Chapter 4 — The Day I Left Home

Inside the room, the chilling draft from the air conditioner helped clear Chen Dat's muddled head. He looked fixedly at River Forest, and finally spoke.

Forest, today I went with your aunt and uncle to the police station to look for the missing River Wish.

Do not ever say her name!

Forest’s expression twisted violently, her teeth grinding together with a sharp, vicious sound.

She has already been driven away, why are you all still looking for her!

Had this been any other time, when faced with Forest flying completely out of control, Chen Dat would have yielded and fallen silent. But this time, he merely cast a cold, indifferent glance at her and pressed on.

The officer who received us today was the very same policeman who found you all those years ago. He told us that you are not the biological child of your aunt and uncle. The paternity test report back then was mistakenly swapped.

The true biological daughter of your uncle and aunt, along with your own birth parents, perished in a car crash five years ago.

Impossible!

Forest screamed at the top of her lungs, her voice trembling so violently it shattered into broken fragments.

You are all trying to trick me!

Chen Dat parted his lips, intending to say more, but Forest shoved him aside with all her might and bolted toward her parents’ bedroom. She kicked open the partially ajar door, her eyes bloodshot as she shrieked.

To force me to accept River Wish, you have conjured up such an absurd lie, claiming I am not your flesh and blood! How could you be so cruel to me?

Has she only been chased away for half a month, yet it hurts you this deeply already?

What about me? I was abandoned by all of you for sixteen years!

In the end, six years of affection still could not outweigh the sixteen years between her and this family. All of you simply want me dead!

With that, she resorted to her familiar, theatrical threat. Taking a swift, dramatic step, she hoisted herself up and sat precariously on the wide window sill.

You are the ones forcing me to my death! Do not regret this later!

Mother stared at Forest, her face grim and hardened. This time, however, she did not rush forward in tears, weeping and begging the girl not to harm herself. For the past six years, she had felt on more than one occasion that Forest bore no resemblance to either herself or her husband. Neither in appearance nor in temperament did she share a single trait with anyone from either side of the family. By comparison, River Wish bore a striking likeness to the couple. Mother had always consoled herself with the thought that sixteen years of hardship had simply changed the person Forest used to be. Yet, watching Forest throw this hysterical fit right now, a sudden wave of profound relief washed over her. It was because Forest was never her daughter to begin with. Mother watched the way Forest's knuckles turned white as she death-gripped the window frame, and only now did she realize that Forest had never been truly unhinged all these years; she had merely used this manipulative tactic to force them into submission.

Forest, your mother and I are not lying to you. You truly are not our biological child.

Father stepped forward, forcefully pulling Forest down from the dangerous perch of the windowsill.

The police officer gave your mother and me a copy of the blood-relation test report. If you do not believe our words, you can read it for yourself.

Chen Dat picked up the duplicated document from the table and handed it to Forest. An official seal was stamped upon it, unmistakable and authentic. Forest’s five fingers turned deathly pale as she clutched the paper, nearly tearing it to shreds in her grip. She lowered her head, tears breaking like a shattered string of pearls, dropping continuously onto the paper and blurring the ink until the words became illegible smears.

This is fake!

She let out a piercing shriek and bolted out of the house. Chen Dat instinctively made a move to chase after her, but Father raised a hand to stop him.

Let her be for a while. This blow is far too massive for her; she needs time to accept it. Once she calms down, she will return.

Chen Dat nodded, turning to leave. Yet, driven by some inexplicable, ghost-like compulsion, his feet carried him toward the tightly shut attic door. Pushing it open, a wave of suffocating heat rushed out to greet him. This was the very first time he had truly observed the place where River Wish had quietly endured for six full years. The old electric fan standing on the floor stirred nothing but scorching air. He suddenly remembered the day he had given out gifts; the weather back then had been just as sweltering. He had deliberately ordered iced milk tea in advance for Forest to help her beat the heat, completely forgetting that River Wish was trapped inside an attic that doubled as a steamer furnace. At that exact moment, the two of them had been sitting in an air-conditioned room, comfortably enjoying the cool breeze and sipping iced drinks. He figured River Wish must have heard their movements, yet she had neither wept nor caused a scene. Perhaps right at that very moment, she had already lost all hope in him. He had forced River Wish to surrender her job, dismissing her with a cheap, perfunctory gift. Now, he began rummaging through the attic, desperately searching for any clue about where River Wish might have gone. Chen Dat opened a plastic storage box that served as a wardrobe, and there, resting quietly inside, was the handbag he had gifted her. All of her other clothes were entirely gone. A sudden memory struck him of the day he had thrown away River Wish’s identification papers, noticing a suitcase already packed with a few meager items of clothing. Only now did it dawn on him that River Wish had been planning her departure for a very long time, and yet he had remained utterly oblivious to it all. Chen Dat slumped against the wall, slowly sliding down until he sat flat on the floor, his right hand covering his face. Tears of deep, bitter regret slipped through his trembling fingers.

What on earth have I done to Wish! She was clearly the girl who grew up alongside me, the one I once promised to marry someday...