“For when you’re sad,” she had said.
He held it in his palm, looking at it as though it were made of gold.
Then he gently put it back and closed the drawer.
He slipped into bed beside Tiana.
But his heart was already somewhere else.
Rain fell from the sky as if it had a story to tell.
Mika stepped out of his car holding an umbrella. The dirt roads had turned to mud. The village seemed quieter than usual. A silence heavy with secrets.
He walked toward Grace’s hut. He had brought food, medicine, and a small math book. Hope was struggling.
As he reached the door, he heard a voice inside—soft but clear.
“I don’t think Mika remembers anything,” Grace was saying, her voice heavy with emotion. “But he keeps coming. He brings her gifts. He talks to her as if she already belongs to him.”
Mika stopped.
He did not knock.
He stood there under the rain drumming against his umbrella, his heart pounding.
There was silence on the other end of the phone. Then Grace’s next words pierced him.
“It’s strange, you know. He doesn’t even know she is his daughter.”
Mika held his breath.
He whispered to himself, “Our daughter?”
Even the rain could not drown out that truth.
He took a step back, staggering.
Everything made sense now.
The necklace.
The little girl’s face.
What he felt when she laughed.
The pain in Grace’s eyes.
Mika had fallen in love with that little girl for weeks without understanding why.
Now he knew.
It was his blood.
And he had abandoned her before she was even born.
He could not wait any longer.
His heart pounded wildly. His shirt was soaked, but he did not care.
He pushed open the door to Grace’s hut, his chest tight, his eyes burning.
Grace rose from the floor, shocked.
“Mika—”
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