A man’s search for his medical history after being adopted as a baby leads him to his biological family, but their sudden and insistent interest takes a shocking turn. Faced with an impossible choice, he must decide if blood ties outweigh the pain of abandonment.

This whole mess started on a Tuesday night, I remember that much. My fiancée, Vivianne, and I were on the couch.

We were talking about kids, a topic that always felt exciting and terrifying.

“Imagine little ones running around here,” Vivianne had said. It was a nice thought, but then the practical side of my brain kicked in, the part that always worried about things I couldn’t control.

“Yeah,” I’d replied, “but… there’s so much we don’t know. And what about my medical history?

Who knows what runs in my DNA?”

Vivianne nodded, understanding immediately. She knew my story. I was adopted after being thrown away like garbage.

I mean, I was literally found in an alley as a baby.

But before you can feel sorry for me, know that my adoptive parents were amazing. They were also open about everything.

I have known about my origins since I can remember.

Unfortunately, they knew nothing about my biological family. No one did.

Not even the police could locate them. There just wasn’t CCTV everywhere three decades ago.

And while I wasn’t actually missing anything, I hated the uncertainty around my medical history.

It wasn’t something I usually dwelled on, but lately, with the baby conversation becoming more real, it bugged me.

What if something was lurking in my genes that could affect my future kids?

Driven by this nagging worry, I did what any self-respecting person in the 21st century would do: I ordered a 23&Me kit. It arrived a few weeks after that small conversation with Vivienne.

My wife raised her eyebrows when I came into our room with the box.

“Detective Matthew at work?” she’d teased.

I grinned, feeling a nervous excitement bubbling up. “Yeah, like a health detective,” I corrected.

“Well, if the results mean that we can start trying, I’m all for it,” she said and left me to do my thing.

I ripped open the box and read the instructions.

Spitting into that little tube felt weirdly significant like I was sending a tiny piece of myself out into the universe to find some missing pieces of my past. I also had to register on the website and some other stuff.