I’m Billy, and up until a few days ago, I thought I was living the dream. I’m an only child, and my parents have always showered me with love and attention. They’ve given me everything I could ever want or need.
Just last week, my dad surprised me with the latest gaming console for no reason at all.
“What’s this for?” I asked, my eyes wide with excitement.
He just shrugged and smiled. “Do I need a reason to spoil my favorite son?”
“Your only son, you mean,” Mom grinned.
“All the more reason to spoil him!” Dad laughed, ruffling my hair.
That’s how it’s always been. Just the three of us living a perfect life. Perfect—until I stumbled across a life-changing fact.
It all started the day I turned 18. I had decided to treat myself to one of those ancestry DNA tests—you know, the ones that tell you if you’re 2% Viking or whatever. I was just curious, nothing more. I never expected it to change my life.
I was literally jumping up and down the day the results came in. I kept refreshing my email every few minutes, waiting for that notification.
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“Billy, honey, you’re going to wear a hole in the floor if you keep jumping like that,” Mom called from the kitchen.
“Sorry, Mom! I’m just really excited about my DNA results!”
Finally, the email arrived.
I could feel my heart pounding as I clicked on it. I was so excited, unaware that what I’d see next would change my life forever.
There, in black and white, was a notification of a close match.
A brother.
Daniel.
I blinked, rubbed my eyes, and looked again. It had to be a mistake, right? I’m an only child. I’ve always been an only child.
In a daze, I picked up my phone and dialed the company’s helpline. Maybe there was some mix-up.
“Hello, how can I assist you today?” a cheerful voice answered.
“Hi, um, I just got my results and, uh, I think there might be a mistake?” I said, unsure if I was doing the right thing.
“I can assure you, sir, our tests are 100% accurate. We double-check all results before sending them out.”
“Oh, alright,” I said. “Th-thank you.”
I hung up and looked at the results again. This couldn’t be happening. How could I have a brother I didn’t know about?
I needed answers, and I knew just who to ask.
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That night, I waited up for Dad to get home from work. I rushed downstairs immediately when I heard his car pull into the driveway.
I allowed him to enter the living room before I followed him inside.
“Hey, Dad? Can we talk for a sec?”
He looked up with a smile on his face. “Sure, kiddo. What’s on your mind?”
“So, uh, remember that DNA test I took?” I said, fidgeting with my shirt.
He nodded.
“Well, I got the results today and…” I paused, not sure how to continue. “Dad, do you know someone named Daniel?”
That was the moment I knew something was not right. The look on Dad’s face changed in an instant. His eyes widened, and all the color drained from his cheeks.
“Where did you hear that name?” he asked, looking around to ensure Mom wasn’t around.
I told him about the test results. As I spoke, I watched his expressions change. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and then said something I wasn’t expecting.
“Listen,” he said in a low voice, “don’t tell your mom about this, alright? She doesn’t know. I had an affair years ago. If she finds out, she’ll leave.”
I nodded, promising not to say anything. But as I returned to my room, something didn’t sit right.
Dad’s reaction seemed off. It was like there was more to the story than he was letting on.
I couldn’t sleep that night. I kept staring at the test results, wondering what to do next.
Should I… should I text him? I thought.
Texting him meant I’d be going against my dad. But I couldn’t think of another way to find out the truth.
So, I immediately clicked on his profile and reached out to him.
To my surprise, he responded within half an hour.
Billy? Is it really you? I can’t believe it!
We exchanged a few messages, and before I knew it, we’d agreed to meet at a café the next day.
Was I doing the right thing by going behind my dad’s back?
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The next morning, I told Mom I was going out with my best friend and walked to the café. I didn’t have to do much to recognize Daniel. I immediately spotted him, and it felt like I was looking in a mirror.
He looked SO MUCH like me.
“Billy?” he asked, standing up.
I nodded, unable to speak. We sat down, and neither of us knew what to say.
Finally, Daniel broke the silence.
“You remember the lake by our old house?” he asked, smiling. “We’d swing on that old, rusty swing set and throw rocks into the water.”
“No, I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I shook my head. “We never lived together.”
Daniel’s smile faded. “What do you mean? We lived together until we were five or six. Don’t you remember? And Scruffy, the dog—he’d follow us everywhere.”
I felt defensive. This guy was talking nonsense.
“My dad says you’re the affair child. I only found out about you days ago.”
“Wait… you think I’m the affair child?” he asked. “So, you don’t remember that day?…”
…The day they took you away?”
I stared at him, blinking. “Took me away? What are you talking about?”
Daniel leaned forward, his eyes searching mine with a kind of desperate hope—like maybe, just maybe, I’d suddenly remember something too.
“You were there, Billy. I swear. We were twins. We used to do everything together. I remember when we turned five, Mom made us a dinosaur cake—half chocolate, half vanilla because you were picky. You hated chocolate back then.”
