The hospital room remained unnaturally quiet after Amelia ended the call. Katherine sat motionless against the headboard, her eyes fixed on the calendar displayed on her phone. No matter how many times she refreshed the screen or reopened the application, the date never changed. Four years. She had returned four years before everything fell apart, yet her mind stubbornly refused to believe what her eyes were seeing. There had to be another explanation. Dreams felt real. Hallucinations felt real. Perhaps this was simply her dying mind refusing to let go.

She reached for her laptop the moment the nurse returned with her belongings. The machine took longer to boot than she remembered, the outdated software reminding her once again that this truly belonged to another time. Katherine ignored the growing knot in her chest and immediately opened a browser. Her fingers hovered over the keyboard for only a second before she typed the name that had haunted her final moments.

Soron Stan. Hundreds of business articles appeared on the screen. Most praised the rapid expansion of Stan Holdings under the leadership of the Stan family, while others discussed upcoming investment projects and charity partnerships. Katherine clicked through article after article, searching for photographs, interviews, or anything that mentioned an engagement.

There was nothing.

No wedding announcement. No articles about her No photographs of Soron standing beside her with a diamond ring on her finger.

She closed the final page and leaned back slowly. Of course there wasn't. They hadn't even met yet.

A strange sense of relief settled over her before another name forced its way into her thoughts.

Joanna.

Katherine swallowed hard and typed the name into the search bar.

Joanna Johnson.

Desperate for certainty, Katherine opened another tab and searched for her own family instead.

Richard Hart.

The familiar face of her father immediately filled the screen beneath headlines praising Hart Group's continued success. Financial magazines called him one of the country's most influential businessmen. News outlets praised the Hart Foundation's latest charitable projects. Interview after interview described Richard and Amelia Hart as one of the nation's most respected couples.

Then Katherine noticed the line repeated in nearly every article.

Richard and Amelia Hart's only daughter, Katherine Hart...

Only daughter. Her eyes lingered on those two words until they became impossible to read. Only daughter. If Joanna truly was the Hart family's biological child, then nobody had discovered the truth yet.

Or perhaps...

Nobody except Soron. The thought sent another chill through her body.

She closed the browser and stared silently at the reflection in the darkened screen. Every memory from her previous life surfaced one after another, each of them taking on an entirely different meaning. Soron's distant expression during the final weeks of their engagement. The reporters accusing her of stealing another woman's identity. Amelia's broken voice asking where her real daughter was. At the time, Katherine had believed her world had collapsed overnight.

Now she realized it had probably begun falling apart long before she ever noticed.

Unable to bear the silence any longer, she opened one of her social media accounts. The interface looked almost unfamiliar after four years. Friends she had long forgotten appeared online as though nothing tragic had ever happened. Birthdays, photographs, university gossip, and meaningless conversations filled the screen, reminders of a life untouched by betrayal.

Almost absentmindedly, she typed Joanna Johnson into the search bar once more.

This time she didn't expect to find anything. Profile after profile appeared before her, each one more ordinary than the last. She opened one, glanced at the photograph, and closed it again. Another. Then another. Nearly twenty minutes passed before her thumb stopped over a profile with only a handful of followers and an old photograph of a girl painfully familar looking. She had no recognised the face completley when the Curiosity more than hope prompted her to open it.

The account was quiet. There were no glamorous holidays, no luxury restaurants, no carefully curated life like so many others. Most of the photographs showed ordinary moments, a cup of instant noodles, a rainy street, a stray cat sleeping beneath a bench, sunsets viewed from a tiny apartment window.

Katherine continued scrolling without thinking until an older photograph appeared. Her fingers froze.

The picture had clearly been taken years ago inside an orphanage playground. Two little girls sat side by side on a rusted swing they were around 9 or 10, both wearing oversized hand-me-down clothes with scraped knees and messy hair. One smiled brightly at the camera while the other held up a crooked paper flower with childish pride.

Katherine's heart stopped. She recognized the girl on the left immediately. It was herself. Slowly, almost fearfully, her eyes shifted toward the little girl sitting beside her. The smile. The eyes.

The tiny scar above her eyebrow.

