With this very extensive DNA test, Mandy thinks that she has found the perfect gift for her husband Joshua. He had never known anything about his past or real family as his biological mother gave him away as a baby. But when Joshua didn’t seem interested in learning about his past. Mandy decided to ignore him and do the DNA test anyway. But when she finally got the results, she could barely believe what they concluded…  This changed everything… When Mandy finally got the email with the results of Joshua’s DNA test, she felt equal parts excited as guilty. Joshua had no idea that she had gone through with this test after he had told her that he wasn’t interested in doing it. But Mandy’s mind had been made up… Without Joshua’s knowledge she had taken all the samples she needed from Joshua and sent them in. Ever since that day Mandy had been wondering if she did the right thing, but always comforted herself with the idea of what amazing things could be revealed about Joshua this way.  She took a deep breath and opened up the email. But when she got to a certain part, Mandy’s eyes went wide and she started screaming. “How is that Possible?!” But what did the DNA results reveal about Joshua? Why didn’t he want to know more about his past and had Mandy done the right thing by going through with it anyway? Mandy remembered how long she had been with Joshua. In almost 5 years together, they already had 2 children. She never had any doubts about her own life, which was a fairly normal one, but her husband’s past was always a bit of a mystery, for both of them. They didn’t know who Joshua’s real parents were. There was only one thing Joshua could tell about his biological parents: Joshua’s real mother left him at an orphanage when he was a baby, along with a message written by her. “I am too young”, said the message. “I am not ready to be a mother yet.” His real mother didn’t stay to be identified, and the orphanage couldn’t find her, even though they tried. At first, Joshua’s life at an orphanage wasn’t easy, but it wasn’t long until a loving family adopted him. His new parents raised him with opportunities and a high-quality education, in order to make him a successful person in life. The result of this was that, early in his adulthood, he was accepted at a great college, as a finance student. While he was given many opportunities, Joshua still needed to pursue his goals. And that’s what he did. He took every opportunity with both hands. He knew something was missing, though, but didn’t know what exactly. Then, when he met Mandy, he realized she was what his life needed to be complete. She was the love of his life. Due to Joshua’s stable financial life and planned out future, Joshua and Mandy’s marriage was peaceful and didn’t have many shortcomings. He had a high position at the bank and, as such, money wasn’t a problem for them. They had basically everything they needed. This convenience, however, can be an inconvenience. When you have everything you want, how can someone give you a gift? It was very hard for Joshua and Mandy to give presents to each other, because they already had whatever they desired. And so, with every passing year, with every holiday, and with every gift, it was more difficult for the couple to find a suitable present. For Mandy, that problem reached a peak this upcoming Christmas. Previously, she had already given Joshua a splendid watch, a trip to Central America, and even a German Shepherd. “What else could he want for Christmas?”, she asked herself, clicking every ad on the Internet. But, when she found a little known website that listed unconventional gifts, Mandy discovered what she thought was the perfect present: a DNA test. Most people probably don’t see a DNA test as a gift, but most people also know about their past and the past of their loved ones. Joshua and Mandy, on the other hand, weren’t like most people on that aspect. Joshua’s biological family was almost completely obscure. He didn’t know the faces, names or personalities of his relatives. Although Joshua often told her that he didn’t really care about his ancestry, Mandy felt that he actually did care. He probably didn’t want to assume it, maybe he was scared, or maybe he was just too comfortable not knowing anything. As much as Joshua would tell her he didn’t have any interest in knowing, Mandy never thought he was being honest. Mandy couldn’t stop wondering how on Earth could someone in Joshua’s position not be curious. The fact that Joshua didn’t want to know was inconceivable to her. Mandy’s own past was always of interest to her. Her friends always wanted to know more about their family ties. Why would Joshua be different? What if he had close relatives out there? What if he had siblings? With so many questions to be answered about a person’s ancestry, Mandy was sure every single person would love to know more about their past. Not much more thought was needed before Mandy finally decided: a DNA test was the most suitable gift for Joshua. She looked deeper into the website that listed the DNA test as a gift. For Joshua and Mandy, every gift had to be the best version of something. This DNA test was no different to Mandy, so she looked for the ultimate, most complete and reliable test. Naturally, it turned out to be the most expensive test as well, but money wasn’t a problem for them. And so, she found a test that was the real deal. The people at the lab allowed her to secretly take samples, and she received instructions on how to take them discreetly from Joshua. She carefully sealed the samples in a sterile bag and sent them to the lab. After that, all she