Just as Yuying was still trying to process the fact that she now has a wholeass Reddit post written about her, her phone vibrates.
Yuying blinks as she shakes her head, trying to block out the fact that there was now a post about her out in the Internet where anyone and everyone could see.
Yuying checks her notifications as soon as she'd recovered. It's a text from Jiawen.
It's only at then does Yuying remember that she'd been meaning to open Jiawen's texts and call her back immediately after.
Instead, Yuying had accidentally opened her chat with Junwei, from which she was directed to the Reddit post and found herself getting carried away by her shock over the Reddit post.
Yuying opens Jiawen's text as soon as she receives it. However, she gets a call from the latter before she could even read it.
Yuying immediately picks it up. Just as she opened her mouth to say something, Jiawen beat her to it.
"Yuying!" Jiawen exclaims from the other end of the line. She sounds like she'd been anxious and worried all day. "I called you as soon as I saw that you're online and had opened my texts. Are you alright?!"
"Woah, chill out, Jiawen," Yuying replies, trying to sound as reassuring as she could. The usually cool and level-headed Jiawen was making it sound like she'd died or something.
This is the first time that Yuying is hearing Jiawen sound so anxious and worried when she was usually the worrier of the two. It was really unlike her best friend and roommate.
"Chill out?" Jiawen scoffs from the other end, "How do you expect me to chill out when I had to find out that my dearest best friend and roomie had fallen down the stairs and collapsed?! You'd become the talk of the town and a Reddit sensation overnight, for crying out loud!"
Jiawen is rambling so much that Yuying could barely catch what she was saying. It almost sounds like her best friend and roommate was speaking a foreign language that she didn't understand or something.
"Woah, woah, calm down, Jiawen," Yuying reassures her best friend and roommate, "I'm fine, really. I just got back home after getting discharged from the hospital."
"Oh, thank goodness," Jiawen sighs from the other end, sounding relieved. "I thought something bad happened to you because you didn't answer my texts or pick up my calls..."
Even though Yuying knew that it wasn't really her fault, she couldn't help but feel guilty.
How could Yuying be so cruel to make her best friend and roommate worried sick about her when she was snoozing away in a scratchy hospital bed the entire time?
"I'm sorry, Jiawen," Yuying apologizes, "But I was passed out cold in the hospital bed. I only just opened your texts."
"Bitch, why are you even apologizing to me?" Jiawen drawls cheekily from the other end, "There's no need for you to apologize to me! I'm just glad that you're okay."
"Me too," Yuying sighs. These two simple words carried a much more loaded meaning than Jiawen would've known.
/I'm so glad to be back in my world.../
"In fact," Jiawen suddenly continues, "I should be the one apologizing to you instead."
Yuying couldn't help but furrow her brows at Jiawen's words. She didn't know what her best friend and roommate meant by this.
"Huh?" Yuying quips, "I don't get it. Why should you be the one apologizing to me?"
"You were acting so weird yesterday morning," Jiawen replies, "You didn't seem to be feeling well...I should've seen the signs and known better..."
Yuying furrows even harder at Jiawen's words.
/I was acting weird yesterday morning...?/
/But...I have no recollection of yesterday morning.../
/Because... I'd woken up in that strange ancient Chinese universe instead of here.../
Yuying is furrowing her brows so hard now that she's probably facing the risk of getting premature wrinkles on her face even though she's only twenty years old.
/If I didn't wake up in my body yesterday morning.../
/Who did...?/
"I was acting weird yesterday morning...?" Yuying repeats Jiawen's words because she doesn't know how else to reply to her best friend and roommate. "How so?"
Even though Yuying can't see her, she could hear Jiawen frowning on the other end.
"Well, for starters," Jiawen replies, "Sarah from a few doors down claimed that you were trying to wash your hands in the toilet bowl. I didn't see it for myself, but that's what she said..."
Yuying widens her eyes at this new information. She's horrified.
"I..." Yuying gawks, not knowing how to respond to what Jiawen had revealed. "What...?!"
"Oh, you couldn't stop pulling at the hem of your oversized T-shirt too," Jiawen continues, "It's almost like you were trying to magically lengthen it or something."
