Love's Change of Heart

Chapter 819 But Would It Matter Now?

The moment Leanna finished speaking, the kitchen was dead silent—so quiet that you could have heard a pin drop.

Louis was now hunched over, hiding his face from view.

Seeing him like that, she pursed her lips. "Louis, I…"

He paused before continuing to chop vegetables and indifferently responded, "You don't need to console me. I'm used to it already."

Leanna then retorted, "I'm not consoling you. I've already run a paternity test, and William is—"

"Everything ended for me when Jethro McKinney died. It doesn't matter who my biological father is."

Upon hearing that, Leanna was stunned and attempted to speak, but Louis had already started cooking and the kitchen was now filled with the sound of food being prepared.

She knew that he didn't want to discuss this topic any further.

Throughout those agonizing and painful years from his early years to Jethro's passing, Louis had always hoped that he was not Jethro's son.

That thought seemed like his hope for survival, but luck did not come to him, nor did it favor him.

He turned his resentment of Jethro against himself, especially after learning that everything Leanna had gone through was Jethro's fault.

If someone had told him back then that Jethro was not his biological father, it would have been a relief and redemption for him.

But would it matter now?

Leanna also knew in her heart that even though she had forgotten her childhood, she could still sense the love between her and William as a father-and-daughter relationship.

However, Louis was in a different situation because, since his birth, he had never experienced true fatherly love.

And William was a total stranger to him.

And, as a result of Jethro's past actions, William nearly…

Louis was aware of the distance and hostility even though they weren't expressed outright.

He had pretended that nothing had happened to make things easier for her.

At this point, Leanna closed her eyes, suddenly unsure of what to say.

And neither of them brought up this topic at dinner.

Suddenly, Louis asked, "Is Aidan not coming back for dinner?"

"He's working late at the company tonight, so he'll be back late," Leanna said as she sipped her soup.

"How's it going at Jamesdon? Is Noah doing alright?"

Leanna nodded and replied, "Everything's going well. It shouldn't be long before you can see him."

They'd been back from Jamesdon for nearly two months.

And three months, as promised, were almost up.

Then, Leanna continued, "What about your school? Do you still have fans coming to see you?"

"The school has talked to me about it and told me not to worry. They will make arrangements for someone to handle it."

"That's good. You should focus on your studies. It's already your sophomore year, and you don't have much time left in college."

Leanna felt nostalgic when she mentioned this.

When she was studying, she had to work multiple part-time jobs each day, but her only concern was how to get away from Jethro.

It wasn't like now, when problems seemed to arise nonstop every day.

After finishing dinner, Louis went back to school.

Leanna tidied up the house and sat on the couch.

Aidan arrived home at 11.00PM and found her staring at her phone, dazed. He walked over to her, and asked, "What's wrong?"

Leanna quickly glanced up and set her phone down after hearing his voice. "Nothing. Have you eaten? If not, I'll get you something."

"I've eaten." Aidan loosened his tie with one hand and sat down next to her. "Didn't you call Louis over? Did he leave?"

Leanna nodded lightly and responded, "He left."

"What did you guys talk about?"

Leanna kept her head down, her face glum.

When the paternity test results came back, she thought she would be happy, but it now seemed that wasn't the case.

"Are you upset?" Aidan asked as he raised her chin.

"No," she replied, her face drained.

"You were in a good mood this afternoon. Did Louis upset you? I'll go teach him a lesson," said Aidan as he was about to get up.

Leanna reached out and held him back. "No, it's not him. Why are you jumping to conclusions? He didn't upset me, I'm just…"

She wasn't sure how to say it for a moment.

Aidan patted her head, and remarked, "Alright, so it's not about him. Tell me. I'll help you to solve it."

There was a brief pause, and then Leanna nodded. "Remember how I told you before that I thought Louis resembled William a lot as a young man?"

Aidan arched his brow. "Hmm?"

"Actually, Zoe didn't just visit Lachstein this time to see the photography exhibit. She went to get William's DNA and then tested Louis for paternity. The result showed a 99% parent-child blood relationship."

"Did you tell Louis?"

"Yes," Leanna whispered. "But you also know what happened in the past. Louis is having a hard time accepting this result, and I don't know what to do. I'm also afraid to tell William."

"You're afraid to tell William because Louis won't accept it, and you're afraid William will blame himself and feel guilty for his previous actions and thoughts?"

Leanna continued to nod and said, "If only I had done the paternity test earlier, this wouldn't have happened."

"It's not your fault." Aidan continued, "William did a paternity test and got a contradictory result. It was their mistake. If you hadn't insisted on doing it again, they would have continued with this mistake."

Leanna was stunned. "Right. William had done a paternity test before, so why…"

If Aidan had someone who was constantly causing trouble and complicating things around him, it had to be the same for William. At that time, not many people knew about William's identity. He must have asked the person he trusted the most to do this.

So was it Daniel or Elijah who did the paternity test?

Or someone she didn't know?

Leanna quickly picked up her phone, intending to call William, but then she remembered what Zoe had said.

Since William's paternity test result was incorrect, it meant that there were people around him who didn't want him to know that Louis was his son.

The phone call to Zoe was not made in the end.

Leanna sent a message to Zoe, put down her phone, and took a deep breath.

When she looked up again, she saw Aidan leaning back on the couch, calmly looking at her.

She gave him a perplexed look in return.

At this, Aidan asked, "Is everything okay now?" This is property © NôvelDrama.Org.

"Not really." Leanna looked at him, puzzled, and questioned, "Why weren't you surprised when I said that Louis is William's son?"

Aidan's expression remained unchanged as he replied, "Well, you mentioned before that Louis looks a lot like William when he was young. And I never thought that Jethro could have a son like him."