The Miracle of You

When Hailey left Paul’s room, she didn’t know what else to do. She could only return to her room in a daze, her mind completely blank.

It was as if everything she had believed her whole life was a lie.

Not to be dramatic, but she had always thought that her family was… her real family. That they were all related by blood. That they had no secrets from each other.

But it turned out that she was the only one kept in the dark.

It felt strange, as if she was somehow ostracized. As if she was now cowering in her own little corner of isolation.

When she passed her parents’ room, she stopped for a moment. She could no longer hear their arguments, as if a hushed silence had fallen over them. Maybe they had finally come to a compromise, or maybe they had reached an impasse.

Not that Hailey could care about that right now. She was in no mood to confront anyone right now.

A minute later she reached her room. When she closed the door behind her, it was as if everything had finally fallen apart. She took a deep breath and walked towards her bed, a million thoughts running through her mind.

What was she going to do now?

–

Weeks later, Hailey came to a final decision.

She was going to confront her parents about it tonight.

It had been one of the hardest times in Hailey’s life. She did her best to be open-minded and diligent in finding out the truth for herself, but it was easier said than done. In fact, the truth was a bitter pill to swallow.

Especially after what she had discovered.

Hailey had always been an independent person. She wasn’t someone who could easily confide in other people about her worries or problems. Rather, she was the type to solve her problems on her own. It was a bad habit of hers, especially the tendency to not depend on or confide in anyone else, but it was a difficult one to break.

So she investigated everything on her own. Paul and Ben were mischievous boys, but she was practical and smarter.

By simple deduction, she managed to find the extra key her father kept for the study room. Since her parents were on a short business trip to Hong Kong and would be back within the week, she had plenty of time to explore.

Picking the lock on the drawer was easy after a few tries. Her father hadn’t bothered to use a stronger lock or even hide the documents in a safe, since they didn’t contain any trade secrets or confidential information about the company.

Just her adoption papers and possibly details of her family background.

Paul and Ben knew of her plan and distracted the servants by causing mischief somewhere else, somewhere far away, while she went to work on learning the truth.

And the truth she indeed discovered.

It was true.

She really had been adopted.

It was shocking to read the adoption papers and her family background. It seemed that her father had died while her mother was still alive. Yet, she was given up for adoption when she was only six months old.

Contrary to her expectations, there wasn’t much information about her parents, much to her frustration. All she could glean from the papers were their names.

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Memorizing these details, she decided to confront them once and for all.

She didn’t have the resources to conduct an extensive investigation, so the only thing she could do was ask for the truth directly from those who knew it.

One day after her parents returned from their short trip, Hailey went to their room and asked for a private conversation.

“Is something wrong, Hailey?” Luther van Gowen asked as they sat down on the sofa with their daughter on the couch across from them. A coffee table was set up between them, and each of them had their own cup of tea. However, nobody touched their drinks yet.

“Yes,” Hailey said slowly. “I want to talk about something important, and I want you to tell me the truth.”

“Honey?” Emilia van Gowen said, her features painted with worry. “What is it? Do tell us what’s on your mind. We’d love to help you in any way we can.”

“That’s perfect, then,” Hailey said, trying her best to prevent the bitterness from showing in her voice. “You can tell me everything that you two know… about my real identity.”

Ever since she was a child, she had always been a persistent individual. She valued analytical approaches and discovering the truth about things. It was why she loved to do in-depth research and write down every detail in school reports and articles.

Whenever she faced a challenge, she took it head-on. She thought it was best to do things meticulously rather than half-heartedly.

So when the mystery of her identity came up, she couldn’t help but learn exactly what it was.

Even if she ended up hurting herself more in the process.

Luther and Emilia stiffened in response. They seemed visibly caught off-guard by the topic of discussion.

‘It seems,’ Hailey thought to herself bitterly, ‘that they didn’t plan on telling me the truth anytime soon.’

‘But I can’t falter now.’

“Well?” Hailey asked in response to the tense silence that filled the air.

Luther coughed and his whole face suddenly seemed uncomfortable. Emilia, on the other hand, didn’t look at Hailey anymore, looking away as if she felt guilty.

Hailey couldn’t help but feel disappointed by their reactions. Even when confronted with the truth, they still weren’t willing to come clean.

‘Maybe there’s more to this than what I initially thought,’ she wondered.

“I know the truth,” she said. It pained her to confront her parents like this, the same family that she cherished for almost 18 years now, but she was a person who preferred honesty over sugarcoating words. “I know that I’m not your daughter by blood. That I’m actually adopted.”

The next moment, it was as though the silence was shattered into pieces. Emilia started crying, and Luther was gripping his left upper arm so tightly that deep wrinkles started forming on his neat, ironed dark-blue suit.

Hailey was caught off-guard by her mother’s reaction. “M-Mom?” she said, unable to keep acting cold any longer. “What’s wrong?”

Emilia shook her head, but her sobs were slowly subsiding, shifting into sniffles instead. Luther’s averted gaze returned to Hailey, and he took a deep breath before speaking.

“So you know now,” he said simply.

Hailey stiffened. “Is that all you have to say?” she said. “Aren’t you going to explain things to me clearly?”

Luther sighed heavily, and suddenly, at that moment, he looked older beyond his years. “I am going to, my dear,” he said quietly. “But can you promise me that you will hear me out until the end?”

Hailey’s world began to spin.

Before she had planned to confront them, she had expected the conversation to be as simple as possible. She expected them to tell her that they found her as a baby in an adoption center and decided to take her in. Just that.

But what her father had just said made her think twice.

Why did he want her to hear him out? Was there really more to the story?

Was there a deeper reason why they decided to adopt her?

‘Calm down, Hailey,’ she told herself. ‘Don’t overthink. Maybe Mom had a hard time conceiving at that time and wanted to adopt a baby…’

‘But why would Mom cry like that all of a sudden? It’s not like she committed a great sin by adopting me…’

Hailey suddenly felt a sense of foreboding settle inside her gut.

“…All right,” she said with a nod. “I’ll hear you out.”

‘Why do I have a feeling that I’ll be regretting this?’