I gripped the pager so hard my knuckles ached, my heart hammering against my ribs.

Then it hit me. When I was little, Grandma used to describe Grandpa all the time, the small details of his body that no stranger could know.

It struck me like lightning: proving whether this professor was really my grandfather would be simple.

I walked toward him, offering an apologetic smile.：“Professor, I'm sorry. It looks like I was mistaken.”

“I owe you an apology. I'm sorry for the disruption.”

Seeing that my apology was sincere, no one moved to stop me, and I made it all the way to the podium.

Leon's eyes gleamed with a calm, measured intelligence.：“It's quite all right, miss. If you're in some kind of difficulty, I'd be happy to help.”

I extended my hand, arranging my face into a look of gratitude.：“Thank you, Professor. It's a privilege to meet someone as kind as you.”

His right hand closed around mine. Dry. Warm.

I studied it for a moment, and my stomach dropped.

Grandpa had been born with six fingers. Outside his thumb, a small extra digit forked off, malformed but fully functional.

I examined his hand. There were only five fingers.

But just outside the thumb, a faint, shallow scar traced the skin where something had once been removed.

This single clue still wasn't enough to be absolutely certain he was my grandfather.

“Miss, I need to get back to my lecture.”

I widened my eyes, doing my best impression of an eager student.：“Would it be all right if I sat in for a while?”

His displeasure was obvious, but he kept his composure.：“Fine. Suit yourself.”

I pulled a chair to the edge of the podium and watched him teach, studying every movement.

Besides the sixth finger, Grandma had told me two other things: Grandpa was left-handed, and his legs were naturally uneven in length. You had to look carefully to notice.

If I could confirm those two features, that would be enough.

I held my breath and watched him for ten minutes.

When he picked up the chalk with his left hand, my heart lurched.

I shifted my attention to his feet. His legs didn't appear uneven at all, until I noticed his shoes. The soles were slightly different thicknesses.

His trousers hid it well, but I could see it.

This was my grandfather. The husband Grandma had longed for every single day.

A man who had vanished forty-eight years ago and married someone else.

“Professor Dickerson.”

I shot to my feet before he could speak.

“Professor Dickerson, will you come with me? Come to my hometown and see for yourself.”

“My grandmother is lying in bed waiting for you. She was already fading, but the moment she saw you on television she held on. She's been holding on ever since. Just now her heart stopped.”

Politeness was gone. My words came out fast and raw.

Leon stared at me, disbelief hardening into irritation.

“Miss, if it's money you want, just say so.”

“Here's two thousand dollars. Take it. Use it for your grandmother's medical bills.”

He pulled a roll of cash from his pocket and set it on the desk closest to me, then stepped back, keeping a stranger's distance between us.

I stared at that unfamiliar face.

Tears slid down my cheeks, and my voice came out pleading, desperate.

“Come with me. I'm begging you.”

“Think of it as granting a dying woman her last wish. Is that so much to ask?”

“Otherwise she'll die with her eyes open, and I can't let her leave this world carrying that regret.”

It was as though Grandma and I shared the same pulse.

Every instinct screamed that if I was even a little too late, she would be gone.

Panic flooded through me, beyond anything I could contain, and I lost all control of my composure.

Leon stood at a careful distance, his eyes wary, and the security guards rushed toward me again.

I didn't care. I bolted past them like a woman possessed and seized his wrist before anyone could stop me.

“You're coming with me. Right now.”

People shot to their feet. Security guards rushed over and grabbed me, trying to pull me away.

I clung to my grandfather's wrist with everything I had.

My voice broke into a desperate plea：“Professor Dickerson, she's dying. Just see her one last time.”

“I swear I won't breathe a word about your life here. Just one visit. Please.”

Calm was a luxury I no longer had. I'd confirmed it. He was my grandfather, beyond any doubt.

The next second, a guard wrenched me back hard. Leon twisted his wrist free, his eyes sharp with warning.

I couldn't think anymore. The only thing left in my head was my grandmother's wish.

“Professor Dickerson, you've given so much to the world. Can't you spare a shred of mercy for my grandmother?”

He raised a hand and gave the guards an order.

“Get her out of here. I have a lecture to finish.”

Without a second thought, I threw myself to the ground. Tears streamed freely down my face.

My voice was raw, choked to a rasp：“Professor Dickerson, if they drag me out of here, I will bash my head against this wall and die right in front of you.”

“Imagine the headlines. Someone dies during the great Professor Dickerson's lecture. That won't do your reputation any favors.”

The guards froze.

The auditorium erupted in noise.

“What's going on? It looks like this woman's grandmother has some history with the professor.”

“An old flame, maybe?”

“Nobody fakes grief like that.”

No one left. They all wanted to see how this would end.

I dragged myself forward on my knees until I was right in front of him, seized the leg of his trousers, and screamed until my throat gave out.

“Professor Dickerson, I'm begging you. This is her only wish.”

He crouched down. He studied me for a long time before leaning close and whispering in my ear.

“Do not ruin my reputation. Do not drag my family into this.”

“I never loved your grandmother. She was the one who was obsessed with me, the one who clung to me and insisted on bearing me three children.”

