"I ..." Nurse Chaya blinked at the woman she least expected to see in the dining.

Devi Dhungel, equally perplexed as to why she hadn't seen the resemblance between 'the maid' and her new nurse before, advanced on the young woman like a bull charging at a matador, or as well as a bull charging at a matador on crutches could. "You! It's you..."

"No. I didn't attack you, okay? I'd never attack you ... I just wanted to get to know you ..." Chaya vigorously shook her head.

"And who the fuck are you?" Vinay snapped in Devi's direction.

All eyes trained on her then, for a brief moment forgetting all about Chaya and her reveal. "Who are you?"

"It's me," that made Devi pause a moment. She blinked at them. They blinked at her. "What the fuck are you all staring at? Happy to see me?" When no one replied, she felt a finger poke her arm. "What?"

Hector pointed at her nose and glasses.

It dawned on her then. The disguise.

Devi ripped the annoying glasses off her face and peeled the prosthetic nose, to audible gasps in the room.

"You're alive?"

"Yeah, I'm alive! And"—she turned to Chaya again. "How could you?"

"See?" Vinay the twat jumped at the opportunity. "It's the maid."

"It was them. It was the two of them." Chaya shook her head at Devi and pointed at Bhawani and her son. "On several occasions, when they didn't think no one is listening, they talk about you behind your back ..."

"Is that true?" Devi turned to her sister and nephew, only to see them grovel.

"Absolutely not. The girl is lying!" Bhawani cried.

"You're trusting a stranger over us?" Vinay nearly shouted.

Devi stared at Chaya again, her head spinning. Is she the maid? Or is she my daughter? "Explain to me like I'm a two-year-old ... Who are you, really?"

That hazy memory cleared in Hector's head, the one that had been clawing at him. It was the time he'd first arrived at Surry Hills Station. He stared at Chaya and Devi, noting their resemblance for once. If not for Chaya's dyed ash-blonde hair and low-cut fringe that practically hid half her face, the two looked alike. The same small round face, the same eyes, almost similar complexion. And she had said, while lining up behind him at the station, she was looking for her missing biological mother.

Could it be?

"And what makes you think she's your biological mother?" Hector asked before the girl spoke.

"My bio ..." Devi whispered, in utter disbelief then. No. It couldn't possibly be the kid she gave up that time she ran away, to join the cruise ships sailing away, under the 'I got a great job and I'll get to see the world!' ruse so her parents wouldn't question her months,' long absence from home. The cruises brought her to Charlie, and eventually, to the childless couple, who adopted her kid without a second thought with Charlie's help. A kid Devi couldn't keep, not without turning her entire world turning upside down then. A kid no one but the four of them knew about and she'd kept it that way. No one needed to know that Devi Dhungel had a child out of wedlock from a one-night stand, and now, the kid's dad was married to her aunt. No one needed to know all those gory, messy details, especially not that poor, innocent baby girl.

A baby girl Devi nearly died giving up. But what was a young twenty-something with nothing in her name to do back then? Could it be her?

She drank in the young woman, noting the same features Hector had—except the height, which she'd taken after her dad, being almost a whole head taller than her mother. Devi also noted that when frightened, the girl had the same wild caged beast look about her that she herself was known for. "No ... you can't be ... You're ... with a friend ..." A friend we lost touch with ... I lost touch with ...

"Di? Is it true?" Bhawani asked from the sidelines. "You have a daughter? When? How? Why didn't you tell me?"

Because she is Marvin's ... as much as I wish it wasn't true.

Devi swallowed nervously, looking around at the gathering, staring at them as if this was the best episode of a family sitcom and they were the live audience. And that audience was staring at her as if she'd forgotten her lines in the most crucial moment.

Devi turned to Chaya again. "Who are you?" Though part of her heart cried: Please, let it be her. Let it be my Gauri ... my baby girl ... A thought some might claim is very un-Devi-like, but she had the heart of a mother after all, a mother who was forced to be childless all her life.

