“I understand. While you go to the hospital pretending to be me, I go to Vale Group pretending to be you.”
“Yes.”
I rubbed my forehead.
“We’ve known each other for less than a day, yet we already have to live each other’s lives.”
Evelyn laughed softly.
A moment of silence passed.
I glanced toward Sera, who had quietly returned to the dining area sometime during our conversation and begun collecting the empty dishes.
“Won’t the people at the hospital question why ‘Nathan Gold’ suddenly has special treatment from the Vale Group?”
“People receive private medical care every day without being required to explain their social connections,” Evelyn said. “The assessment will still be legitimate. The people who actually need to know anything unusual will be kept to a minimum.”
I nodded slowly.
It still felt strange knowing that somebody else was going to establish my official abilities for me, but considering the alternative involved explaining that my spatial Awakening had turned me into an involuntary body thief, there really was no other way.
Especially when the person taking the assessment could apparently use my ability better than I could.
That thought was going to annoy me for a while.
Sera lifted the last plate from the table.
“If neither of you requires anything else tonight, I suggest you get some rest. We will need to leave early tomorrow.”
The exhaustion I had managed to ignore until then seemed to take those words as permission to return all at once.
It had been a ridiculously long day.
I had woken up in a hospital after a Class Zero Gate incident, discovered that I had Awakened, accidentally exchanged bodies with a stranger, gotten involved in an assassination attempt against one of the most important figures in Arc City, and somehow ended up staying in her penthouse.
Thinking about the entire sequence at once made me wonder how I was still functioning.
Evelyn stood from the table.
“Let’s go to bed.”
I looked at her.
She raised an eyebrow.
“I meant it separately, Eve.”
Great, it seemed she had decided to give me a nickname right after expressing her trust in me. I decided to reciprocate in kind.
“I was going to ask which room I was supposed to use. Nate.”
“Why ask for such an obvious thing? Where else would you sleep but your bedroom?”
I followed her out of the dining area and down the hallway, leaving Sera behind to finish whatever she was doing. By now, I was grateful that I had changed out of the dress hours earlier. Walking around in my own shorts and tank top still felt strange when they were wrapped around Evelyn’s body, but at least they were much more comfortable once I stopped being conscious of how I appeared.
Evelyn stopped in front of a bedroom door and opened it.
The room beyond was spacious and elegant, though considerably more restrained than I might have expected from someone of Evelyn’s stature. A massive bed dominated the center of the room, dressed in layers of dark-blue and gold-decorated bedding that looked almost too perfectly arranged to disturb, while a long upholstered bench rested at its foot. Matching bedside tables stood on either side beneath narrow designer lamps, their warm light reflecting faintly from polished stone and dark wood surfaces.
The rest of the room followed the same understated luxury. A thick rug softened much of the floor, a low seating area occupied one corner beside a sleek coffee table, and several pieces of carefully chosen artwork decorated the walls without making the space feel crowded. Even the furniture that appeared simple at first glance had the sort of proportions and finish that made it obvious somebody had spent an unreasonable amount of time deciding exactly where everything should go.
The widest wall was almost entirely glass, overlooking the lights of Arc City far below, while heavy curtains had been drawn back neatly on either side. It looked less as though Evelyn had personally filled the room with expensive things and more as though she had told some unfortunate designer to keep it simple, only for them to interpret that instruction according to the standards of people who had drowned themselves in luxury.
I looked inside, then back at her.
“Why have you brought me to your bedroom?”
“It is currently yours.”
I had thought she was joking until a moment ago, yet seeing her expression become serious, I couldn’t help but ask again.
“Do you really want me to sleep in your bed?”
“You’re already wearing my body. I think sleeping in my bed is rather far down the list of boundaries we crossed today.”
Once again, I found myself unable to produce a convincing counterargument.
“Where will you sleep then?”
“There are several guest rooms.”
Something about hearing her casually volunteer to sleep in a guest room inside her own home while I took her bedroom made me feel vaguely guilty.
“You can sleep here if you want. I’ll take one of the other rooms.”
“No, if we are going to live each other’s lives, it is better to start from now on. Besides it will be easier for Sera to dress you with my wardrobe and dressing table being here.”
She stepped closer and, without warning, reached out to brush a loose strand of platinum-blonde hair away from my face.
The gesture was brief enough that I barely had time to react before her hand dropped again.
“Try to sleep properly. Your body may be benefiting from your Awakening, but mine still needs a proper amount of rest.”
“I’ll try to make sure to rest plenty in your stead too.”
“I appreciate your consideration.”
She turned to leave.
“Evelyn.”
She stopped at the doorway.
“What happens if we switch back during the night?”
For once, her expression lost most of its teasing.
“I don’t know.”
That simple answer bothered me more than I expected.
So far, almost everything about my new ability had been speculation. We didn’t know what had triggered the swap beyond my attempt to use spatial manipulation. We didn’t know how long it would last, how to reverse it, or whether it might simply decide to fix itself without asking either of us.
Evelyn glanced down at my body—her current body—before looking at me again.
“If it happens, then it happens. We’ve already crossed the biggest hurdle. We can deal with whatever comes next”
There was something reassuring about how casually she said it.
“Good night, Nathan.”
“Good night. Evelyn”
She closed the door behind her.
For the first time since the hospital, I was completely alone.
I stood there for several seconds before turning toward the bed.
Then another practical problem occurred to me.
My chest.
I looked down at the white tank top stretched tightly over it.
Sleeping on my stomach was probably out of the question.
I sighed and climbed beneath the covers.
The mattress felt softer than mine, and after lying on my back for a few moments, I experimentally rolled onto my side. That immediately felt more natural, although I had to adjust the position of my arms around the unfamiliar weight against my chest before I was comfortable.
Even going to sleep required experimentation now.
Wonderful.
I reached toward the bedside table, turned off the light, and stared into the darkness.
The city beyond the windows continued glowing, distant enough that the room remained dim rather than completely black.
Tomorrow, Evelyn would take my Awakening assessment using my body.
Meanwhile, I would be going to Vale Group with Sera, showing my face to enough people to prove that Evelyn Vale was perfectly healthy and unaffected by tonight’s incident, while hopefully avoiding anything important enough to expose the fact that I had absolutely no idea how to run her company.
And somewhere between all of that, we still needed to figure out how the hell to get our situation under control.
I closed my eyes.
Maybe I would wake up in my own body and discover that the entire problem had solved itself overnight.
Even then, there was still the matter of Evelyn requiring my help to obtain evidence of her relatives’ corruption.
Still, there was nothing I could do about it tonight.
For the first time since I had opened my eyes in the hospital, I stopped trying to understand what was happening and simply let the exhaustion catch up with me.
Sleep found me surprisingly quickly.
Author's Note
If you’ve been enjoying the story so far, I’d really appreciate an honest rating or review on Royal Road. Since the story is still building its audience there, every genuine rating helps it gain a little more visibility.
[Royal Road]
Also, I have a final tomorrow, so the morning update may be late.
Wish me luck.