[It is the middle of the night. Norma slowly wakes up as Caelia Ardent again and is met by a dreary gray ceiling. She looks at her fingers, slender and delicate, testing her full autonomy.] 

CAELIA - INNER MONOLOGUE:

I’m in Caelia’s body again… Something about figs probably triggered that meeting… They are her favorite food, I guess.

[Caelia looks around the room and realizes she’s in a hospital room. In the visitor chair by the window, Cassian is sitting there and sleeping peacefully.]

CAELIA - INNER MONOLOGUE:

Cassian…? I wonder how long he’s been waiting for me… That chair looks uncomfortable.

[She looks at him with tender eyes, noting how peaceful he looks while sleeping. She smiles to herself and then looks back up at the ceiling. She starts to decipher her conversation with the original Caelia in her head.]

Caelia is right.

How come there are two souls existing in one body? That probably means my foreign soul was placed here for a specific reason… 

Does that mean once I fulfill that reason… I disappear?

[Blankly staring at the ceiling, Caelia comes to terms to accept.]

I shouldn’t complain too much. I mean, how many people can say they got to live a second time…?

[She swallows.] 

I shouldn’t say that… This isn’t my body.

I am not Norma right now, no one knows me as Norma and never will. This isn’t my life. 

Just like in my old life, no one will care if I eventually disappear. And yet again, even in another life… My existence will end up insignificant.

[Unconsciously, Caelia looks over at Cassian again who is still sleeping peacefully.]

It’ll be okay. When the time comes, the time comes. 

And life will continue on for everyone. 

But… to hear that my existence is meaningless… even in this universe…

Is very disheartening. 

[Caelia sighs to herself and tries to sit up but immediately feels a sharp pain in her head and immediately lies back down, groaning in pain and holding her head with her hand.] 

CAELIA - INNER MONOLOGUE:

Man, why does my head still hurt?!?!

[Cassian hears her groan in pain and slowly wakes up. He sees Caelia moving and hurriedly gets up out of his seat and goes over to her.]

CASSIAN (panicking):

“CAELIA! Are you okay?!?!?”

[Struggling, Caelia tries to sit up again.]

CAELIA (struggling):

“Cassian, I’m fine.” 

[Experiencing another sharp pain, she lies back down.]

CASSIAN (worried):

“Caelia, don’t push yourself! You just woke up!!!”

CAELIA (deeply breathing):

“I’m fine… how many hours was I knocked out for?”

[Cassian pauses, hesitating to answer.]

CASSIAN (sad):

“It wasn’t hours, Caelia... It was two days.”

CAELIA - INNER MONOLOGUE:

Two days???? Just because of figs I was out for two whole days??

[Initially shocked at the duration she was passed out for, another thought popped into her head.]

Wait a second…

CAELIA (slowly):

“Hey… Cassian?”

CASSIAN:

“What is it?” 

CAELIA:

“Have you… stayed here the entire time I was here?”

[Caelia looks straight into Cassian’s eyes, letting him know she is serious. He looks back at her with sad eyes.]

CASSIAN:

“Yes, I’ve been here if that’s what you were asking. I was worried about you.”

CAELIA - INNER MONOLOGUE:

Worried about me…? Ah, I mean anyone would be worried if someone fainted in front of them… He’s probably just worried because of that. 

[Caelia’s head starts to throb.]

Ah… My head hurts…

[She doesn’t answer Cassian and slowly closes her eyes to go back to sleep while looking at his face.]

───── ⋆⋅⊹⋅⋆ ─────

[The following morning, Caelia slowly wakes up still in the hospital bed, her head feeling clearer. The morning sun lit her room dimly. She looks over to the visitor chair and doesn’t see Cassian there, feeling a bit lonely and disappointed.]

CAELIA - INNER MONOLOGUE:

He isn’t here anymore… Good. The chairs here are uncomfy anyways. See? He was only worried because you are his coworker.

[Noise comes out from outside her room and she looks over to her hospital room door, it is wide open showing the hospital lobby. Nurses and doctors are hustling around, trying to get to their patients. There is one duo in particular that catches Caelia’s attention- a tall female nurse with long, red hair, and amber eyes is working alongside a tall male nurse with black hair and black eyes. They had stopped in front of Caelia’s room, talking to each other while leaning over at the lobby desk. Caelia stares at the girl’s luscious red hair.]

