
“Whoever has more, should not use it to show off, but to share.
Isabella studied at the private primary school Santa Catalina, where the iron bars always shone, the courtyard was impeccably clean and the children arrived in cars with a driver.
But every noon, while the students sat under the trees to eat sandwiches, fruit and juice, Isabella saw a child on the other side of the fence.
She was thin, wearing an old, faded shirt, had her hair burned by the sun and eyes looking out over the yard with a deep hunger.
On the first day, Isabella only observed him.
On the second day, he left half a cake inside his lunchbox.
On the third day, he sneaked up to the fence, passed bread between the bars and whispered:
“Eat. Don’t let the guard see you.
The boy looked at her for a long time, as if he could not believe that in this world someone could give him food without asking for anything in return.
“What’s your name?” Isabella asked.
“Matthew,” he answered quietly. Mateo Cruz.
Since that day, Isabella shared her lunch with Matthew every day.
Sometimes it was half a ham cake.
Sometimes a sweet shell.
Sometimes a little milk box.
Sometimes, a few pieces of fruit that his mother prepared for him.
Matthew had no parents by his side. He slept near the San Juan de Dios market and, from time to time, helped to load merchandise in exchange for a few coins. Some days they ran it. Others beat him because they suspected he had stolen something. But at noon, he always stood again in front of the Santa Catalina school fence.
Not just for hunger.
But because there was someone there who still remembered him.
Isabella didn’t know what the work shop was doing in trouble.
One day, the guard discovered it.
A father of a family saw her.
The rumor spread throughout the school: Miss Montes was “befriending a street child.”
Her companions mocked her.
The teacher called her mother.
Her father was enraged because he thought his daughter was embarrassing the family.
“You don’t understand, Isabella,” her father said coldly. Children like him take advantage of the kindness of others.
But Isabella just lowered her head and replied:
If I was hungry, I would also expect someone to feed me.
That phrase left the room silent.
But the matter didn’t end there.
A few weeks later, the Montes family decided to switch Isabella from school. He was forbidden to approach the old fence. He was forbidden to mention Matthew. He was banned from carrying extra food in his backpack.
For adults, that was just a small matter.
But for Matthew, it was the first time in his life that he lost the only person who made him feel that he still deserved to live.
And then, one day, Matthew stopped appearing.
Before he disappeared, he waited for Isabella in front of the side entrance of her new school for three hours. When the girl came out, he ran to her, breathing hard, with a blue ribbon still tied on her wrist, the same one Isabella had once used to hold her lunchbox.
“I have to go,” Mateo said.
“Where?
“A family from Monterrey is going to adopt me. They say I can go to school.
Isabella was paralyzed.
Matthew tried to smile, but his eyes were red.
When I grow up, I’ll come back for you.
Isabella broke down in tears.