A forgotten name escaped Katherine's lips before she even realized she remembered it.

"...Jojo." The room fell completely silent.

Her trembling fingers hurried through the older photographs one after another. There they were sharing a single birthday cake with dozens of other orphaned children. There they were sitting beneath a tree making paper flowers because they couldn't afford toys. There they were wrapped beneath the same blanket during winter, laughing at something only children could understand. The pictures were captioned. "Good old days. Will always miss you Kiki."

Then came the photograph Katherine wished she had never found It had been taken on the day she was adopted.

A younger Katherine stood beside Richard and Amelia, holding a stuffed rabbit someone had bought for her that morning. Several children waved from the orphanage gates behind them.

Near the front stood Jojo. She wasn't waving. She was crying.

The memory struck Katherine with such force that tears immediately blurred her vision.

She remembered promising that she would come back. She remembered telling Jojo they would always be sisters.

She remembered watching the orphanage disappear through the back window of the car while Jojo grew smaller and smaller until she vanished completely. She had never returned.

A broken laugh escaped Katherine as she covered her mouth to stop herself from sobbing.

"So it was you...You are the Joanna." All Katherine remembered was the name Jojo that she had given her.

For thirteen years, Joanna had remained behind while Katherine unknowingly lived the life that should have belonged to her. She had been loved by parents who had spent those same thirteen years searching for their real daughter without ever realizing she was still waiting where they had left her. Katherine had inherited a family, a home, an education, and a future that had never been meant for her. Even Soron... perhaps he had never truly been hers either.

Tears slipped silently down Katherine's cheeks as she looked once more at the photograph of the two little girls smiling beneath the orphanage swing.

"I'm sorry..." she whispered, her fingers trembling as they brushed across Jojo's face on the screen. "I'm so sorry for taking them away from you."

A bitter ache settled in her chest as the pieces of her previous life finally fell into place. She had spent years wondering why everything she loved had been taken from her all at once. Now, looking back, it felt less like fate had been cruel and more like fate had finally corrected a mistake. Joanna had lost her parents, her home, and the life she should have lived, yet somehow, every one of those blessings had found Katherine instead. In the end, the life Katherine had borrowed had caught up with her, demanding to be returned.

She closed her eyes, unable to stop the tears.

"This time," she whispered, gently brushing her thumb across Jojo's face, "I won't make the same mistake."

Her voice trembled, but the resolve in her heart only grew stronger.

"I'll return everything."

The words settled over the quiet hospital room like a vow.

She would not wait for history to repeat itself. She would not allow the Hart family to lose another thirteen years with their daughter, nor would she continue living a life that had never belonged to her. Before the engagement, before the reporters, before betrayal tore everyone apart once more, Katherine would find Jojo herself.

This time, she would be the one to take her home.

"I am sorry for taking them away from you." Katherine's hand trembled. She could see, even though she had lived her life, the love that was Joanna's ended up finding her one way or the other, and KATHERINE suffered the consequences of what she had done. Stolen life had caught up to her after thirteen years. " A bitter taste tickled in her throat.

"This time," she whispered, gently brushing her thumb across Jojo's face on the screen, "I won't make the same mistake."

Her voice trembled, but her resolve did not.

"I'll return everything."

The words settled over the quiet hospital room like a vow.

She would not wait for history to repeat itself. She would not allow the Hart family to lose another twenty years with their daughter, nor would she cling to a life that had never truly belonged to her. Before the engagement, before the reporters, before betrayal and blood stained the future once more, Katherine would find Jojo herself.

And this time...

She would be the one to take her home.

The eleven-hour flight home passed in a blur. Katherine barely noticed the dimmed cabin lights or the sleeping passengers around her. She spent the entire journey staring at a single chat window on her phone, the empty text box blinking like a judgment.

She had typed and deleted dozens of messages.

Hello, Jojo. I’m the girl who promised to come back for you…

Delete.

Hi. Do you still remember me?

Delete.

I’m Katherine Hart…

Delete.

That name felt like a lie. Jojo wouldn’t know Katherine Hart. She only knew Kiki.

With a deep breath, Katherine finally typed two simple words.

Jojo?