CAELIA - INNER MONOLOGUE:

Her hair is very pretty… 

[Caelia couldn’t hear what they were saying but they were smiling at each other and laughing as they worked alongside each other. It reminded her of how she and Cassian worked together. As she watches the nurse duo enjoy their time, she realizes she is completely alone in the colorless room.]

CAELIA - INNER MONOLOGUE:

Why am I feeling a little bit sad right now? This feeling should feel normal to me.

[The hospital room started feeling bigger to Caelia. The constant footsteps and chatter from outside her room acted as background noise that amplified her loneliness even more. She just looked up at the ceiling, something she would do constantly in her past life, and just focused on existing. Taking it one second at a time, focusing on breathing in and breathing out with nothing else on her mind. Like the hospital room, her world had started to become gray again. Just as she was going to accept everything, someone stepped into her room.]

???:

“Caelia? You’re awake?”

[Caelia looked over at her door. Cassian was at the door, his aura alone immediately lit up the room. He was carrying a vase full of bright colored flowers. She feels moved, as if his existence stopped her from spiraling even further.]

CAELIA:

“Oh… yeah. I just woke up.”

[She sits up in her bed, this time not feeling any pain. Cassian walks over to the nightstand next to her bed and places the vase full of flowers on it. Looking at the flowers, it is a beautiful assortment of multicolored flowers she had never seen before. The colors were so vibrant that they started to physically add color to her gray hospital room.]

CAELIA - INNER MONOLOGUE:

Was he gone because he was getting those for me…?

CASSIAN: 

“Sorry I was gone. I wanted to get some flowers to brighten this room a bit.”

CAELIA - INNER MONOLOGUE:

Oh… It was to brighten up the room. 

[Caelia caught herself being a little bit disappointed.]

Stupid Norma! Don’t act like everything is for you!

He only likes you as a work partner.

CAELIA (sadly smiles):

“Y-Yeah… They’re very beautiful and bright, they really light up this room. Thank you.”

[Cassian looks at Caelia with kind eyes.]

CASSIAN:

“Do you feel better?” 

CAELIA (awkward):

“Y-Yeah, somewhat.”

CASSIAN:

“So, are you allergic to figs or something?”

CAELIA - INNER MONOLOGUE:

It’s not necessarily allergic…. Some weird phenomenon that probably cannot be explained…

CAELIA (lies):

“I- I guess so? I didn’t even know I was allergic to figs.”

CASSIAN:

“You said Annalise gave you those?”

CAELIA: 

“Yeah… But I don’t blame her, it was a gift. She probably didn’t know, in fact I didn’t even know.”

CAELIA - INNER MONOLOGUE:

I need to continue avoiding the royal circle including Annalise… Hopefully they don’t try to meddle again and get the hint that I don’t want to be involved…

I don’t need any more headaches… Not to mention the original Caelia fully believes that this whole situation is to make her marry Prince Theodoric in some roundabout way…

[Caelia gets deep in her thoughts.]

I just have to be aware that my soul is foreign to this body… 

I am not meant to be here but I was put here for a specific reason… probably. At the end of the day, the outcome is still the same. My soul will probably disappear.

[Being in her thoughts, Caelia felt a large motivation to build.]

CAELIA:

“Hey, Cassian. Could you call the nurse? I feel a lot better and I want to be out of here as soon as possible.”

CASSIAN:

“You need to rest, Caelia.”

CAELIA (smiles):

“Please? I actually do feel a lot better. And I want to get to our next project.”

[Seeing Caelia smile, Cassian trusts her words and reluctantly gives in, leaving the room to go get the doctor. She watches him leave the room. Unconsciously, her heart is beating and her face slightly blushes. Catching herself, she represses those thoughts in denial.]

CAELIA - INNER MONOLOGUE:

If I admit to myself that I do like him… That will be bad. But I don’t. I don’t like him. 

He’s just a coworker. And he only thinks of me as a coworker.

Nothing more, nothing less.

[A nurse eventually came into Caelia’s room and checked her vitals. Everything was cleared and they released Caelia that night. Caelia was not feeling herself and was more quiet than usual for the rest of the night. The engineers went back to their guest home to get much needed rest for the busy days coming up ahead for their next project.]

₊ . ⊹  ݁ ₊‧ . ‿⊱༻✶༺⊰‿ . ‧₊ ݁ ⊹ . ₊ . ⊹  ݁ ₊‧ . ‿⊱༻✶༺⊰‿ . ‧₊ ݁ ⊹ . ₊

[End of Chapter 9 Part 2]