Chapter 123: Chapter 123 Not her son RAPHAEL
“Making mistakes in my line of work is a big deal because we’re dealing with the lives of people. And that is why I can boldly tell you that there was no mistake in the DNA test.”.
I turned to face the woman. “Are you sure you’re not in this with your doctor? Maybe you had him fabricate this because you keep insisting that I’m your son.”
I almost wished I could take back my words by how hurt she looked.
“Yes, I did something wrong by kidnapping you thinking you were my son who might not be in his right senses after his helicopter crashed and after that, I choose to ignore the differences because I just couldn’t imagined that my son was still out there...at God knows where. But then, I couldn’t continue ignoring the differences. It’s clear that you aren’t Enzo. I just thought it was impossible for you to look like him, facially and with a DNA test, I wanted to confirm that you might really be a doppelgänger of my son but now, I don’t know anymore...”
She seemed honest.
Maybe this mistake is solely from the doctor.
“The result is wrong.” I insisted.
“Can you excuse us for a moment, doc?” The young man whom she always calls Dante said.
The doctor nodded and handed the result to the woman.
And then he exited the room.
“When is your birthday?” Dante asked me.
I told them the date as well as the year.
“Enzo’s also twenty-seven and that’s his birthday as well.” He replied.
I gulped. “Ma...maybe...we were born on the same day and it happens that we look alike...and the test is wrong.” I stuttered and looked over at the woman who was shaking her head.
“What’s the name of your mother?”She asked.
“Ellie Suarez...”
She gasped. “That was...that was also her name.”
“Whose name?” Dante asked.
“The...the surrogate who carried my babies...Enzo had a brother who died at birth.”
Silence filled the room.
“We have to go to Puerto Vallarta. We have to see your mother.” She announced.
We really need to see her.
She’s the only one who can put an end to this confusion.
I sat on the back seat of a car, about two cars were behind the one I was in, they belong to the wealthy woman. I was excited to see my mother. She must have been so worried. I’ve been gone for days. I hope she has been feeding well. The car pulled up in front of my house. I bent the doorknob and got down. I guess she heard the sound of the cars because our front door opened and she walked out. “Raph.” She breathed. My chest tightened. She looked so down, the dark circles under her eyes tore at me. “Mother.” I murmured and hurried up to her, hugging her, tightly. “I’ve missed you.” I added. She disengaged from me and smacked me on the arm, repeatedly. “I was just on my way to the police station again, they were unable to figure out your whereabouts for days now, where have you been? Fine, you’re a grown man but it’ll be nice if you informed me....” She paused when Allegra got down from her car.
I sat on the back seat of a car, about two cars were behind the one I was in, they belong to the wealthy woman. I was excited to see my mother. She must have been so worried. I’ve been gone for days. I hope she has been feeding well. The car pulled up in front of my house. I bent the doorknob and got down. I guess she heard the sound of the cars because our front door opened and she walked out. “Raph.” She breathed. My chest tightened. She looked so down, the dark circles under her eyes tore at me. “Mother.” I murmured and hurried up to her, hugging her, tightly. “I’ve missed you.” I added. She disengaged from me and smacked me on the arm, repeatedly. “I was just on my way to the police station again, they were unable to figure out your whereabouts for days now, where have you been? Fine, you’re a grown man but it’ll be nice if you informed me....” She paused when Allegra got down from her car.
I watched the colour drained from my mom’s face.
She definitely knows something about this.
“It’s almost three decades already and you haven’t changed much.” Allegra began.
My mom stared at me. “Where have you been?” She asked, faintly.
“Are you going to pretend you don’t know me, Ellie?”
“I have no business with you anymore.”
“Or I think you do. You have a lot of explaining to do. We could start with you telling how my son looks exactly like yours.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” My mom snapped.
It was the first time I was seeing her this shaken, it was as if she would pass out any moment from now.
“I think we should all go in and talk,” I suggested.
