You're My Only Star

Chapter Five: Mortal Peril

The sky gradually darkened, and it was time for me to go.

“Come live with me.” I blurted out to Boomi.

She thought for a moment about it, and then scratching the back of her head, replied “hire me instead.”

“What?” I asked, genuinely confused.

“Hire me. That’s the only valid reason that would explain me moving in with you. Hire me to be your personal assistant, or something.” She explained, handing me the purse I left on the table.

“That is genius! Would you start next morning?”

“Remember what we said about you visiting your family?” Boomi reminded me.

We had agreed, since it was also recommended by the doctors, that a small break and a trip back to Amelia’s hometown might help me regain back the memories. I needed something like a trigger, which will give a spark and light up my memory.

I’ll admit it once, I’m scared.

“Yeah, but if you’re my personal assistant it won’t be weird visiting them together.” I argued. The truth was I didn’t want to go somewhere I had no idea how the people were like. Despite wanting to have Amelia’s memories back –if anything to make living her life easier, I didn’t want to be separated from my best friend, who is also the only person aware of my real situation.

“Amy, you’ll be fine, you’ll be okay, and you’ll do great. It’s just for a week; hopefully you’ll remember something about her. We’ll text, we’ll call, and when you get back, you’ll hire me.” Boomi simplified everything.

I nodded in agreement, and after saying a strained and unwilling goodbye, set off down the stairs until I reached where Woo Bin had parked the tinted car.

“Miss, why are you crying?” He asked, getting out of the driver’s seat and immediately opening the back seat for me.

I glared at him, wiping away the tears and saying nothing.

“Are you not feeling well? Did the person you meet make you sad?” He prodded, refusing to close the door after I had gotten in, and waiting for me to give an answer.

“If you’re not going to drive, my legs are perfectly fine to walk.”

It sounded mean, but I was in a state of despair and cold anger, so I didn’t really care. Plus, it was not his place to ask all these questions. Weren’t bodyguards just supposed to protect you and stuff?

“I’m sorry for being intrusive miss.” He replied professionally, and shut the door, going back around to the driver’s seat and starting up the car.

“Where should I drive you to, miss?”

At this point, I had given up on telling him to use my name instead of a formal tittle which sounds foreign and uncomfortable to me.

“Home…” I said, or at least wherever Amelia cries and sleeps in peace.

My thoughts drifted off with the passing city lights that whizzed by me, as I laid my forehead on the cold window, and stared out the dark sky, trying to find some sort of way to solidify my mind and assure myself of my own existence.

Surprisingly and fortunately, I didn’t have horrible panic attacks whenever I’m in a car. I still felt unable to drive and sit behind the wheels, but I had expected a little more resistance from my mind since PTSD is something very real.

It feels like the car accident was years ago…

During the therapy sessions I had gone through in the hospital, Amelia’s captured memories were shown to me, from childhood to high school, to college and then acting school…

I had also been shown photographs of her family members in hopes that it would spark a memory, but nothing happened, and it only made me remember the blank space I had in the place where family memories were supposed to be.

I sighed heavily.

So many things were so very wrong…

How am I supposed to live life in someone else’s body, pretending to be her? How am I supposed to meet her family and act like I am their daughter when their daughter, the real Amelia, is gone? How am I supposed to adjust? How am I supposed to become Amelia?

The tires screeched, and my body lunged forward, hitting my head on the front seat painfully. The deafening sound of a gunshot jolted me backwards, and I all of a sudden became alert with panic.

Before I could ask what was going on, a large vehicle, the type used for construction that resembled a tractor crashed into us, sending the whole car spinning like a Ferris wheel.

Vomit rose to my throat, but I bravely forced it down, holding on to anything I could grab for dear life.

Not me dying again, please, not again…

“Don’t let go!” Woo Bin screamed, gripping the steering wheel and trying to stabilize the directions the car moved towards so we wouldn’t crash into anything.

Boom!

My senses must have been heightened due to the panic and adrenaline, because I saw the bullet that shattered both windows, missing my face by barely two inches. This isn’t a regular accident. Somebody is trying to kill me.

The realization made me regret being disrespectful to the person that had threatened me on the phone earlier. What was I thinking? I’m not made of steel. I’m human.

The car halted, stopping completely, and my relief soon turned to paralyzing fear when another vehicle, an armored jeep, sped towards us, the lights temporarily blinding me. I was screaming, but couldn’t even hear my own voice as it gained more velocity.

This is it.

Will I be transported into another body? Will I be given a third chance? Maybe not… maybe this is death.

I kept my eyes open.

Barely a moment before the vehicle made contact with ours, another car intercepted the attack, smashing into the jeep with an earsplitting crash. Everything happened so fast. Woo Bin got out of the car, limping with a bloody forehead, and scooped me out of the backseat; a crying and quivering mess.

In the midst of smoke and darkness, I couldn’t see anything, but I still kept my eyes open. I had begun to feel weightless, an almost peaceful detachment from my body, and then everything stopped.

The sounds, the pain in my body, the smoke, the darkness, everything…

Blood, so much blood… I staggered back in horror, clamping down on my mouth to stop the blood-curdling scream that rose from my voice box. A body lay in front of me, a large piece of metal impaled through the heart.

My dead body…

Blood pooled at the back of the head, the neck turned in an unnatural angle, as my own lifeless eyes stared back up at me accusingly. Skin mixed with glass, hipbone protruding out, and three ribs jutting out of the stomach with the tip of one broken.

The left leg was completely severed off, and the right leg bended in half, broken at the knee.

Still the lifeless body stared back up at me.

I couldn’t breathe…

My fingers clawed at my throat, and I fell backwards, creeping away from the ghastly sight.

Something yanked me back to Amelia’s body, and I instantly took a deep inhale, clutching at the person that was holding me, and yelling. My words were incoherent, as I sobbed, gripping the person’s shirt.

Count backwards, I told myself, but I couldn’t even remember the order of the numbers. My whole body quivered, my teeth clamping down on each other, only to open up for a sob or scream to escape.

“T- t- ten, en…” I tried anyways.

“Ni- n- ni- ne…”

Slender fingers caressed my hair, massaging my scalp in slow circles, before the person pulled me closer in a warm embrace. I held on to them tighter, and continued counting backwards.

“You’re okay, you’re safe.” He assured.

I rubbed my tear-stained eyes and focused on the features of the person, craning my head back.

“I just saved your life again, Gwon Mi Young.” He said with a charming smile, and I could’ve sworn that he was an angel; with his handsome features and captivating aura. Except I had seen this man, countless of times…

Even in the afterlife, I’d be able to recognize my favorite idol.

“Vincent…” I whispered in disbelief.

“Amelia…”