Mark found something strange about this particular scent when it happened to him for the first time. The thing was that he found the scent familiar. "I wonder what is this smell? How come it seems familiar?" he thought to himself.
When Mark got home, he could not stop thinking about the smell. "What does it remind me of?" he mused. Since that day, the scent followed him everywhere. "Can you smell it? This perfume?" Mark said to his colleague Samuel one day. "What are you talking about? What perfume?" Samuel replied. "This is a business centre and there' a million of smells in here." At first, it was only the scent, but then Mark started to experience visions. In his visions, he saw a young lady with a little boy, and she behaved in a motherly way towards him. The feeling was as if he had seen those visions before.
Mark's thoughts were interrupted by Samuel's concerned voice. "Mark, are you okay?" Samuel asked with a look of concern. "Yes, I apologize," Mark replied sheepishly.
When Mark returned home that day, he smelled the scent in his room. "No, this is not funny. Who's here? I can smell your scent. Whoever you are, show yourself," he said, albeit angrily. However, there was no response. He searched the whole house, but did not find anyone or anything with the scent.
For a long time, Mark could not find peace, but one day, when he smelled the scent once again, he finally saw the source of the scent. It was from a middle-aged lady, who was sitting alone at oene of the tables. Approaching the lady, Mark asked who she was and whether he could share the table with her. The lady looked up and her eyes met Mark's. "I...do we know each other?" she asked.
"I recognized your perfume. Why are you following me? Is there something you want to tell me?" Mark asked, albeit irritably. The lady's confession, however, left him speechless.
"Mark, I'm your mom," she began. "What are you talking about? I grew up in an orphanage," Mark said, his hand flew to his mouth. "Many years ago, I gave birth to you," the lady said, with tears in her eyes. "I was a teenager back then, my boyfriend wanted nothing to do with you, and my parents kicked me out after learning about my pregnancy. Without any means of survival, I couldn't afford to feed myself or you, so I had no choice but to leave you in the orphanage. Back then, I thought I made the right decision, but every time, my heart hurt at the thought that I did something horrible. Not a day passed by that I didn't think of you."
Upon hearing the lady's confession, Mark could not help but feel angry. "So many years have passed, and now you showed up. I've been an orphan for all these years," he said angrily. "I know, my son. I'm sorry," the lady said, with tears in her eyes.
After some thought, Mark decided to give his mother a chance. He brought her to his house. "Come inside, I believe it is familiar to you," he said. "Yes, I have. Sorry," his mother said sheepishly. She then confessed that she had been to the house with the hope of reconnecting with Mark, to which he replied that while he did not have memories of her, he recognized her by her scent. "I haven't changed my perfume since I last saw you," Mark's mother said. "I can't believe it lead you to me." Mark welcomed her with forgiveness and gratitude, and both mother and son rebuilt their lives together, making up for lost time.
