Jennie's gaze snapped to the door when it pushed open. Lisa and Jisoo stepped into her office, presenting a unified front.
Regardless of their individual characteristics, they were sisters at heart, and it showed. Lisa with her sharp, clean, good looks, and Jisoo with her quirky, outdoorsy ones.
She rose, stepped to Lisa, hugged her quickly. "I'm sorry for all of this."
"Thanks." Lisa pulled back. "I'm sorry about Kai too. I know after the divorce you still remained good friends... I should have called you."
"It's okay. I understand. These things are hard. They bring up emotions we don't always want to deal with."
Lisa nodded. Jennie's gaze cut to Jisoo. She looked so good wearing that khaki shirt dress.
Dragging her gaze away from her, Jennie rubbed her hands together. "Okay." She moved back behind her desk, switching to lawyer mode. "Have a seat, and we'll get started."
"She's not coming?" Jisoo asked.
"No. I've already spoken with Roseanne. We felt it best to do this separately. She wanted time to absorb the results before she spoke with either of you."
Jisoo and Lisa exchanged glances. She noticed their apprehension and took out the test results. No sense prolonging their misery. She handed a copy to each of them. "These are the preliminary DNA reports. It's not entirely conclusive, but I think you'll see it's close enough. We'll need to get samples from your parents, Jisoo, but I think we can say with ninety-eight percent accuracy, Roseanne Jeong is Chaeyoung Manoban."
Lisa leaned back and closed her eyes. Heartache raced along her features, but Jennie could tell from her quiet reaction she'd already expected this news. As Roseanne had said, however, knowing didn't make any of this easier.
Jisoo took her time studying the report. When she glanced up, Jennie saw the pain in her eyes, too. This was hard on both of them.
She rose and moved around the desk, leaning back against the mahogany surface where she picked up another folder and handed papers to each of them. "Here are copies of her medical records. She wanted you to see them" Jennie waited while they each flipped through the files. "I know it's one thing for her to say she can't remember anything. It's another for you to see it in black and white. She was being treated by a neurosurgeon in Osaka. I've tried to track him down but am running into a wall. It seems like each of our leads are ending that way."
Dismissing the thought, she added, "As far as her brain trauma, her records indicate there was some sort of damage to the lateral cortex of her anterior temporal lobe, the part of the brain that deals with long-term memory, specifically that area which focuses on personal memories. So things she learned say, in school, haven't been affected because they're stored in a separate part of the brain—or so the theory goes. Where she learned those facts, though, is a different story because that would be a personal memory, like where she went to college. It explains why she does so well in her current field, remembering technical information about seismology and geology, even though she doesn't know what sort of degree she holds. As I've learned through research on this case, most of what the medical community knows about the brain is pretty inconclusive, especially those parts of the brain that deal with memory."
"So she really doesn't remember anything?" Lisa asked in a weak voice.
"No," Jennie answered. "And there's one other major thing you should be aware of." When they both looked up, she said, "That portion of the brain is also responsible for personality." She wanted to make this part perfectly clear so they both understood. "She's not the same person she used to be. If you spend time with her, like I have, you'll notice similarities—gestures, looks, that sort of thing. But there are some very glaring differences as well that you need to be prepared for. Roseanne's personality now was developed after the accident. She reacts differently to situations. Whereas Chaeyoung was emotional and quick to respond, Roseanne is more reserved. She thinks things through before jumping to conclusions or voicing observations. That's a minor point, but it becomes important when you get to know her. I don't want either of you thinking you can just pick up where you left off five years ago and everything will fall in line."