“But what was I supposed to do? We were from different worlds. She was illiterate. I was a college man with a brilliant future ahead of me. She would have dragged me down.”

“I never went overseas. Those letters weren't even written by me. I paid someone to string her along, and that was more than generous. I didn't want her. I was never going to be with her.”

I stared at him, speechless. This was the man my grandmother had loved for most of her life.

He hadn't lost his memory. He knew everything.

He knew, and he felt no guilt. Only contempt.

My throat tasted of iron. My chest seized so tight I couldn't breathe.

Fine. Then I had no reason to protect his dignity anymore.

I gripped the edge of the podium and hauled myself to my feet, shaking with fury：“Leon Dickerson. Professor Dickerson.”

“This photo is my grandmother. The woman you abandoned forty-eight years ago.”

“She bore you three children and poured every ounce of herself into raising them alone.”

“And you? You ran from every responsibility you ever had. You're nothing but a deadbeat. And you're my grandfather.”

“Three days ago, from her hospital bed, she asked me to bring you back. She wanted to see you one last time. But you don't deserve it.”

Since he was this heartless, I wouldn't leave him a single shred of cover.

Now that everything was ripped open, a strange calm settled over me.

That was when my pager went off.

I was about to check it when Leon spoke, his voice smooth and composed.

The same polished grace he'd carried through his entire lecture.

“Young lady, you claim I'm your grandfather?”

“And that forty-eight years ago I abandoned some poor woman with three children?”

“I may not be the most famous man in my field, but I've dedicated my life to education. I've mentored countless leaders of this country.”

The pager buzzed again.

I looked down at the screen, and the blood drained from my face.

【Rebecca, your grandmother's almost gone.】

【She's slipping into a coma. Please come back now. She's in so much pain. She says it hurts.】

My heart felt like a fist had closed around it and was twisting, wringing, refusing to let go. My brows locked tight, and no amount of willing could smooth them.

I pressed a hand to my chest and spoke to Leon, my voice shaking.

“Since you're this heartless, I'll come back another day to settle the score with you.”

“Right now I need to get back and see my grandmother off on her final journey.”

I turned and walked away.

Before I even reached the door, a figure stepped into my path, impossible to ignore.

A woman in a fitted silk dress, radiating authority.

She was around fifty, the kind of refinement that was bred into the bone, yet wrapped in an aura that was equal parts gentle and commanding.

Our eyes met.

I looked quickly at Leon.

The woman smiled at him and spoke：“Professor, someone causing trouble?”

Leon said nothing. His silence was answer enough.

The woman turned to me without a shred of courtesy and slapped me across the face, her voice dripping with contempt.

“Professor Dickerson is my husband. Do you have any idea how many children who couldn't afford school he's put through their education?”

“I was starving, all alone, when I met Professor Dickerson at seven years old.”

“He told me a woman should be strong. He didn't just give me food. He taught me to read, then sent me to school.”

“He's twenty years older than me. People say he's a dirty old man robbing the cradle, but the truth is I admired him. I married him of my own free will. His reputation will not be dragged through the mud by people like you.”

I held my burning cheek. My mind went blank.

Ellie Dickerson had just handed me too much information at once.

She met Leon when she was seven.

If she was fifty now, that meant she'd known him for forty-three years, and their bond ran deep.

Forty-three years ago, Leon had abandoned my grandmother only five years earlier.

One breath ago he'd told me he despised my grandmother's background, despised her lack of education, called himself a man of culture.

He'd looked down on my grandmother as beneath him, yet he'd poured every ounce of care onto another little girl.

So his loathing for my grandmother was pure. Absolute. Without reason.

I couldn't breathe. It was like hands had closed around my throat, and for a long moment no air would come.

Grandma. How could she have loved him that deeply?

Even now, she was holding on, waiting for that worthless man to come back.

I stared at Leon on the podium, my eyes raw and red.

What a fraud.

“Professor Dickerson, tell your wife to let me through. I need to leave.”

My grandmother was dying. I had to get back to her.

Ellie summoned two security guards to block my way.

“You want to leave?”

“You stir up trouble, ruin a man's reputation, and think you can just walk away?”

Frustration clawed at me：“Then what do you want?”

Ellie exchanged a look with Leon, then turned back to me.

“Apologize. Set the record straight. Give my husband back his good name.”

“There are too many important people here today. It wouldn't do to leave things like this.”

I had done nothing wrong. I would not apologize.

I turned to Leon：“Professor, I need to go back and be with my grandmother at the end.”

“You're keeping me trapped in this building. Do you really hate her that much? A woman who spent most of her life loving you?”

I shouldn't have come. All I'd done was waste time I could have spent at my grandmother's side.

Leon let out a sigh and spoke in the measured tone of an elder：“But you are the one in the wrong.”

My fists clenched. The last thread of reason burned away.

The pager buzzed again. Maybe because the rage was shaking through me, my fingers fumbled and I couldn't hold it steady.

I fumbled for the pager on the ground, picking it up and dropping it twice before my fingers closed around it for good.

My heart was hammering so hard I could barely breathe. I didn't dare look at the message on the screen.

My eyes skimmed the line of text, shaking, and my blood went cold……

My grandmother was gone.