Since the success of the project, Daniel and Iris had become much closer, spending more time together.
However, a lingering question remained unresolved in a corner of Daniel's mind.
Beyond the fact that Iris resembled Adele astonishingly, the similarities in their behavior and thought processes continued to confuse him.
---
One evening, the two were having dinner after attending the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference at the Westin St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco.
"Iris, what were your parents like?" Daniel cautiously asked about her family.
Iris's expression momentarily stiffened. After a brief hesitation, she replied, "My parents? Well, there's nothing special to say. They were an ordinary family."
Daniel sensed that she was hiding something from her reaction. He probed deeper. "Really? What was your mother like?"
Iris couldn't hide her discomfort and avoided the question. "Daniel, I don't want to talk about my mother. It's just a thing of the past."
Daniel could no longer hold back. He took an old photograph from his pocket and handed it to Iris. "Could you take a look at this photo?"
As soon as she received the photo, her face turned pale with shock. The woman in the picture was a young Adele, looking exactly like her.
Iris gasped in surprise and dropped the photo. "W-What is this...?" Her voice trembled.
Daniel said with a serious expression, "The woman in this photo is my wife, Adele, who went missing a long time ago."
With trembling hands, she picked up the photo again. "Oh...! So this is Adele. But... how can we look so alike?"
Iris was in shock. Her mind was in turmoil. 'How can we look so identical?'
---
That night, back in her hotel room, Iris fell into deep contemplation. Questions about her identity began to torment her.
'How can this be? The woman in that photo looked just like me. Could I have an unknown twin sister? No, the age difference is too great. But to look this much alike...! Daniel said she went missing. Is there some connection between us? Could I be her daughter? Or is there an even stranger relationship?'
The thought that everything she had known until now could be a lie kept Iris awake.
'What should I say to Daniel? What does he think of me? Is he treating me well just because I resemble his wife? What should I do now? Should I seek the truth, or should I pretend not to know and continue living my current life? But now that I know, I don't think I can live like before...'
Meanwhile, Daniel was equally confused. Iris's reaction only heightened his curiosity, but at the same time, his feelings for her deepened, and he didn't want to hurt her.
---
Knock knock A knock echoed at Daniel's hotel room. "Professor, are you sleeping? I need to talk to you for a moment...!"
The door to Daniel's room opened, revealing a surprised Daniel in a brown sleeping robe. "What's going on? At this hour..."
"I couldn't sleep because of the photo you showed me today...! If it's alright, could we talk for a moment?" Iris cautiously observed Daniel's expression.
"Just a moment, let me change."
Through the deep-cut robe, Daniel's fit physique was revealed. Although his sideburns and beard made him look older than he was, he was still an attractive man in his early 40s.
A moment later, the two sat on the couch in Daniel's room and began their conversation.
"Could you tell me a bit more about Adele?" "I was too flustered to mention it earlier, but I'm actually an adopted child."
"My adoptive parents kept this a secret until I graduated from college, and I can't shake the thought that I might have some connection to Adele."
Iris looked at Daniel with a tense expression. A subtle atmosphere hung between them that words could not express.
Daniel stared at Iris for a while without answering, then sighed deeply and began to speak.
"Adele was one of the world's leading gene editing scientists. She participated in a secret government project, and after that, she went missing."
Iris looked at Daniel with a shocked expression. "Did you have any children?"
"No, we didn't have any kids...!"
"Then what do you think my connection to Adele could be?"
"Honestly, I don't know," he replied. "But there must be a reason you resemble her. It could be related to the project Adele was involved in."
---
The next day, back in Boston, Iris decided to investigate Adele's past with Daniel to find clues about her identity.
They began examining the research materials and records that Adele had kept at home before she went missing, searching for hints related to Iris's past.
As they conducted their investigation, Iris became increasingly convinced that her existence and Adele's might not be mere coincidence.
She resolved to uncover who she was and why someone who looked exactly like her had been Daniel's wife, refusing to give up until she found the truth.