Chapter 3

“Ms. Trương, aren't you remembering it wrong? Xuyên Xuyên was there for months!”

I couldn't help interrupting, my voice rising.

“Months? Impossible!”

She sounded absolutely certain.

“I remember clearly. The child had only just arrived, and Lưu Vĩ came right after.

“I even asked him why he'd decided to adopt so quickly.

“He said he felt a connection with the child. He liked him at first sight.

“How could I misremember something like that?”

Her account was perfectly clear.

The longer I listened, the colder my spine grew.

A connection?

Liked him at first sight?

What the hell was that supposed to mean?

Why was she twisting the truth?

I had followed all the proper procedures. The adoption had taken over a month to complete.

Yes, I had begun the process not long after he arrived.

But paperwork problems had delayed it for several months.

Had she forgotten that?

Or was she saying this on purpose?

“Think carefully. Could there have been some misunderstanding?”

I tried to keep my voice calm.

“A misunderstanding? What misunderstanding?”

She was growing impatient.

“Lưu, I don't mean to lecture you, but why are you telling outsiders so casually about your adopted child? And calling me to verify it?

“This affects his future. You can't be careless.

“A grown man, and you can't even remember something like this?”

Now she was scolding me.

No amount of explaining would help.

Lâm Nhiễm was the one who suspected me.

Why had it become my fault?

Anger choked me.

She must have done this deliberately.

Perhaps she had arranged it all with Ms. Trương beforehand, setting a trap for me.

Damn it.

I had to prove my innocence.

But what could I do now?

Click.

The call ended.

Lâm Nhiễm stared at me.

“What do you have to say now?”

Her next words sounded like a statement, but even more like an order.

“I hope you'll stop lying and answer honestly.

“I'm only a curious reporter. If you tell me the truth, I'll keep your secret.”

I realized she had come prepared, determined to get to the bottom of it.

But I had no obligation to answer questions about my private life.

While I remained silent, she suddenly took a sheet of paper from her bag and slapped it down before me.

Agitated, she said that if I kept concealing things, she would call the police immediately. She wouldn't go easy on me.

I froze at the sight of the paper.

A DNA paternity report.

In black and white, it stated that Xuyên Xuyên and I were biologically father and son.

Where had she got it?

This woman was terrifying.

What did she want?

“All you need to know,” she said, “is that I have ways of obtaining this report.”

I stared.

“Isn't it true?” she asked.

Slowly, helplessly, I nodded.

“Yes. He's my biological son.”

She showed no surprise, as though she had known everything all along.

“I would never have told anyone about this,” I began, my voice rough.

“But since you've investigated so thoroughly, there's no point hiding it.”

I steadied my breathing and tried to calm down.

This had been buried inside me for too long.

“I didn't want people to know. Not because I feared the police...”

I smiled bitterly.

“I was afraid it would affect Xuyên Xuyên if word got out. I'm a public figure of sorts. The smallest disturbance can be blown out of all proportion.

“I only wanted him to have a peaceful life. Not to carry all that turmoil at such a young age.”

My throat tightened. My eyes reddened.

She said nothing, only watched.

“But you...”

I raised my head and looked at her, unable to settle on one emotion.

“You've pushed me too hard. I have no choice.”

“Then tell me. What happened?”

At last, her voice softened a little.

I sighed and began recounting the memories I didn't want to revisit.

“My wife and I had two sons.

“The older one lived with us overseas. We were both too busy, one a lawyer, one a writer. We really had no time to look after them.

“So our second son stayed in China with his maternal grandmother.”

“Wait.”

She interrupted.

“You've jumped ahead too far. What does that have to do with Xuyên Xuyên?”

“Don't rush me. Let me finish.”

I waved for her to be patient.

“Two years ago, something happened that changed my life completely.”

I tried to suppress the pain.

“My wife... she was having an affair.”

I forced the words out through clenched teeth.

“And she was openly seeing her lover in our own home overseas.”

My emotions slipped out of control.

My voice shook. My fists tightened.

“Worse, a fire broke out that day.

“My older son was in the house too.”

My voice became too hoarse to continue.

