I was picking up my daughter from kindergarten when a little boy suddenly ran over and hugged me.

“Mommy! How come you’re picking me up today?” he asked. "Are you free today?"

I looked at the unfamiliar boy in confusion and said, “Little guy, you must be mistaken. I’m not your mom. I’m here to pick up my daughter, Mia."

However, the teacher and other parents were all adamant that this boy was my son. Even my husband said we only had one child, which was a son, not a daughter.

I refused to believe this, so I got a paternity test. The results revealed that the boy was truly my biological son. Yet, deep down, I knew I only had a daughter.

Everyone thought I had lost my mind. It was not until eighteen years later that I found a Barbie doll hidden under the bed.

——

“Babe, I have to go to an urgent meeting, so could you take our son to kindergarten today?” my husband, Jerry Hollman, asked as he quickly packed his briefcase.

I shot a cold glance at Henry Hollman, who was eating breakfast at the table and then I said, “He’s not my son. I only have a daughter and her name is Mia, Mia Hollman."

I had talked to everyone around me, even visited all the places that conduct paternity tests, but every answer concluded that Henry was my son.

Yet, I still kept to my belief that I only had a daughter.

Seeing how headstrong I was, Jerry let out a helpless sigh. "Wife, how long are you going to keep this up?"

“Henry is your biological son that you carried for ten months and almost died giving birth to him because of a difficult birth," he said.

"You used to love him more than your own life. Why are you suddenly rejecting him now?” Jerry asked in confusion.

That was right. When I was in the tenth month of pregnancy, my belly was so big that I could barely breathe. My legs were so swollen I couldn’t fit them into any shoes.

The day I gave birth, the labor was difficult and I nearly died because of heavy blood loss, but I remembered vividly that the one I brought into this world with my life was my precious daughter!

This strange boy in front of me, I did not recognize him at all.

Before I could say anything, Henry nervously turned to Jerry.

“Dad, don’t be harsh to Mom,” he said. “I must’ve done something wrong to upset her. That’s why she’s punishing me like this.”

Then he walked over to me and held my hand, then he said gently, “Mom, I promise I’ll do everything you say. Please don’t be mad at me anymore, okay?”

Henry tried so hard to hold back his tears, which were ready to spill. He looked so heartbroken.

However, I did not feel a bit sorry at all. Rather, I coldly pulled my hand away and said firmly, “Don’t call me Mom. You're a stranger to me."

My coldness froze the hopeful smile on his face and the tears that he had been holding back poured out continuously.

Seeing him like that, Jimmy was heartbroken. He hugged and comforted him until kindergarten.

As soon as they left, my parents rushed over.

“Sophia, why was Henry crying so hard? Did you say something mindlessly again that hurt him?”

“You’ve asked around, investigated and done multiple paternity tests. How can you still believe he’s not your son?” they asked.

“Henry is our only grandson and we’ve watched him grow up since he was a baby. How could we possibly be mistaken? What could he have done to deserve this from you?”

As my dad spoke, he threw a photo album onto the table.

Since my parents were old, they worried that one day a bad thing would happen suddenly to them.

Every single year, I made a family portrait as a souvenir. 

In those photos, I was always holding Henry in my arms and smiling with pure affection.

It wasn’t just the family portraits. Even my phone gallery was filled with thousands of photos and videos of Henry.

There was a photo of him on the day he was born. His tiny body curled up and he could barely open his eyes.

There was also a cute photo of him when he was breastfeeding while looking at me with his big watery eyes.

There were videos of him babbling and calling me "Mommy" with his baby voice.

There was also a daily recording when I was cradling him and crying because I was heartbroken that he was sick.

I went through every photo, picture and scene, but there was only Henry in them. Not a single one of my daughters. 

“Sophia, Henry has been the most clingy to you since he was little. However, lately, you've been cold-shouldering him every day. This made him cry every day. He was always anxious and kept saying that it must be that it must be because he's done something wrong that made you stop loving him," my father said.

"He never bears to blame you, even though you treat him this way. He is such a good child, so how can you keep hurting him every day?" my father asked with a heavy tone. The eyes that looked at me were filled with worry and blame.

My mom let out a sigh and added, "Sophia, I know you’ve always envied people who have daughters. If you really want one, you could have another baby.”

"However, why pretend you don’t know Henry and imagine a daughter who never existed?” she asked.

Listening to them defend Henry, I inexplicably felt a sharp pain in my chest.

My daughter was attached so vividly in my mind, so how could she be just a figment of my imagination?

I refused to talk to them any further and locked myself in my room.

Inside the walk-in closet, aside from mine and Jerry’s clothes, there were only children’s clothes for little boys. 

