Hearing an unfamiliar voice in the early morning, Daniel’s eyes slowly opened, while Emily seemed to squirm before opening her eyes. Both felt surprised to see a middle-aged man, who they believed to be the local, watching them sleep.
Emily and Daniel woke up from their slumber, still filled with sleepiness. They stared at each other, trying to digest what they had just heard. But wonder and confusion pervaded their minds as they looked at each other. Emily saw her own face in Daniel, and Daniel saw his own face in of Emily. They felt shocked to realize that they had switched back their souls.
Their eyes were perfectly round from the unexpected shock, not knowing how this could happen again and what they should do next.
The middle-aged man saw the confusion on their faces. He approached them with a gentle smile. “Khun tong gaan khwam chuay leua mai? (Do you need help?)” the man’s Thai voice made Daniel and Emily even more confused, as they didn’t understand the language.
For a moment, Daniel and Emily had to forget what was happening to their bodies at the moment because their focus was to get out of this forest as soon as possible.
“We’re lost,” Daniel said in English, making the middle-aged man furrow his brow because he didn’t understand him.
Seeing the confusion on the middle-aged man’s face, Daniel tried to communicate with body language. He described the state of the forest with his hands and pointed outwards, giving a hint that they wanted to get out of here. Emily also pleaded, using her hands for the man to understand that the two of them really needed his help right now.
The middle-aged man finally understood their intentions. He nodded understandingly and pointed out the exit they should follow. Despite not speaking the same language, they were relieved that the middle-aged man will help them find their way home.
After a long and tiring journey on foot, they finally found a truck with an open tailgate belonging to the man. The middle-aged man generously offered Emily and Daniel a ride.
“Thank you, sir. We’re really lucky to meet you,” Emily said in Daniel’s body with a voice full of gratitude, while giving a gentle smile and nodding her head in appreciation.
The middle-aged man simply nodded, showing a faint smile on his lips, before driving his vehicle. The journey home, which had been so difficult before, now felt like a dream come true. Finally, the vehicle arrived at the roadside near the five-star hotel where they were staying.
However, when the two of them arrived at the entrance of the five-star hotel, the hotel’s security guard stopped them. The security guard, in a serious manner, looked at them with suspicion.
“I’m sorry, but we can’t let you into the hotel looking like this,” the security guard said in fluent English.
“I’m a hotel guest here,” said Daniel, who was still in Emily’s body.
But the security guard remained skeptical and did not believe Daniel’s explanation. “I’m sorry, but I need to see proof you are really a guest here,” the security guard replied.
As the situation grew tense, a hotel manager who saw the incident came over at a brisk pace. “Is there a problem here? What’s going on?” she asked the security guard in Thai.
“Sorry, ma’am. They said they were hotel guests, but I was skeptical because of their appearance,” the security guard explained.
After the hotel manager looked at Daniel and Emily closely, she looked surprised. “They are VIP guests here. Hurry and apologize,” the hotel manager shouted at the security guard in a stern tone.
The security guard felt surprised and immediately realized his mistake. “I apologize, sir. Please forgive me.”
“Sorry for the inconvenience, Mr. Daniel. Please come inside the hotel and enjoy your stay. I will ensure that you receive good service. I apologize for the attitude of our security guard. Hope you can understand, as he is just doing his job here,” the hotel manager explained frantically.
“Alright, that’s fine. I understand,” replied Emily, who was in Daniel’s body.
“I hope you can educate your subordinates not to judge someone just because of their appearance,” said Daniel in Emily’s body, in a firm voice, while showing a sense of disappointment.
The hotel manager felt remorseful and humbly replied, “I’m sorry, ma’am. I will take measures to punish and provide stricter training to our staff.”
The hotel manager quickly gave instructions to the staff to escort Daniel and Emily to their room. Finally, they arrived at their room. The door to the room opened, and respectfully, the staff bowed their heads to Daniel and Emily before leaving them.
“Em,” Daniel called out when he saw Emily still standing at the door to her own room.
“Come here, we need to talk,” Daniel said in a soft, yet firm, voice.
They both walked into Daniel’s room and carefully closed the door. They sat on the side of the bed, staring at each other in tense silence. After a while, Daniel used his fingers to massage his furrowed mid-brow. He felt clueless about how to go through life with a switched soul like this and see his own face on Emily.
Daniel tried to find answers, but was getting more and more confused. He felt as if he was living in an unreal state, like he was in a strange dream.
Emily saw the anxiety on Daniel’s face, and their current situation also confused her. But she also felt guilty because she felt that all this could happen because of her too-easy trust in others.
“I’m sorry, sir. If I hadn’t trusted people so easily, none of this would have happened to us,” Emily said.
“I don’t understand, I really don’t. Our souls were already back then. Why would they switch again like this?” Daniel clenched his fists in frustration.
“Arrghh!” Daniel shouted in frustration.
“What happened back then to get our souls back?” Daniel recalled every detail of the events in the forest.
“Should we go back to the forest and look for that old lady? Maybe she can restore our souls.” Emily tried to express her opinion.
“That damn old lady!” Daniel tried to hold back his anger while clenching his hands tightly.
Emily didn’t dare to look at Daniel’s face at that moment, which was her own face. It was the first time Emily could clearly see the look on her own face reflected in his, as he was holding back anger, and it felt quite scary. It felt strange, but it seemed like she should start getting used to this situation.
Meanwhile, Daniel tried hard to hold back his anger that was about to explode. Daniel recalled the incident where they both fell into the river. At that moment, both of their souls suddenly returned to their respective bodies.
Could it be?
Daniel pulled Emily’s arm to follow him quickly. Emily felt confused and worried about what Daniel would do.
“Where are we going, sir?” asked Emily in confusion.
Daniel led Emily to the bathroom in his room and quickly closed the door. Emily felt anxious and curious about what Daniel would do.
“What are you going to do?” asked Emily in a worried tone.
Without answering, Daniel pushed Emily into the center of the shower and turned on the water. The water poured down on both of them.
Daniel’s actions surprised Emily. “S-stop, sir,” she said, trying to speak amidst the splashing water.
Their bodies were both wet from Daniel’s actions. After a while, Daniel turned off the shower.
“What are you doing?” asked Emily in a hysterical tone.
They both stood in the bathroom soaking wet. Daniel waited, hoping this action would help return their souls to their respective bodies. However, after a while of waiting, Daniel realized nothing had changed.
Daniel and Emily were in silence, their bodies still wet from the previous action. Daniel’s face radiated deep disappointment, while Emily looked confused and scared.
If this doesn’t work, then…
Daniel quickly held Emily’s nape, who was taller than him at that moment. The two of them stared at each other in an overly intimate position. At this moment, they could feel each other’s hearts beating so fast.
“I’m doing this to bring our souls back,” Daniel said softly, trying to convince Emily not to reject the actions he was about to take this time.
Before Emily had time to digest Daniel’s meaning, she suddenly felt a soft touch from Daniel’s lips that silenced her, making her frozen in place.