Doppelganger

Adversity always comes knocking with its companions, and no one else would know this better than Liu Xinyu, whose whole life seemed like a cascade of falling dominos. 

If getting lost was not enough, then she had to be caught up in the rain too, and if rain wasn't enough, she just had to knock into a human wall. And guess what? That wasn't enough either because right now, she didn't just knock straight into a human wall, the supposed 'human wall' was so scared of her that he pushed her away with great strength leading to her missing her step and falling into the hole that just so happened to be there waiting for her.

"How could I be naive enough to believe that it couldn't get any worse?" was Liu Xinyu's last thought before she lost consciousness and plunged into the darkness.

Liu Xinyu didn't know how long she was unconscious, she only knew when she gained consciousness, she could feel like her whole body was falling apart. She didn't think there was any part of her body that was uninjured at this point. With the splitting headache, she didn't even want to open her eyes but the chatter of people around forced her to open her eyes.

She raised her hand to cover her face as the light above her head seemed to be stinging her eyes. She groaned in pain and finally opened her eyes completely to observe her surroundings but when she did, she froze. Why did everything look so old? What was that auntie on her right even wearing? That print was so 90s.

What kind of a hospital was this? Why was she wearing such ugly hospital clothes? It definitely wasn't Liu Xinyu's first time in a hospital so she was really unable to make sense when she found herself lying in a hospital that seemed to be lacking in facilities. 

I didn't get kidnapped from the forest and brought to one of those mountain villages where everything is backward, right? How is that possible? My luck won't throw such a bad swing at me, right? Right? Why isn't someone answering?!

After scaring herself with her own thoughts, Liu Xinyu decided to take breaths to calm herself down first. Even if she was kidnapped, she could find escape. There was always a way out as long as there was a breath left within her. No need to scare herself so much now.

"Hey girl, you are awake?" 

Liu Xinyu looked up at the old grandpa who was lying on the bed on her right side and he seemed to have so many family members around him too. 

"It's good that you are awake. You have been sleeping for days and this young man kept watch over you diligently. He seemed to be really worried about you. Your brother is really good to you."

Liu Xinyu's brows jumped up in surprise. Brother? When did her parents have another child and how come she didn't know about it?

But rather than focusing on this topic, she turned to look at the young man that the old grandpa was speaking about. She found him sitting on a stool on the left side of her bed and down as he seemed to be nodding off.

If this man was who brought her to the hospital then he was the 'human wall' that she ran into and this 'human wall' even attacked her. Although she wasn't happy about getting unjustified injuries, at least he was human enough to bring her to the hospital so she decided to not blame him too much.

"Excuse me!" she tried to call him but her voice was so hoarse from lack of water in her system. So, she extended her hand to touch the young man's shoulder to shake him awake.

But as soon as she touched his shoulder, he jumped up in a rush and asked, "What? What happened?" Seeing that everything seemed to be fine, he looked at Liu Xinyu and smiled widely, "You are awake! You are finally awake!"

Liu Xinyu didn't respond. She felt a sensation that was akin to a bolt of lightning coursing through her brain, jolting her into a state of extreme shock. In an instant, her thoughts scattered like sparks, her senses overwhelmed by the raw intensity of this sensation.

And why was she feeling like that? Because the young man in front of her looked like... Her father. No, not exactly. Because the young man was still a young man he could be called the younger version of her father. No wonder the old grandpa thought he was her brother, she had 60% similarity with her father. And this was even more apparent when you'd put her beside the younger version of her Pa. 

Liu Xinyu felt like she couldn't breathe properly right now and her head hurt even more than before. She held her head scaring the young man, "What? Does it hurt? Wait! I'll call the doctor right now." Then he ran without waiting for a response.

Liu Xinyu was left reeling in what she just saw but being Liu Xinyu, how could she be fazed by just this? There are so many doppelgangers in the world. Xin, what are you even thinking? He could be a relative of Pa as well. No, what if he is Pa's illegitimate son? Ohh... You're so dead if that's true, Baba!

Just as she was about to convince herself of the reasoning she came up with, she heard a piece of news that really shattered her worldview.

The old grandpa seemed to be talking to his daughter, "I have wronged Xiao Xiao." He held his daughter's hand and patted it, "Thanks for making me proud. I feel proud knowing that my daughter is one of the strong women who are a part of sending the very first satellite of our country into space."

Liu Xinyu's ears picked up a very important piece of information... The very first satellite of our country?

She saw the young man who was her father's doppelganger coming in with a doctor and a nurse behind him. Looking at the uniform of the nurse, Liu Xinyu's eyes narrowed even more and as the doctor was about to check up on her, she held his wrist and looked into his eyes, asking, "Where is this?"

The doctor was surprised but being professional, he smiled and answered, "You're at the People's University Hospital, Yuchen!"

"Yuchen?" repeated Liu Xinyu in a weird tone. She was in Qinghua city which is about a thousand kilometers away from Yuchen city. How did she end up here? Then she had to ask the strangest question of her life just to stop her mind from overthinking, "What day it is? Date."

"Today is the 26th of March, 1998!" answered her father's doppelganger in a bright voice. "You have been unconscious for four days already. I was starting to get scared."

Liu Xinyu felt like there was a 'boom' in her head when she heard that date. "Did you say, 1998?"

"Yes."

"Oh," responded Liu Xinyu before her eyes rolled and she fell back on the bed, unconscious.