CHAPTER 2 — The Woman Nobody Recognized
The banquet hall remained frozen.
Nobody dared to speak.
The woman in the floral dress stood pale and trembling as the CEO's words echoed through the room.
"Your contract with our company is terminated. Effective immediately."
A moment earlier, she had been the loudest person in the room.
Now she could barely breathe.
"Please..." she whispered. "I didn't know she was your mother."
The CEO looked at her coldly.
"That's exactly the problem."
His voice was calm.
"You believed she was nobody."
Silence swept across the hall.
The elderly woman lowered her eyes.
She hated being the center of attention.
The CEO gently squeezed her shoulder.
Then he turned toward the guests.
"Most of you know me."
Several people nodded nervously.
"But very few of you know the person who sacrificed everything so I could stand here today."
The room became even quieter.
The CEO helped his mother stand.
"When my father died, she worked three jobs."
"She cleaned offices at night."
"Washed dishes in restaurants."
"And skipped meals so I could eat."
Many guests looked down in shame.
The old woman smiled weakly.
"I only did what any mother would do."
But her son shook his head.
"No."
"You did what heroes do."
For the first time that evening, applause slowly filled the room.
And many guests found tears forming in their eyes.
May you like
Because the woman they had mistaken for a servant...
was the reason one of the country's most successful men existed at all.
