Chapter 16: The Xin Family

The next morning, Hana put the plastic bag containing hair samples from her three children into her bag before leaving for work. Her three children had already gone to play at their grandmothers’ house after breakfast.

She had to make sure that the children she had been raising all this time were truly her biological children. She would not mind if it turned out that they were not her biological children—after all, she had sincerely raised them for the past five years. However, she could not lose her biological child, the child who truly belonged to her, whom she had gone through so much pain to give birth to.

"Doctor, when will the results be ready?"

At first, Hana had planned to have the test done after work. But considering the possibility that her real child might be somewhere else, she had no other choice.

"Ma’am, at the earliest, they’ll be ready this afternoon," the doctor said while arranging Hana’s blood sample and her three sons’ hair samples inside a box. "You can come back this afternoon or toward evening to collect the results."

Hana nodded. "Alright."

After paying the administrative fee, Hana hurried back to work on foot. The rest of her money for this month had been spent on the DNA test. That was why she had to walk to and from work.

When she arrived at the shop where she worked, Hana frowned.

"What happened?" she asked her coworker, who was cleaning up the mess in front of the convenience store.

Her friend waved her hand.

"The Mayor’s guest came here with Mayor Karua earlier. They bought a lot of our goods. It’s just that his fans caused a bit of chaos."

"Why did they shop here?"

"I heard the Mayor’s guest is looking for someone."

"Someone?"

"Hmm..." Her friend moved closer and lowered her voice. "There’s a rumor that he once had a falling-out with his former lover. When he wanted to make things right, the woman disappeared. He’s been looking for her for seven years, but there’s been no result."

"But who would have thought," she continued in an even lower voice, "yesterday, someone informed him of the last known whereabouts of the woman believed to be his former lover."

Hana’s brows furrowed even more as she helped clean up the scattered trash.

"Who exactly is the Mayor’s guest?" Hana asked, slightly interested.

"You don’t know?"

Hana shook her head.

"Actually, I don’t really know either. My life is harder than yours, so there’s no way I can keep up with the news on social media."

Hana nodded casually. She no longer followed news on social media either. She had chosen to buy a television so she could watch it at home with her children. And the only programs she watched were the ones that featured news about Brandon.

"But I heard his name is... Veinji? Or Bara... maybe something like that," her friend said again.

Hana waved her hand, telling her to stop. She knew her friend’s ability to remember things was the same as hers—she had difficulty remembering people’s names.

Meanwhile, at Hana’s residence, the subordinates of the Mayor of Karua were banging on door after door throughout the apartment building.

Brandon did not go down with them. He chose to wait inside the car, allowing the mayor’s men to search for Hana. At first, he had wanted to ignore the anonymous text message on his phone, but then he remembered the back of the woman he had briefly seen the previous night.

Even though he did not have much hope, he did not want to waste the opportunity to find Hana. The back of his car was even filled with Hana’s favorite foods from the past.

Brandon leaned back against his seat. He had been searching for Hana for so long. He had even entered the entertainment industry in between managing his family’s company—just so Hana could find him again.

All the apartment residents looked anxious when they were asked to gather in the courtyard below, simply to make it easier for those influential people to search for someone.

Jexy held Kevin’s arm.

"Did you tell them?" she whispered.

Kevin looked up at Jexy.

"I just wanted to know whether he still likes Mom. And whether he is our father or not," he replied.

Behind him, Sean looked just as gloomy as Jexy, Jezy, and Jesy.

"Kevin, I’ll hit you when we get back later," Sean said quietly.

"Why are you angry, Big Brother? Don’t you want Mom to be happy too?"

Sean scoffed.

"Happy? That’s just your useless fantasy."

"Be quiet. Don’t say anything else," Jezy interrupted as they arrived at the courtyard.

Sean snorted but did not say anything else.

After all the apartment residents had gathered in front of Brandon’s car, he slowly stepped out. Brandon walked forward, looking at them one by one.

"Is everyone here?" he asked in a low voice.

Jesy, as the apartment building’s manager, nodded.

"Everyone is here, except for one person who went to work."

Brandon frowned.

"Someone didn’t come? Didn’t your mayor order everyone not to go to work today? I’ll compensate for the loss."

Jesy waved her hand.

"Only one person went out, no one else. She’s my niece, and these are her children," Jesy replied, pointing at the three children beside her.

Brandon looked at her again before shifting his gaze to the three children in front of him.

"They’re your grandchildren?"

"Hmm, yes. They’re my grandchildren."

Brandon’s brows furrowed. The three children had different-colored eyes. And that gaze reminded him of someone in Melvin City.

"Do they have the same mother?" he asked again.

"Yes, the same mother. We’ve been taking care of them since they were babies."

Brandon lowered his head and held Zahn’s chin, forcing him to look up.

"Does your mother have blue eyes?" he asked.

Zahn calmly returned his gaze.

"My mother has black eyes. But perhaps my grandparents on my father’s side passed these blue eyes down to me. Besides, eye color isn’t only inherited through the mother’s genes," he replied casually.

Brandon nodded after a moment, then stood up and walked through the crowd. He felt that those eyes were not unfamiliar. In Melvin City, blue-eyed people were quite rare. Only one family had them—a family that had abandoned legitimate business and switched to underground routes over the past five years.

The Xin Family.