Medical Center.
Anna slowly opened her big, mascara-framed eyes. No more icy morgue, no more cold, grim reaper staring her down.
"Ted, is that you guys?"
"It's us!"
"Really you?"
"Really us, for sure!" 😊
"I'm alive?"
Anna's face scrunched up, confused. "Didn't I… die?"
"What do you remember?" Adam asked.
"I remember waking up in the morgue," Anna said, piecing it together. "The mortician was stitching up a cut on my forehead, telling me I was dead. He even showed me my death certificate.
That's when it hit me—I did get into a car accident last night.
But I was clearly still alive!
He said my soul was just hanging on, and it'd fade soon once my brain cells fully shut down. He was there to 'send me off.'
I didn't buy it! But I couldn't move my body at all.
When I finally could twitch a little, I checked my pulse—nothing. Smacked my arm on the table—no pain.
Maybe I was dead?"
"That wasn't death," Adam explained. "It was a sedative. You got dosed with a hypnotic—put you in a fake death state. That's why you couldn't move and thought all that stuff."
"Oh, that makes sense!" Anna's big eyes widened even more. "He said he was injecting me with a muscle relaxant—to keep my body looking 'alive' for the funeral.
Oh, wait! Mr. Hutton!"
"Your piano teacher?" Adam asked, recalling her mentioning him.
"Yeah!" Anna shivered. "Yesterday at Mr. Hutton's funeral, I was late. When I went to pay my respects, I swear I saw his mouth move.
I thought it was just my imagination—when I focused, it was closed again.
But now… was Mr. Hutton still alive back then too?" 😱
"What?!"
Ted, Lily, and Matthew's jaws dropped.
Lily straight-up shrank into Matthew's arms, trembling.
Adam and Kate locked eyes.
Kate's face went pale—she was basically sold on Adam's theory now.
"Looks like Mr. Hutton was the latest victim," Adam said, his voice heavy.
"This whole thing…" Kate's scalp tingled.
By now, she'd learned Mr. Deacon had run the town's biggest funeral home for over 20 years—one-stop shop for embalming, ceremonies, burials.
The cemetery was right behind it.
Most folks from the town and nearby got buried there.
If Adam was right…
Imagine this: someone gets sedated, tossed in a coffin, buried. When the drugs wear off, they wake up. The sheer panic, the terror—Kate, a seasoned detective, had seen case files like that. They'd claw for their lives.
Open one of those coffins, and you'd probably find bloody scratch marks all over the lid.
Then picture those 100+ photos of wide-eyed corpses. In her head, Kate could almost hear it—hundreds of desperate souls under that cemetery, clawing at their coffin lids, their screams echoing in agony.
If that's not hell, what is? 😨
"You said 'again'?" Adam noticed everyone's faces were ghost-white—freaked out big time. He quickly shifted gears, looking at Anna. "You've had hallucinations before?"
"I…" Anna hesitated.
"Was it tied to you feeling off lately?" Adam glanced at Ted.
"Anna, just tell him," Ted urged, catching on. "Adam's an awesome doctor and our friend. If something's wrong with you, you can trust him."
"Yeah!" Lily piped up, pulling herself together. "Adam's a miracle worker. He's the one who figured out you weren't dead and saved you. Otherwise, Ted would've lost it completely."
"Thanks," Anna said to Adam, then turned to Ted with a soft, loving look. "I'm sorry. I didn't realize you cared this much… I've always wanted love.
But my mom… she taught me from day one that loving someone means getting hurt.
So I decided I wouldn't love anyone—then I'd never get hurt again.
But when we met, it was so intense—I couldn't help falling into it.
A few weeks in, I snapped out of it. I remembered my mom, my old resolve, and I pulled back."
"So you distanced yourself," Ted said, his eyes full of sympathy. "Made me think you didn't love me, so I'd stop loving you—and you wouldn't get hurt. Right?"
"Yeah," Anna nodded.
"You're so silly," Ted said, his voice dripping with sincerity. "I'd never hurt you. You're my perfect match, my soulmate… Whoa! Adam, what the heck?!"
"Nothing, keep going," Adam said, casually plucking a hair from Ted's head with a grin.
He was definitely running a DNA test on these two later. Siblings separated at birth? This plot was way too familiar!
Anna (Wanqing) Taylor (Mu), raised by a probably-heartbroken, kinda-crazy mom who drilled into her that "love equals pain," meets romantic prince Ted (Yu) Mosby (Duan). She's instantly swept off her feet by his charm.
The prince swears he'd never hurt her.
His mom? Total romance queen—her true love was "next-door Uncle Ted." Every year on Uncle Ted's death anniversary, her heart literally stops to honor him.
And in the original timeline, Prince Ted's one true love was blue-horn-playing Robin (Yuyan) Sparkles (Wang), breaking tons of good girls' hearts along the way.
Happy endings are all alike, huh?
So are romantic sagas—just waves crashing over and over! 🌊
"Mhm," Anna said. After brushing death and taking a spin through hell's gates, her mindset had shifted.
Her mom's lessons and shadow? Shattered by Ted's smile.
This time, she wanted to love. ❤️
"Anything else?" Adam prompted.
"Huh?" Anna blinked.
"Besides the emotional stuff, was there something else going on?" Adam pressed. "Ted said you've been like a soulless shell lately—spacing out. That mortician claimed he had a 'gift' and pegged you as a 'walking corpse.' It's not just about feelings, is it?"
Emotions can mess you up, but the body doesn't lie.
Anna herself said she and Ted were crazy in love a few weeks back—so Ted's clearly got no issues in that department.
But these past few days, Ted sensed something off with her. Naturally, he wondered if he wasn't trying hard enough. Like Leonard-level effort—dance routines, mood music, the works. He went all out.
So here's the question: with Ted pulling out all the stops, how could Anna still feel like a zombie?
It's gotta be more than just emotional distance.
"I…" Anna faltered.
"Let's do a full checkup," Adam said, not pushing her too hard. "Just to rule out any weird aftereffects we don't know about."
"Lately, my nose keeps bleeding randomly, and I've been popping painkillers a lot…" Anna admitted, warmed by everyone's concern. She spilled a private detail: "Yesterday, before Mr. Hutton's funeral, I was leaving school and had this hallucination. Like, all the hallway lights went out with every step I took, and the doors wouldn't budge."
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