Yuying's jaw drops even more, such that it's barely hovering above the ground.
"Oh, and you spoke in Chinese to me," Jiawen adds, "Like, girl, I know you're a Chinese major and all, but we don't usually speak Chinese to each other. Heck, no typical Singaporean Chinese kid ever does. I must say, that was kind of weird."
Yuying's jaw collapses onto the ground with a thud. Well, not literally, but you know what I mean.
Yuying's eyes are blown wide as she tries to absorb the information that Jiawen had just given her.
/So, she's saying that I...allegedly washed my hands in the toilet bowl.../
/Kept pulling at my oversized T-shirt as though it was too short for me or something.../
/And spoke in Chinese to her...?!/
Yuying immediately knows that something is off. Very, very off.
/That's not me...!/
/That's not me at all...!/
However, it's not like Yuying could say this to Jiawen. Her best friend and roommate would probably think that she lost her marbles or something.
"Ah...I..." Yuying murmurs, not really knowing what to say, "Well, I guess...I really wasn't acting like myself yesterday, was I?
Yuying half-jokes in an attempt to play off the situation, trying to make it seem like it wasn't a big deal. However, in reality, she was internally screaming in her head.
"You really weren't," Jiawen replies from the other end, "You know, it was almost as though you'd become an entirely different person or something..."
Yuying widens her eyes at Jiawen's words. Even though it was just a speculation, it seemed to hit awfully close to home.
Neither Yuying nor Jiawen knew at this time just how right the latter was.
"N-No way," Yuying forces a chuckle, trying to laugh off Jiawen's words awkwardly, "I'm pretty sure that was me yesterday..."
Yuying internally facepalms as soon as the sentence escapes her lips.
/I'm pretty sure that was me yesterday...?!/
/Really, Yuying...?!/
/How much more sus could you get...?!/
Realizing just how sus she sounded, Yuying decides to switch her tactic and change the subject.
"I-I mean, maybe I was possessed or something!" Yuying blurts out the first thing that she thinks of, "Who knows, you may be next!"
"Choy! (Singaporean slang for "nonsense" and "touch wood")" Jiawen irks from the other end of the line, "Don't joke like that, or else I'm going to get a Fengshui master to help cleanse and exorcise our room or something!"
Yuying chuckles at her Jiawen's overdramatic and exaggerated response. "Relax, relax, I was just messing around with you," she reassures her best friend and roommate.
"Anyway, I've got to go catch some sleepeye now," Yuying informs, "It's not very fun to fall down the stairs, just so you know."
"Alright, you smartass," Jiawen giggles, "Aw man, I really wanted to visit you at the hospital, but I didn't know where you were or how you were doing until now. Anyway, when will you be coming back to hall?"
"Oh, about that," Yuying replies, "Well, um, my parents are making me stay at home for the coming week. They want me to fully rest and recover before they let me go back to hall."
"Aw man," Jiawen says, "That's a bummer, but I suppose you should get some rest at home too. Well, I guess I'm going to have a single deluxe room to myself for the coming week."
"Don't enjoy it too much," Yuying jokes, "Who knows, maybe you'll find having a room to yourself so lovely that you'll kick me out of the room."
"Nonsense," Jiawen huffs, "I'll never abandon you, my dear best friend and roomie! I've been sticking by your ass for so many years now that I can't even remember how my life was like before I met you."
"Aw, you're so sweet," Yuying coos, half-jokingly and half-seriously. She's genuinely grateful towards Jiawen for sticking by her all these years.
"Anyway, don't miss me too much, yeah?" Yuying says, to which Jiawen makes kissy noises from the other end of the line.
"Already missing you, bestie!" Jiawen chirps from the other end of the line.
Yuying chuckles at just how ridiculous her best friend and roommate could be before she hangs up.
"Alright, bye girl," Yuying says, "See you next week!"
"Bye girl!" Jiawen hums from the other end of the line before the call ends.
Yuying sinks back onto her bed as soon as the call with Jiawen ends. She couldn't help thinking about what she'd said on the phone.
/So, I'd been acting all weird yesterday morning.../
/But if that wasn't me.../
/Who was it...?/