One day a man goes to the graveyard to visit his deceased mother but instead comes across another man who looks just like him. Then he learns a surprising truth.
Ted Jones was born into a wealthy family who happily lived in a mansion. His parents died on his twentieth birthday, leaving him a huge inheritance in the form of money and the family business.
This made Ted feel like a small god, and anyone who would listen was told that he was different from regular folks. "I have noble blood running through my veins you know," he once told a woman on a date.
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"Like royalty?" she had asked him with a giggle.
"Even better, not only do I have a lot of money, I also inherited my dad's strength and cunning," Ted told her while she listened, enraptured even if she was not completely sold on the idea.
Ted lived like that for years, and by 23, he had found his soulmate in a woman named Savannah. A year later, the couple welcomed twins.
Ted lived happily with them but never gave up, boasting about his allegedly noble blood and impressive strength. However, one thing he could not deny was that even noblemen missed their parents.
One day, in celebration of his late mother's birthday, he went to the cemetery to visit her grave and pay his respects. He took along with him a giant bouquet of her favorite flowers and a bottle of the last wine she made before her death.
He was almost upon the grave marked out for her when he noticed a ragged homeless man in front of another grave a few meters away from his mom's.
The stranger had his back turned to Ted which enabled him to be observed before he realized he was being watched. He had on a long overcoat covered in stains and patches, and his hair grew haphazardly, giving him a grizzled look.
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"Who is this man?" Ted wondered as he started walking towards the grave, this time deliberately making enough noise so that the man would know someone else was around.
The man looked like a grave robber, and Ted briefly wondered if he would have to defend the cemetery with his supposed strength.
He took another couple of steps towards his mom's grave before the man turned around to fix him with a penetrative stare from his deep green eyes. The same color Ted's was.
Ted was shocked because eye color was not the only thing common to both of them. Indeed, the homeless man looked exactly like him, if only an inch shorter.
"Who are you?" Ted asked the man, moving closer.
His question was met with silence from the homeless man who had not said one word since he saw Ted. "I asked you a question," Ted growled in annoyance.
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Still, the man did not respond and instead turned around as if to leave, shocking Ted, who was used to having his every order obeyed without question.
"Why do you look so much like me?" Ted pushed further and saw the man stop in his tracks.
After what seemed like long minutes, the man turned around and spoke in a voice very similar to Ted's. "I'm your brother," the man said with an earnest look in his eyes.
At his statement, Ted looked him up and down, then laughed. "How can a ragged and homeless man be my brother? It has to be a mistake, dude. I just noticed you look like me and that's strange." Ted said.
"Why do you think that is?" the dirty-looking man named Kyle asked.
"I don't know, why don't you tell me?" Ted said.
"Just imagine," Kyle said. "Yesterday you had a business, a happy family, a huge inheritance from your father, but today you learn that your natural mother's actual grave is just 10 meters from that of the woman you called 'mother' your whole life. And as though that's not enough, you meet a poor homeless man who just happens to be your twin brother!"
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The statement triggered Ted's anger. He simply wouldn't accept what the homeless man was telling him. How could he have a twin brother without his knowledge?
What he didn't know was that Kyle grew up in an orphanage. When he was old enough, he attempted to find his mother but had no luck until after she passed away, so that when he finally met her, they were separated by the veil of death.
All he could do was learn more about her, and that was what he did. "Tell me about her," Ted suddenly said, staring at the supposed grave of his natural birth mother.
"She was with a selfish man when she gave birth to us, and as soon as he saw twins, he left her to take responsibility for our care. She didn't have any means to raise children, so she took us to the orphanage."
"When you were a baby you were very weak and had troubles with health. The orphanage staff knew that it would be difficult to take care of you, so they needed to find you a family as soon as possible."
"You were adopted by a wealthy couple but they only needed one child so I was left behind. I was raised in the orphanage which is why I've turned out like this."
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Kyle didn't know that he had a brother till the moment he learned about his mother's death. But he had decided not to come to Ted because he didn't want to intervene in his life and ruin it.
Ted was shocked by the revelation.
"My whole life I thought that I was special, that I inherited my father's strength and intelligence. I was sure that I was above the rest. But it turns out that I have a wealthy life because I was a weak baby and people felt sorry for me. You, Kyle, could be in my shoes now, having a lot of money and a happy family and I could be homeless, right?" Ted asked with tears in his eyes.
"Life turned out this way Ted, it was not within our control but we can decide now how we move forward," Kyle said and hugged Ted, who wept.
Later on, they paid their respects to both graves and returned to Ted's home together. Ted supported Kyle with money and employed him as his personal driver — a position that came with a robust salary Kyle could live off comfortably.
After a while, Kyle met Ted's secretary and started dating her. As time went on, the two brothers lived as siblings again, and they were both the better for it. Ted also stopped boasting about his noble genes, having learned humility.
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What did we gain from this story?
- Never show too much pride. Ted was very proud of his heritage and would often rub it in people's faces until he realized that what he thought was wrong. It made him see that he was just as special as the next person, and it taught him humility.
- Time makes everything right, be patient. Kyle knew who his brother was long before Ted discovered him, but he chose to bide his time, waiting for the perfect moment to make the revelation. It helped, and he was able to successfully reunite with Ted.
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