India, June 16 -- In a story that reads like fate's own script, twin sisters adopted by separate families in northern China unknowingly grew up just miles apart, only to become best friends at 17 and later discover they were actually siblings.

According to a report by the South China Morning Post, Zhang Guoxin and Hai Chao were given up for adoption at just 10 days old by parents who couldn't afford to raise them. A condition of the adoption was that both girls had to be placed with families from the same city in Hebei province. Though raised separately with no knowledge of each other, destiny eventually brought them together.

Hai first heard from a classmate that a shop assistant in a local clothing store looked exactly like her. Curio...