The air was thick with tension as Tej sat in his room, staring at the console screen. The words flashed before his eyes, cold and unyielding: Truth or Dare? It was a question he had answered many times before, always choosing Dare, always opting for the lie. But this time was different. This time, he wanted answers. He wanted the truth.
With trembling fingers, Tej selected Truth.
The screen flickered for a moment before displaying a new message: Find the truth about your past. Uncover the secrets hidden in your home.
Tej's heart pounded in his chest as the system went silent, leaving him alone with his thoughts. It was the first time the game had given him a task like this, one that didn't involve deceit or manipulation. Instead, it was pushing him towards something real, something that he had been avoiding for too long. The truth.
Taking a deep breath, Tej knew what he had to do. He had already begun piecing things together, but now the game was guiding him, urging him to dig deeper. He headed back to the attic, where the old boxes lay undisturbed, relics of a past that had been buried for years.
Tej sifted through the boxes once more, but this time with a sharper eye. He found old photographs, letters, and documents that seemed insignificant at first glance. But as he carefully examined each item, a pattern began to emerge. There were gaps in the timeline, missing pieces that didn't add up. And then he found it—a small, worn-out notebook that had been hidden at the bottom of one of the boxes.
The notebook belonged to Mr. Ruth, and it chronicled his thoughts during the time following the miscarriage. Tej flipped through the pages, his heart sinking as he read the entries. Mr. Ruth had been devastated by the loss, consumed by guilt and grief. He had watched helplessly as Ms. Ruth sank deeper into depression, and in his desperation, he had become obsessed with the idea of finding a way to make her happy again.
Then, Tej found the entry that changed everything:
"I saw her again today, the woman with the baby. She looks so tired, so hopeless. It's not fair, her having a child when we lost ours. But maybe… maybe this is a sign. Maybe this is our second chance. I can't bear to see Marie suffer any longer. She needs this. We need this."
Tej's hands shook as he continued reading. The entries became more erratic, more desperate, as Mr. Ruth detailed his plans to take the child, to give Ms. Ruth the baby she so desperately wanted. He had followed the woman, Maria, for weeks, waiting for the right moment to act. And then, one night, while she slept in a shelter, he took the baby and brought him home. That baby was Tej.
Tej dropped the notebook, his mind reeling from the revelation. His whole life had been a lie, built on the foundation of a terrible crime. His father had kidnapped him, stolen him from a woman who was just as desperate and heartbroken as Ms. Ruth. And all of it was done to fill a void, to mend a broken heart with someone else's child.
Tears welled up in Tej's eyes as he thought about Maria, his real mother, and the pain she must have felt when she woke up to find her baby gone. And then there was Ms. Ruth—kind, loving Ms. Ruth—who had no idea that the child she had raised and cherished was taken from another woman. Tej couldn't imagine how she would react if she ever found out. The thought of it broke his heart.
Tej knew he couldn't keep this to himself, but he also knew he couldn't confront his parents directly—not yet. He needed time to process, to figure out what to do next. The truth was out, but it had only brought more pain, more questions. And the worst part was that he couldn't forgive his father. Not for this. Not ever.