Lena stared at Lily.
She wanted to say something.
Anything.
But every word became stuck in her throat.
She looked at the young woman’s face again.
The simple clothes.
The rough hands.
The slightly tired expression.
She had never seen her before.
So why did looking at her hurt?
"Can I..."
Lena swallowed.
"Can I ask you something?"
Lily looked at her.
"What?"
"What were you like as a child?"
Lily froze.
It was such a strange question.
"I don’t remember everything."
"Did you..."
Lena hesitated. "Did you have a birthmark?"
Lily nodded slowly. "Behind my left shoulder."
Lena’s breathing stopped.
Julian looked at her.
Lena covered her mouth.
She remembered.
She remembered holding a newborn baby eighteen years ago.
She remembered the tiny mark.
She had thought it was beautiful.
Her eyes suddenly filled with tears.
"That’s..."
She couldn’t finish.
Father Bennet looked between them.
His expression had become complicated.
"You’re saying our daughter was switched with yours?"
Julian nodded. "We believe so."
"Thomas, what are they saying?" Mary asked in a trembling voice, finding the entire situation unbelievable.
Thomas stared at the papers.
Then at Lily.
Then at his wife.
His hands began trembling.
He looked like he had suddenly aged several years.
"But..."
His voice cracked.
"She has been with us for eighteen years."
"I know."
"She is our daughter."
Julian’s eyes lowered.
"I know."
That answer somehow made everything worse.
Because he wasn’t arguing.
He wasn’t claiming that biology erased eighteen years.
He understood.
Lena wiped her eyes.
"We didn’t come here to drag her away."
Mary looked at her.
"Then why did you come?"
"Because we needed to know."
Lena looked at Lily again.
"And because..."
She took a shaky breath.
"I wanted to see my daughter."
The words hung in the air.
Lily’s expression remained calm.
But her hands had curled into fists.
My daughter.
Those words should have made her happy.
They did.
But there was something else.
A strange irritation.
Because somewhere else, Elena was still living in the Shaw house.
Still sleeping in her room.
Still eating at their table.
Still being loved by the people who were supposed to be Lily’s.
Lily lowered her gaze.
"Then..."
She slowly looked up.
"Will you take me home?"
Lena stared at her.
For a moment, she didn’t know how to answer.
Julian looked at Lily.
"We need to discuss everything first."
Lily nodded.
She had expected that.
After all, this was only the beginning.
The conversation lasted for hours.
They compared documents.
They discussed the hospital.
They discussed the two births.
They discussed Elena.
And eventually, the truth became impossible to deny.
Lily Bennet was the biological daughter of the Shaw family.
Elena Shaw was not.
But when Julian and Lena finally stood outside the Bennet house, neither of them felt victorious.
Lena looked back at Lily.
Then she looked toward the distant road.
Somewhere beyond the hills was the daughter she had raised.
The daughter who had called her mother for eighteen years.
Her chest tightened.
"Julian."
"Hm?"
"What are we going to tell Elena?"
Julian remained silent.
He didn’t have an answer.
After a long moment, he said quietly, "The truth."
Lena nodded.
Her eyes were red.
"And what happens after that?"
Julian looked toward the road, unsure. "I don’t know."
For the first time in eighteen years, Julian Shaw realized that he had no idea how to protect both of his daughters.
Behind them, Lily stood at the doorway.
She watched the Shaw couple leave.
A smile slowly appeared on her face.
The life she had lost was finally coming back to her.
And this time...
She wouldn’t let anyone take it away.
Not even Elena.
...
Elena shivered for no reason, not knowing she was being targeted by Lily.
She was at home waiting for her parents to come and reveal the truth.
She knew everything and was just waiting.
It’s not to say she wasn’t anxious.
Just because she knew the future didn’t mean she would let it play out.
If her life had to change beyond her goals and expectations, then so be it.
It wasn’t like she could stay in this house anymore.
She had read enough fake heiress novels to know that it never ended up well.
Thus, she planned to reuinite with her biological family and hope to set things right.
Besides, she didn’t really have any attachments.
It wasn’t that she was heartless but knowing her ending wasn’t any good made her change and adapt.
Accepting that the world was a mere novel and how it’s running wasn’t an easy feat.
She couldn’t confide in anyone and had to keep the secret strictly to herself.
Not like anyone would believe her absurd words.
"Elena."
"Yes, grandpa?"
It seemed her grandfather had sensed her mood and came to comfort her.
Just as the two were about to talk, the Shaw couple returned home.
"Dad, Elena," said Julian, looking at the two of them together in the living room. His voice turning hoarse and stifled.
Lena on the side couldn’t even muster up a proper greeting, her heart set on her biological child’s suffering.
But Elena was eager for it all to end so she could cut them off for good and leave for her biological family.
Call her cold but knowing the future came with its costs.
She had long seen through the fickleness of her parents and knowing the plot only made her resolve strengthen.
"Dad, you don’t look too well," she said, taking a step closer with her brows furrowed in concern.
"Elena." Julian choked up with one word, unable to spit it out.
He didn’t know how to bring it up now that he was home and had seen his biological daughter.
But he knew he had to tell his father and daughter about the truth.
"Dad... Elena... She’s not a Shaw..."
That was the most direct way he could think of phrasing it.
"Wh-what do you mean?" Richard, Elena’s grandfather, asked in disbelief, unable to believe the words he was hearing.
Meanwhile, Elena took it in stride, sighing in relief that what was meant to come came.
But she had to act suprised or else her family would get suspicious.
"D-dad, w-what are you talking about?" She asked with trembling voice, unable to form a coherent sentence.
Having no choice but to recall the entire set of circumstances Julian explained.
"The thing is... Elena, you were switch at birth with our biological daughter eighteen years ago in the hospital. It was an accident as it was late at night during the delivery and the lack of specialized doctors back then..."
He continued about how she had replaced Lily and talked at length about the whole ordeal and the Bennet family’s circumstances he had seen.
"Given their circumstances, I wish to keep you with us," he told his desire bluntly, not noticing his wife’s pale face and the twitching lips of his father.
"NO!"