needed to do was wait. Soon, she’d receive results revealing Joshua’s heritage. The wait lasted for some days, but the results rapidly arrived. Christmas was only two days away, and Mandy could barely contain her excitement. Her mind only had room for one thing, and that was Joshua’s gift. And although she tried hard to keep it a secret, it wasn’t long until Joshua realized how strange she was acting. For Mandy, this was the most thought out, smart and perfect gift she could ever give Joshua. She believed so strongly in this that Joshua started to believe it, too. He was happy, not only for her, but also because he realized he probably was going to get a really nice present. “Now that I think of it”, Joshua thought, “I haven’t received a good gift in years.” At last, when Christmas arrived, everyone gathered around the presents. It was already evening, and the kids started opening their gifts first. When Joshua got to his gifts, Mandy requested “Open my gift after the others”, but Joshua didn’t even need to obey her, since the kids were on a gift-opening rampage. After the kids were finished, Joshua looked at Mandy. Excited, he kneeled beneath the Christmas tree to open his present. He grabbed the small package and began unwrapping it. In the process, Mandy clasped her hands together in excitement, while Joshua couldn’t take the smile off his face. The unwrapping didn’t take long. When the gift was unwrapped, Joshua looked at it puzzled. He didn’t really know what it was, but, when he looked at the back of the present, he realized. Mandy followed Joshua’s face, hoping he would show signs of joy. Instead, she saw his expression change, but it wasn’t to one of excitement. In front of Mandy and the kids, Joshua thanked Santa. “Those new toys are so cool,” he said to his children. “Why don’t you guys go play with them?” The kids happily obliged and went to another part of the house, noisily enjoying their new gifts. With this, Joshua was left alone with Mandy. He wanted to talk to her, privately. Silently, Joshua looked at his gift a bit more. Mandy broke the silence by explaining to him exactly what it was, but he already knew. He patiently listened and, even though Mandy tried to sound happy, she couldn’t make him demonstrate feelings of happiness, like she thought he would. In fact, his face was far from happy. After a few moments of silence, Joshua finally spoke. “Honey…” He hesitated. “I don’t know if I’m ready to know about this. My life is complete, with the kids…” He held Mandy’s hand, “with you. I don’t need to change anything.” He pointed to the gift. “I don’t want this.” Mandy nodded. “I understand, Josh.” She sounded very confident. “But I want to know more about my love.” After all this conversation, Mandy told to her husband that she understood him, and she would respect the fact that he didn’t want to know about DNA test results. So, she promised him that she would get rid of the test. Despite what she said to him, she was thinking something very different. Her husband, Josh wasn’t too curious as to Mandy, to find out which is his biological family. On the other hand, she was thinking of this since she came up with the idea of a DNA test. She was determined that she wouldn’t stop even if his husband didn’t want to take this test. She must learn all the truth about his past and it was important for him too. The only problem now was Josh’s attitude because it would become much harder for her to finish all the testing process. The harder part was the one about the samples, it was tricky to get the samples without him knowing. Now she has to come up with a new plan. A smarter plan, which could help her accomplish her goal. According to the documentation provided by the medical institution, the only things she needed were saliva samples, skin cells, nail clippings, and some hair. These all needed to be sent to the address which is written on the papers. It was not far away from their house, so it would be a quick drive. Some of these samples were easy for her to collect. Skin cells and some hairs were easier than the others because she would find them on the bathroom floor after Josh’s bath. Nail clipping was quite harder unless she snooped in the trash can. The most difficult of all was the saliva sample. “How am I supposed to collect some saliva?” she asked herself… While she was thinking of it, a really weird idea came up in her mind. When Josh sat in the kitchen and had breakfast, she would challenge him to catch a little ball covered with plastic with his mouth. Thinking of it as a little candy, Josh was obligated by the plastic in his mouth, so he spitted out. When he realized that he had plastic in his mouth, Mandy started laughing really hard and she told her husband that it was just a joke. Josh gives the small plastic bag to Mandy and she put it in a small bag really quickly. Eventually, she had everything she needed for the test, without Josh knowing it. The next morning, Mandy calls the medical center to inform them that he has all the samples for the test. Also, she informed the center that the package is on its way. So, the only thing that she has to do now is just waiting for the results. She was really excited about finding out about her husband’s past. The next few days weren’t so easy to get through them, she was so excited but at the same time, she had to hide her emotions as her husband didn’t know anything about the test. The worst of all was the fact that shame feeling tended to show up. It was completely normal, cause hiding something from someone who cares about you, it’s not easy at all. Mandy had started feeling