Chapter 103
Adrian’s POV
Apartment – Early Morning
Dad and Aunt Veronica came back yesterday night from Livelane.
Daniel was with them.
Don’t know why but since they came back, the home’s been feeling strange.
It’s too quiet.
They seem to be very careful around me, especially Daniel.
He seems to be scared of me as if if he was afraid of hurting me.
Aunt was making breakfast as Dad and Daniel were seated on the sofa.
Janet was sent to Aunt Lona’s place, which made me more anxious.
Dad kept glancing at me p>
Aunt was clearly nervous.
Daniel seemed to be distracted.
I knew they won the case and Lori was proven innocent.
So, shouldn’t they be happy?
Why so tense?
I couldn’t pinpoint it but I knew it had something to do with me.
Ever since I found out Dad or Jonathan wasn’t my biological father, I had lots of questions that were unanswered,
One of them was…who was my father, if I had one alive.
I don’t know why, but I had an odd feeling about today,
Like today my life was going to change.
It was odd seeing Jonathan today,
Ever since I found out he wasn’t my biological father, I never met him again.
Maybe once or twice cause of the school complaints, but not like before.
For seven whole years I saw this man as my father.
For seven years I loved him for being my father.
For seven years I was jealous of Janet as he somehow seemed to be more attentive towards her then me p>
Now it all makes sense p>
She is his real daughter, not I.
It’s odd how one DNA test changed the fact,
A man whom I looked up as my father for seven years p>
Was no longer.
After that p>
Came confusion p>
Came embarrassment.
Came anger, for not being wanted by my father.
Questions like p>
Did he not want me?
Does he have another family?
Made me stay awake at nights.
In the beginning p>
I wanted to know who he was.
I wanted to ask why he never came for me.
Eventually, I stopped asking.
Not that it didn’t matter,
But since no one had the answers,
I decided to go on thinking maybe he didn’t want me in the first place.
Now maybe it’s going to be different.
“Adrian,” Jonathan called out. “Can you come over please p>
“Let’s have breakfast first,” Veronica called out.
“Nicky,” Jonathan said. “Daniel is anxious as he is, sooner the better p>
Veronica nodded and joined them.
Jonathan told me to take the seat across from Daniel.
The atmosphere felt heavier the moment I sat across from him.
It didn’t seem like anything hostile or frightening was going to happen,
Just something important.
My eyes fell on a stack of files on the table.
It seemed like the files contained several records,
Maybe documents even.
Jonathan exhaled.
“We now know the truth, and want to tell you p>
“First,” Jonathan began to explain.
“These are the blood donation and cancer screening records from a clinic p>
Since he pushed them towards me, I picked the files and read them.
They were donor records of young boys who donated blood and had cancer screening for safety.
The next file was of a woman named Lori,
The file had records she had organized.
The more I read, the more I understood, these were hidden files.
Then I noticed a donor number and recipient name.
Nobody interrupted me while I read the file.
No one argued with me reading it.
“By now you must have understood what Imelda did and with whom.” Jonathan said in a frank voice.
“Now read this donor file,” Jonathan said as he passed me another file.
“This is the successful recipient of Imelda p>
My heart dropped as I slowly examined the records.
Each document was official, and verified.
Each document was supported by several official sources.
The more I studied p>
The more things made sense.
Every question I wanted to ask.
Every clue I got in my life.
Every investigation they did over these days.
Then I froze.
My gaze fell on the donor name.
The name was seated right across from me.
Daniel Staf.
I lifted my eyes from the paper held in my hand.
For the first time I actually looked at Daniel as a person.
Not as my dad’s friend.
Not as a stranger.
Not as a rival of mother.
But as the man whose blood was running through my veins.
The fact…my biological father was seated in front of me…still felt so unreal.
I could see Daniel was overwhelmed as I was and neither of us knew what to do or say.
” If Daniel is my father I began asking questions in my mind.
” Then who is he really p>
” Where is he from p>
“Why did he not want me?
“If I was with him, how would life have been p>
Everything felt so out of place again.
Just when I began to live as a loner p>
Again I was thrust into questions and doubts.
Not that Daniel was a bad man,
In fact he was a great man from what I knew about him.
But would this mean my identity would change once again?
“Why didn’t anyone tell me before?” I finally spoke my heart.
“Why did you never come for me p>
“Adrian,” Jonathan said with a warm look in his eyes.
The same look he had whenever he had to explain something to me.
“The reason no one told you was p>
“No one knew.” He said.
“Imelda chose IVF and only she knew, not even Fredrick knew about this p>
“She did everything alone at the time p>
“Even Daniel didn’t know p>
“But weren’t they together back then?” I was confused as I knew mother said she loved Daniel once but he betrayed her.
“Daniel didn’t even know he had donated sperm, how would he know about this p>
I looked down as that made sense.
“Your mother specifically chose Daniel’s sperm as what she wanted, he filled them p>
“Features, character, family bloodline, and designer creative mind p>
My mind kept struggling as the information from Jonathan kept reaching my ears.
Not that I was beginning to hate her,
But it was changing my perspective I had on her as a mother.
Then another painful question came to my mind.
I finally managed to find my voice and asked the question that was eating me since I understood how I was born.
“So I trailed off a bit. “I was never a love child, was I p>
Silence fell in the room.
I continued with my words.
“There was never any relationship between them.