Few minutes later we were inside my house and everyone seemed to have unconsciously chosen to stand. I moved closer to my mother. “Few days back, I was mistaken to be her son.I do look like him but I think it might just be coincidental, It’s coincidental, right?I asked her. She stared back at me and I could see the tears in her eyes. “It...it is.” She agreed. She hesitated. She’s not confident about it. “I need the truth, Ellie. I cannot believe it’s coincidental. Would you also say the DNA test coming out positive is coincidental as well?” Allegra shoved the papers at my mother. “I...this...” “Well...if you admit to it being coincidental, then you two would have to do a DNA test....” “No!” My mother cut in, abruptly. “No?”I probed, surprised. “You better start talking or else you would have to answer to the police, almost three decades ago, I couldn’t give birth, my husband and I screened a lot of women and picked you to be our surrogate, you conceived twins, both boys and with how excited we were to have our babies, we agreed not to know if they were identical or fraternal until they were born, we wanted that to be a surprise for us, and you knew but when you gave birth, we were told the younger one passed away, I was showed his corpse, he wasn’t identical to his brother. I buried my dead baby and now I’m wondering whose baby I buried? Now that I think about it, I did find it strange that you disappeared from our lives all of a sudden. I had told you how I would like to furthermore offer you anything you wanted after you had delivered my babies, that was different from the surrogate fee but it was something I wanted to do for you because you became very important to me, but when I called you on the phone back then, you said you wanted nothing more, you said you wanted to start your life all over again. I respected your decision. But now, I don’t know anymore, what did you mean by that, Ellie? What did you do?” I watched my mother break down into tears. “I...I...I wanted one of the babies as mine...I carried them for nine months...yes, they aren’t mine biologically but I...I just wanted at least one of them in my life.” I stared at my mother in disbelief. “You stole my child?” “I just...I...”
Few minutes later we were inside my house and everyone seemed to have unconsciously chosen to stand. I moved closer to my mother. “Few days back, I was mistaken to be her son.I do look like him but I think it might just be coincidental, It’s coincidental, right?I asked her. She stared back at me and I could see the tears in her eyes. “It...it is.” She agreed. She hesitated. She’s not confident about it. “I need the truth, Ellie. I cannot believe it’s coincidental. Would you also say the DNA test coming out positive is coincidental as well?” Allegra shoved the papers at my mother. “I...this...” “Well...if you admit to it being coincidental, then you two would have to do a DNA test....” “No!” My mother cut in, abruptly. “No?”I probed, surprised. “You better start talking or else you would have to answer to the police, almost three decades ago, I couldn’t give birth, my husband and I screened a lot of women and picked you to be our surrogate, you conceived twins, both boys and with how excited we were to have our babies, we agreed not to know if they were identical or fraternal until they were born, we wanted that to be a surprise for us, and you knew but when you gave birth, we were told the younger one passed away, I was showed his corpse, he wasn’t identical to his brother. I buried my dead baby and now I’m wondering whose baby I buried? Now that I think about it, I did find it strange that you disappeared from our lives all of a sudden. I had told you how I would like to furthermore offer you anything you wanted after you had delivered my babies, that was different from the surrogate fee but it was something I wanted to do for you because you became very important to me, but when I called you on the phone back then, you said you wanted nothing more, you said you wanted to start your life all over again. I respected your decision. But now, I don’t know anymore, what did you mean by that, Ellie? What did you do?” I watched my mother break down into tears. “I...I...I wanted one of the babies as mine...I carried them for nine months...yes, they aren’t mine biologically but I...I just wanted at least one of them in my life.” I stared at my mother in disbelief. “You stole my child?” “I just...I...”
This isn’t true.
I held my mother’s hands.
“I don’t understand what’s going on, you’ve totally lost me on the surrogate part and I do not care. But you...But I...I’m your son, right? I mean...I’ve always been your son...I can’t...what are you....”
I’m more than confused right now and I refuse to believe that the woman I had lived with all my life might not be my mother.
“The dead baby...you...the doctor...I was told he died?”
And instead of talking, instead of denying everything, instead of insisting that I’m her son, my mother kept crying, uncontrollably.
I moved away from her.
If I had thought I had experienced heartbreak before, it wasn’t that at all, those were merely cracks to my heart.
This was what heartbreak felt like.
I headed for the door.
“Raphael.” She called, tearfully but I hurried out of the house.
The fact that I’m not Raphael, that I’m not her son filled me with grief.