CHAPTER - 18 Dina's photos are always blurred

Millie hit her chest slightly to ease the pain. She closed her eyes and took two deep breaths. All that was happening around her recently made her age very fast and took a toll on her health. Looking at Millie's pale face, Kara went inside and got her some Almond milk to drink. She hoped that this would help calm her nerves.

"I have got you some milk. You look too pale. Are you feeling unwell? Can I examine you?" Kara asked worriedly.

Kara felt that it was all her fault. She was young at that time when he decided to adopt Dina. She thought she did not think all of this through. But she doesn't regret bringing Dina with her. She may not be the best mother in the world but she loves Dina so much that she could even sacrifice her life for her.

"No, no... I am fine. It’s just that it’s all too much for me to take in. I am also getting on with my age. And the shocks that I received after coming here made me a little speechless," Millie responded but she took the milk from Kara’s hand.

She immediately drank the whole glass in one go without a break. Mike had already left to get the things that Kara asked him to buy. Kara awkwardly looked at Millie as she did not know what she should talk to her now.

Kara found that making a normal conversation with Millie now seems highly impossible. Especially after Millie heard about everything that they spoke until now.

“Please don’t mind me asking this. But how did you come to know that Dina is with us?” Kara asked Millie.

“About that…” Millie hesitated and did not look Kara in her eyes.

‘I can definitely not tell her that they came to know about Dina through luck. Because until yesterday, they didn’t even know that Dina is still alive,’ Millie thought.

“We hired a private investigator and found out about Dina,” Millie lied to Kara.

To make it more convincing and stop Kara from questioning her any more, Millie told her, “Whatever it may be, you should have informed us before taking Dina away from the hospital. I am not saying, we are not at fault for not knowing that the child was alive before we left. Still, that does not allow anyone to take advantage of that and abduct our child.”

When Millie finished saying that, tears streamed down from Kara’s eyes. Millie started to feel guilty the minute she saw Kara crying. She did not mean to come so high as it was their mistake in the first place. Moreover, blaming Kara would not do any good for her, and neither for her granddaughter.

“I am sorry, I made a bad remark just now. I know you have tried your best to grow my granddaughter into such a fine woman. Please ignore what I said earlier.” Millie said and held Kara’s hands.

Kara removed her hands from Millie’s grasp. She wiped her tears and looked at Dina once.

“I know I made a mistake. At that time, all I wanted was to give Dina a proper family. I did try to reach your family but the maid who picked my call did not respond well when I tried to inform her that Dina was alive. She disconnected the call before I could tell her anything. Later I tried to call multiple times but no one picked the phone. The next day when I went to shift, I came to know that the administration had issued a death certificate for Dina. I couldn’t let Dina go into foster care or be taken to an orphanage. So, I…” Kara's throat got stuck and she couldn’t speak anymore.

She walked near Dina and held her hands tightly for support. She is proud of her daughter. If they don’t want to take her with them, after knowing everything about Dina then she can always stay with her forever.

The minute Millie heard what had happened so many years ago, her blood pressure increased. She could understand that it was all of Grace’s actions that caused her granddaughter to be left alone in the hospital. Her anger increased and she clenched her fist.

“I understand. It must have been difficult for you too. I am happy that she got such a loving mother to grow up with. I am always indebted to you,” Millie said and patted Kara’s back.

As she did not want to speak any more about who is wrong and who is right, she started to look around the house. Millie looked at the picture of Kara and Dina that was hanging on the wall. She felt like that girl in the photo did not look like Dina at all. She wondered if Kara and Emma had one more kid.

"This photo, who is this child?" Millie asked hesitatingly while pointing at the photo.

"It’s Dina! This is the only photo that we could take of her where she looks like a normal human. Whenever we try to take a photo of her, we don't know why but it would blur out..." Kara shook her head.

Kara also wanted to say, 'something unimaginable would happen every time I tried to click a photo of Dina'. But she stopped in the middle as she did not want to give any more shocking news of Dina to Millie. This day had already been hectic and she was not sure if Dina’s grandmother would be able to take in any more surprises.

She already felt like it was too much for the old lady to digest what she had learned about Dina today. She also feared that they would once again abandon Dina because of all the things Millie heard so far.

Millie looked at her in confusion. She took her phone out from the bag and tried to click a photo to verify what she heard. But she noticed that it was on a low battery.

She walked towards her bag and searched for her charger. But she couldn’t find one.

"Do you have a charger with you? In the hurry, I forgot to bring mine," Millie asked Kara.

Kara looked at her phone and said, "I am sorry, I do not have a charger for one of these models. But Mike uses a similar phone. When he comes back, I will ask him to get the charger from his home."

"Does the boy live nearby?" Millie inquired.

"Yes, he is our neighbor," Kara replied.

"Does he live with his parents?" Millie asked her one more question.

"They used to live with him but due to their businesses overseas, they moved away when he was twelve years old. He did not want to go with them. So, he stayed back. He lived with us and I took care of him from then on. Right now, he lives alone in his home. As he is already a grown-up and wanted some privacy, he moved out of our home. He is like a brother to Dina." Kara replied hurriedly.

Mike denied earlier when she asked him if he was responsible for Dina's situation. So, Kara added hastily that he was like a brother to Dina. She did not want Millie to think any more bad of her daughter than it was already portrayed. She knows that the damage that was done could not be corrected. But from now she decided that she had to be very careful about what she was going to say in front of Millie.

“I understand,” Millie nodded her head.

She sat on the sofa and started to wait for Mike. She looked at her granddaughter once who was laying on the sofa with her eyes closed. Her heart ached and she let out a sigh.

‘What should I do now? If the results are positive, then should I just let her continue her life here as she wanted and live happily? Or make her face the devil Grace and bring her on a roller coaster ride.’ Millie wondered.

The waiting made both the mother and the grandmother feel like many days had passed before Mike came back with a bag in his hand. He dropped the package and said,

“Aunty, I will be back later. In the meanwhile, if you need my help or anything, then just give me a call. I will rush back in no time.”

“Ok,” Kara replied.

When Mike almost reached the door, she remembered Millie who asked for a phone charger.

“Mike, listen, do you have a charger for this phone?” She pointed at Millie’s phone that was lying on the coffee table.

Mike scratched his head and looked at the phone. 

“This looks like it's similar to my old model phone. I don’t know where I threw the charger... I mean where I kept it. I will search it and bring the charge here once I find it.” He said to Kara.

He was afraid of Dina’s grandmother as there was a high possibility that Dina would meet her twin sister Tina sooner. Then he cannot be sure what would happen to them. As their fate was intertwined with each other, meeting so soon may cause some disaster.