The strange atmosphere of the Lohrasb house made everyone ill at ease. After Madame's return with the young master Edwin, no one dared make any noise in the house. Butler Hans stared at everyone in the house with burning eyes. They were supposed to monitor the young master so he would not leave the house unattended, but they failed even at this simple task.
The young master Edwin was unpredictable and unstable; it would be worse if someone mentioned something about his younger brother.
If Madame did not prefer a quiet environment, he would erupt like a volcano and scold everybody.
At the sound of a door opening, everyone focused on a petite woman with long straight black hair, amber eyes, a small nose, thin lips, and olive macho skin. Despite her slight silhouette, the rage in her eyes made them shudder. Madam was famous for her short temper.
Housekeeper Sheena was afraid everybody would be fired any second, so she came forward and spoke.
" Madam, Haily's family requested to meet you regarding their involvement in the young master's disappearance. "
Kathy Lohrasb sighed so she could calm down. She was frightened by the scene where her son was lying unconscious in the alley. That boy, Desmond Haily, was dead meat. She clenched her fists and signalled the housekeeper to accept the meeting.
In the Lohrasb family's reception room, the foot tapping reflected Desmond's anguish. He did not expect the result of his impulsive behaviour to be so severe. He peaked at his parent's expression nervously. He wished he didn't look because he started sweating excessively. He knew his parents were strict and old-fashioned and wouldn't be happy to receive notice from Edwin's family. When the news reached his father's ears, the wrath on his face made him believe that his father would break his legs at any moment.
He had no recollection of how he ended up here. He was in a trance when his cheek was slapped.
"What did you think of leaving Edwin on his own? You're his closest friend. Don't you know what happened to him? I thought I had lost my son ."
Mrs Lohrasb said emotionally.
Desmond was very ashamed of himself. Back then, he was travelling the world with his grandparents. When he got back, a month had gone by. He never saw the awful circumstances. He thought that Edwin's personality had changed and that it was no big deal. But reality had proved him to be an ignorant man. Tears started to pile up in his eyes.
"Sorry, I haven't thought this through."
Everyone in the room was surprised. Desmond was famous for being stubborn and childlike. He was known to be a little demon of the community.
Mrs Haily walked towards Kathy and embraced her. She was brokenhearted about her friend. Until she was 20, she was the beloved daughter of the Zomorod family. Despite her bad temper, her kindness was still visible to the naked eye. She was a famous wildflower of this city's high society, but she withered after her marriage.
" Kathy, you know you can always rely on us. As for Desmond, I will discipline him severely. He could tour his uncle's military camp for a while. "
Desmond's eyes were wide open while trembling. He begged his mom.
"No, please, I'll do whatever it takes, but don't send me there."
Before anyone could say anything, a maid hurriedly barged into the room and informed them the young master was up.
****
On the second floor, in a spacious room, a frail boy slept with wrinkled eyebrows. He muttered incoherently into his sleep. Doctor Jason was frowning in front of the bed. He had seen the boy grow up and cared about him as his son. No one knew what had happened a year ago, but the changes in him were too catchy not to realise. Edwin's behaviour has hurt so many people, especially his little sister. Dr Jason rechecked his vital signs and confirmed they were expected. He walked out of the room.
.
Dena opened her eyes and sighed with relief. She was still not prepared to meet this new family. She has just accepted she is in a male body. She tried to put together the information she had obtained so far but was nevertheless in the dark. She had read a lot of novels about transmigration and soul-swapping, but she didn't know which scenario this was. She looked in every corner of her memory for a book named Edwin, but it bore no fruit.
After thinking about it, she decided to take the memory loss root. She did not know this world or this family. She wouldn't want them to be suspicious of this body and taken to a psychiatric hospital. The good thing is that she hit her head on the ground when she fainted. She could use this for the time being.
Dena felt a lot better after analysing the whole thing. She slowly rose from the bed and walked to the toilet. She had an urgency to pee but was conflicted about what to do.' Sitting down or standing up? '
After a while, with a red face, she climbed into the bed and put her head on her pillow. It wasn't as if she had never seen the male area, but it was part of her now. It was a completely different feeling.
She heard a knock on the door, and a middle-aged man with salt and pepper hair and a stern face came into view. They looked at each other for a moment, and then, surprisingly, the man rushed into the hallway in a flash despite his age and disappeared. Later, a swarm of people entered her bedroom. Dena was flabbergasted with that. There were two couples and a small girl and a café boy. They spoke simultaneously and asked how she was feeling or whether there was any injury.
Before she could utter anything, she was hugged by a petite woman. She believed her bones would be broken at any time by the strength of her hug.
She struggled to break free of it until she could no longer tolerate it and screamed furiously.
"Let me go. Who are you? "
The room was so silent that even a pin drop could be heard. Their shocked faces were too much for her to handle. She had no intention of hurting their feelings. She felt frustrated and uneasy at having taken their son's place.
With that anger, everybody except one man with a white coat left the room. Dena figured out he was a physician. The man began to ask many questions that she was unable to answer. With each word, the doctor's face appeared uglier.
Out of the room, Kathy tried to hide her feelings from her daughter and husband. She was the only one who knew what happened at that summer camp last year. Her family had strong ties to national security, so she came across a classified document that contained the truth about her son's trauma. All she could do was take full responsibility for watching her son so that his life would not be more miserable than it was. This was the first time the bodyguards were ditched by his son.
Perhaps, with amnesia, her son was able to recover. The past year has been a nightmare for everyone, especially Edwin, who returned unscathed while his brother was bloodied and unconscious. At first, people thought he offended his brother, but the man did not cause the wounds on her younger son Kaveh. So, out of the blue, he became a coward who left his brother. In the meantime, her son did not explain what happened. The investigators labelled it as an animal attack and closed the case.
" Mum, is big brother okay? He won't be the same as the second brother, will he? "
Rojina asked her mom with concern. She was a 10-year-old girl who didn't understand why their happy family turned out this way. The two brothers who doted on her suddenly became like strangers. Her mother and father quarrelled all the time. She was alone most days. She began to feel resentment and hatred towards everyone, particularly her older brother, who looked at her with contempt and horror.
"Pumpkin, don't worry, he hit his head and was confused. He's going to be all right.
Her dad crouches down so he can look her in the eye. Viguen Lohrasb was tall with chestnut brown wavy hair and warm green eyes. His gentleness was all a facade he put in front of other people. He was the third son in the Lohrasb family and had gone to great lengths to inherit the family business. He had readily taken advantage of all that surrounded him for his ambitions, including his wife and children. When his ducks were finally lined up, his sons were useless.
Initially, he guessed that someone had targeted his children, but in reality, it was only an animal attack that had shaken the prestige of his family. Rumours of his eldest son's cowardice were omnipresent in the town. The patriarch of the house of Lohrasb was incredibly disappointed with him. Survival of the fittest was their motto. Therefore, they will accept his son into the family when the hell freezes.
His only chance was his daughter.
Kathy felt nauseous seeing the calculations in her husband's eyes and hearing his sweet words to their daughter. She was wondering how she could fall for this person-years ago. She was young and naive enough to believe his nonsense at that time.