Lara narrating...
I was in the living room watching TV with Vitoria when I ended up falling asleep. I woke up to the doorbell ringing, looked to the side and Vitoria was sleeping, I woke her up and sat down on the sofa, she got up and went to open the door.
"Hi, does Lara live here?" I hear Gael's voice.
"Gael?" I appear at the door and see that he wasn't alone, he was with his mother "Come in" Vitoria makes way and they come in.
"You don't check your cell phone?" He asks me.
"I was sleeping" I answer.
"The result came out" I finally hear the woman's voice, she spoke in such a low, but anxious tone.
"So?" I ask looking at both of them.
"You are the Clifford daughter who was kidnapped, Lara" Vitoria says with my cell phone in her hand.
She turns the cell phone screen to show me the DNA result. I go back to the living room and sit on the sofa, I'm in shock. I wanted so badly to find out the truth, I just had no idea it would be such a painful time for me.
How come I was kidnapped? The woman I thought was my mother my whole life was nothing but a mere kidnapper!!!!! I don't know what to think, let alone what to say, I don't even know what to do now.
I can't stay there, that apartment was suffocating me, I needed to get out of there, I get up and walk towards the door, Gael grabs my arm and looks at me with a worried look.
"Is everything okay?" He asks analyzing my face.
"Everything, I just need to go out for some air" I say, pulling my arm out of his hand and leaving.
When I see that Vitoria was going to come after me, I hurry to say — Alone, I need to go alone — She stops and I leave the apartment, I felt like running.
When I'm outside, I see Gael's father, my father, coming towards me.
"Is everything okay?" He asks worriedly.
I didn't realize I was holding my breath and when I let it out, tears stream down my face and I cry, cry like I just needed that, cry like my life depended on it.
The next thing I know, I'm wrapped in this man's arms and he strokes my hair saying that everything will be alright. When I manage to catch my breath, he lets go of me, goes to the car and grabs an overcoat and covers me.
"It's cold. Do you want to walk a little? If you want, I'll go with you and I'll be quiet so I don't bother you" He speaks very calmly, as if he understood what I was feeling.
He puts his hand on my shoulder and we start walking in any direction, he looks at my face, I must have been all red from crying.
"Let's stop over there to talk a little bit" he stops pointing to a diner.
We enter this diner, we sit in the back, facing each other, we remain silent, it seemed that neither of us knew where to start the conversation.
A waiter appears interrupting the silence, he takes our orders and leaves, I just ordered a juice, the man ordered a snack and a drink.
"This was a shock to me" I start talking and he listens to me attentively "My whole life was a lie, my mother is a kidnapper, my aunt is her accomplice. I find out that I have a new family, it's a real mess, I don't even know what to do with my life. I don't know what's going to happen now, it's all so new to me" I say with tears streaming down my face.
He takes my hand across the table and gives me a friendly smile, making me smile back at him, I wipe my face and compose myself.
"You know one thing, Lara, your mother and I never gave up on finding you. We traveled the world looking for you, and now that we've found you, we want to make up for lost time, don't shut us out, it means a lot to all of us" He says and opens my hand a little.
"I won't shut you out, but I need you to tell me everything that happened, in every detail" I ask.
"Your mother and I were desperate to have a son or daughter, your mother couldn't get pregnant" He stops talking while the waiter leaves our orders on the table, when the waiter leaves he continues talking "When your mother got pregnant it was the happiest moment of our lives, during the pregnancy your mother went through several problems, even risking her life. On the day of the delivery, it ended up being an emergency c-section because your mother had several complications, you were born healthy, but your mother only left the hospital months later. During the time your mother was in the hospital I hired a nanny who had a daughter your age to take care of you, unfortunately her daughter had passed away, she became attached to you very quickly. When your mother was 100% and came home, we continued with the nanny for a few years, when you turned 3, we told the nanny that her services would no longer be needed." She asked us to take you to the park one last time, and since then we have no more news about you, but we never gave up on you. When she passed away we had a lead and we searched for you all over that region, we knew you were in Brazil and we went to live there, but we couldn't find anyone from her family "He says, still holding my hand, I can't imagine the size of their desperation to find their daughter."
"I'm so sorry" That's the only thing that comes out of my mouth.
"It's not your fault, honey" He smiles at me and I smile back at him "Let's eat, I'm hungry" He says and lowers his head and then I realize he was wiping away tears.
We were silent while he ate his snack and I drank my juice. When we finished we got up and went outside the diner.
"Mr. Clifford" I call him and he looks at me.
"Don't call me Mr. Clifford, you're my daughter. If you're not comfortable calling me Dad, you can call me Daniel" He says looking at me.
"Dad" I say a little shyly "Can I give you a hug?" I ask.
"It's all I've wanted since I saw you in that library" "He says opening his arms to me."
I hurry to hug him. A little time passes and I stay there hugging him for a few minutes and if I could I would never let him go, I've always been dying to meet my father.
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