My Family's Secret Website

It’s just impossible!

The same dark blue eyes, dark blond hair, face, nose, head shape, height, build, and even the look in her eyes...

- (Karin). "Mom? Mom?! Are you okay? Why aren’t you answering?"

- (Me). "Haah... Haah... Haah... Haah..."

I started to breathe very heavily, my heart still hurts, but now I need to calm down and pretend that everything is fine.

Runo closed her eyes, shook her head from side to side, lowered it, and finally returned to her usual appearance. 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

- (Me). "Karin... everything’s fine, dear. I remembered something... from the past. Do you know this boy?"

Every word came out with great difficulty... I can’t believe such a resemblance could even exist.

- (Karin). "This cute boy’s name is Sohen. My close colleague is his family doctor. He’s undergoing rehabilitation, which is why he’s here. His doctor should be here soon. How lucky that we met him, haha. It must be fate."

- (Me). "Sohen..."

- (Sohen). "Good afternoon, young auntie and slightly older young auntie."

His voice... just like his...

- (Karin). "Waiting for the doctor, right?"

- (Sohen). "Yes, auntie."

His posture... just like his...

- (Karin). "Can you wait for me a few minutes? I’ll bring you some chocolate that you probably haven’t tried yet. It’s foreign and very tasty."

- (Sohen). "No need, auntie... but thank you."

The character... like "his"...

(~sound of a door opening with a key)

- (Karin). "I’m so glad you met Sohen yourself. He’s wonderful, isn’t he? Come on, this way."

- (Me). "..."

My gaze was fixed on this boy, and it seemed to scare him a little.

- (Me). "Nice to meet you, Sohen."

- (Sohen). "Likewise... lovely young auntie."

Although he was scared, he tried to show only his friendliness, and then...

- (Sohen). "I have a feeling that we’ve already... met somewhere."

- (Me). "???"

These words shook my peace of mind, and what finally knocked me out was... his sweet smile, which was identical to the one Saho gave me almost 30 years ago.

I rushed into Karin’s office and closed the door behind me.

- (Karin). "Mom? Are you really okay? What’s wrong?"

Runo leaned her back against the door and exhaled heavily once.

- (Me). "Don’t worry, dear. I think... I’m just a little tired. Give me some sedatives and I’ll definitely go to work. I have some work to finish today."

I lied about the sudden work, but I really am feeling bad right now... too bad, even.

- (Karin). "I knew it, Mom! Don’t neglect your health! You’re not twenty anymore, you need to take care of yourself."

Karin gave me a prescription for sedatives, and I left the hospital.

Before that, I watched this boy from a distance for a while and then finally returned to my main activities.

Throughout the day, I couldn’t calm down and kept thinking about Sohen.

(Is this a hallucination? Does he really look like that, or has Runo finally gone mad?)

- (Me). "What should I do about this?"

Runo’s head was in complete chaos, her body was behaving strangely, and her heart seemed to be beating only according to its own rules.

(There can’t be so many coincidences!)

This boy... who is he?

Maybe it’s... reincarnation?

- (Me). "Runo... you old fool! You’re over forty years old, and you believe in such things?"

The young grandmother answered herself self-critically.

- (Me). "God would not like such words, because in our religion the concept of reincarnation contradicts the fundamental dogmas and is generally impossible."

When Runo grew older, she loved various romantic stories about spouses who could be reincarnated in other worlds or something similar, and there were even several cases when she secretly visited the church and prayed to God that at least after death she would be with her best friend, but she couldn’t even imagine that in this mortal world there would be a person who would be so similar to... Saho.

You can cry for a long time and remember your first friend, but the fact is... Saho is no longer in this sinful world.

Saho has gone to a better world, but Sohen... why do you look so much like him?

- (Me). "..."

I need to find out everything about Sohen in detail, and then maybe I will be able to close this painful wound of the past and my soul will finally find the peace it has been waiting for so long.

I returned home and inadvertently asked for more information about Sohen.

The information I heard surprised even me, and for the first time in a long time, I began to feel at least a little sympathy for the man.

Through Karin, I learned a lot of new things about Sohen, but it wasn’t enough.

Over time, the mature woman began to visit the hospital where her daughter worked more often.

Once a month, Sohen and a female police officer visited the family doctor to find out about the boy’s physical and psychological condition.

When I found out that the boy was being abused by his own father, I felt real hatred for the first time in a long time and tried to teach this scumbag a lesson, but unfortunately, I lacked legal authority and my friends did not want to have a conflict with him, because he was a prominent figure in this town, had connections to the criminal world, and was said to be a dangerous man himself, so Runo could only sympathize with the young man...

...

She began to imitate her own daughter and give the boy various gifts.

Contact and personal conversations with him became more frequent, and I myself did not understand how I began to return to the times when Saho was alive.

The more Runo spent with Sohen, the more she began to feel a closeness to him that was not characteristic of her towards men.

The boy was truly unique, with an extremely kind soul, who, when he himself felt pain, tried to do good to others.

He laughed when his soul cried...

