As Daniel was about to stand up to leave Emily, Emily’s hand held him gently.
“Ethan, why are you so cruel to me?” Emily showed a sad expression on her face.
“For two weeks, you disappeared without news. I was anxious about you,” Emily continued in a trembling voice.
With one hand, Emily gently held Daniel’s cheek, which was now in her body. “I missed you so much.” Emily’s tears flowed down her cheeks.
Daniel tried to remove Emily’s hand from his face, but Emily refused firmly. “Don’t go. I can’t forget you. Let’s be together again.”
“Why do your cheeks look so gaunt? Your body is also getting thinner,” Emily said while looking attentively at Daniel, who was now inside her. “Did you suffer too during our separation?” Emily was getting carried away by the effects of the hangover.
“I’m sorry, let’s be together again,” Emily said in a hopeful voice.
A moment later, her hand slipped from Daniel’s face inside her body and she lost consciousness completely. Seeing Emily, who finally fell asleep with a snoring sound, made Daniel’s gaze even colder and darker.
The next morning, Emily slowly opened her eyes and stretched her body. The first thing she saw was the ceiling of the room that looked unfamiliar to her hotel room.
“Where is this?” Emily wondered while trying to sit up from her sleep. She held her head and winced in pain. But she was surprised to see Daniel sitting on the sofa close to her bed, staring at her with a sharp gaze.
Emily adjusted her glasses and asked, “Mr. Daniel, how did you get here?”
Suddenly Emily’s mind drifted to last night, when she was drunk and delirious, mentioning Ethan’s name. Emily swallowed hard, feeling like she had embarrassed herself in front of Daniel. She smacked her head lightly, lowering her face, embarrassed to look at Daniel.
“Did I sleep here last night, sir?” asked Emily.
“You think?” asked Daniel.
Emily paused, the answer all too obvious as she was now in Daniel’s bed.
“Mmm, about last night… I’m sorry, sir. I…” before Emily could continue her explanation, Daniel quickly cut her off.
“We’ll go to the old house and look for that old lady again,” Daniel explained.
“Hurry and get ready!” Daniel ordered.
Under the plan that had been set, they had to return to the mysterious old house to look for the old lady, hoping to return their switched souls. Thawatchai accompanied them on this trip, his presence needed to translate the words of the locals.
Upon arriving at the parking lot, the same driver who had left them there greeted them. The driver politely opened the door for Emily and Daniel.
After they got into the car, Daniel immediately asked the driver a question. “How could you just leave us like that?” asked Daniel in a curious tone.
“What do you mean?” asked the driver with a confused face.
“You just left us in that old house after returning from the festival,” Daniel explained.
“I never drove you to an old house. Didn’t I just take you back to the hotel after returning from the festival?” the driver explained firmly that he had never taken the two of them to the old house mentioned by Daniel.
It’s not like he was lying. He really doesn’t remember it, Daniel thought.
“What are you saying? You obviously left us there,” Emily said in a confused tone.
“B-but I definitely drove Mr. and Mrs. back to the hotel,” the driver denied all the accusations against him.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t understand what was being discussed earlier. Did our driver make a mistake?” asked Thawatchai, trying to understand the situation and seek clarification.
“Forget it,” Daniel replied briefly, then gave the route of their destination this time, trying to continue the journey with a calmer atmosphere.
Emily was surprised at Daniel’s relaxed reaction and assumed nothing had happened to them. While Emily still wanted to ask the driver more questions. Relying solely on Daniel’s memory of the location of the old house, they continued their long journey.
After a winding drive surrounded by dense trees with towering branches, they finally arrived at their destination. With hearts pounding, Emily and Daniel got out of the car, staring in disbelief at what they saw before them.
“This…” Emily was shocked and couldn’t finish her sentence.
“This can’t be, right?” Emily looked at Daniel with an incredulous expression. The scene also transfixed Daniel before them.
In front of them, there was a huge tree that had stood strong for tens, or maybe even hundreds, of years. The tree towered high into the sky, with a strong trunk and roots that spread in all directions. The leaves also looked very dense and green, but the atmosphere created in the tree felt magical and mysterious.
“Excuse me, but what exactly are we looking for in this forest?” asked Thawatchai, who finally got out of the car, curious about the real purpose of the two of them going to this forest.
Emily felt her knees weaken until finally she could not stand up and fell to her knees. The exhaustion and confusion that engulfed her made her feel almost hopeless.
“No way. This is impossible,” Emily said as she continued to shake her head, unable to believe what she was seeing.
How could an old house just disappear and be replaced by an old tree overnight? Were all the memories they both had of the old house just an illusion? Those questions filled her mind, creating deep doubts about the reality they were facing.
“Are you okay?” asked Thawatchai with concern at Emily’s limp state.
“Can you leave us alone for a moment?” pleaded Daniel to Thawatchai, hoping to gain some privacy in their conversation. Thawatchai nodded quickly and left them alone.
Daniel held out his hand for Emily to grab. Emily looked sadly at Daniel and grabbed the hand until she could stand up again.
“Are we really unable to return to our bodies?” asked Emily with a sense of despair.
“How could the old house disappear? And how could the driver just forget about it?” Emily expressed her confusion about what had happened to them.
“It looks like the old lady made the driver lost his memory,” Daniel clenched his hands tightly, holding back his rising emotions.
“What is our fate, sir? We can’t go back under these circumstances,” Emily said, her voice filled with desperation.
Daniel massaged his furrowed mid-brow, his mind whirling with the best they could do in this situation.
“We need to find out more about all this,” Daniel said.
“Do you have a plan?” asked Emily, her eyes searching for an answer in Daniel’s gaze.
“Not really a plan. But we could at least try asking the locals here. Maybe they know something about the old lady or about strange events that have happened here,” Daniel replied.
“Strange happenings?” Emily looked at Daniel, her forehead furrowed in confusion.
“Yes, like mystical events that might have happened here,” Daniel replied again.
Hearing Daniel’s answer, Emily’s heart beat faster and her hair stood on end. Her mind was filled with frightening possibilities.
“We need to move quickly and not waste any more time,” Daniel said, breaking Emily’s reverie and cutting off the flow of her worried thoughts.
Who exactly was that old lady? Why is she doing this to us? Why did she make our destinies tied up like this? I have to figure out all this nonsense immediately, Daniel thought with a sharp, cold look in his eyes.
How am I supposed to live my life as the CEO of a company? Who exactly is that old lady? What is her purpose in doing this to us? Emily thought to herself.