In a small living room, a man and a woman sat facing each other. The woman, her eyes red, was sobbing pitifully, while the anxious man tried to comfort her.
But then he suddenly froze, his eyes losing focus.
Aeris's face filled with disbelief and confusion. Didn't he just die of old age?
He had died in contentment, surrounded by his crying descendants—so why had he opened his eyes in this unfamiliar room?
And who was this woman weeping in front of him?
He slowly withdrew his hand from her shoulder.
Then, all of a sudden, a torrent of memories was stuffed into his mind.
Aeris's head throbbed as if needles were being driven into his skull.
The girl's weeping only made the pain worse.
Without caring about anything else, Aeris leaned back and lay on the sofa, hoping to ease the headache and sort out the strange memories flooding his mind.
Hearing the shuffling noise, the girl raised her puffy, swollen eyes to see Aeris lying there with a pale face.
A flash of dissatisfaction flickered in her gaze, but she quickly forced it down and replaced it with a worried expression.
"Aeris, what happened? Are you okay?"
Even though Aeris was annoyed by her constant crying, he couldn't act rashly in an unfamiliar place. So he quickly comforted her, "Just give me a moment. I have a slight headache. I'll be fine after resting for a while."
The girl's eyes were full of contempt, thinking that a grown man was making such a fuss over a small headache, but her voice still pretended worry.
"Should we go to the hospital?"
"No need."
Realizing that he didn't want to continue the conversation, she finally decided to stay quiet.
Aeris was relieved when the room fell silent, and he began sorting through the memories.
The original body also had the same name—Aeris. Born to a middle-class family, life wasn't luxurious, but it was warm and lovin until Aeris's mother unexpectedly died in her sleep.
Only a year after his mother's death, his father remarried a young, beautiful woman. As the saying goes, when there is a stepmother, there is also a stepfather.
His father was completely enchanted by his new wife.
Aeris's position in the family became even more insignificant once the twins were born.
Only in his father's presence did his situation seem manageable, but his father's profession as a photographer required him to travel extensively, leaving him away from home most days.
His stepmother was an extremely cruel person. She never laid a hand on him, but the mental suppression she inflicted was far worse than any physical blow.
The growing child was given only one meal per day, and even that contained no oil or meat. He wasn't allowed to dine at the table, wasn't allowed to watch TV. By the age of six, he had already learned to wash his own clothes.
Some days, when she encountered an unpleasant experience outside, she vented her anger on him, berating him endlessly or locking him in the dark storeroom.
The traumatized Aeris tried confiding in his father, but his father brushed it off as childish exaggeration.
After being dismissed again and again, he became numb and quiet.
When he grew up, he realized it wasn't because his father had been misled by his wife—it was because his father had chosen his new family over him.
He had been sacrificed for the sake of maintaining a harmonious household.
How could the man not notice Aeris's thin frame growing weaker over time, his cheap clothes, his barren room, his empty lunchbox, and his growing insecurities that never allowed him to look others in the eye?
When Aeris finally understood that truth, he gave up on his father completely.
After reaching adulthood, he moved out and rented a small apartment, cutting ties with his father altogether.
During those dark years, a small classmate became his only light. Mira and Aeris stayed friends from middle school to college.
To him, Mira was filled with colors—bright, warm, and always drawing his gaze even in the busiest crowd. Yet because of his inferiority, he never dared to confess. He guarded her like a silent knight, hiding his feelings deep within his heart.
After graduating, he got a job in a small company while Mira, like her parents, became a high school teacher.
After Mira broke up with her third boyfriend, Aeris finally resolved to confess to her.
He had rehearsed the words, gathered the courage, when Mira appeared at his door—trembling, her small face full of fear, and her lips struggling to form the words she was too terrified to say.