I took the lead again and called down the elevator.
Just as we were about to enter, the entrance door opened once more. I watched as Evelyn immediately tensed, ready to rush forward and take down whoever had just entered, as though the thugs in the underpass hadn't been the end of her troubles.
I hurriedly hugged her arm to stop her, afraid that she might end up hurting some innocent neighbor who was merely returning home late from a shift.
Luckily, my intervention proved justified a moment later when a tired-looking middle-aged man with a balding crown stepped through the now-open entrance.
His initially surprised expression slowly turned red as he looked toward us—or, more accurately, as I quickly realized, toward my chest, which was currently pressed against the arm of my original body.
Thinking about the situation from his perspective, it was easy to misunderstand. A devastatingly beautiful young woman was apparently being taken home by her boyfriend, and she seemed fond enough of him to cling to his arm even while waiting for the elevator, as if she were excited about whatever awaited her once they reached his apartment.
As my thoughts reached that point, I immediately tried to pull Evelyn through the now-open elevator doors, only to stop when I realized I wasn't going anywhere.
Once I understood that my current strength wasn't nearly enough to move my body against the will of its new inhabitant, I sent Evelyn a pleading look.
She smirked, clearly amused by my plight, and seemed to savor the expression she was probably unfamiliar with seeing on her own face.
When she finally decided to grant my wish and stepped into the elevator, I noticed the middle-aged neighbour sending an approving glance towards her.
I was saved by the fact that he was barely more than a familiar face I happened to see once or twice a month. Otherwise, how the hell was I supposed to explain a situation like this to my parents?
I quickly separated from Evelyn once we entered. My family lived on the fortieth floor, so an awkward silence settled over us as the elevator ascended. I wanted to confront her about what had just happened, but decided it would be better to wait until we were comfortable at my place.
When the elevator reached our floor, I stepped out and quickly headed toward my apartment. Each floor housed four families, and I had no desire to repeat what had just happened, especially with neighbours who occasionally stopped to chat with my parents.
I had never been more grateful that the individual apartment doors used PIN-based locks. I quickly entered the code and stepped into the hallway of our apartment, which was relatively spacious for a place in an upper-middle-class residential district, largely thanks to my parents' efforts over the years.
The first thing I did after entering was sit down on the hallway bench and remove my heels. The damned things had been hurting my feet the entire way here, although I couldn't exactly blame them. It wasn't like they had been designed for a stroll through the streets.
I had to bend down farther than expected just to get a clear view of my feet, and feeling the unfamiliar weight of my chest shift forward with me was another new experience. My feet had turned slightly pink from walking in the heels, though somehow that only made them look prettier.
It took me a while to figure out how to undo the ankle straps, especially with their ridiculously small buckles set with tiny gems, and the various distractions my new form provided certainly weren't helping. I had only ever seen my mother wear shoes like these on special occasions, and even then, all she ever did was complain about how much they hurt her feet.
I’m sorry, Mum. I promise I’ll never get annoyed by your complaints again.
After freeing my feet from the heels and slipping into my mom's comfortable slippers, I noticed Evelyn still standing beside the closed door. She had already removed my shoes and placed them neatly on the shoe rack.
Without thinking much of it, I handed her my slippers and pointed toward the living room across from the entrance.
“Go and sit down. I’ll bring us something to drink.”
“Nothing high in calories. You have a figure to maintain.”
I stared at her for a moment.
Apparently, Evelyn had adapted to our situation much faster than I had if she was already capable of joking about something this ridiculous.
I watched as she walked through the hallway and into the living room, seemingly analysing my situation from the state of the apartment around her.
Deciding there was no point in stalling, I headed into the kitchen. Luckily, there was still some cola left in the fridge from the last time I had ordered pizza. I deliberately chose two large mugs while taking my thirst into consideration, something I hadn't even noticed until I was finally back in the warmth of my home.
I carried the mugs into the living room. Evelyn had settled into my father's favorite couch, which stood directly in front of the TV, and had turned on the news while seemingly waiting for something.
I placed the mugs on the table between us and sat on the couch diagonally to her left, adjusting the dress until I could sit more comfortably.
Evelyn shifted her attention from the television to the drinks. Apparently, she was thirsty enough to postpone our conversation for a little longer.
Matching her timing, I grabbed my mug and took a large gulp, as large as my small mouth allowed me to.
My eyes widened as a sharp stinging sensation immediately spread across my tongue. Apparently, my sense of taste had not been exempt from the changes that my other senses had undergone. Resisting the discomfort, I managed to swallow what was already in my mouth before setting the mug back on the table.
“As I said before, you owe me an explanation.”
Pulling my attention away from the cola and trying to hide my dismay, I met Evelyn's eyes. She was looking at me with a serious expression, and feeling both responsible for our situation and genuinely sympathetic toward what I had put her through, I decided there was little point in hiding anything from her.
“First of all, I should apologize. To be honest, my only intention was to help you while you were being mugged, but it seems I only managed to make things worse for both of us.”
The expression on my own face softened slightly. Even if I was no longer the one occupying that body, twenty years of seeing it in the mirror made the small movement of my brows and the other subtle changes surprisingly easy to read.
“Because of an accident this morning, I was hospitalized until late afternoon. When I woke up, the doctor told me that I had Awakened an ability related to spatial manipulation. I was supposed to go to the Awakening Administration Bureau tomorrow for a final checkup.”
As I finished speaking, Evelyn's brows rose slightly, and for several seconds she seemed to consider something.
“So that explains the strange connection I’ve been feeling with the space around me.”
She extended one hand slightly toward the half-empty mug sitting on the table.
Blink.
A moment later, the mug vanished from the table and appeared in her hand as though it had always been there. Even the surface of the cola remained almost perfectly still.
I could only stare.