Lâm Nhiễm's expression grew grave.

She seemed to have realized how serious the story was.

“None of the three survived.”

I closed my eyes.

Tears slid silently down my face.

“A rather convenient fire,” she suddenly remarked.

My eyes flew open.

“What do you mean?”

“Nothing.”

She shrugged.

“It just seems strange. A fire breaking out right when they were together. The timing seems awfully coincidental.”

“Coincidental?”

I laughed coldly.

“You think this is a novel? Talking about coincidences?”

“I'm only stating the facts.”

She spread her hands.

“Go on. I'm listening.”

I drew a deep breath and continued.

Her expression was complicated.

Anger? Sympathy?

Or rather, an unreadable coldness.

I told her everything.

“Xuyên Xuyên's mother had a bad reputation. If it came out, the effect on him would be enormous. He was too young to understand. I didn't want him carrying that burden.

“Then his grandmother suddenly died. I had foreign citizenship. Under the domestic household registration arrangements, he became an orphan.

“Once I'd dealt with everything overseas and returned, I thought about it for a long time. In the end, I decided to bring him home through adoption.

“To give him a fresh identity, free of that stain.”

I smiled at myself.

“In truth, my wife's affair was no secret in our circle. Who knows how many times friends and acquaintances laughed at me behind my back?

“A mystery novelist whose own family life turned out stranger than fiction.

“Isn't that ironic?”

She didn't answer. She only looked at me strangely.

“So adopting him was selfish of me too.

“At least people wouldn't point and gossip about him.”

“Aren't you afraid he'll learn the truth when he's older?” she asked suddenly.

“Afraid? Of course I am.”

I admitted it freely.

“But I'm more afraid he'll grow up surrounded by gossip. When he's grown, when he can judge for himself, I'll tell him everything.”

I was still lost in the past when I realized Xuyên Xuyên was standing right behind us.

His small body trembled.

He must have heard.

The entire cruel truth about his origins.

He looked at me in fear, his eyes full of panic and unfamiliarity.

My heart felt sliced open.

How could I have been so careless?

How could I have let him hear this?

He was only eight.

How could he bear it?

Usually, he threw himself into my arms like a kitten, seeking affection.

Today, he stumbled toward Lâm Nhiễm instead.

He clung to her arm as though she were his family.

My heart sank at this strange behavior.

He had always been closest to me.

Why today?

Had she really bewitched him?

He was too young to tell good from bad.

If this woman had malicious intentions...

The more I thought, the more anxious I became.

Anger flared.

Pointing at her, I demanded, “Xuyên Xuyên! Is she someone you met online? Did you two know each other already? Did you tell her about our family?”

I had to know what she wanted.

He only cried and shook his head, pressing farther behind her.

The fear in my son's eyes cut me deeply.

He must have been badly frightened.

Suddenly, I remembered.

Reporters normally brought press credentials to interviews.

She hadn't shown any identification.

“Where's your press card?”

“Sorry. I left in a hurry and didn't bring it.”

Just as I thought.

I had been right.

No.

I had to call the police and have this unidentified woman removed at once.

As I took out my phone, she laughed coldly.

“Are you sure you want to call them? I'm not afraid. You may be the one who regrets it.”

Her confidence deepened my suspicion.

What was she trying to do?

“Your story sounds convincing, even moving. But think about it carefully, and it's full of holes.”

She pressed harder.

“There are a hundred ways to protect a child. Yet you deliberately chose the strangest.

“There's only one explanation.

“You're lying.

“You're hiding the truth.”

Her words left me unsteady.

Instinctively, I reached for the pill bottle in my pocket.

It was for my recurring bouts of depression.

Whenever I was under too much stress, I took a few pills.

But the moment my hand touched it, she snatched it away.

“Fluoxetine?”

She stared at the bottle, her voice cold.

“Mr. Lưu... you have schizophrenia, don't you?”

“Nonsense!”

I shouted angrily.

“I only get depressed from time to time. That's why I take it!”

“From time to time?”

She smiled faintly.

“I'd say it's often.

“Who would believe the words of someone with a mental illness?”