He sighed again and turned away. His tongue wouldn’t move.
She sat there, waiting for him to finish.
What terrified her most was the thought of losing him.
He knew that – and that made it even harder to speak.
After a short pause, Damir finally gathered his courage.
He took her small hand into his large palms and held it gently.
With warmth in his voice, he tried to continue.
“I recently found out that…”
“What??”
“That… we were accidentally switched.”
“Switched? Who was switched?”
“Me and him.”
“Him who?” The woman was turning pale, her mouth slightly open as she struggled for breath.
The thought that was forming in her head terrified her.
“Your real son. He lives in Canada. His name is Samad Saidi.”
«Her blood pressure spiked, but she's stable now, don't worry,» the doctor said as she walked out of the ICU.
Damir stood there holding his breath, waiting for the verdict. He scolded himself for telling his mother everything so directly, without preparation. He had no idea how to act now or what to do next. But thank God—it wasn’t a heart attack. The fainting had been caused by a sudden spike in blood pressure. By the evening, he brought his mother home.
«Are you going to Canada?» she asked weakly from her bed when Damir approached.
«My place is by your side,» he replied.
But three months later, a plane carried Damir to Montreal—toward his biological parents, and the young man who had unknowingly gifted him such a wonderful mother. He had decided to grant her wish and marry the neighbor girl—not only to ease her worries, but also because he genuinely liked Aaliya. Besides, none of the local guys had a bad word to say about her when he discreetly asked about her reputation. That settled it for him. A month after the hospital incident, they got engaged. Aaliya put on the headscarf and the ring—she became his official fiancée.
Soon after, Damir returned to Moscow, completed his studies, and applied for a visa. He refused to communicate with his real parents over the internet, preferring to save everything for a face-to-face meeting. All legal matters were handled through their lawyer—he was the one who informed Damir of everything.
It turned out Damir was the son of Mr. Omer Saidi, a 65-year-old Iranian businessman. Omer was a prominent entrepreneur, the owner and CEO of an agricultural corporation, along with a chain of supermarkets across Canadian provinces and several U.S. states. Damir also learned he had a biological mother—Emine Saidi, age 62—and a 23-year-old sister, Saher, a student at the University of Montreal majoring in Management and Marketing. The family also included Samad Saidi, who, as it turned out, was their adopted son. Like Damir, Samad had studied law and worked in their father’s corporation. Damir had started university much later than his peers, while Samad had already gained at least eight years of professional experience and legal expertise. The twelve-hour flight gave Damir’s imagination plenty of space to wander. He couldn’t wait to meet his real parents—especially his father, whom he had dreamed of all his life. He kept telling himself that they weren’t at fault for his growing up far from them. They hadn't even known their son wasn’t biologically theirs—until Samad was in an accident and a blood test revealed the truth. That’s when the long, difficult search began, leading them all the way to Bolgar.