Her thumb hovered over the send button for what felt like forever. What if Joanna didn’t remember? What if she did? She pressed send.

The reply came faster than she expected. Three little dots appeared, then:

...Who’s this?

Katherine’s fingers tightened around the phone. It’s Kiki.

The response exploded across the screen.

KIKI?!

The Kiki from St. Anne’s Orphanage?

Oh my God… is it really you?

A lump rose in Katherine’s throat. She could almost hear Joanna’s bright, excited voice through the messages.

It’s really me.

Before she could say more, another message popped up.

Where have you been? I’ve looked for you online so many times! I thought you’d forgotten me!

Katherine closed her eyes. She had forgotten. Not on purpose, but life had swept her away- new family, schools, university, Soron- until those orphanage days felt like someone else’s distant dream.

I’m sorry.

The pause that followed stretched painfully long.

Then:

Forget that. You’re back now!

Are you in the country?

Can we meet?

Katherine stared at the words until her vision blurred. After thirteen years of silence, Joanna wasn’t angry. She wasn’t bitter. She was simply, genuinely happy.

Katherine's flight landed, She didn't tell anyone that she was back becasue she couldn't face her parents anymore. She didn’t call Amelia or Richard. She changed her flight and slipped back into the city quietly, avoiding the waiting chauffeur. She wasn’t ready to face the mansion yet.

There was something far more important she had to do first.

The café Joanna chose was tucked away on a quiet side street. It wasn’t the kind of polished place Katherine had frequented in her life. The wooden tables were old but lovingly polished, and the rich scent of fresh coffee beans filled the warm afternoon air. Students worked on laptops while soft music played in the background.

Katherine arrived twenty minutes early. She told herself she wasn’t nervous, but every time the bell above the door chimed, her heart jumped.

Finally, the door swung open. A young woman hurried in wearing a simple café apron over everyday clothes, her hair pulled into a quick ponytail. She scanned the room, and when her eyes landed on Katherine, confusion flashed across her face for half a second.

Then pure recognition lit her up.

“Kiki?” Joanna rushed forward before Katherine could even stand. She threw her arms around her in a tight, breathless hug.

“I can’t believe it’s really you,” Joanna whispered, voice warm with joy. “I’ve missed you so much.”

Katherine stood frozen for a moment, guilt twisting like a knife in her chest. Slowly, almost awkwardly, she wrapped her arms around the girl she had once promised to save.

They sat down, and Joanna smiled sheepishly, still a little out of breath. “I’m sorry I’m late. My manager wouldn’t let me leave until someone covered my shift. I was worried you’d be waiting forever.”

“It’s alright,” Katherine managed.

Joanna laughed lightly. “I work here in the mornings before classes. I’m studying business administration at the community college nearby.” She shrugged with an easy grin. “Well… trying to, anyway. Two jobs make homework interesting.”

She said it casually, without a trace of self-pity. Just simple acceptance and quiet optimism. Throughout the afternoon, Joanna carried the conversation effortlessly, filling every silence with warm stories: favorite professors, funny customers, an elderly regular who came every Thursday, and the stray cat she’d been feeding behind the café for nearly a year. She laughed often and smiled even more.

The more Katherine listened, the heavier her guilt grew.

She thought of her own life: expensive boarding schools, luxury vacations, birthday parties filled with important guests, a wardrobe that cost more than most people’s yearly rent. Meanwhile, Joanna spoke of saving for textbooks, taking extra shifts, and sharing a tiny apartment with roommates… yet she seemed genuinely content. Happier, even, than Katherine had ever felt in her gilded cage.

After a long pause, Katherine asked softly, “Did anyone ever… adopt you?”

Joanna’s smile softened, but it didn’t fade. “I hoped someone would for a long time.” She stirred her coffee gently. “But after a while, you stop waiting.” She glanced out the window, then smiled again. “The director used to say my parents were probably still looking for me. I believed him for years.” Joanna swallowed a lump in her throat. "I was the one of the last few children left before they shut down the orphanage." she pursed her lips.

“And now?”

Joanna gave a small shrug. “I think some people just aren’t meant to find each other.” She said it without resentment, only quiet acceptance.

