Chapter 4

Cruz returned after dark.

Just as I was about to wash up, I ran into Cruz right by the door.

I instantly covered my eyes, not looking at her.

"Don't ask me. I don't know anything. I can't say anything."

"I really can't say anything."

My ambiguous words made Cruz's doubts, which she'd suppressed, resurface.

She reached out and grabbed me.

I recoiled as if she had the plague, practically fleeing, leaving her behind.

At nine in the evening, the aroma wafted in from the kitchen window.

I glanced beside me, and sure enough, Cruz wasn't there.

Mom and Dad must have been cooking a special meal just for her since she hadn't eaten dinner.

My parents were simple folks.

The only truly devious thing they'd ever done was swap Bruna and Cruz.

Their immense guilt and regret made them shower all their affection on Cruz.

When I was little and didn't understand, I thought, if we were both their daughters, why was Cruz the special one?

So, in the years after I learned the truth, I did indeed have the idea of letting Cruz find her biological parents.

On one hand, I wanted Cruz to return to the life she was supposed to have.

On the other hand, I wondered, if Cruz left, would I then be Mom and Dad's only beloved daughter?

In my previous life, the day Cruz actually went to find her biological parents, the thick stick fell mercilessly on me.

Only then did I realize how ridiculous that thought was.

In a daze, my bedroom door was pushed open.

A stronger aroma gradually approached, and before long, it reached my nose.

"Navas, do you want some? It smells so good!"

Any hesitation for even half a second would be disrespectful to the delicious aroma before me.

Cruz watched me devour the food, a soft smile on her face.

I knew her purpose.

She couldn't get any answers from Mom and Dad, so she had to find a way to get it from me.

Actually, I didn't plan to hide it from her.

In this life, the burning pain still lingered.

I hated Cruz.

So, I still intended to send her to her biological parents to suffer their torment.

But this time, the truth, buried for over a decade, wouldn't come from my mouth.