The old woman sighed and looked at the old man. "You tell her the rest."
Alice York looked at her grandfather. "What on earth happened after that?"
"After that..." The old man’s expression was wistful. "Mindy’s condition improved a lot during her pregnancy. She no longer had any suicidal thoughts, and she eventually gave birth to a daughter. This daughter was so lovely—fair-skinned and sweet. Mindy adored her, and so did we. Our greatest joy every day was playing with our granddaughter."
These were happy mories, so a smile spread across the old man’s face as he recalled them.
But as Alice listened, she felt sothing was off. Her grandparents said Mindy had given birth to *a* daughter, not that she had given birth to *her*.
’I must be overthinking it. They’re just telling the story of what happened back then.’
"But the good tis didn’t last." The old man’s face suddenly turned sorrowful. "When that daughter was almost a year old, she ca down with an illness. The doctors said it was a genetic disease. There were no known cures in the country at the ti, the survival rate was practically zero, and they determined she only had two months left."
The old woman recalled those scenes and raised a hand to wipe away her tears.
anwhile, Alice was clearly growing restless.
A genetic disease.
No known cures.
A zero percent survival rate.
Only two months left.
The doctors had made their diagnosis, which was like an early death sentence. But wasn’t she here now, grown up and perfectly healthy?
Alice grew more and more uneasy, unsure if it was because of what her grandparents were saying or because of a certain suspicion of her own.
"That daughter..." She wanted to ask what happened to the daughter, but that didn’t feel right. Wasn’t she sitting right here, perfectly fine? After a mont of deliberation, she changed her question. "How did she get better in the end?"
The old man shook his head. "She didn’t."
Alice’s hands, which had been resting on her lap, suddenly clenched.
The old man continued, "She didn’t even make it the two months the doctors gave her. She passed away in less than a month."
"...Passed away?" Alice felt she must have misunderstood. "Was she taken sowhere for treatnt?"
She clung to a sliver of hope. Since the doctors said there were no cures in the country, she must have been taken abroad.
Her grandparents looked at her with tears in their eyes, wanting to say sothing but suddenly finding themselves unable to bear it.
"She was sent abroad for treatnt, wasn’t she?" Alice asked again and again, as if trying to convince herself.
"No."
The old man told Alice the cruel truth. "Passed away ans she didn’t survive. Mindy couldn’t accept the fact that she’d lost her daughter and beca gravely ill herself. She wouldn’t eat or drink. She ignored anyone who spoke to her. The doctor said her mind was gone, that she had shut herself away to die."
The old man continued, "We were at our wits’ end. As a last resort, we went to an orphanage and adopted you. Thankfully, Mindy finally reacted when she saw you. She started speaking again and would hold you every day, refusing to let go."
"But Mindy had gone through such extre grief and then joy that she couldn’t recognize people properly anymore. After discussing it, we decided to change our relationship with her. She was no longer our daughter, but our daughter-in-law, and you beca our granddaughter."
Alice sat perfectly still, not moving, barely even blinking. She looked like a stone statue.
Then, she felt a warmth on the back of her hand. Her grandmother’s hand was covering hers. "Little Girl, from the day we brought you ho from the orphanage, you have been our real granddaughter. For over twenty years, that has never changed."
Alice slowly lowered her head, her voice very soft. "So... I ca to you from an orphanage."
The old woman’s lips trembled, her expression full of heartache.
"Then," Alice looked at the old woman and asked, "do you know how I ended up at the orphanage?"
The old man beside her said, "You were probably abandoned."
A kidnapped child wouldn’t just be left at an orphanage. They would either be sold to a family desperate for a child or et an even more pitiful fate.
Alice was crestfallen. "So I was abandoned as a child."
At this, the old woman said, "Not necessarily. When you were left outside the orphanage, you were dressed in fine materials. You might have co from a wealthy family."
Alice’s brow furrowed. A thought occurred to her, and she hesitated before asking, "Did... did anyone ever co looking for later?"
She hesitated because she suspected her grandparents might have hidden the truth, fearing her mother would have a relapse, and that they wouldn’t have sent her back even if soone had co looking.
"No." The old woman shook her head. "When your grandfather and I adopted you, we made an agreent with the director. If your biological family ever ca looking for you, we would send you back. But we’ve never received a call from the director to this day."
’So no one ever looked for .’
It didn’t matter what she was wearing when she was abandoned. Abandoned was abandoned.
Although a part of her was sad, on second thought, it didn’t seem that important. She had a mother, she had grand... maternal grandparents. She had a better life now. Being abandoned was hardly worth ntioning.
"Little Girl, we’re telling you the truth so you can try to find your birth parents in the future," the old woman suggested.
"Why would I look for them?" Alice put on a relaxed smile. "How awkward would it be if I found them and they didn’t want ? I’m not going to look for them. Besides..."
The smile on her face grew brighter, filled with hope for the future. "Besides, I have you, I have Mom, and I have him. My future is already wonderful. I don’t want to go looking for the family that abandoned ."
The old woman and the old man exchanged a glance but ultimately said nothing more, respecting Alice’s decision.
"Right, Mom... I think she rembers, doesn’t she?" The thought suddenly struck Alice, and the smile faded from her face. "Last ti Mom and I ca to see you, I didn’t understand why she reacted that way. Thinking back now, she must have rembered a long ti ago. She’s not your daughter-in-law, she’s your daughter. Does that an she also knows that I..."
The old woman told Alice, "Mindy’s condition has its good days and bad days. On top of that, the baby was less than a year old back then, so in her confusion, she might not have been able to tell the difference. Your grandfather and I also told her that the child had been cured. Later, when she wanted to take you with her to remarry, we were firmly against it. But she knelt and begged us not to separate the two of you, mother and daughter."
So it was because of that kneeling that her grandparents had softened and agreed to let Mindy Vaughn take Alice with her.
’So that’s how it was.’
But at the ti, Alice had truly believed that her mother was taking her because she cared about her so much, because she loved her so much.
Now that the secret that had weighed on the old couple’s hearts for over twenty years was finally out, they felt a great sense of relief. Alice, however, still needed ti to digest the fact that she was adopted.
For so reason, she suddenly thought of Ian Bishop, who had been arrested.
’I keep telling myself I don’t care about the parents who abandoned , but what if the truth is right in front of ...’
’That sentence—"I should have shut you all up for good back then"—could it be related to my birth?’
She walked out of the house with a heavy heart. In the courtyard, Wyatt Sterling had just finished a phone call. Alice walked over to him. "Third Uncle."
Wyatt Sterling glanced at her. "Finished talking?"
Alice humd in agreent. Just as she was hesitating over whether to tell Wyatt Sterling about her origins, she suddenly heard him say, "Soone bailed Ian Bishop out."
Alice was surprised. "Did you find out who did it?"
"We can’t investigate it." Wyatt Sterling’s expression darkened slightly.
Alice didn’t understand what he ant. "Why can’t we investigate?"
Wyatt Sterling put his phone away and took Alice’s hand, leading her back toward the house. As they walked, he said, "The person behind this is no simple character. They can get the police station to release soone with a single word."
To have that kind of influence, they must be soone with great power and a high position.
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