The woman’s eyes and brows were somewhat similar to that of Natalie’s. They both looked smart and charming, but there was a hint of arrogance in the woman’s eyes. Johanna frowned immediately when she saw the girl.
‘Lila! You have to put on a coat whenever you leave the house! It’s January now—the coldest time of the year!” Lila pouted and threw herself into Johanna’s arms, acting very much like a spoiled child.
“Mom, I just wanted to see you sooner. The servant told me you were finally back, so I came as fast as I could. What have you and Dad been up to these days? I didn’t see you at the office.”
She peeked at Natalie and asked curiously, “Who’s that? You never bring strangers home.”
Johanna placed her hands on Lila’s shoulders and pushed her away firmly. With a hardened expression, she said, “Let’s talk inside. Dad and I have to tell you something important.”
Lila frowned. She obviously picked up on Johanna’s indifference to her. Something was definitely off.She took a sidelong glance at Natalie before nodding and following her mother inside the house.
“What?! Impossible! Is this a prank? Mom, Dad, you can stop teasing me now.”
Upon hearing the whole story, Lila immediately sprang out of her seat indignantly.
She couldn’t accept the cruel truth. In the span of mere minutes, she had become a child who was brought home by mistake instead of the esteemed daughter of the Whites she was a moment eallier.
Johanna picked up the cup of tea on the table and took a sip. She was afraid that Lila would blame herself if she told her that her parents had switched the babies out on purpose, so she just said that it was all a big mistake.
“Tell me you’re joking!” Lila’s eyes suddenly brimmed with tears.
Her carefree life was about come to an end.
Beal and Johanna felt bad when they saw that Lila was about to cry.
Pretending to be relaxed, Beal walked up to Lila and patted her shoulder comfortingly.
‘Lila, we only told you this because we think you deserve to know the truth. We won’t interfere with your choice. If you want to remain our daughter, you can stay as our adopted daughter. Natalie was lost to us for too long. We have to take her back into our family.”
Lila gritted her teeth, looked at Beal angrily, and spat, “If you really cared about me, you wouldn’t have told me the truth.”
Without waiting for a response, she stumbled and turned around to storm off. Suddenly, her eyes met Natalie’s. This woman had stolen her parents.
After giving Natalie a hard look, Lila ran to her room. The minute she was gone, Beal and Johanna sighed. They knew that the truth would hurt Lila, but they had no choice. Natalie was a little worried about her new sister.
“We should go to her. What if she go to extremes?” “Don’t worry. Lila just needs time to accept the truth. Just leave her alone for now.” Johanna waved her hand dismissively. She knew Lila well. Their priority now was to announce to the public that Natalie was their long-lost biological daughter.
‘I’ve asked a maid to prepare your room. You can use this one for the time being.” Johanna personally escorted Natalie to her designated room.
The decoration was quaint and a little old-fashioned, but there were many plush dolls in it, which gave the room a strange and funny vibe. Looking at all the plushies, Johanna smiled awkwardly, “I didn’t know what you’d like, so I ended up buying all these dolls…”
In Johanna’s mind, Natalie was the baby she had lost all those years ago. They were practically strangers to each other now.
Natalie looked at the dolls and chuckled softly. “I’ve never had so many toys before. Thank you, Mrs. White.”
For now, she couldn’t bring herself to call Johanna “Mom’” yet. Seeing that Natalie didn’t seem to have a problem with the room,
Johanna breathed a sigh of relief and smiled happily.
“I won’t force you. Just take your time. Well, you just stay here and make yourself comfortable. Your father and I have discussed, and we have decided to hold a big party for the announcement as soon as possible.”
“There’s no rush…” Natalie said falteringly, trying to stop Johanna. She wasn’t used to her new status as the daughter of the White family, but Johanna and Beal couldn’t wait to tell the world.
Noticing the embarrassment on Natalie’s face, Johanna reached for her hand and said sincerely, “You are our daughter. You’ll have to get used to it one day. Your father and I were talking and… We were hoping to have your surname changed. Since the
Quinn family has nothing to do with you now, you don’t have to keep their surname anymore.”
Natalie nodded. She didn’t care about the Quinn family name anyway now that she married to Sebastian.
All of Barnes’s upper class was in an uproar the next morning. The White family had just announced that their daughter, who had been missing for over twenty years, was finally found. Johanna revealed Natalie’s identity to the public and changed the latter’s surname to White.
The White family invited all the celebrities and influential people in Barnes to their dinner party.
That night, they all gathered in the White Cloud Club.
The security of this banquet was strict, and Johanna specially ordered that no stray entertainment reporter was allowed inside.
Those kinds of reporters tended to cover nonsense. She didn’t want her daughter to be scrutinized on the Internet, so she took all the necessary precautions to avoid it.
It was the first time Natalie had attended such a grand party. And she was under the spotlight. Johanna introduced her to many esteemed guests.
Throughout the entire night, Natalie heard countless names.
“Is it tiring?” Seeing the exhausted look on Natalie’s face, Beal gave her a slice of cake, feeling sorry for her. Over the past few days, Johanna had taken up all of Natalie’s time. Beal felt a little sad that he hadn’t had a good talk with his daughter yet. Natalie subtly rubbed her aching ankles.
She was wearing a pair of 3-inch heels tonight. She forced a smile and said, “I am fine. Mr. White, your wife is awesome. She’s still so energetic even after chatting with all these rich people.”
Beal looked at the energetic Johanna in the distance and smiled.
“Let me tell you a secret. Your mother actually hates those rich ladies and often speaks ill of them. The only reason why she still talks to them is to keep up with the latest gossip.” Natalie couldn’t help but chuckle. Beal held a finger to his lips and winked at her.
“Don’t tell her I told you her little secret, or else she’ll kick me out of the bedroom tonight.”
Natalie nodded and promised him solemnly.She suddenly envied Lila. Growing up in such a loving family, she probably had a very happy childhood and youth.
Beal had only chatted with Natalie for a few minutes before he was surrounded again by many guests. Natalie didn’t want to disturb their talk, so she retreated to the yard. She took this opportunity to call Sebastian.
“Guess who’s calling?” Natalie said sweetly.
“Let me guess. It’s my wife, isn’t it? It’s been a whole day since you last talked to me. I thought you were too busy having a good time in Barnes and forgot all about me,” Sebastian said in a pouty voice.
He sounded almost resentful.