The words cut deeper than any accusation ever could. Katherine lowered her eyes, throat tight with unshed tears.

As the afternoon light began to fade, Joanna reluctantly stood. “I should go. I have another shift tonight.”

They embraced outside the café. As Joanna stepped back, a single strand of her hair caught on the button of Katherine’s coat. Neither of them noticed. "Keep in touch okay? " She said as if Kiki was someone really dear to her and not someoen hwo had forgotten her almost imeedietly after she had left for a better life.

Joanna waved brightly one last time before disappearing into the evening crowd.

Katherine remained rooted to the spot. Slowly, she reached up and carefully plucked the strand from her sleeve. She stared at it for a long moment, then closed her fingers around it.

If she was going to return Joanna to the family that had always been hers, she would need proof, Just to confirm that it really never belonged to her.

This was the first step.’

By the time Katherine's car turned through the wrought-iron gates of the Hart estate, dusk had already settled over the city. The familiar driveway stretched ahead, lined with maple trees that had long since grown taller than the mansion itself. Four years ago, this sight had always filled her with comfort. It was home. It was the one place in the world where she had never questioned whether she belonged.

Now, as the mansion slowly came into view beyond the gardens, Katherine found herself gripping her handbag so tightly that her knuckles turned white.

Inside, safely tucked away, was a small sealed envelope containing a single strand of Joanna's hair.

She had spent the entire flight convincing herself that she was doing the right thing. The DNA test would only confirm what she already believed. Once the truth came to light, Joanna would finally return to the family that had unknowingly spent years searching for her. Katherine repeated those thoughts over and over again, yet instead of bringing her peace, they only made the mansion before her seem more distant with every passing second.

The car had barely come to a stop when the front doors flew open.

"Katherine!"

Amelia didn't wait for the chauffeur to open the door. She hurried down the front steps herself, gathering the hem of her dress as she almost ran across the driveway. Before Katherine had even stepped out of the car, Amelia had already wrapped both arms around her, pulling her into an embrace so tight that it stole the air from her lungs.

"You've lost weight," Amelia complained the moment she finally let go, cupping Katherine's face between her hands as though she hadn't seen her in years instead of a few weeks. "I knew it. I told you university life wasn't treating you properly. Were you skipping meals again?"

Katherine could only stare at her.

The warmth of Amelia's hands.

The familiar fragrance of her perfume.

The gentle scolding that had once embarrassed her but now felt unbearably precious.

Everything was exactly as she remembered.

Only this time, Katherine knew it wouldn't last forever.

"I'm fine," she answered quietly, forcing a smile onto her face.

"You call this fine?" Amelia frowned, brushing a loose strand of hair behind Katherine's ear. "Look at those dark circles under your eyes. I'm having the kitchen prepare your favorite dishes tonight, and don't even think about arguing with me. By the time your birthday arrives, I want every bit of that weight back."

Katherine laughed softly despite the ache growing in her chest.

"...Alright."

The servants had already begun carrying her luggage inside, but Katherine deliberately kept her handbag over her shoulder. She wasn't about to let it leave her sight. Hidden in one of its inner compartments was the small evidence bag containing Joanna's hair, and until the samples reached the laboratory, she refused to risk losing it.

The familiar warmth of the mansion wrapped around her the moment she stepped inside. Nothing had changed. The marble floors gleamed beneath the crystal chandeliers, fresh flowers decorated the entrance hall, and the grandfather clock beside the staircase chimed exactly as it had every evening throughout her childhood.

For the first time since waking up in the hospital, Katherine allowed herself to simply stand there.

She slowly turned in a circle, taking in every detail she had once overlooked.

The portrait hanging above the fireplace.

The vase Amelia insisted on replacing every Monday.

The faint scent of cedar that always lingered in the hall.

She had walked past these things thousands of times without ever imagining she would one day have to say goodbye to them.

"Go upstairs and unpack," Amelia urged gently. "Your father is still hiding in his study. I told him to stop working early today, but you know how impossible that man is."

Katherine smiled faintly.

"I'll go see him."

Amelia rolled her eyes with exaggerated annoyance.

"Good. Maybe he'll listen to you."

The study door stood half open.