I opened my mouth to protest, but something strange happened.
A flash.
A scent.
The faint memory of sticky frosting on my fingers… a small hand next to mine… laughter. My own, but also someone else’s.
I shook my head. “No… that doesn’t make sense. My parents would never lie to me like that. I’ve lived with them my whole life.”
Daniel’s voice was gentle. “I thought so too. I thought Mom and Dad were my real parents. But then two years ago, I took the same test you just took. That’s when I found you. But you weren’t in the system yet. I’ve been waiting for this.”
“Why wouldn’t I remember anything?” I asked, suddenly feeling cold.
Daniel’s eyes dropped. “I don’t know. Maybe… maybe it was on purpose. Maybe they wanted you to forget.”
I swallowed hard. “So what happened? Why did we get separated?”
“I don’t know the full story,” he said. “Our mom—our birth mom—she passed away in a car accident when we were six. After that, we were placed in different foster homes for a while. I was adopted by the Harrisons. But… I always thought you stayed with our real dad. Not the guy you’re living with now.”
“That doesn’t make sense,” I whispered, as my mind raced. If that’s true… then who are the people I’ve been calling Mom and Dad?
“Did they ever officially adopt you?” Daniel asked. “Or did they just take you in?”
I realized I didn’t know. I’d never seen adoption papers. Never even thought to ask. My birth certificate? I couldn’t even remember the last time I saw it.
Suddenly, everything felt… fragile.
“I have to talk to them,” I said, standing up too fast. My hands were shaking. “I need answers. Real ones.”
“I’ll come with you if you want,” Daniel said. “You shouldn’t have to face it alone.”
I looked at him—this stranger who looked just like me, who remembered the lake and the swing set and the dog named Scruffy. My twin brother.
“No,” I said quietly. “Not yet. Let me talk to them first.”
He nodded, understanding.
We exchanged numbers, and as I walked home, everything I thought I knew felt like it was balancing on a thread.
I stepped through the front door and found both Mom and Dad sitting at the kitchen table, as if they knew I was coming back with something heavy.
I dropped the keys on the counter and looked directly at them.
“Who am I?” I asked.
And for the first time in my life, they didn’t have an answer ready.
I dropped the keys on the counter and looked directly at them.
“Who am I?” I asked.
The room fell into absolute silence. Dad looked stunned. Mom blinked rapidly, her mouth opening slightly, like she was about to speak but couldn’t find the words.
“What… what are you talking about, sweetheart?” Mom finally managed.
“I met Daniel. My brother,” I said. My voice was shaking, but I stood firm. “He says we were twins. That we lived together. That you took me when we were five.”
Mom’s face paled. She slowly sank into her chair, one hand covering her mouth.
Dad closed his eyes and exhaled. “Billy… we were going to tell you. Someday.”
“When?” I snapped. “After you died? Never? You told me I was your only son. That I was special. You said Daniel was from an affair!”
Dad dropped his gaze. “That wasn’t true. I panicked. I didn’t know how else to explain it without… without unraveling everything.”
Mom finally spoke, her voice trembling. “You’re not our biological child, Billy. Not really. We raised you, we loved you like our own, because to us—you are our son. But yes… you came to us under… difficult circumstances.”
“Difficult?” I said bitterly. “Is that what you call separating me from my twin brother?”
Tears welled in her eyes. “We didn’t steal you. We didn’t kidnap you. Your birth mother—her name was Angela—was a close friend of mine. When she died in that crash, you and Daniel were placed in separate foster homes.”
“We were trying to adopt, and I—I couldn’t have kids,” she continued. “We got the call about you. Just you. Not Daniel. I didn’t even know you had a twin until after we brought you home.”
“You knew,” I said, my voice low. “Daniel said we were together until we were five or six. He remembers. I don’t.”
Dad looked up again, his expression raw. “We didn’t know how much you remembered. When you had nightmares about a woman dying in a car, we thought it was just your mind trying to cope. You were so young, Billy.”
“You… could have found him. You could have reunited us.”
Mom nodded slowly, guilt all over her face. “We could have. But we were afraid. Afraid they’d take you from us. You were finally ours. After years of trying, of loss… we were selfish.”
The room was quiet except for the hum of the refrigerator and the pounding of my heart.
“So what now?” I whispered.
“That’s up to you,” Dad said softly. “We can’t change what we did. But if you want to know more about your past—about Daniel—we’ll help however we can. You deserve the truth now.”
I looked at them, these two people who had raised me, loved me, lied to me.
And then I thought of Daniel. His smile. His memories. Our memories, buried deep inside me.
“I don’t know what I’m going to do,” I said, finally. “But I’m not going to pretend anymore.”
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