The sun shone with intense brightness, beating down on her mercilessly as she stood in the bushes. The grass should have been yellow beneath the light, but instead it was red. Bodies lay scattered at different angles, still and lifeless.
In the middle of the bushes stood a lone figure, staring forward with empty eyes.
She was a girl of about ten years old. Her small face was covered in bruises, and she wore a white dress now stained red. Her long brown hair hung in a tangled mess. Though she was surrounded by dead bodies, her gaze remained fixed ahead.
Several men sat inside an off-road car, each holding a gun. The one in the middle grinned darkly, revealing his rotten teeth, before raising his pistol and aiming it at her.
The girl remained motionless. Her breath quickened, yet her expression did not change. Then the harsh sound of a gunshot rang out.
Her eyes snapped open. Her heartbeat thundered as she lay on the bed, a non-rebreather mask pressed against her face, her neck drenched in sweat.
Was she alive?
The memory of her fall flashed back in that silent room. She had fallen from the building, no, someone had pushed her. Someone wanted her dead. Panic struck her, and she wished she could get up, if not for her lack of strength.
She had to find him.
The next day, she was taken to a lab where her entire body was scanned. The doctor examined the results on a computer. Once the tests were complete, she was brought back to the ward.
In his office, the doctor sat across from Michelle's so-called guardian.
The guardian was a good-looking young man with a buzz cut. He wore a neatly tucked-in shirt with suit trousers, and a wristwatch completed his smart appearance.
"Mr. Yuen, about your sister..."
Alan Yuen lifted his eyes to him. "It's nothing serious… right?"
The doctor pointed to the scan of Michelle's hand. "There's minor nerve damage in her right hand. She'll need to avoid lifting anything heavy until it heals properly. Otherwise, it could worsen."
"She's left-handed. That won't be a problem, right?"
In the ward, she raised her hand and touched the familiar face reflected in the mirror. It felt real, but in a ridiculous way. Maybe it was the effect of staying in bed for three months.
She splashed a handful of water onto her face to clear her mind. When she looked up again, she frowned.
What was that?
"Michelle!" a voice called from outside.
Her sharp eyes turned toward the door. Michelle was the name of that officer. She was Reina, the murder suspect.
Since waking up, she had only been addressed as Miss Michelle. She hadn't thought much of it before, but now…
She looked down at her body, at her hands, then back at the mirror. Her heart rate quickened with horror. She covered her ears as the voice continued to call out.
"Michelle. Are you alright?"
What happened? How did this happen? The last time she saw the detective was on the day of the accident, when the detective visited her.
Someone needed to explain this craziness. And what about her? Where was Michelle now?
She staggered out of the bathroom, forcing her weak body to move. When she reached the room, she stopped upon seeing a figure standing in the center.
Alan immediately rushed to her and grabbed her hand, his gaze fixed on her with concern. He slowly tried to help her sit on the bed, but Michelle tightened her grip on his hand and looked up at him.
"What did you just call me?" she asked quietly.
He studied her for a moment, and his eyes widened. Didn't the doctor confirm that she was fine?
"Don't tell me you've lost your memory." His brows furrowed. "Do you remember who I am?"
She had asked the wrong question. She wanted to correct herself and ask about Reina, but she hesitated. Everyone saw her as Michelle.
Alan noticing Michelle's blank expression, his jaw dropped. "Shit!"
Before long, the doctor was called. "It's just temporary memory loss due to the coma. Her brain is still recovering, so there's nothing to worry about."
Alan let out a breath. If she had lost her memories and he was the only one to take care of her, that would be troublesome.
He shifted his gaze to Michelle, who stared out the window as if she was lost.
When the doctor left and they were alone, Alan pulled his chair closer. With no other choice, he began to explain.
"Your name is Michelle Cheng. I'm Alan Yuen." He paused. "We don't share the same last name because I'm your stepbrother."
Should he also tell her how they never got along? Or how their parents died? No, that would be terrible. He shook his head.
"I'm a prosecutor. And you? You're a detective."
A crazy detective with a knack for cracking cases and a love for money. With the number of enemies you created, how could you forget them? He cleared his throat, knowing he wouldn't say that aloud.
"Your last case was about the murderer they call Sicaria."
At that, Michelle shifted her attention from the window to him. For a brief moment, her eyes glinted sharply. Sicaria was who the detective believed her to be.
"You went to see her. She fell from the fifth floor and landed on your car. You were inside." He stopped, wondering whether telling her this would cause panic.
However, she seemed to focus on a different detail.
"I was in a car..." she asked.
She remembered it clearly, when she fell, she had slammed onto a car. It belonged to the detective? That explained why she survived.
"What about the suspect?"
She couldn't have died, right?
He studied her impatient expression. "She's not waking up anytime soon. And with her in that condition, the case is stuck."
Her eyes widened. "What do you mean? Is she dead?"
"She's alive… but she's in a vegetative state."
She could not believe the madness of it all. She stood here as Michelle. Could it be that Michelle was now Reina? What was heaven trying to do?
"I want to see her."
He glanced at her in disbelief. How could she think about the case in her condition?
"Focus on recovering first."
"No. I have to see her," she said hastily, her frustration clearly visible. "I need to confirm something."
Alan exhaled. Soon after, he was pushing her wheelchair down the corridor until they stopped at the ICU door.
As they prepared to enter, her heart thundered loudly. If she stepped inside, there would be no turning back.
He pushed the door open and slowly wheeled her toward the bed before stopping.
She stared at the girl lying there, breathing with the help of medical equipment, looking half-dead.
Her hands trembled, and an inexplicable coldness spread through her body. There was no denying it after seeing the face. The dreadful truth was unmistakable. The one sleeping there was her—yet she was also here.
She was Reina Lau, but inside Michelle's body.