Even my cousin's eyes widened in shock, the corners of his mouth twitching as if he couldn't decide whether to smile or remain serious. "Y-you agree?" he stammered, clearly unprepared for my cooperation.
Hana, however, was not as composed. She turned to me, her voice trembling with disbelief. "Jimmy, have you lost your mind? How can you just hand Nathan over because of a claim and a paternity test we don't even know is real?"
My mother-in-law added her voice to the protest, clutching her pearls as if the situation were physically painful. "She's right, Jimmy! This is madness. You've raised Nathan for eighteen years. You're just going to let him go without a fight?"
Ignoring their pleas, I met their eyes with unyielding resolve. "Nathan is his child. Back then, I saw the babies being swapped with my own eyes."
The collective gasp that followed was deafening.
Hana's face turned pale and she stumbled back a step, her hands trembling. "That's impossible," she whispered. Her voice grew louder as her emotions surged. "On the way to the hospital for my delivery, we were in a car accident! You had shards of glass piercing your stomach and were bleeding heavily. Despite your injuries, you carried me to the hospital. The doctors said you'd suffered critical organ damage and severe blood loss. They said you were moments from death! And yet…"
Her voice broke, tears streaming down her face. "And yet you just smiled and said that I and the baby were more important than your own life. That as long as we were safe, nothing else mattered."
"You cared so much about our child! How could you stand by and watch him suffer? You're lying!" Hana's eyes flashed with anger.
I met her gaze, my voice steady. "When the doctor brought him to me, I noticed a small, red heart-shaped birthmark on his waist. If you want proof, check it now."
My mother-in-law, her curiosity piqued, lifted Rowan's shirt. The moment Hana saw the telltale heart-shaped birthmark, her eyes widened in shock. A deafening silence filled the room. Then, her hand, trembling with rage, connected with my cheek.
"Jimmy, are you even human?" she roared, her voice filled with disbelief and anger. "If you knew all along, why didn't you stop this? Why did you let our son—our baby—endure years of hell because of your cousin?"