Chapter 94
OLIVIA’S POV
20
“Ever since I’ve known you, all the times we used to meet up at the café, and even the times you came over to my place to stay, I never once saw your ankle,” Julian said, his voice strangely soft yet serious.
I blinked at him, confused.
What was he on about now? Why was he suddenly talking about my ankle of all things?
“What does that have to do with any of this?” I asked, my tone a little sharper than I intended.
He took a slow breath, looking almost pained to continue.
“On the left side of your lower ankle, there should be a small scar,” he said quietly, “a tiny mark, but it’s there.”
A cold chill ran down my spine.
He wasn’t lying.
There was a scar there.
A scar I had had for as long as I could remember, hidden away, something I had never thought much about.
And more importantly, it was something I had never shown to anyone–not even my closest friends.
“How do you know about that?” I asked cautiously, taking an involuntary step back. “I’ve had this scar since… forever, but I haven’t shown it to anyone. So how could you possibly know?”
Julian’s eyes were glassy as he took another slow, deliberate step closer, almost like he was scared I would run away if he moved too fast.
“I know because…” He swallowed hard, his voice thick with emotion. “Because I’m the reason you have that scar. It was my fault. My carelessness. I wasn’t watching you like I was supposed to.”
For a moment, the room around us blurred.
My mind screamed at me to deny it, to say it wasn’t possible, that it was all some massive mistake.
But deep down, something inside of me–the same part that always felt an inexplicable closeness to Julian–whispered that he was telling the truth.
How else would he know about something so personal? So hidden?
Slowly, I bent down and untied my sneakers.
I peeled them off along with my socks, exposing my bare ankle.
There it was–the faint, almost crescent–shaped scar, right where he said it would be.
The air in the room grew heavy.
Julian’s shoulders dropped as if a huge weight had been lifted but replaced with a different kind of burden.
“See?” he said, his voice cracking with emotion. “I’m not lying to you. I could never lie about something this important. Olivia, you have no idea how much guilt I’ve carried all these years. The person I’d been searching for my whole life was right beside me, and I didn’t even know. Mom and Dad… they were broken when you disappeared. Everyone in the family was. They never gave up hope. And neither did I, even after everyone believed that you were dead
Tears filled my eyes, blurring my vision as I stared at him.
Was this why we always had such a strong bond?
Why do we seem to understand each other without even needing words?
Why he had always been there, even when he didn’t have to be?
It all made sense now.
The pieces of the puzzle that never seemed to fit before were finally sliding into place.
“I wouldn’t lie to you about something like this, Olivia,” he said softly. “But… if you still have doubts–and honestly, I wouldn’t blame you–we can
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11:35 AM
Chapter 94
go to a hospital right now. We can take a DNA test.”
I wiped the tears from my cheeks, trying to gather myself.
My voice was shaky when I answered, “I would really like that… please. I need to know for sure. Before I get my hopes up and… and have them crushed.”
He nodded firmly, as if silently promising me he would stay by my side no matter what.
Julian quickly cleaned his face up with the sleeve of his shirt, his expression hardening with determination. He then gestured toward the door, silently urging me to follow him.
We walked out of the orphanage office together, the weight of what just happened sitting heavy on both of our shoulders.
It felt like the ground beneath my feet had shifted,
Once we got to the car, I turned to him again, needing to make one thing clear.
“It’s not that I don’t trust you,” I said, fastening my seatbelt. “But all this information you’re telling me… it came from people I don’t know. People I didn’t choose to trust. You know your investigators, you trust them, but I don’t. So if we’re going to do this, it needs to be with someone I trust.
Someone neutral.”
Julian nodded without hesitation.
“Of course,” he said.
The past few months had made me develop serious trust issues, especially with people I didn’t know very well.
I had seen too much – betrayal, lies, manipulation. Everyone could be bought.
Anyone could pretend to be someone they weren’t for the right price.
I didn’t want what happened outside the café to repeat itself.
Even though Adrian might seem calm on the outside, I knew just how far he was willing to go to get what he wanted.
I couldn’t afford another mistake. Not when everything felt so fragile.
We got to the hospital in no time, the drive passing in a blur of nervous silence.
The tension in the car was so thick it could be cut with a knife.
As we pulled into the parking lot, my fingers gripped the seatbelt tightly, trying to steady my racing heart.
I had already decided to request the help of someone I trusted
someone I knew wasn’t under anyone’s influence.
The same doctor who had helped me when I lost my first child.
Dr. James might not have been someone I had known for many years, but he had proven himself when I was at my lowest.
That counted for something.
As we walked into the hospital, I immediately spotted him standing at the reception desk, deep in conversation with one of the nurses.
His white coat, neatly pressed,
It didn’t take long before his gaze met mine, and a warm smile spread across his face.
“Olivia, good to see you again,” Dr. James said, walking toward me with open arms.
“Good to see you too, Doc,” I replied, returning the smile as best as I could despite the nerves coiling in my stomach.
“I’d like you to help me out with something today. Something important.”
His eyes flickered to Julian, who stood silently beside me.
Recognition flashed in Dr. James’s expression.
“Ah, you’re the young man who came to her rescue that evening,” Dr. James said, giving Julian a small nod of approval.
Julian responded with a faint, respectful smile, barely nodding his head.
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Chapter 94
“Alright then, follow me to my office,” Dr. James added, leading the way down the corridor
As we entered his office, he hung his coat on the rack and gestured for us to take a seat.
He lowered himself into the chair behind his desk, still watching us with mild curiosity.
“I’m guessing you’re here to check up on the baby?” he asked, his voice light and
expectant.
I shook my head, feeling Julian shift uneasily beside me.
“Oh, no. Actually… we’re here for something else,” I began, forcing myself to stay composed.
“You see, a few minutes ago I just found out that… well, he might be my biological brother.
We’re here to take a DNA test to confirm if it’s true.”
For a moment, Dr. James simply stared at me, processing the information.
Then he leaned back in his chair, his eyebrows raised in shock.
“That’s… a lot to take in,” he said slowly, his voice tinged with surprise.
And here I was thinking you two were in a romantic relationship.”
My cheeks flushed slightly at his assumption.
Me? In a relationship with Julian?
Even before I knew about the possibility of us being siblings, I had never seen Julian in that way.
There was a bond between us, yes but it wasn’t romantic.
–
It was something deeper, something stronger.
A bond that, now that I thought about it, made so much more sense if we truly were family.
“I get that a lot,” I muttered awkwardly, waving it off.
Dr. James chuckled lightly and stood up, shaking his head as if he couldn’t believe the situation.
“Anyways,” he said, regaining his professional demeanor, “let’s get started.”
Julian turned to me, giving me a reassuring nod as if to say, No matter what happens, I’m here.
I swallowed hard and followed Dr. James through another door into a smaller, sterile testing room.
The walls were white and bare, and the only furniture was a counter filled with medical supplies and two chairs.
This was it.
Here, in this room, my questions would finally be answered.
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