Cole was a bit confused, and he was uncertain how credible Joan’s words were, given her current
condition.
Joan pointed to the necks of Tink erbell and Pixie in the photo and gestured to her own neck, her eyes
clear and her expression gentle as she said, “The children you sent, they had birthmarks here. They
don’t have them.”
“The children I sent had birthmarks?” he asked.
“They do,” Joan whispered. “Every child sent to the welfare home is carefully examined from head to
toe because it could serve as proof for them to reunite with their biological parents in the future.”
Upon hearing Joan’s words, Cole quickly retrieved his phone and opened the cloud album. He often
replaced his phones, not because of poor phone quality but due to work reasons.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtIt was because he had too much work to handle every day, and the phone memory would quickly fill up.
He could not delete the work-related content as he might need to find some information that he could
directly access on the old phone. Of course, this included chat records, received files, and
photos.
With ease, Cole quickly found the photo from five years ago when he took the twins out of prison that
he showed to Bradley.
The photo depicted two infants wrapped in pink blankets, just entering this world with their eyes closed.
The two were snuggled close together, completely unaware of the difficulties they would face in the
future. He downloaded the photo from the cloud album, enlarged it carefully, and zoomed in.
After zooming in to a certain degree, he could faintly discern a deep red birthmark on the babies’
necks. The birthmarks on the two infants were identical, in the same position but in opposite
directions. Upon closer inspection, the birthmarks looked like a symbol of love in the shape of a heart
when they were put together.
Cole occasionally flipped through other photos of the babies and gradually noticed something wrong. It
was the appearance of the babies when Joan was present. Their appearance was completely different
from when Camila was around. Even the birthmarks had disappeared. What was going on? Could
birthmarks suddenly disappear?
Cole raised his astonished gaze and looked at Joan, who had been helped back to the desk by the
staff. He opened his mouth, wanting to ask for the truth, but he did not know how to ask.
The staff gestured for Cole to come out and said in the corridor, “Madam Johnston’s condition
fluctuates. Sometimes, she doesn’t recognize her children, even when they come. I saw she
recognized you just now. If you have time in the future, please visit her more often.”
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏm“I will. Thank you for taking care of her,” replied Cole.
Since Joan retired, Cole’s contact with her had become less frequent. They had heard her children had
taken her abroad, so they could only greet her through text messages. They did not know that Joan,
who was said to be living a comfortable life overseas, was now alone in a sanatorium.
Cole’s mind was buzzing as he left the sanatorium. He sat in the car and carefully examined the photos
of Pixie and Tink erbell from infancy to the present. In particular, there was a three-month period when
he could not go to Sunflower Welfare due to work.
When he went there again, Pixie and Tink erbell were already able to walk unsteadily. At that time, he
was somewhat surprised by how much the children had grown in just three months. Could it be that the
children had been switched during that time?
Cole held his phone, unable to find an answer for the time being. He drove away from the sanatorium.
As his car approached an intersection, he caught a glimpse of a man hurriedly walking with an
envelope. Suddenly, he remembered the DNA paternity test in his car’s password-protected box.