On the nightstand were photos of Jerry and me holding Henry in my arms.

Even the walls were decorated with the certificates that Henry had won in kindergarten.

Everything seemed to be just as everyone said, that I only had one child, a son, who was Henry. I had never had a daughter.

However, still, I still could never believe it. Whenever I close my eyes, my mind is filled with images of my daughter.

Her soft, sweet voice, her eyes that curved into little crescent moons, her adorable expression as she hugged me and acted kittenish at me.

Those joys, sorrows and laughter were so real, so how could they be fake?

I tore through the house like a madwoman, but there wasn’t a single trace of my daughter anywhere.

A strong wave of uneasiness engulfed me. Driven by instinct and worry, I went to the police station to report my daughter missing.

However, after some investigation, the police were dumbfounded. "We’ve checked everything. You have one child. A son. There’s no record of any daughter.”

In the end, amid everyone’s criticism, Jerry brought me back home.

Even though all the evidence and everyone insisted Henry was my only biological son, I still couldn't be intimate with him.

I denied his call and resisted his approach. Even when my eyes landed on him, all I could think about was my daughter, whose whereabouts are unknown.

In the beginning, Jerry tried to reason with me. He told me to stop hurting our son's heart and tearing our family apart over someone who never existed.

When faced with how fiercely I still rejected Henry, Jerry had no choice but to invite a psychologist to treat me.

Eventually, the psychologist diagnosed me with severe paranoia. That diagnosis shattered the last bit of defense in my heart.

I began to become more muddled and lost my grip on distinguishing illusion from reality.

Everyone was convinced I had lost my mind and even I began to doubt myself.

Was the daughter in my memory truly just a figment of my imagination?

My parents had stopped urging me to treat Henry nicely. Jerry no longer tried to convince me to face the reality.

To keep me from potentially harming Henry, my parents quietly took him to live with them. Meanwhile, Jerry stayed behind to care for me personally.

He made me three meals a day and advised me to take my medicine on time. He took care of every little detail of my life.

He made an effort to make me happy and laugh again, like when we were in love.

Sometimes, my parents would bring Henry over to visit me.

Every time, his eyes filled with anticipation and he tried to get closer to me and yet, I kept giving him a cold treatment.

In the face of my rejection, although his eyes were full of sorrow, he would still force a smile and say to me, “Mom, no matter what you do to me, you're still the person I love most."

"I believe… one day, you'll remember me and welcome me back."

Time flew by and eighteen years had passed.

Today was Henry's wedding day.

Jerry woke up early in the morning to wash and dress up. The excitement was attached on his body and every cell of his body brimmed with expectation.

Before he left, he looked at me and asked one last time, "It's our son's big day, as this is his wedding. He said he's been hoping for your blessing more than anything. Are you sure you don’t want to go?”

I shook my head and said quietly, "I'm not going."

Seeing the reaction on my face, Jerry did not force me anymore. He just shook his head dejectedly and exhaled, then headed to the wedding alone.

As I sat all alone in the room, a strange sense of uneasiness and panic rose in me.

After all these years of medication and therapy because of being diagnosed with paranoia, my condition has been much more stable than before.

Almost nothing could affect my emotions anymore and yet, for whatever reason, when I looked at the wedding update that my parents had posted on their feed, an extraordinary sense of panic crashed over me in a flash.

This feeling mounted when I saw everyone smiling around Henry.

It felt as if something vital was being torn from me forever. The sense of loss was so intense that I could barely breathe.

I shook as I went to get the medicine from the bedside table. However, since my hand shook, I could not hold anything.

As soon as I took the medicine bottle, it slipped and rolled under the bed.

I was on the floor to get the medicine, but under the bed I saw a pink Barbie doll.

All of a sudden, my eyes went wide.

Suddenly, memories of my daughter surged through my mind like a flood. As all the bits and pieces of all these years came to my mind, I was able to review all the details I had never noticed before.

Suddenly, a light shone before my eyes and I was enlightened. So, it turned out that the truth was actually like this!

After figuring everything out, I rushed nonstop to Henry's wedding site.

The venue was packed with guests and very lively.

Henry was wearing a suit and was leading his bride to give a toast.

When he spotted me, his eyes lit up instantly. He immediately rushed toward me and said happily, "Mom! You came! Are you coming here to my wedding to give me your blessing?"

The excitement and joy that filled Henry's face were hard to conceal. It was as if the fact that I was here was the greatest gift he could receive.

Jerry also greeted me. His face was full of a smile. "Wife, you finally came around."

"Henry's been looking left and right for you all day. He kept waiting for you to come to his wedding."

He continued, “It's a good thing you came, or else how sorry he would be for this wedding!” Jerry looked at me with relief.