Daniel stepped into his workroom, his heart racing, his hands clenched so tightly that his knuckles turned white. With a controlled yet powerful movement, the back of his hand hit the surface of the desk hard. His breath hitched, not from exhaustion, but from an unending inner battle. “Why is it that whenever I’m around her, I can’t help myself?” he murmured, a voice full of indecision hidden behind a firm tone.
The death of his parents, a tragedy inseparable from Emily’s name, should have been a shield, strengthening him resolve to remain distant. However, every look, every smile that accidentally crossed the woman’s face, seemed to erode the strength he had worked so hard to build. “Didn’t you intend to use Emily to lure out the truck driver, who destroyed everything?” Daniel asked, his own reflection reflected in the window, his voice cold, without a tremor of emotion.
Daniel massaged the middle of his furrowed brow, trying to ease the headache that was attacking.
Suddenly, an incoming message notification broke the silence, distracting him. His phone screen lit up, revealing Richard’s name. With a bated breath, he opened the message.
‘I’m sorry sir if I’m intruding on your time at this time of night, but I’ve found out the identity of those looking for the truck driver. They’re not just anyone, but an organization of illegal creditors. They give loans to those in distress, only to bind them to an agreement.’
“Illegal creditors?” muttered Daniel, his forehead creased in confusion.
Without hesitation, Daniel dialed Richard’s number to connect the call with him.
“Hello,” came Richard’s voice from the other end of the line.
“How did the truck driver get involved with them?” Daniel asked.
“It seems the truck driver took out a very large loan and couldn’t pay it back,” Richard replied, his voice low and heavy, as if carrying the weight of the news he was delivering.
“Is there still no news about the truck driver?” asked Daniel in a tone that reflected his anxiety.
“Nothing, sir,” Richard replied.
“Let me know immediately if there is any new information about the organization or the truck driver,” he said firmly.
“Yes, sir. I’ll let you know as soon as there are any new developments,” Richard promised.
Daniel was silent for a moment, his mind racing. “Try to find out, too. Is there an unknown identity of the corpse? Maybe the truck driver is dead,” he said, a new theory emerging in his mind.
“Yes, sir. I will find out immediately and inform you about this,” Richard replied.
Daniel’s mind was thrown back to the bleak past. He remembered well that day, the day everything changed. He remembered how he begged, almost insisted, that his parents attend the awards ceremony. “Please come. I don’t want to know.”
His father, David Winston, with a tired but loving smile, replied, “We’ll try, Daniel.” His mother, Mary, with a soft voice, added, “We won’t miss your big moment.”
“Promise?” Daniel demanded a promise from his parents, seeking reassurance in their words.
“Well, we promise,” his father said, and they laughed together, not realizing that it would be their last laugh together.
The next day, at school, Daniel stood on stage with sparkling eyes full of hope. However, that hope slowly faded when his parents didn’t show up.
‘Liars! They didn’t come and broke their promise,’ Daniel thought with deep disappointment.
With a pounding heart, little Daniel stared at the trophy in his hand, a symbol of happiness that now felt ironic. That joy felt empty without the presence of his parents. He tried to contact them many times until finally his mother answered Daniel’s phone call. “Yes, dear. We’re about to arrive.”
However, that relief soon turned to terror. “Oh my God, David! Look out!” his mother shouted from the other end of the line.
A loud bang sounded, and Daniel felt his body tremble, his eyes reddening at the horrific sound. “Mom! Dad! What’s wrong, Mom!” he shouted, but there was no answer.
Daniel’s world seemed to stop spinning. The trophy and cell phone in his hand just fell out. With unsteady steps, he ran out of the school building, shouting his parents’ names, his voice drowned out by the chaos and panic.
“Mom! Dad! Where are you?” he shouted, as he broke through the crowd gathered around the debris of the tragedy. Every step felt like a nightmare, every second like an eternity. There, among the flashing lights and the deafening sound of sirens, little Daniel found himself on the brink of a world that would never be the same, a world that had ripped apart his childhood and left unhealed wounds.
***
Upon returning to the room, Daniel found Emily already fast asleep, with her back facing him. He lay down beside her, not realizing that she wasn’t actually asleep. They slept with their backs to each other, separated by a wall of unspoken sadness.
When dawn broke, Emily woke up with a strange feeling. She was shocked to see the image of herself sleeping in front of her, and in that instant, she realized their souls had been swapped again. Emily immediately woke up, her heart pounding, and so did Daniel, who had also noticed the changes in his body.
“We’re back to swap bodies again,” Emily murmured, her voice trembling with a mixture of confusion and annoyance.
“Yeah,” Daniel replied briefly, his voice flat, as if it had become a tiresome routine.
“That granny really played us, didn’t she?” asked Emily.
Daniel didn’t answer. He got up from his sleep and walked towards the bathroom, leaving Emily with her question hanging in the air.
In the steam-filled bathroom, Daniel stared at Emily’s reflection in the mirror with a blank stare, and questions ran through his mind.
“Damn, what did I miss back then?” muttered Daniel, his voice almost drowning in the heat haze. He tried to recall the mysterious old lady’s words, hoping to find some missed clue how their souls could have swapped back and forth without the accident happening.
His mind drifted to the mysterious grandmother’s advice, her soft voice echoing in his memory.
‘Love is a beautiful gift. When we trust and love others, we open the door to miracles and happiness in our lives.’
“Love?” muttered Daniel, his voice only a whisper. These few days, he felt something different, an unusual tremor in his heart when he was around Emily.
However, he quickly dismissed the thought. “It’s not right,” he said, his voice cold, full of rejection. “I can’t love that woman.”
Daniel reminded himself firmly, “Her real father causes my parents’ death.”
Anger burned inside Daniel’s chest, but he suppressed it, letting the coldness of logic take over. “This exchange has also prevented me from finding the truck driver. Damn it,” he growled, his voice shaking with uncontrollable emotion.
At breakfast, the silence was deafening. Emily tried to break the silence, but words felt stuck in her throat. After finishing his meal, Daniel got up and left the room without a word, leaving Emily rooted to the spot.
The household assistant sent by Daniel’s grandfather could only stare in confusion. “Aren’t they newlyweds?” she muttered to herself, not understanding why the atmosphere was so tense.
Emily felt the coldness of Daniel’s silence. During this week, the rules of their soul exchange changed. Every night at 7 o’clock, their souls would return to their respective bodies. During this week too, Emily could feel the widening distance between her and Daniel, and it made her heart ache.
Every time Daniel came home from work, he would head straight to his workroom, leaving Emily alone with her questions. And sometimes if it was time for their souls to return, Daniel would disappear, leaving Emily with a deepening void.
One day, Emily could no longer hold back. With a trembling yet courageous voice, she confronted Daniel in his workroom.
“Are you avoiding me?” she asked, her eyes searching for answers in Daniel’s gaze. “Why? Even though this marriage is just an agreement, am I a joke to you?”