I was applying the finishing touches to my makeup when the ringing of my cell phone pierced the silence of my home.

I grabbed it from my bedside table and rolled my eyes at the number flashing across it.

“Morning Dr. Bradford,” I answered with a sting in my voice.

“It’s 7:30. The car is waiting for you out front.”

I heaved an agitated sigh as I stared at my reflection in the bedroom mirror.

Well, Hyerim’s reflection.

“Be right down,” I said, clicking off quicker than he could respond.

I stepped out into my living area, threw on a tan pea coat over my daisy patterned dress, and slung my lemon yellow cross-body bag over my shoulder.

“Phone, keys, meds, check,” I listed off before stepping out of the apartment.

I took my time heading down the dimly lit corridor to the car pick-up and drop-off.

My anxiety was already starting to rise, my shaking hands the ultimate giveaway.

The car area was desolate, with only a white convertible sitting in the center, flashing its bright headlights to get my attention.

I smiled and waved slightly, hurrying to the car.

I pulled on the door and was immediately greeted with badgering. 

“The man said 7:30. Not 7:35 woman! Every minute counts. Every single one! And I missed five of them! Five!” the slender man rambled.

His hair was mussed, his white collar was flipped upward, and his face hadn’t introduced itself to a razor in months.

Dr. Bradford trusted this guy to get me to my hometown safely.

I can feel the care and consideration.

“I apologize mister. It won’t happen again,” I lied, slipping onto the middle seat and fastening my seatbelt.

“Yeah, yeah, you said that the last time,” he huffed, putting the car into drive.

He sped out of the lot and onto the streets, tearing up the asphalt with the rubber on his tires.

“Dr. Bradford has orders to get you there early today. Something about an evaluation?” He looked at me through the rearview mirror.

My face blanched.

Evaluation?

“Did Dr. Bradford say anything else about this ‘evaluation’?” I gulped, returning the gaze.

“Mmm, not that I can think of. He was pretty secretive about the entire thing.”

Shocker.

I nodded my head and turned to look at the world outside of the window.

It was still pretty early for a Saturday morning, and only people setting up for their businesses were up and about.

They reminded me of my mom.

How she would always be up tidying before dawn.

She rarely ever slept in saying, “I only get this life once, and I don’t want to waste it sleeping.”

At the time, I would have said she was right.

You get one life to live, might as well spend it awake.

Perhaps I’m the exception though.

After all, living as Eunji is sort of living twice, right?

I’d been pondering on the total amount of lives someone was granted for longer a time than I thought.

When I had returned to my senses, we were driving down a familiar street, spotted with houses I’d been to as a child.

My hands were back to their nervous shaking as we neared my old home.

When I was Soohyun, the front patio area was littered with regularly tended plants and religiously symbolic wind chimes.

My mom and dad would always decorate the front according to seasons, making our home look the most inviting.

Now there was just a gray barred gate, blocking the homes behind it from the outside world.

It looked tragic and bleak, much like how our lives were now.

We pulled up in front and my stomach turned, partly due to Dr. Bradford’s unexpected evaluation.

The thought of lying on hospital tables, being poked and prodded, has almost developed into a phobia.

It had become such a regular procedure for me to go under the needle, that eventually the thought of it became unbearable.

The only feeling of excitement I came across being in Hyerim’s body was the time when Dr. April lifted me up from the hospital bed and seated me in a wheelchair.

Being freed from those restraints made my heart skip a beat.

Sad, I know.

And the thought of returning to one, after the better part of a year, made Hyerim’s blood run cold.

“Hey, get out! You’re wasting more of my time!” The driver shouted at me, waving his scrawny finger a mere inch from my face.

I sat with my mouth parted, taking time to digest his words before I got out.

I nodded, opened the door, and stepped out of the car.

He wasted no time, leaving me there, standing before my old home, alone.

I stood in the street, trying to find the courage to walk up and ring the buzzer, but Hyerim’s body stood as cold as the winter air.

“Come one you wimp. Ring the bell.”

My quivering hand reached up to touch it, but my arm suddenly felt a squeeze from someone’s hand.

Before I could turn and bolt, the person belonging to the hand broke into a sprint.

He ran in the opposite direction, all the way down the street, until his black tracksuit cladded body disappeared.

I looked down to my side to make sure my purse was still there.

I didn’t remember pick-pockets being in the neighborhood, but then again, things were different than before.

Extremely different.

“Eunji, what are you doing, get in here.”

My mother’s unexpected presence made me jump.

I was already rattled by the weird guy who’d grabbed me,