"We want you in our family because you're our daughter, Poppy. We're your birth parents. You real papa and mama."
...huh?
What did Uncle say? Did she hear him wrongly?
She was... Uncle and Auntie's daughter?
They were her real papa and mama?
Baffled by the surprising words from Calix, Calliope froze into a statue. Only her eyes moved as they stiffly shifted from the man and the sobbing Leslie.
Calliope's mouth parted into a round shape but, no sound came out of it. Her little heart quivered, spreading shock to her entire body. She awkwardly took her hands away from Leslie's arm.
Pursing his lips, Calix had already expected this kind of reaction from Calliope. With his palm still lying on her head, his heart was torn as he felt how her little body trembling.
Calix slowly moved his palm, wanting to stroke Calliope's head again. He abruptly stopped when his action caused the little girl to flinch.
