GWENN ALWAYS KNEW WHAT to do. Academically, she found the best strategies to study for her school subjects and aim for the highest grade. She knew how to comfort her friends and family, always saying the right words. She was the person everyone sought to solve their problems. Calm and collected, she found the right course of action to follow.
Except she couldn't fathom what to do as she stood at the crossroads fluttering in brown napkins filled with Ronan King's phone number.
She laid down flat on her bed over her white duvet, hand holding the slip of napkin high. Ronan's number mocked her from their place. She had marked the number on her phone, thumb hovering over the call button, but she could never go through with it.
A groan escaped her lips, and she saved the napkin inside the small cabinet of her nightstand. Her eyes shut, relishing the quiet of the morning right before her phone alarm blared. She rose from the bed, allowing the warm California sun filtering through her window to bathe her from head to toe as she stretched. The white walls turned a bright yellow, reflecting sun rays and transforming the rest of the room into a golden heaven.
Her shoulders eased down, a smile covering her features as she made way into her bathroom to get ready. Lockfell U awaited.
She rushed through her motions—showering, styling her hair, covering her lashes in mascara, and slathering her lips in lip balm—to look presentable enough for the day. Stepping back into her room, she cracked open her closet, looking for her clothes for the day. Instead of finding her usual pair of jeans and a shirt, the unopened duffle bag fell from the center rack, pooling at her feet. Her breath caught in her throat.
Bending down, Gwenn reached for the zipper with her hands shaking. The sound of the zipper opening up echoed in the stillness. Once the bag was open, she spilled all the jeans out over her floors, urgency speeding up her actions. She didn't stop until the mustard-colored border peeked from in between denim. She grasped onto its corner and pulled it out, heaving a sigh at the sight of the embroidered sunflower.
Her baby blanket.
She held it close to her face and sniffed its slight musty scent. It transported her back to the attic on moving day, finding the buried chest and learning about the only thing connecting her to her biological mother.
Gwenn closed her eyes, the image of her mother telling her how unimportant her curiosity was flashing in her mind. She knew how fortunate she was to have them as parents. She loved them for the life they provided for her, guiding her through the right path. But she wondered too much. It wasn't about wanting to have her biological mother in her life, it was about understanding why she was who she was.
Why were her bottom lips plump while her top lip disappeared when she smiled? Why were her eyes big and brown? Why did she have that one eyelash that grew way too straight in the middle of her lash line? Why was her hair a golden blond? Why was she so short?
The questions were endless. Every time she looked in the mirror, the littlest feature jumped out at her, begging to know how it came to be.
And she could find out all the answers to her questions. Just one phone call away.
She dismissed the idea. She would not be calling Ronan King, her boss's son, to find her biological mother. That tattooed, trouble-reeking man could find somebody else's mother.
Gwenn Davidson would not need him at all.
The screen loaded with her newest search. She tapped her foot in anticipation as she waited outside of her classroom for the abnormal psychology professor with a few of her peers. Her phone shone the approximate cost of a DNA test—a whopping six-hundred dollars. Her eyes almost fell out of their sockets.
YOU ARE READING
Forever Luminescent
General Fiction"Just shine like you always do." Gwenn Davidson has always known she was adopted, but after clearing up her stuff for her first move out of her parent's house, she finds an old blanket gifted to her by her birth mother that triggers an avalanche of...
