"She is stable for now....but"
"But what?", Lily questions agitated
"But she won't stay that way for long...if we don't start surgery soon"
Lily stumbles barely clutching on to a nearby cold steel seat, whimpering and exhausted. Aiden rushes to her side to console her soothingly, but she pushes him away.
I remember this. It's turning out exactly the way the novel should have. Except Lucien's not here.
He's supposed to be here, he was supposed to accompany Lily to the hospital.
Is this my fault? Maybe its because I met Lucien first instead of Lily, is that what this is?
"Does that mean?—", I gasp turning away while Lily and Aiden are occupied with their conversation with the doctor.
"Does that mean, the plot can be changed according to how the events turn out?", a flicker of hope lights within me
Then maybe there must be a way out of this nightmare after all, who knows it might be connected to the blood reflection I saw earlier? Was that a hint.
I need to figure out what it meant
"What?!", Lily 's frenzied voice snags me out of my conviction so jarringly, the floors shake, its dissonance bouncing through the melancholic hallway.
I spot Lily from the corner of my eye, her demeanour fraying as she cups the doctors hands within both of her palms, "Please there has to be some way, how could you put a price tag on the life of a patient? "
I sigh deeply rolling my eyes involuntarily.
Oh my, was she always this dramatic?
"Isn't a doctor's duty to save lives?", she whimpers
She was. huff huff.
My eyes then trail toward Aiden who stood right beside her with his shoulder sagging, his eyes mirroring his helplessness.
Lily, with all the grace of a dramatic damsel in distress falls to her knees spiralling in her grief, "No, no, I can't afford 90k, I've just graduated college"
Aiden helps her to her feet, "You have to stay strong Lily, for your mother"
Lily clutches her skirt tight, as if she hated being in her own skin.
She plops on to the cold steel seat, whimpering softly.
Oh. The drama
The instincts inside me scream at me to shake her to her senses cause a Prince Charming will always come from a damsel in distress like her.
I hate how cliché that is....Oh gods did I really have to get reincarnated into this stupid novel?
Well, at least I'm not Lily, the cinderella with pink hair.
Before I could stop myself, an involuntary soft giggle escapes me.
Both their heads snap up, Lily looked distraught, and Aiden, oh my, the fire in his yellow-gold eyes, I should probably slip away before he could burn me alive.
I quietly turn around a corridor and disappear within the white walls.
Everything in the novel world is so nicely done to mimic reality.
Except the characters of course.
I wander and wander until a rattling door at the edge of a corridor catches my eye. I take a few cautious steps toward it.
I crane my neck slightly to peep inside. There was pretty minimal furniture inside, definitely not more than a single bed with a white bedsheets.
My curiosity gets the better of me as I enter into the room. I was right, this room looked slightly different from the rest of the rooms, abandoned even.
As I circle the room slowly, the door suddenly rattles again. I realise that it was due the wind that was blowing through the window on the opposite side.
I quickly walk toward it and shut it close with a swift click.
The room looked mostly dark other than the little moonlight spilling through this transparent window. My reflection was plastered clearly on the glass.
I don't think I can ever get used to my face now. My new face
From reflection , my thought wander.
Oh right. The blood reflection!
I hastily retrieve my orouboros ring from my pocket. I stare at it with narrow eyes.
That blood reflection from earlier. Was that any sort of a hint? And this ring...
It seemed to make the world freeze earlier, it felt like it glowed only for me and in front of me.
Could this be a key to get my old life back by any chance....?
As I spin the ring, feeling its rough ridges between my fingers, dwelling on my questions, it happens again.
The ring suddenly starts glowing.
I immediately shut my eyes having learnt my lesson the first time. Though, it barely gets any better as I reopen my eyes a few moments later.
I might as well say I'm standing in front of the sun, or doorway to heaven. Whichever's closer.
But I can't deny it's enchanting nevertheless. As I reluctantly force myself to look away, I catch the reflection in the window.
Oh my
It's no longer my reflection. My eyes widen as I see a weird red blinking dot on a scale of 1-10. The red tiny blinking dot appears on the number 6.
What the hell
The blinking light pulses more erratically as it starts to move toward the number 5.
A warning label appear on the reflection above the scale
'Happiness drops below five, you die'
What? I die? My head snaps from side to side? Is that for me?!
Of course, it's for me- stupid, stupid girl.
Great. And just when I thought there's a way out-
I shake my head parrying the dread. First I need to figure out what the hell does this 'happiness' refer to and for what godforsaken reason is it dropping?
I look at the ring willing it to answer, but the stupid ring does nothing but glow and create stupid reflections.....
As if on cue, the ring stops glowing and the reflection disappears
"Genny! Genny?", a massculine yelp echoes through the empty hospital walls, "Where are you Genny?"
Aiden.
Great. Perfect timing.
I quickly spring out of the empty dark room, "Here!", I shout
He runs towards me and halts at two steps from me, "We need to leave, visiting time's over", he says bitterly as if it hurt him to say that, "The doctors only allow close family to stay"
"So you're just leaving?"
"Well weren't you the one who couldn't wait to laugh as this were in a comedy show?" he snarls.
I break eyes contact, "I didn't mean to....sorry about that "
He huffs, "Well don't worry, we're leaving anyway", he says already turning away.
I pick up my pace to match my steps with him, footsteps echoing across. We spot the exit just a few meters away.
I muster up my courage and ask, "....And what about her mother"
He walks faster, "She won't survive the night without surgery. Lily doesn't have funds"
"You didn't offer to help"
He scowls annoyed, "Father is on duty remember?", as if it were the most obvious fact to him.
Maybe it was. Mr. Laurent was a high rank army officer after all.
"Then that's sad..", I comment
"Yeah, it is"
Wait....sad...
Could it be the happiness meter was referring to this particular situation?
In the original novel, Lucien comes to the rescue and saves the day. Her mom lives, and things are not this.....sad
But due to my intervention, Lily never even got to meet Lucien in the first place, the initial plot was overthrown, and the following events changed.....
And now Lily's mother might die.....because of me?!
Just like clockwork, a sudden pang of soul shattering pain hits my chest.
The pain equivalent to a hundred daggers piercing through my chest, making it hard to breathe, think, act.
I am frozen completely in my tracks as my chest tightens further, the wildfire brewing inside devouring every little of the air I had.
As my eyes further blurs and my vision fades, only a single thought echoes in my nerves,
'Happiness drops below five, you die'