“The reason I had come to Saigen City was that I noticed how similar Steven looked to Luke in the photo attached with his file. That’s why I decided to fly over to see what was happening.”
She took the muffin from Gwen and explained, “You don’t have to be so courteous to me, and I don’t need you to keep thanking me like this. This is what a friend–and a doctor–should do.
Then, she smiled at Gwen. “Thank you for your kindness. From today onward, we’re even, so you don’t have to go to so much trouble for me anymore.”
Rachel knew just how much time and effort had to be put into preparing and baking these muffins. It was only 6:30 a.m., so Gwen had probably been up since 5 a.m. or even earlier.
Even though she appreciated Gwen’s gesture, Rachel still could not help feeling a little uneasy.
Gwen sniffed when she noticed this. “It’s no problem at all. I love doing things like this, but if you don’t like it, I’ll stop, but I just want to say that…I’m willing to do anything in return for you helping me.”
Ever since Luke left, she had lost all her will to live, and now, the only thing that kept her going was the thought of suing the Miller and Hughes families and making them pay the price for hurting Luke.
When all this was over, she could finally pry Steven’s heart out of her chest, give it back to him, and join Luke in the afterlife. Therefore, she wanted to show Rachel her gratitude while she was still around. If Rachel had not come to Saigen City, she would probably still be oblivious to what had happened to Luke.
Rachel sighed when she saw how distressed Gwen looked. She put down the muffin and gently wrapped her arms around Gwen’s shoulders. “Gwen, I can see how hard you’re trying to keep it together. You’re not the only one in this relationship, and I’m sure that Luke would want you to forget about him and move on, too.
“Can you promise me that you’ll move on and live your life freely after avenging Luke’s death? “If you don’t, Luke will never forgive you even if you join him in the afterlife. After all, the reason he had done all this was to help you live a good and happy life.”
Gwen bit her lip but did not respond.
She lowered her head like a guilty child and stammered, “I..I know…but…”.
She could not push herself to forget about Luke! All of a sudden, Rachel’s phone rang.
It was the DNA Diagnostic Center calling. “Dr. Liddell, the DNA cross–matching results you requested have come out…”
Since she already knew it was the DNA Diagnostic Center calling, Rachel picked the call up and put it on speaker so Gwen could listen, too.
The operator’s robotic voice rang out, “We’ve already sent a digital copy of the DNA report to your email, but if you require the original document, feel free to stop by our center to retrieve it at any time.” “Thank you,”
Rachel replied before hanging up. As she did this, she instinctively glanced at Gwen.
Gwen’s face had flushed red in excitement and anticipation, but she did not make any move to enter Rachel’s room at all.
No matter how excited she was, Gwen was still cautious not to overstep her welcome.
How could anyone bear to hurt such a vulnerable woman?
Rachel sighed, grabbed hold of Gwen’s hand, and pulled her into the room. Then, she turned on her laptop
Gwen sat down in the chair, her back as straight as a rod, and was in so much anticipation that she did not know where to place her hands.
She was behaving like a student waiting to hear news about a recent exam.
Rachel furrowed her brow and clicked on the email. Gwen’s breath caught in her throat.
The digital report appeared in front of their eyes.
[Specimen A and Specimen B were a 99.99% match and are highly likely to be the same person.
Gwen read this sentence over and over, so much so that she wanted nothing more than to carve these words into her mind.
Her gut feeling was right, and so was Rachel’s suspicion.
They were right! Steven was Luke after all! Even though Steven had lost all of Luke’s consciousness and memories, he was still Luke! Or at least, his body belonged to Luke.
At the thought of this, Gwen bit her lip and stood up. “I have to go find Steven.”
Steven was probably still unaware of what had happened to him, so she had to tell him the truth!
However, before she could even take another step, Rachel grabbed hold of her, frowning.”
What are you going to say to Steven, anyway?”
Gwen pursed her lips. “I want to tell him what happened. He probably doesn’t know that the body he’s residing in belongs to my boyfriend, or he wouldn’t have behaved the way he did yesterday, so I have to tell him the truth!”
“And then?”
Rachel furrowed her brow. “Do you think that after you tell him, he’ll suddenly fall in love with you and choose to sue his family and the Millers?”