a bit guilty about what she had done. She was so blinded by her curiosity that makes her forget her husband’s urge to don’t do the DNA test. Nonetheless, she picked all the samples from him in a sneaky way, and the testing process had already started. At the same time, Josh was happy since his wife respected his point of view and he had no clue about the test and all Mandy’s racketeering. She knew that was impossible to cancel the test results getting to her anymore. But maybe a better solution was to don’t look at them. If she doesn’t investigate the results would be the same as she didn’t have them at all. As the next couple of days pass, more and more she was convinced by the idea to don’t open the test’s results. But one day, as Mandy watched TV, a pop-up notification showed up on her phone. It was the result of the test, all of sudden the feeling to do the right thing had disappeared. That very moment, as Josh was sitting next to her, she took her laptop in their bedroom. Now, she was ready to find out the results. She couldn’t help herself, so she clicked on the notification and the results were right in front of her. But still, Josh was sitting on the sofa and watching the game having no clue about what’s going to happen. The email which the medical office sent to Mandy, included so much information about the test’s results. So, Mandy was so confused about what exactly all these facts would be going to reveal to her. She only looked for a name, this would be the most helpful of all the other information that the email included. For most of the information she read about she didn’t really care. She didn’t care about what countries his ancestors were from or how far his roots were gone. She only wanted to know the name of his closest relatives. That was the only way to find his mother or his father. The DNA test was able to link Josh’s DNA to other DNA samples that were present in their first database and they were able and allowed to provide the last name for that DNA sample provider. With this process, the test would provide information about his husband’s parents. She was a breath away from finding out what she was looking for. Finally, Mandy found the name she was looking for. The strangest of all it was that the name immediately ringed a bell to her. The next logical step for her was to put the name on the Facebook search tab. Surprisingly the first hit she gets was all she needed. The biggest surprise for Mandy was that she and that woman were friends on Facebook. She immediately remembered from where she knew her. That was unexpectedly good for her because now it was easier to bring this woman and her husband closer. All she had to do now was to talk to Josh about what she found out Mandy was completely overwhelmed by what she just discovered; she couldn’t help herself but scream at the top of her lungs “How’s that even possible?”. Josh when he heard her screaming, ran upstairs confused and anxious. He was worried about what happened to his wife. At that moment Mandy realized that she hadn’t any other choice but, to tell the truth to her husband. She tried to be honest for once and tell to Josh all the truth about what she did lately for the DNA test, even if she knew that it was against her. When Josh heard the whole story was dumbfounded. He couldn’t believe what his wife did behind his back. Mandy wanted to give Josh a little time just to process what just happened. Then she told to him “I think that I found your mother”. What he just learned was not the news that he expected for today. Josh was not even able to look at Mandy’s eyes. They just sat in silence for at least 10 minutes. She was so scared of what he would say to her, he could maybe divorce her. Eventually, he decided just to ask, “Who is she?”. Mandy felt relieved about her husband’s question. The woman which Mandy found on Facebook, was a much older colleague from her work, named Estell. They weren’t close enough, but Mandy knew a couple of Estell’s stories. She has lived an intense past, especially when she was younger. But she couldn’t imagine ever that she would be related to this case. One of her stories was about her having a child when he was 18 years old, and she never got to see him again. This child has to be Josh, she figured! After a long conversation between Mandy and Josh, they decided to call Estell over and clear up everything up. When Josh opened the door to Estell, he and Mandy recognize a look of joy and blaze in her eyes. She immediately felt a shiver! She realized that this man was his son. She never believed that would be able to meet him, but she dreamed of that moment a lot of times in the past. Soon after they managed to determine that Mandy had been right. Estell was Josh’s biological mother! That moment became a life changer for Mandy and Josh. Even if Josh was afraid to know at first, now was happier than he had ever been. After this day he will never have second thoughts about his family.  The next days, Josh started to connect with his mother. She explained to him why she left him at the orphanage. They tried to spend a lot of time together, making up for the lost time. He also got to meet a lot of new families and Mandy was fully along for the right. Josh had managed to forgive her for what she had done. In the end, even if Mandy did something that she shouldn’t have, it all worked out. Mandy did something really important for her husband because he had finally found his lost family. Eventually, Josh felt completed as a person. Estell was really happy about this too because she would be able to fix this mistake and come closer with her son.