"I'm your daughter ..." Chaya said quietly, with a slight European accent, perhaps her natural accent now that she wasn't forcing herself to play the hard-pressed-for-money maid, or the nurse looking for her mother. "I'm Gauri Chaya Walker, named after your mother and the goddess Parvati, or at least that's what my mum says you said. She doesn't know what the middle name Chaya means though, but when I searched it up, it means a shadow ..."

My shadow... where you go, my heart goes ... Devi's eyes watered as she recalled the six-month-old child she last held in her arms. It's her?

"My parents told me my mother, my biological mother was of Nepali heritage, but from Australia ... so I came here more than a year ago, looking for you..." Chaya's voice cracked. "You were hard to find, as they couldn't quite recall your last name. So I looked up Charlie. He was easier ... I thought, if I find him, he could tell me where you were, or at least tell me something about you ... but you married him ... They said you gave me up because you couldn't keep me ..."

Devi shook her head. "I couldn't. Not back then."

"Didi?" Bhawani inched forward, though Devi was lost in memories gone. She'd possibly found the baby girl she'd once given up.

Hector flanked their other side, staring at the duo in awe. "You have a daughter?"

"She had!" Chaya stated roughly, having regained some of her composure. "She gave me up, remember? Gave me up when I was six months old, to some couple she met on a cruise while she was too busy dating a rich sugar daddy ..."

"What?" Devi jostled. "That's not what happened ..."

"She didn't want to be shackled by a child that young. She had her whole life and career ahead of her," Chaya's tone suddenly shifted to anger. "So no, she doesn't have a child, Constable Martinez, what she has is a family of her own here." She pointed at the sister and her son. "Her perfect little entitled family.

"When I came to Sydney looking for her, I was looking for answers. Why did she give me up? Why couldn't she keep me? Did she not love me? But then I found her." Chaya moved away from the dining table so she could face Devi properly. "Some rich, arrogant, famous author who married into money and now lavishes her wealth on people who don't deserve it, while I grew up with a family who could never afford such luxury. While I struggled to keep a roof over my head, especially after my folks died, she's been here, spoiling this waste of human space." She pointed at Vinay.

While Devi looked as if Chaya had slapped, twice, Hector curiously noted all that the girl was saying, and something bugged him to no end.

"Okay. So you found Devi, and found out she was this notable author you disliked, but how did you get a job on her yacht? Or rather, why? You found her, and you didn't like what you found, so why work for her?" he asked.

"I wanted to see how she lived ... throwing that wealth around. I wanted to see what she'd gained from giving me up." A tear rolled down Chaya's plump cheeks. "I wanted to see what it was about her wealth that made her so happy ..."

"And what did you find?" Devi had matching tears streaking down her cheeks. "Did you find a woman you could loathe?" and as she said this, her heart of stone broke into a thousand little pieces that bled.

"I found the loneliest woman I've ever met, even among her own people." Chaya scoffed. "You traded a child for your lifestyle, hoping it would bring you happiness, but all you got are these"—she swept a look around the dining room, at their audience—"selfish, self-serving people, every one of them, here only because they want something from you. Even your sister. Hope you and Dad had a wonderful life, whatever he shared with you before he died."

Chaya suddenly turned to Hector. "So yeah, I was angry at this woman who gave me up, who had all this to throw around, but not once in her life she cared to find out how I was doing ... so I did it. I took some of her fucking jewellery that meant so much more than me. Then I heard the door and hid in the bathroom. When Bhawani walked in, I ran from the room, ran all the way down, and threw her fucking wealth into the fucking sea."

"You did what?" Vinay gawked.

But Devi, still shocked, stood still, and muttered—something she wasn't aware she was even muttering—"Charlie's not your dad ..."

"Then who is?" Chaya's brows scrunched. "You owe me that much."

Devi's chin quivered. "I can't..."

"Or won't." Chaya scoffed. "Bet you cheated on him and he didn't even know. Just loved you like a fool."

"No." Devi shook her head. "Charlie loved me ..."

