Once you know it, you can't erase the fact---Kara

"Wait—" it was the first time I saw my dad's expression of despair.

He ran somewhere away from mom and didn't listen when I called. Mom kept her focus on the operating room, waiting for the good news about Kyle.

"Dad?! Where are you going?!" I exclaimed but he just went past me. "Hey, Dad, wait up!"

I followed him as he went to the basement taking turns on every corner until he reached the last door in the hallway. I was still far from him but I know where he entered. When I reached the door, a man in a white uniform came to me and said,

"A guy entered there and he was, I don't know, I bet he needed something from that kid." He said and walked away. "If you know him, little girl, kindly pick up the papers he left on the floor." He added

KID. Just the thought of him makes me want to puke and somehow hearing things about him makes me guilty.

I was left freezing, my feet felt like lead. I slowly approached the door and I saw my dad, for the first time, sulking on the floor, holding a dead body. His expression can't be described but I know he's in much pain.

"Dad.." I called him again but he didn't even bother to look. I stepped forward, still trembling, and saw the papers that the man mentioned that was on the floor. "What is this?" I picked a photo of a doctor holding 2 newborn babies in a delivery room—still covered in blood with uncut cords.

"This is Grand-dad…what does this mean?" my hands started to shake. I moved a bit and came across a DNA result with a note attached to it saying,

>>>I'm sorry, I lied. Actually, you have 2 healthy baby boys. It was my grandfather's signature. I hope you forgive this old man. I'm really sorry.

"This is not true.." I muttered. "This is not true.." I stepped back, putting my head on my palms, and hit my back on the wall. Later did I realized--- I was wailing in despair.

...

It took me some time to realize what was happening around me. For more than a minute of spacing out outside the morgue, 3 men in medical clothes were trying to talk to my dad. I guess they were nurses.

"Sir, we need to release that organ now, the patient upstairs is waiting." The nurse said.

"I don't care.." my dad said without getting his sight off the dead body he was holding.

"But sir.." the other nurse argued. "They've already paid for the liver. Their son needs it right away."

"I said I don't care. I have all the rights over this kid. Don't you ever lay a hand on him." he glared at them.

Dad. He was holding on to the three kits I believed to have the organs the nurses mentioned.

"What's happening here?" A doctor came in. "You haven't got the organs that they need—Henry?"

"Clyde…" my dad replied.

"Wait…" the doctor said and looked around him.

I know him. He's dad's friend, best friend. They went to the same school and were classmates since middle school. They knew each other's secrets.

"Is that your clone? Sorry, but we need to get the organs or else—" uncle Clyde said as he stepped closer to dad.

"I can't give them, Clyde.." my dad sulked. "I just can't. If only I can get what you've already given, I will. But, please. No more." He took the kits closer to him. I saw his tears falling. "Don't take him away."

"What are you talking about?!" uncle Clyde muttered. "Don't tell me that---"

I stepped toward him and gave him the photo. It may look absurd but I know he'll understand if I give it to him. I don't want my dad to suffer even more.

"This is not true…" the doctor was caught off guard. He didn't know what to say and looked away.

Moments later, after collecting his thoughts, he sighed.

"Cancel that organ donation." The doctor declared. What he said made the nurses panic.

"But Doc, the family needs it immediately for their patient." The nurse argued. "We can't explain something so superficial."

"No. That's an order. Let's not kill this man twice." He looked at my dad with concerned eyes and sent the nurses away. "Just explain that the organs were not matched after a few tests. Do it under my name."

"Hai." They replied reluctantly but they walked away from the morgue. The doctor didn't say anything else and turned his back against my dad. He stood there in the hallway, waiting for my dad to say a word.

I walked toward my dad; I still can't stop crying. I knelt and took off my hooded jacket and placed it on the kid's dead body. My dad was silent but I know he was agonizing; I saw his eyes turn blank. I tried to keep my tears and stayed silent.

He stood up and covered the kid's head with the hood and buried him under his chest. The kid's head rests on his neck and he carried him along with the kits and got out of the room, though he stopped midway, in front of the doctor.

"Thanks.." I heard him whisper.

"You owe me an explanation." The doctor replied.

"Ahh.." my dad replied and went his way out of the hospital. The doctor went upstairs as well when he parted ways with my dad.

I was left alone. I picked the papers off the floor and went back to my mom. I don't know how to tell her. I held the envelope tightly on my chest and sat on the same spot a while ago.

I stayed silent as my tears kept falling. My mom approached me and sat beside me.

"The nurse that came out a while ago said that the operation is going smooth." She said. "I hope they'll be done anytime soon."

"That's great.." I muttered. My voice is still shaking.

"Aren't you happy?" my mom glared at me but I didn't care. "Anyway, where did your dad run off to? He just came and now he's off to somewhere." She complained.

"He went to give kid—"

"He's with that kid?" she muttered with a stern look. "I can't believe he prioritized that clone over his real son. We could've cremated him after the operation or anytime soon…"

I cannot take what she said. Kid's smile flashed in my mind and the tightness in my chest grows in pain even more. I held the envelope tighter as my mom continued to speak something I can't clearly hear.

"Mom, please stop!" I exclaimed.

"Are you raising your voice against me?!" she irritably said.

"No. But what you're saying goes overboard!" I complained. "Please stop saying bad things against him."

"This has something to do with that kid again, huh?!" she raised her voice.

I was startled and looked at her with a frown.

"What?! What we did was to save your brother. That kid has nothing to do with our family that is why—"

"I said stop it!" I stood in front of her, breathing heavily with eyes filled with tears. "He has something to do with our family! He's –"

"He's what? He's just a clone made by my father to replace Kyle's—"

"No." I said. "You bore twins. You gave birth to 2 children, Mom!"

My mom was confused. "What are you saying? We got all the documents regarding Kyle's birth. There is no way—"

"Grand-dad manipulated everything." I didn't hold back. I need to speak up or Kid's going to be degraded again.

"What!?" my mom exclaimed. "That's not a good joke, Kara." She frowned. "Don't say bad things against you—"

"That's the truth. Everything's in here." I collected myself and handed her the envelope, though my hands are still shaking. "Anything you want to know is in there. Take a look at the reality we've been deprived of…" I cried again.

"What's in here, huh? DNA results?!" she exclaimed as she opened the envelope. "Of course it'll match since P-00 is created from Kyle's cells—"

She was shocked that she dropped the rest of the documents on the floor. "This is not true." She said while holding the same photo that made me wept, the photo where my granddad held 2 newborn children.

"There is a note." I picked it up on the floor. "It was grand-dad who wrote it." I handed it to her. "See for yourself."

>>>I'm sorry, I lied. Actually, you have 2 healthy baby boys. I hope you'll forgive me for what I've done. I'm really sorry. She read it as if her dad is really talking to her.

"No…" she fell to her knees and stared at the abyss. "No…"