"What?!" Chen Kangle screamed, "Today is the deadline?! I thought it was tomorrow?" she scrambled from the bed in panic, the sleepiness vanishing as she hurried to her desk to open her laptop while talking to Xia Chen on the phone.
"You better hurry up girl! or you'll be la—"
"Hey, I'll call you back later, okay bye!" Chen Kangle interrupted and hang up without waiting for her reply. Sitting in front of her desk, She turned on the laptop to print out her papers.
Thank the Gods I finished my papers last night—I mean earlier—since I only slept for less than an hour.
Recently, Chen Kangle had been sleeping less to finish her capstone project, which will decide whether she get to graduate or not. Right now, Chen Kangle's head is throbbing after being woken up forcefully and her eyes are only open through sheer willpower as she feel like if she even blink a little that she'll fall asleep.
While printing, Chen Kangle washed her face and changed clothes like she was being chased and put on a little concealer and powder so Chen Kangle won't scare people by looking like a vengeful ghost. She grabbed her bag just in time the printing is done. After securing she didn't forgot anything important, she hurry out the door and ran to the subway station like her life is on the line. Luckily the subway station is just near Chen Kangle's rented apartment, but unluckily she's still 15 minutes by subway away from campus.
…
Chen Kangle sat in the bench under the Sequoia tree inside the campus, as she watch Xia Chen approaching her, holding a milk tea in both hands.
"Here" she said, handing the strawberry flavored milk tea to Chen Kangle, "Thanks".
Chen Kangle sipped on her milk tea and sigh in relief.
She finally submitted her capstone papers, now she don't have to worry about deadlines anymore.
"Xiaochen thanks for calling me earlier, otherwise I'll never be able to submit my papers and I'll have to wait next year to graduate"
"Its good that you manage to arrive on time , otherwise that nasty professor probably won't accept your papers—no, he definitely won't accept your papers." Xia Chen says then sips on her milk tea while biting the straw.
"Ah right, I won't be coming with you guys tonight, I really need to catch up on my sleep haaa" Chen Kangle says as she tried to hold back a yawn.
"You sure?", "Yeah, I'm dead tired. I just want to sleep. I'll leave first, and thanks for the milk tea. Bye." Chen Kangle said as she stands and grabs her bag.
After reaching her rented apartment, Chen Kangle closed the door behind her and leaned against it for a second, letting out a long, quiet breath.
The silence felt like a balm, wrapping around her gently after the nonstop noise of the day.
She dropped her bag onto the floor and made her way to the bed, tugging off her shoes on the way.
Without turning on the lights, She sat at the edge of the bed and stared blankly at the floor while massaging her throbbing forehead. The rush from earlier had finally worn off, leaving only the dull throb in her temples and the ache behind her eyes. But underneath it all was a strange kind of peace—because it was over. The papers were submitted. The deadline was met. She did it.
The exhaustion hit all at once like a wave crashing over her. She didn't even bother changing—she just collapsed onto the bed, still half-dressed, eyes fluttering shut before her head even hit the pillow.
As she drifted off, Chen Kangle thought she heard her phone buzz once from across the room inside her bag , but she was already too far gone to care.
…
Chen Kangle had already anticipated that after sleeping for five hours at most for the past five days, she'd have another headache party going on in her head the following day. But she didn't expect it to be this bad!
It started with a mild throb at the back of her head, which quickly escalated into something that felt like her skull was about to implode. She had headaches before, whenever she work so much and she had gotten used to it, or at least Chen Kangle thought she had. But no amount of caffeine or willpower could make this better.
The unmistakable smell of herbs and dust hanging in the air aggravated herheadache. F*ck.
Chen Kangle clutched her head and sat up too quickly, which was a terrible idea because her vision decided to go on vacation. Chen Kangle's hands fumbled against the fabric beneath her. Wait. Was that... straw?
A voice snapped her out of her dazed state.
"Hey! You're awake, Sis!"
She blinked. Trying to regain her vision. That sounded like—
"Sis?"
Chen Kangle turned her head to see a young boy standing beside the bed, his face lit up with excitement. The second he saw Chen Kangle's confused expression, he frowned. "What's wrong? You don't look so good…"
Chen Kangle stared at him for a second. He was probably around 7 or 8 years old, with bright eyes and an innocent look that screamed "too young to understand the horrors of adult life." But what really made her freeze was the fact that he was calling her Sis.
Chen Kangle was confused and disoriented.
Was this… a younger brother? When did she have a younger brother?
What happened? Was I in some alternate version of my life?
What the f*ck happened while I was asleep!?
"Wait," Chen Kangle whispered, "Who… who are you?"
The boy's eyes widened, and he rushed to her side, as if she had asked the dumbest question in the world. "It's me! Your little brother, Duan Yu! You've been asleep for days! I told you to take rest sometimes, why do you work so hard."
"I'm so worried you won't wake up and leave me" the boy said with watery eyes.
Duan Yu?
Chen Kangle blinked a few more times. There it was again. The name she didn't recognize. She look around at her surroundings and notice the shabby shack, there was a decrepit table in front of the door with medicinal herbs lying around half processed and half dead. The bed she was sitting on looks like it had been passed down from generations to generations.
She scan herself and notice that she looked malnourished, she's so thin that her wrist will probably break with a thug. And Chen Kangle noticed her shabby dirty clothes that looks like it hasn't been washed since ages ago.
"Sis? Are you… okay? You look like you're about to faint again…"
"No, I'm fine," Chen kangle muttered, still processing everything. "I just…"
She couldn't even finish her sentence, because that's when it hit her. Her head. It was spinning, and now her entire life seemed to be slipping out of her control. This wasn't her body. And it sure as hell wasn't Chen Kangle's world.
And then—he said it. The thing that would change everything.
"Sis... don't scare me like that, you're Duan Yanyan, remember? That's your name."
Duan Yanyan.
Her eyes went wide. "Yanyan?" what kind of name is that?
(A/N: Yanyan literally means Choking choke.).
"Why does that sound like... someone choking on their feelings?" she muttered, barely holding back a laugh that sounded more like a cough.
The boy stared at her, his expression becoming more serious. "That's what you are called. You've been Duan Yanyan for as long as I can remember."
Chen Kangle stared at him dazedly. Duan Yanyan? That wasn't her. But... this wasn't her world anymore. And no matter how much she resist she was stuck in someone else's life now. How the hell did it happen? Did I die in my sleep?
It hit her all at once. She'd died in her sleep. And now... this was her new life.
Then she realized something—his name. Duan Yu. His name was almost the same as her. What kind of sick joke was this?
The boy tilted his head, "Are you sure you're okay? You've been working too hard lately."
She let out a sigh, the weight of it all finally crashing over me. The only thing she knew for sure was that she wasn't Chen Kangle anymore.
I am now Duan Yanyan.
And her little brother, Duan Yu, was here to remind her of that.
______________
Hello guys I already edited this part and made it a third person's point of view. I'm still editing the other chapters. :)