Her adoptive parents never forced anything on her – even their last name. When she was a teenager, the woman decided to change her last name without anyone influencing her to do so.

The woman, 27, worked as a nurse. She no longer lived with her adoptive parents and got her own place with a cat named Abu. She lived hours away from her family, but distance wasn’t a problem for them. They kept in constant touch and remained close through the years.

The woman lived in an apartment complex. She had a neighbor, Anna, a married Marine biologist with three children. Anna had always been friendly. They’d talk to one another each time they saw each other, and Anna’s kids would come over to play with Abu whenever possible.

A Chance Encounter Led to a Life-Changing Discovery

One day, the woman made a shocking discovery during a last-minute favor. Anna knocked on her door to ask whether she could babysit the children for several hours because their nanny had gone MIA.

At this point, the woman was already used to Anna’s children. She said yes and went to Anna’s apartment to take care of them.

She spent time playing with the children. They played with dolls, played pretend, and kept each other occupied. When they were preparing to order food and watch a movie, she asked the kids to pack away their toys.

While packing up, the woman came across something that made her heart drop: a picture of her biological parents. In the photo, they looked much younger. It was a different photo than what she had framed.

She asked the kids if they recognized the couple. The three of them admitted that they didn’t know who the people in the picture were. The woman grew curious and realized it was possible that Anna was her sister. She asked her adoptive parents whether she had siblings.

Her parents revealed that her adoption papers didn’t state that she had siblings. “A few hours later and Anna got home. I was inquisitive to know and I couldn’t wait any longer. I asked Anna who are this young couple,” the woman shared.

The Woman Realized Anna Might Be Her Sibling

Anna revealed that the people were her parents and that they died when she was 6. After they died, Anna was raised by an aunt. The woman was stunned and could feel herself getting nauseous. She felt like throwing up after discovering she had a sister.

When she got home, she decided to do more research. She found the old lady she believed raised Anna because she referred to her as her “daughter.”

While browsing, the woman saw a similar picture to what she had of her biological parents, but without her. She called her adoptive parents crying after realizing her next-door neighbor might be her sister. Her adoptive parents didn’t hesitate to make the hours-long drive to see their daughter.

They cried together and insisted she told Anna, but the woman hesitated. She wasn’t sure if Anna knew she existed, but a part of her also wanted to see whether she knew.

The Woman Wasn’t Sure She Wanted to Tell Anna

Eventually, the woman decided to tell Anna. She gathered herself and invited Anna into her apartment.

[Anna] believed her little sister had died.

The woman showed Anna the photo of her biological parents, revealing they might be sisters. Anna was confused, and tears started forming in her eyes.

To the woman’s surprise, Anna asked to be excused. She left the apartment, and the woman thought that’d be the last time she’d see her sister-slash-neighbor.

While Anna was gone, the woman had many “what ifs” running through her head. She wondered whether Anna was just a relative, or that maybe, the adoption home got it wrong and that she wasn’t the baby in the picture.

A couple of minutes later, Anna answered her thoughts. She knocked on the woman’s door once more but this time, with a phone and a laptop.

The two of them compared the old photos they had of the people they knew as their biological parents and realized they were the same people. The woman also said she had a birthmark on her left butt cheek, hoping Anna would remember. To her surprise, Anna did remember.

The two women stared at each other and began bawling their eyes out. They hugged, and Anna admitted that growing up, she had a difficult time coming to terms with the reality that her younger sister was dead.

Anna admitted that, like her parents, she believed her little sister had died. She video-called the woman who raised her, an older woman named Lucy.

When Lucy saw the woman beside Anna, she looked horrified. She asked Anna if she got it all mixed up because she also thought Anna’s little sister was dead.

After they set the facts straight, Aunt Lucy cried and began apologizing. After the siblings insisted on knowing the truth, Aunt Lucy revealed she knew the entire story.

The siblings’ parents both died due to car accidents. The mom met an accident first, and while on the way to the hospital to see his wife, their dad lost control of his car.

Both parents suffered traumatic injuries and died minutes apart. At the time, Anna fell sick and couldn’t attend the funeral.

When the siblings’ parents died, Aunt Lucy and an uncle named John both needed money. They volunteered to care for the children and managed to split the assets into two.

The woman went with Uncle John, while Anna stayed with Aunt Lucy. Uncle John took the woman to an adoption home and left the country with his wife.

Aunt Lucy knew the woman was sent to an adoption home, but she kept quiet. When Uncle John and his wife returned for the woman, they learned she’d already been adopted. Over the years, the story they went along with was that the woman had died – which is what Aunt Lucy and Anna knew.

Despite her sad circumstances, the woman felt fortunate that the family who chose to adopt her raised her like their own. Her adoptive parents loved her dearly.

Through it all, Anna couldn’t believe Aunt Lucy hid information from her. She felt betrayed and thought she was denied a sibling’s love for personal gain.

For now, the two sisters are focused on catching up with one another. The woman is delighted to be an aunt to three lovely children and is glad she now knows the great feeling of being loved by a sibling.

People on the internet didn’t believe the story at first. When people doubted its credibility, others with similar stories stepped up to show that such things could really happen in real life.