Katherine knocked softly before stepping inside.

Richard Hart sat behind his enormous walnut desk, reading through a stack of financial reports while several monitors displayed market data across the walls. Without looking up, he turned another page and signed a document with practiced efficiency.

For several seconds, Katherine simply watched him.

She had forgotten how reassuring the sight was.

Her father had never been particularly expressive. Unlike Amelia, he rarely hugged her or showered her with affection. He showed love in quieter ways that were easy to overlook unless someone paid attention.

Only after finishing the page did Richard finally lift his head.

"You're back."

"I am."

His gaze briefly swept over her before settling on the handbag still hanging from her shoulder. A small orange prescription bottle, hastily tucked inside after leaving the hospital, peeked out from one of the side pockets.

Richard's brows drew together almost imperceptibly.

"You haven't finished your medication."

Katherine instinctively glanced toward the bottle.

"I was going to."

"You were prescribed five days."

His voice remained as calm and measured as always.

"Finish the entire course before you return to classes. Recover properly first. Work can wait."

There was no lecture.

No dramatic concern.

No fuss.

Just a simple reminder delivered in the same even tone he used during business meetings.

Yet somehow, it carried more weight than a hundred worried speeches.

Katherine lowered her eyes.

"...I will."

Richard gave a small nod before returning to the documents on his desk.

The conversation lasted less than a minute.

It was exactly the sort of exchange they had shared countless times throughout her life.

Only now did Katherine realize that this was simply how Richard loved people.

Quietly.

Without expecting recognition.

She left the study with tears threatening to gather in her eyes.

The rest of the evening passed with a comforting normalcy that felt almost cruel. She unpacked her suitcase, wandered through her bedroom, and ran her fingertips across shelves filled with trophies, framed photographs, and little keepsakes Amelia had refused to throw away over the years. Each object held a memory. Each memory reminded her that this room had witnessed her entire childhood.

She paused before a framed photograph sitting on her bedside table.

Richard stood stiffly in an expensive suit while Amelia laughed brightly beside him. Between them, a twelve-year-old Katherine grinned at the camera with both arms wrapped around their waists.

It looked like an ordinary family photograph.

But Katherine could no longer look at it without wondering whether Joanna should have been standing in her place instead.

Dinner was filled with the familiar conversations she had missed without realizing it. Amelia spoke enthusiastically about redesigning the east garden, complained that Richard worked far too much, and insisted the chef prepare three different desserts because she couldn't decide which Katherine liked most. Richard listened more than he spoke, occasionally offering a dry remark that earned an exasperated look from his wife before returning to his meal.

It was peaceful.

Warm.

Everything Katherine had lost.

Everything she believed she would soon have to return.

As the servants cleared the table, Amelia suddenly clapped her hands together as though she had remembered something exciting.

"Oh, I almost forgot! Your birthday next week isn't just your birthday anymore."

Katherine looked up.

"What do you mean?"

Amelia smiled knowingly.

"Your father finally agreed to it."

Richard sighed into his tea but didn't deny it.

"We've arranged for the Stan family to attend."

Amelia's excitement only grew.

"It'll be your formal introduction to their son, Soron."

Katherine smiled politely, allowing just enough curiosity to appear in her expression.

"Their son?"

"I've heard wonderful things about him," Amelia said with obvious satisfaction. "I'm sure the two of you will get along."

Katherine nodded as though she were hearing the name for the very first time.

Inside, however, she already knew exactly where that introduction would lead.

While Amelia leaned closer to excitedly discuss the birthday preparations, Katherine quietly reached out and plucked a loose strand of hair that had fallen onto Amelia's shoulder.

The movement was so natural that Amelia never noticed.

Katherine folded the strand into a tissue beneath the table before slipping it into her pocket.

Late that night, after the mansion had fallen silent and every light except those in Richard's study had been extinguished, Katherine quietly slipped out through the side entrance. She drove across the city to a private courier service that operated through the night, where she carefully sealed two labeled evidence bags inside a plain envelope addressed to one of the country's most reputable genetic laboratories.

She watched until the clerk placed the package into the outgoing collection box.

The results would arrive before her birthday.

By then...

There would be no turning back.