"lanie is my sister," she blurted, her voice louder than intended, cutting through the low murmur of the café.
Adam paused mid step and sat back down, staring at lody.
lody watched his face, trying to read his expression. But there was no shock. No surprise. He just stared at her calmly as if she had just announced that the weather was nice.
She frowned. That wasn’t the reaction she had expected.
"Why are you looking at like that? Did you already know? Did lanie tell you? Does she already know that we are sisters?"
The questions ca fast, tumbling over each other. While on her face, she did not show her panic, but under the table, her hands were clenched. If lanie really knew everything and had told Adam about it, then her plan would be in a ss.
But, thankfully, Adam shook his head and answered, "I’d already guessed. You said it yourself-you and lanie look alike. And you’re younger than her by a few years. It was too obvious to be just a coincidence, once you ntioned that you knew sothing."
He leaned forward slightly now, his voice steady. "What I want to know is how you found out... and more importantly, what it is you think lanie doesn’t know."
Instead of answering him, lody shook her head and asked," Can you tell about lanie’s family?"
Adam shook his head. "You are the one who called to tell sothing. So, I guess, you need to be the one who should talk."
lody clenched her hands again. Why did Adam have to be so direct and short? Could he not just give her a little leeway. All she wanted to do was talk a bit more but instead... Fine. Since she had chose this path, she would take her ti.
She sighed and answered him," lanie’s parents are dead. I heard her say that to our school Principal."
Adam nodded, waiting for her to continue and she did," But..." lody sighed and looked around and said," The day you mistook for lanie and hugged ... my mother was there at the club, walking around. She t lanie and... recognised her as her daughter."
Adam frowned. He’d thought that lody and lanie were probably sisters who had been separated as children due to an unfortunate accident...
lody took a breath, eyes flicking toward the café window, watching the blurred movent of passersby. Then she turned back to Adam and said in a soft voice, "lanie was abducted as a child. She was four."
Adam stiffened. He’d t her when she was just five and she was quite well adjusted. But now, soone was telling him that she was abducted just before she t him? How was that possible.
"She’s my sister. And not just in so half-connected way. We have the sa parents. My parents are her parents. She is older than my by two years."
Adam leaned back slightly, brows furrowing. "lanie grew up with her grandmother. Why would she be with her if your parents were alive?"
"I know," lody said quickly. "That’s what she said but I was not too sure if she knew the truth so I did not talk to her directly. She was indeed raised by her grandmother. And the woman probably told everyone that lanie’s parents were dead. But that’s not what happened." Her fingers twisted around each other in her lap, knuckles whitening. "She was taken. My grandmother-our grandmother-took her away after an argunt with my parents. She just... left. No warning. No contact. They did not even discover that she was taken by her grandmother until it was too late. Never were suspicious about her.
Adam’s expression stayed unreadable, but he said nothing.
"My parents tried everything. Police, private investigators... Nothing. And eventually, after years, they were told to let it go. That she was probably gone for good. But they never stopped hoping."
Adam said nothing, just watched her, asured and still. "They were so distraught about her loss that they could not even stay in the sa house for long and they could not even bear to change anything, hoping to have her co back and rember sothing of when she stayed there.
"And then," lody went on, "a few years ago, I moved back to the city to live here alone because my mother could not dare to. Honestly, I didn’t even know I had an older sister. I had forgotten all about her. So, when I t lanie, I just casually ntioned her to my mother. She ca here...She didn’t tell her reasons, but she ca."
"I think she ant to look for lanie on her own, but fate had other plans. That day, when you hugged ..."
lody paused, hoping that he would rember the ti he had held her but he simply gave her an indifferent reaction and waited for her to continue, so she did,"Anyway, my mother and I had gone to the club. And I lost her when she was wandered around, so she stumbled into lanie. She’d probably planned to look for her, but when she found her, she could not stop herself and started chatting with her."
lanie was polite, but... there was no recognition. My mother’s face has not changed much so she had been hoping that lanie would recognise her. But she didn’t. There was nothing on lanie’s face."
Adam looked down for a long second before eting lody’s eyes. "So your mother just knew?"
"She felt it," lody said. "The way only a mother can. She couldn’t explain it, but she recognised her own daughter. And she ca ho in shock. But then she suddenly wanted to redecorate the entire house. A house she had not even let a single thing change, was suddenly emptied out.That was when I knew... that sothing was up. And I confronted her until she ca clean and confessed everything. But there is a problem."
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