"Who's my dad?" Chaya advanced.

Hector stepped in the way, between the mother and the child.

"It was a one-night stand." Devi closed her eyes. "The only one I ever had, before I met Charlie."

"That guy that never returned the call? The one who swept you off your feet ... love at first sight?" Bhawani gasped.

Devi shook her head, her eyes, still closed. This was not something she ever wanted to visit again in her life, but here she was.

"So it wasn't a random guy? Who was it? Why won't you tell me?" Chaya badgered.

"Didi, tell the poor girl!"

"I can't ..." Devi shook her head again. "Believe me, Bhav, you don't want to know."

"Well, that doesn't sound sus at all!" Vinay rolled her eyes.

"Di! Who is this girl's dad?" Bhawani joined Chaya's side, madly curious now. "I've asked you before as well, but you wouldn't tell me who the guy was, and I respected that ... but ... what are you not telling me?"

Behind them, Marvin was getting angsty, for he remembered who the 'dad' could be. He remembered well the little romp he'd had with a girl he met at the uni bar ... the girl who was so feisty that even the condom had ripped, not like his docile girlfriend. Only to find out later that weekend, that the feisty girl was none other than his girlfriend's older sister. Something one would think a man that cheated would likely try to keep a lid on. But these weren't your ordinary folks living ordinary lives.

So Marvin Garcia blurted, rather impulsively, "No. It's not possible ..."

"What's not possible?" Bhawani stared at her soon-to-be ex, as did most others.

But Hector was wiser now than he had been that day he'd first met Devi. He was wiser now, and Devi had told him many things she probably hadn't told others. He also knew Devi better now. Besides, he was more observant too, and what he observed then, made even his heart skip. He turned to Devi, a lashing of jealousy burning in his chest. "Him? You had a kid with him? Marvin?"

Heads turned to Marvin, who pulled at his collar and chuckled nervously, "It was a long time ago ..."

And that was also something Devi never wanted aired.

"You and him?" Bhawani's eyes went wild with shock. "You're the other woman? How long?"

Devi, surprised in that most unexpected way, turned to her sister. "I thought I told you."

The glare she got in return clearly said otherwise, forcing Devi into a spiel, recounting the same tale she had told Hector back in his Ma's place. About the cuckoned sister, how she'd blurted out she'd slept with Marvin before she knew who he was, how they'd talked about it. That she thought she was understood, but not forgiven.

All of which was news to poor, or not-so-poor Bhawani. For you see, Devi didn't realise, her memories weren't quite what they used to be before the incident. Something she wouldn't realise until her assistant blurted something in disbelief next.

"Isn't that the plot of A Death Like No Other?" Unati looked from one sister to the other, settling on Devi with a curiosity that nixed her earlier anger. "The sisters share a lover and a child is born from it"—she eyed Chaya and Vinay pointedly—"Or rather, two children in this case."

"You mean not everything she told me might be true?" Hector couldn't help himself. If Devi's recollection of what transpired between her and her sister wasn't to be trusted entirely, could he trust the rest of her account? Worse, could he trust his investigation?

"What she just said rings true of the sister-plot in her new book, which I guess is based on a real story." Unati shrugged. "I think Devi's gotten her reality mixed up with the plot of her book. I mean sure, the sisters had the same lover, but at least in the book, the guy had been a friend since childhood." Another scrutinising glare searched Marvin out—to say, at least a friend in childhood could be understood, but a man-whore who cheated on his girlfriend with a stranger, who turned out to be his sister-in-law? That was something entirely, well, strange.

"They say truth is stranger than fiction," Toby, who had kept out of Devi family dramas until now, noted, as if reading Unati's mind.

"Except it's not the truth!" Bhawani snapped. "This is the first I'm hearing of this ..."

And so it was. It was the first time Devi had blurted her own secret, not because she'd itched to reveal it all these years and seek forgiveness, no. It was because her own mind warped the truth, marrying reality with that of her fictional world until she could no longer tell them apart.