Daniel was silent for a moment, his eyes glued to the sparkles reflecting off the shiny earring lying in the wall’s corner near his grandfather’s study. Daniel reached for the earring carefully.
Suddenly, the sound of the housemaid’s light steps broke the silence of the room. Daniel immediately stopped her, his eyes looking sharply at the assistant. “Did you have any visitors last night?” Daniel asked.
“Sorry, Young Master. Last night, Master ordered all of us to help with his birthday preparations, so no one stayed,” the assistant replied in a soft voice.
“No one stayed?” asked Daniel.
“Master ordered us all to vacate the house,” the maid replied in a voice full of obedience and respect.
‘Vacate the house? But for what?’ Daniel’s mind felt confused.
Daniel took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down. “Alright, I understand. You may return to your work,” Daniel said.
The assistant nodded respectfully, looking at Daniel with great reverence. “Yes, Master,” she replied, bowing her head before slowly leaving the room.
Daniel looked back at the earring in his hand, the sparkle of the jewel reflecting the light. Suddenly his memory drifted back to last night. Sophia was shocked to see Jake lying on the floor, and Daniel clearly remembered that the earrings Sophia was wearing was exactly the same as the earring he was holding right now.
“Maybe it was Aunt Sophia who dropped this,” Daniel muttered under his breath as he put the earring into his pants pocket.
With cautious steps, Daniel entered Jake’s study and paused for a moment as his eyes fell on Jake’s cell phone lying on the desk. Without hesitation, he turned off the phone and placed it carefully in his grandfather’s desk drawer. As he opened the drawer, Daniel’s eyes fell on a family photo frame. In the picture, Grandpa, his biological father, David, his aunt and uncle were all smiling broadly.
Daniel’s feelings oscillated between emptiness and deep disappointment. He still found it hard to believe that luck had never been on his side. As the minutes passed, Daniel sat in his grandfather’s study chair, letting himself drown in his childhood memories.
After a while, Daniel finally went home. All the way home, he stared blankly at the window, letting his mind drift to the various things that had happened in his life. When the car finally stopped in front of his residence, Daniel got out.
“Have you arrived home?” asked Emily upon seeing Daniel’s arrival.
“Yes, I have,” Daniel replied.
As Daniel was about to step inside, Emily’s hand stopped him gently. “Wait.”
Daniel immediately stayed where he was when he heard Emily’s order. Emily approached him and took Daniel into her hug.
“Stay still and don’t move,” Emily ordered in a soft voice. She didn’t have too much trouble hugging Daniel at the moment because her soul was trapped inside Daniel’s body.
Emily hugged Daniel tightly, patting gently on Daniel’s shoulder, which was now on her body, as if giving him the strength to survive when a lot of problems hit him.
“You’re okay, right?” Emily asked. “If it’s too hard for you, please tell me. I’ll listen to your heart,” she added while still hugging Daniel with warmth and care.
“I’m fine,” Daniel replied, a faint smile gracing his face.
“We should postpone our honeymoon vacation,” said Emily.
“Why should it be postponed?” asked Daniel.
“I don’t want us to go on vacation in this state of grief. After all, we’re already together, right? So whenever we want to go, we can go when things are really calm and better,” Emily replied.
“We can go without worrying too much about it,” Daniel said in a calm voice, trying to ease Emily’s worries.
Emily released her hug from Daniel and shook her head firmly. “No, no. I want us to leave in a calm and happy state,” she said firmly, showing her firm resolve.
“Emily,” Daniel called in a soft tone.
“Can’t you just listen to me this time?” asked Emily in a hopeful voice.
Looking at Emily’s expectant eyes, Daniel finally nodded. “Alright. I will listen to you. We will postpone our departure,” he said.
Emily smiled before saying again. “Go take a shower first,” her tone was soft yet firm.
“Very well, Mrs. Winston,” Daniel replied respectfully, making Emily smile slightly at the call.
Daniel went to clean himself up, while Emily helped him put the dirty clothes Daniel had used into the laundry basket. While tidying up the dirty clothes, Emily accidentally felt something in Daniel’s pants pocket. Curiously, Emily took the object out of the pocket and was surprised to see a sparkling earring in her hand.
“Whose earring is this?” muttered Emily, confusion written all over her face. Suddenly, however, her memory took her back to Jake’s birthday party, where she had bumped into Olivia and seen the same earrings that were now in front of her.
As Daniel finished cleaning up, he saw Emily sitting at the end of the bed with a grim expression on her face.
“What’s wrong?” asked Daniel, his soft voice breaking Emily’s reverie.
“Whose earring is this?” asked Emily, her eyes staring intently at Daniel.
“Oh, it is Aunt Sophia’s earring. It looks like she dropped it at Grandpa’s place last night. I found it when I went there earlier,” Daniel replied in a calm voice.
Hearing Daniel’s answer, Emily breathed a little easier, relieved of the worries and doubts that had haunted her about Daniel’s infidelity.
Daniel stepped closer to Emily. “Don’t tell me you think those are my cheating earring?” he guessed with a faint smile on his face.
“No, I wouldn’t think that,” Emily replied nervously as Daniel’s guess at her turned out to be correct.
Daniel immediately flicked his fingers on Emily’s forehead.
“Ahh, that hurts,” Emily hissed as she held her forehead, a slight grimace on her face.
“I don’t believe you,” Daniel said in a slightly mocking voice.
“What do you mean? You don’t trust me? Don’t you love me? You should trust me,” Emily retorted.
“You don’t believe me either,” Daniel replied briefly, his eyes looking meaningfully at Emily.
“I-it’s because… because I was confused to suddenly see an earring in your pants pocket,” Emily replied nervously, making a big smile engraved on Daniel’s face.
“Why are you smiling?” asked Emily with a slightly annoyed expression.
“We’re swapping bodies right now. I’m in your body. Is it possible that I’m cheating on you with a woman too?” asked Daniel in a voice filled with clarity and conviction.
“Well, I’ll believe you,” Emily replied in the end.
A faint smile etched Daniel’s lips at Emily’s misunderstanding.
“But this earring is really similar to the ones Olivia was wearing at Grandpa’s birthday party last night,” Emily said.
“Olivia?” Daniel frowned, his expression full of confusion.
“Yes, I accidentally bumped into her last night at Grandpa’s birthday party,” Emily explained. “I met her when she came out of Grandpa’s residence. She said she got lost while looking for the bathroom. This earring look exactly the same as the ones she was wearing,” she continued.
“Are you sure that this earring is exactly the same as the ones worn by Olivia?” Daniel asked again to confirm the truth of the information he had received.
Emily nodded in response to Daniel’s question. “I’m very familiar with the jewel in this earring.”
“Sorry, Emily. I have to make sure of something,” Daniel said before leaving Emily sitting silently in the room.
As he left the room, Daniel’s fingers deftly danced across the keyboard keys, searching for someone’s contact number and dialing it.
“Hello,” came a female voice from the other end of the line.
“Hello Auntie. It’s me, Emily,” said Daniel, whose soul was currently trapped in Emily’s body.
“What are you calling me about?” asked Sophia.
“It seems that Auntie dropped an earring at the party last night. I will return this to you,” said Daniel.
“Earring? What do you mean, I didn’t lose an earring at all,” Sophia said, sounding confused by Daniel’s words.
“Is that so? I guess I was mistaken. Thank you for your time, Auntie. See you later,” Daniel said before disconnecting the phone.
‘If it’s not Aunt, could it be Olivia? But why would she be at Grandpa’s?’ Daniel wondered.