It was an ordinary evening. The end of a long shift — traffic jams, exhaustion.
Mark was just about to turn off his app when another request popped up: “To the maternity ward, urgent.”
He almost declined, but something inside made him press “accept.”
Five minutes later, he stopped by an apartment building.
On the sidewalk stood a woman, heavily pregnant, her hands trembling.
— “Are you Mark?” she gasped. “Please, hurry — I think… it’s starting.”
He helped her into the car, fastened her seatbelt, turned on the hazard lights, and drove as fast as he safely could.
On the way, the woman was breathing heavily, gripping the seat.
— “You’ll be all right,” Mark said gently. “Hold on.”
— “I’m alone,” she whispered. “There’s no one…”
They reached the hospital in ten minutes — a trip that usually took twenty. Mark helped her out, called for nurses, and was about to leave when he heard her shout:
— “Thank you! I won’t forget you!”
He smiled, waved, and drove off.
Then, in time, he forgot.
Twelve years passed.
Mark was still driving his taxi. One day, he got a request from a woman — destination: Children’s School of Arts.
When the passenger got in, he immediately recognized her eyes.
The same smile — just older now.
— “You don’t remember me,” she said softly. “You drove me to the maternity hospital that night.”
Mark blinked in surprise.
— “Really? So… you and the baby — are you both okay?”
She smiled and showed him a photo of a boy about eleven years old.
— “We’re fine. But… I need to tell you something. That night in your car, I decided that if we survived, I would name my son after you.”
Mark smiled warmly — but she continued:
— “Only later I learned… my son was born with a rare heart condition. The doctors said if I hadn’t gotten to the hospital so fast, he wouldn’t have survived.
If you hadn’t come — he wouldn’t be alive.”
She handed him the photo. On the back, it said:
“Mark. 11 years old. I want to be like my namesake — the man who saved my life without even knowing it.”
Mark stared at the photo for a long time.
Then he simply said:
— “Now I know why I pressed ‘accept order’ that night.”