He joked when life turned into hell...

He smiled when he didn’t have the strength to do so...

(Sohen, you...)

- (Me). "It seems... now I’ve really gone mad..."

Saho and Sohen... these two boys... the past and the present... for Runo, they... became one.

She could no longer tell them apart, and although it took her a while, she eventually accepted this fact.

Saho became Sohen, and Sohen became Saho... the past merged with the present, and as a result, the future was formed.

...

- (Runo). "What?"

She had a strange dream. In it, the two personalities of Saho and Sohen merged, and then a single person was formed, embodying all the qualities of both young men.

- (Runo). "Sohen..."

She still didn’t understand what to do next and who Sohen was to her.

Several years had passed since Sohen became part of their family.

When he turned ten, Karin adopted him and our family grew.

Over time, I really began to sympathize with the boy and pray for him, so that his father would no longer bother him.

God heard me, but He did something very drastic and made Sohen a complete orphan.

Wanting good, I ended up with evil, and vice versa, wanting evil, I ended up with good.

Sohen felt something similar in his life when a bad event changed his fate and sent him in a positive direction.

In our home, he began to feel better, and the gloomy look that hid behind a sweet smile disappeared forever, and now he shows his sincere, true emotions.

I was happy to have such a wonderful grandson, and over time even Phoebe accepted him as her brother, but there was something unexpected that greatly disturbed Runo.

Sohen began to... grow up and was no longer the cute little boy he had been a few years ago.

He became taller, bigger, and more masculine.

The little wonderful boy turned into an athletic wonderful man, and for the first time in her life, Runo began to feel some new emotions that she had never even imagined.

She began to... fall in love with her grandson.

Runo didn’t understand anything, and many questions swirled in her head, but the answer came by accident.

One day, Sohen was helping me install new programs on my computer.

Those were the first days I had encountered such technology, so I didn’t understand anything.

My grandson told me what to do and how to work with the new technology.

After the installation, he asked me for a USB adapter to download some files from his phone to my computer.

I didn’t know what that was, so I told him to look for them himself in my desk drawer.

Five minutes later, he found what he wanted, but he also held something from my past in his hands.

- (Sohen). "What is this book in one of your drawers?"

Sohen was holding a book that Saho had given me many years ago.

- (Me). "Oh, that’s..."

He kindly gave me the book, and I told him the story of my childhood friendship with my first friend.

- (Sohen). "Wow, you really had a wonderful friend, but where is he now?"

- (Me). "He’s... in a better world."

Sohen didn’t understand my words at first, but then...

- (Sohen). "I’m sorry, Grandma. I thought you were still friends. Did he... die as a child?"

- (Me). "You’re a smart boy, and yes... that’s the only memory I have of him, a memory I will cherish forever."

- (Sohen). "I understand... I also have mementos of my mother, whom I never knew, and my father, who hated me."

It seems I gave him a reason to remember past scars, so I decided to change the subject to something more positive, but...

- (Sohen). "I’m sorry, Grandma. I think I remembered something that probably shouldn’t be remembered."

For a few seconds, his gaze became nostalgically familiar to me.

It was the same look Saho had before he died, and I became frightened.

I began to tremble as I remembered that moment and could hardly hear anything Sohen was saying.

Runo closed her eyes and lowered her head until...

- (Sohen). "I want... to be your friend."

(~sound of a book falling)

I raised my head and the world ceased to exist for me.

Before me was Sohen and his smile, which was identical to the one Saho had before...

No... No... No!... No!... NOOOOO!!!

(I won’t let you die again!)

Runo hugged Sohen tightly and didn’t let go.

Her grandson was surprised by his grandmother’s reaction, but then he gently hugged her back, and they remained in that position for several minutes.

- (Me). "Promise me... Promise me you’ll always be there for me."

- (Sohen). "Grandma?"

- (Me). "Promise me!"

- (Sohen). "Okay! I promise."

- (Me). "Also... let Grandma kiss you not only on the cheek in the morning."

- (Sohen). "No...."

- (Me). "Oh! You’re so greedy."

- (Sohen). "The cheek is the maximum, and that’s it."

- (Me). "Okay..."

Life returned to my eyes, but the fear of letting him go was still there.

Now he must always be near.

I will not repeat the mistakes of the past, and now I have made the decision that has troubled me for so long.

- (Me). "I love you... Sohen..."

- (Sohen). "Hm? What did you say?"

- (Me). "Hug your grandmother tighter and don’t ask questions."

- (Sohen). "Okay...

...

While Runo hugged her grandson, an unknown otherworldly being in astral form watched them with a sweet smile.

- (???). "You have finally found your love, my dear Runo. After so many years, you have managed to love someone again. I am happy and wish the same for you. This is my last chance to see you, so... see you in the next world, and Sohen... I wish you luck, because you’ll need it, ha ha. I’ll meet you sooner, Sohen... or should I say "Saho"..."

Saho’s spirit looked respectfully at Sohen... at his future reincarnation, and dissolved into thin air, leaving this world forever this time.