The sterile smell of antiseptic.The hum of a machine, the hurried footsteps of the stranger . His ears capture the sob of the woman in front of him .
Eden Emika opened his eyes, only to be met with a sight he hadn't seen in years but still recognized all too well: the ward ,the same one where his twin brother lay unconscious, still in a coma.
What is this? His memory fragment? What happened after the blinding light? the detective ? the room?Is he… returning to the past?
His mind rang with confusion. It felt too real for him to speak of it as an illusion , too vivid to pass on his memories. He steps further towards the woman, reaching out hesitantly until his hand lands on her trembling shoulders .
The woman sobs halted, Slowly ,the worn and teary red eyes locking into Eden.
"Adan….how can Eden do this to us??" Her tone whispered in sadness. His mother, who he held little memory in his mind, embraced him again. He had forgotten this feeling, considering she left the world years after he entered college from illness.
It's warm…its real
"Adan," the woman's voice trembled with desperation.
Eden kept his mouth shut. He didn't dare to correct her, just like before. He stayed silent, letting her call him by the name that wasn't his. The name of the other. Adan , his twin.
Ah…What should he do now?
A hum of realization escaped his lips. The deal was sealed. The so-called fraud call had been real. He's back in the turning point of his life. The start of his life as Adan Emika.
He is back at seventeen again.
—
A while later
The phone screen keep turning on and off as Eden checking on or waiting for the call to explain the situation to him
Silent...
Blank...
"Ten forty five pm ... .two…zero…zero…eight…" He murmured under his breath. The word keeps repeating in his mouth as he tries to regain the sense of reality.
Year 2008.
I'm back again…
Eden sat on the chair beside the sleeping twin. His twins still look the same, just a bit paler and…motionless. The only thing that shows Adan still breathing is the beeping noises of Electrocardiogram (ECG) machines.
"Dude... I don't think I'm back again to save you," Eden whispered. "You'll die anyway. But seriously man... Why couldn't you use your own name to die? People think I'm the one who jumped, you know?"
His throat tightened. "Is that why you asked me to switch places with you that day, you little jerk?" He scooted the chair closer, studying Adan's motionless features. "Yeah... it must be nice to sleep through all this."
It's not like he had a full recollection of his memories. Time travel, if that's even what this was, didn't come with a neat little folder of flashbacks or a cheat sheet titled "How to Save Your Twin Before He Steals Your Identity." It's too late to save Adan in the first place.
Adan's body was covered in bandages and a cast. Skin abrasions, the doctor said. Head trauma. Spinal injuries. The list was too long, too bleak. They called it a miracle that he had survived the fall at all.
The police had declared it an attempted suicide, based on the letter found in Adan's hand. Their father had been the last to see him that day, the final witness. He confirmed it was Eden Emika lying in the hospital bed, not Adan. That was all it took. The case was closed.
DNA testing? The police didn't bother. Too much paperwork, too much effort. They just wanted the file off their desk.
And their parents didn't push for it either. No questions. No insistence. Just acceptance.
Adan had been wearing Eden's school uniform. He was carrying Eden's wallet, Eden's ID, even Eden's phone. That was enough for everyone to nod, stamp the report, and move on. "Eden Emika, seventeen, attempted suicide." Case closed. No suspicion. No second look.
Such lazy, incompetent cops.
they just didn't care.
That's not the problem.. The main point is why can't their parents differentiate them. Born minutes apart. Raised together. Identical, sure but they are still not the same person.
Why can't they tell them apart? They were their sons, no? Why can they just accept it was Eden, the one dying? Something is amiss?
Something was off. Something is deeply wrong.
Now that he think again , its pretty absurd when Adan used his name for suicide. Why would Adan be him to commit suicide, The guy had everything he wish and envy. Stress perhaps?
Is that why his twins asked them to change places on that day? Pretending to be each other.
They weren't even close, Not anymore. Their lives had long since split. Adan went to a prestigious academy and lived in a dorm. Eden went to a regular high school. They drifted. They changed.
So why now?
Why this?
Eden stood up with a sigh. "Ah... I'm hungry," he muttered. Thinking uses too much energy. He slipped the phone into his pocket and walked out of the ward.