Gwen’s entire body stiffened at this.
She lifted her head to stare dazedly at Rachel, unsure of what to say.
The truth was, she did not know much about Steven at all…
“Have you ever considered the possibility that he won’t side with you, even after you tell him the truth? On the contrary, he might even want to protect his family and the Millers by leaving Saigen City in secret so that you won’t be able to obtain any evidence of their crime. “If that happens, there’s nothing else we can do anymore.”
Gwen bit her lip upon hearing this.
She lifted her head to stare at Rachel, tears brimming in her eyes. “Dr. Liddell, what do you think…I should do now?”
“For starters, you need to calm down,”
Bethan’s voice rang out from the door before Rachel could even open her mouth.
Bethan leaned against the doorframe and stared at Gwen with a sympathetic look. “I’ve asked Brettley about this, and he thinks that even after losing all his memories, Luke will still have feelings for you. “Therefore, we can get in touch with Steven under the pretense that he had suffered amnesia from the accident and convince him to help us investigate the surgery.”
Gwen’s entire body froze when she heard this. She turned to stare dazedly at Bethan, then at Rachel
Finally, she bit her lip and sat on the edge of Rachel’s bed. “I can’t do it.”
If she had not known about what happened to Luke and Steven, she would have wanted to treat Steven as though he were Luke and attempt to restore his ‘memories’ of her. However, after finding out the truth, she could no longer bring herself to do this. The thought of Steven occupying Luke’s body without his permission and causing Luke’s consciousness to cease its existence…disgusted her so much that she could not look at him the same way again.
If Steven was to materialize in front of her, she would probably kill him. Under these circumstances, she could not bring herself to pretend Steven was Luke as though nothing had happened. She could not do it! “Gwen..”
Bethan bit her lip and grabbed hold of Gwen’s arm, intending to say something, but no words came out.
She had talked about this with Brettley the night before.
As Gwen’s best friend, Bethan could never turn a cheek to all this, but even after talking with Brettley the whole night, neither of them managed to devise a plan.
She and Brettley both disagreed with what Rachel had said about the Miller family having switched out Luke and Steven’s brains.
Instead, they were more inclined to believe that Luke was simply brainwashed–or even hypnotized–into ‘becoming’ Steven by having his memories and consciousness replaced.
Therefore, they agreed that Luke would eventually return if they tried hard enough to bring him back.
However, none of them decided to tell Gwen this.
She had already been through too much, and they did not want to give her any more false hope. If this false hope were to end in disappointment, Gwen would not be able to take this.
However, at the same time, if they chose not to tell Gwen anything, Gwen would not want to get close to Steven, and they would never have a way of ‘bringing’ Luke back anymore. Therefore, after a lengthy discussion, Bethan and Brettley decided that they would tell Gwen a modified version of the truth.
They would tell Gwen that in order to avenge Luke’s death, she had to get close to Steven under the pretense of restoring his old memories.
If Luke were to return, it would be the best outcome that could happen, but if he did not, it would also prevent Gwen from being disappointed.
Rachel furrowed her brow as she observed Bethan.
A split second later, she sighed, walked over to Gwen’s side, and patted her shoulder. “Bethan’s plan is the best one we have yet, so you have to at least try. “Pretending that Steven is Luke and lying to him about helping him restore his memories is indeed the best way to let the Miller and Hughes families’ guards down. “Besides, I’ve read through Steven’s personal file, and I can safely say that he might even be willing to help us.”
After hearing this, Gwen bit her lip, glanced at Bethan, and finally nodded. “Alright, then.”
She would do anything for Luke!
Bethan let out a sigh of relief, and she was just about to say something else when Gwen’s phone suddenly rang
It was a number she did not recognize.
Gwen furrowed her brow, staring dubiously at this number with Saigen City’s area code.
She did not have any friends here that would call her at this time.
Could it be Yannie?
It could not be. She and Yannie were not that close, and Yannie would be more likely to call Bethan instead.
At the thought of this, Gwen furrowed her brow and picked up the call. “Hello?” “Hi, it’s Steven,” a low, polite voice rang out from the other end of the line. “Gwen, I need to talk to you.”
“Steven?”
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.