They didn’t make love.
They weren’t a couple.
They had no love story around me.
I was just a clinic born baby.
I came from a donated sperm and was conceived through a procedure?
“Did she ever love me or was I just in need p>
From the moment I sat across from him, it was the first time he spoke.
Even though his voice was emotional, it was honest and raw.
“Adrian,” he said.
“You can’t question your mother’s love for you p>
“She does love you p>
“Trust me I can see that in her eyes p>
He said as he placed his hand on mine.
I instantly felt a warmth I never felt in my life.
I felt like I was protected by an unknown source.
“As for me p>
He trailed off a bit.
“If I had known about your existence, I would have come for you p>
“I was told the cancer screening was to ensure the blood was safe for transfusion p>
“I never knew the doctor used this to take my sperm and that Imelda actually used it to have you p>
“It’s only after seeing these records, I realized something like this ever happened p>
“You’re the only one deceived by Imelda, I’m too p>
I exhaled as I knew he was saying the truth.
Mother played us both for fools.
Daniel got up and sat beside me.
He took my hands in his.
Again the warmth I felt was so unreal.
I was actually questioning myself whether I deserved it or not.
“Adrian,” he said, voice emotional.
“The past can’t be changed p>
“I know we have sixteen years lost p>
“And we can never recover them no matter what we do p>
“The mistake she did by hiding this, can’t be erased p>
“But one thing I can tell you for sure p>
“Adrian, if you want, if you accept me as your father p>
He trailed off a bit again.
“As your father, I will always be there p>
“If you need time, I can wait p>
“If you have a question, I’ll answer
“If you want, we can live together, father and son p>
I looked up and realized no one was forcing me.
It was entirely my own decision.
Silence fell in the room, a heavy one.
My gaze fell back on the files on the table.
Ever since I found out Jonathan wasn’t my father, I wondered hundreds of times…who my father is.
For seven years I imagined several possibilities why he didn’t want me.
He betrayed mother for another woman.
He abandoned me because he didn’t want to be responsible.
He didn’t care about me.
Now p>
None of them were true.
The truth was much simpler and unexpected.
My father, the man sitting in front of me p>
Never knew I existed.
My gaze shifted from Daniel to Jonathan.
No matter what, for seven years he was my father.
The man whom I proudly called dad.
He attended every school event.
Every birthday.
Every parent meeting.
The man who taught me how to ride a bicycle.
The man who stayed beside me when I was down with a fever.
The man whom I knew in the past seven years was not my father.
The man whom I now called Uncle Jonathan.
Again my gaze turned towards Daniel.
Then I looked up at him.
“Did mother ever love me p>
The words came out softer than I expected.
Jonathan and Veronica looked at Daniel.
It seemed they thought he should answer.
Finally he did.
“Adrian, I don’t know why she chose this way, but I told you, I’ve seen love in her eyes for you p>
“Don’t question her love for you p>
“Everything points to she wanted you p>
“She may have used an unconventional way p>
“She may have hurt a lot of people in her life p>
“But having you from me, was her plan, and intention p>
I lowered my eyes as my heart got filled with a content feeling.
For some reason hearing him tell all this, really mattered.
For a few moments, he went quiet.
Then when he spoke, his voice had determination in it.
“Adrian p>
I looked up at him.
“I know I can’t compensate you for the sixteen years I’ve missed p>
“I know I can’t expect you to make me part of your life overnight p>
“But if you want p>
His voice faltered a bit.
“I want you as my son, with me p>
Silence fell in the room.
“I want you to live with me p>
My heart skipped a beat.
“You’re my son p>
“I want you to live with me p>
“I would like you to take my surname as well p>
He looked at Jonathan.
“Of course if you want to keep p>
He became so emotional, he couldn’t even complete his sentence.
For seven years I had been searching for my father, to be part of a family.
Now my father was asking me if I wanted it or not.
I exhaled.
I answered because I already knew the answer in my heart.
I met his gaze.
For the first time I didn’t see him as a man.
I didn’t see him as a stranger.
I didn’t see him as a donor my mother chose.
But as my biological father.
“Dad p>
The words flowed like water out of my mouth p>
Veronica covered her mouth in surprise.
Jonathan smiled happily as Dad froze.
Tears rolled down his cheeks.
A shaky laugh escaped his lips.
“What did you call me p>
I smiled for the first time since we began this conversation.
“Yes, Dad p>
“Of course I’d love to. I’ve waited for so long to have a father, a home, my real surname, one no one can take away from me p>
As dad hugged me, another thought entered my mind.
“Dad?” I looked up at him. “What about mother p>
Silence fell in the room as I felt dad’s body tense up.
“Adrian,” he said, holding onto my hand as if his life depended on it.
“She was the one who left me p>
“And, now I’m engaged to Isabella, and have been for eight years p>
“I’ve also adopted her daughter, Jenny, she’s the same age as Janet p>
I listened quietly as he spoke.
“So far Isabella and Jenny don’t know a thing about you p>
“But I can swear to you, if you give them a chance, they will be the family you want p>
“Can you give them that chance p>
From the moment I understood how I was conceived, I knew my future was not going to be normal.
Now that made sense.
I not only got a father, but maybe a new mother and sister as well.
As I nodded, I realized now my life is no longer a mystery, but it will change p>
Now for better or for worse p>
Only tomorrow will tell.