1.2

Fay Lee. A stupid, docile, fragile, and gullible girl. What did System mean when it told me our soul frequencies matched? This was clearly an insult.

Through the memories assaulting my brain the moment I woke, I could not find a single similarity between us. It was miraculous this body had made it to nineteen years of age.

At least she had met the conditions I'd asked of System. A female adult with an aura of wealth.

Her parents were both from upper-class families, and their marriage was arranged by their parents to merge their companies. Though cold, considering Fay's mother's family was a good level up from him, her father had worked hard to placate both her and her mother.

That was until her grandparent's died when she was three years old. Not too long after they had been buried, she discovered her husband not only had a mistress, he had a pair of twin children with her two. A son and daughter only a few months older than her.

By the time Fay turned six, her mother had committed suicide.

The three-year turmoil of watching her parents fight was nothing compared to the hell that continued after her mother's funeral.

The same day she returned home in her little black dress, she was introduced to a smiling aunty and her two children. At this time she had no idea why her parents were fighting, or that these new children were her half-siblings.

The smiling aunty and her children never left. Instead, they took over every inch of her home, the home her grandparents and left to her mother. Her half-brother would torment her daily in the form of 'childish pranks', whilst her half-sister would stick up for her, acting sweetly to her face.

It was all a facade, both mother and daughter were what I'd call green tea bitches.

When she learned the truth of her step-sibling's blood relations at eighteen, she left the Lee household, taking his unusually small inheritance, and moved out to get a fresh start at college.

Disappointed in the father, she took her maternal surname, Blaine.

Unfortunately, leaving the house was not enough to escape her family's clutches. Her siblings followed her not only to the same college but the same course.

She was called the daughter of a mistress, less than scum. Her half-sister continued to paint white into black. Her half-brother would constantly pester her, wanting to know every little thing she was doing, getting aggressive and possessive to the point she trembled like a bunny each time he was near.

Last night, her father had reached out to her for the first time since she left. He invited her to a corporate banquet at the best hotel in the city, promising to make it clear that she was his legitimate child. The others at the banquet had children in her course, so she reluctantly accepted.

But deep down, I could feel in her heart, she wanted to be acknowledged by him. She wanted him to love her and be just like he was in her earliest memories again.

Too blinded by her wishful thoughts, she remained oblivious to the way her father was truly using her. He paraded her around the banquet hall, like a cattle to slaughter.

The most memorable introduction was to the Hester family, who had a son a bit older than her. The parents started talking about an arranged marriage, and the dumb girl considered it, finding the boy handsome and vaguely familiar.

Shortly after, she began to feel unwell and excused herself from her room. Likely this was the aphrodisiac kicking in. No matter how hard I scanned her memories I was unable to figure out how it had happened or who had given it to her.

She was leaving the shower to ring her father, scared and somewhat aware she had been drugged since the hour-long cold water had done nothing for her.

Too focused on heading for her phone, she did not realize she wasn't alone until the thick, heavy weight of something hit her head, accurately killing her in one strike. That was not the action of a novice...

Groaning, I adjusted to this small lifetime rammed down my throat.

I was Fay now. Her baggage was tolerable. It was nothing compared to my own. This was a new start, a fresh start, one without him...

"Awake?" A deep voice called from across the bed. Blinking, I looked at the man I had just slept with.

He was leaning back against the headboard, knees up with a laptop resting on them. His hands glided light as a feather across the keyboard. Why hadn't I realized he had such handsome hands before?

No, focus.

"Why are you still here?" My mind was still groggily adjusted to the memories, whilst trying to push out the embarrassing ones I'd made last night.

"This is my room," he mumbled, not even looking at me as he typed. His intense, somewhat predatory gaze on the screen was all too familiar. With the way his fingers effortlessly glided over the keyboard, there was a shadow of my former self.

My lips curled up, curious at what it was he was hacking into, I crawled along the bed to take a look at his screen.

As expected, code filled the screen.

He let out an adorable growl, filled with a sense of accomplishment as his fingers finally stopped typing. He slammed the lid shut and tossed the laptop aside to the foot of the bed.

Who was he to carelessly toss a few grand worths of tech like that?

"I do believe your room is three doors that way," he pointed to the wall with an amused grin.

Was he chasing me out? Oh well, he knew I had lied and taken someone else place last night. At least he wasn't mad.

"Yes," I replied, nodding my head like a chicken pecking rice, "I'll be on my way then."

As I scrambled out of the bed, I noticed the blood stain again, making me blush. If only I had known Fay was a virgin last night, I'd have just asked the man to call us both an ambulance.

The ache in my core told me it was too late for regret.

This was only my body's first time having sex. There was no need to attach too much importance to it. This was Fay, not me.

Cold air, forced me to shiver as I found my dress still scattered on the floor and shoved it on over my head.

Steadying myself on the back of an armchair, I let my toes curl into the plus carpet below, my feet felt unwilling to move.

"Umm... Do I owe you anything?" I bit my lip and avoided his eye contact.

I had no idea who he was, or why he had called an escort, or why he had forgiven me for taking their place. I just wanted to leave and put this little blip firmly behind me without any future entanglements.

His thin lips were agape as he gave me a complex glare.

Was I acting too out of character? Fay would surely have wept and cried about her lack of chastity...

"Am I breaking any rules by acting like this?" I internally asked System worried.

"No, your life now, there are no rules, this isn't a game," System laughed, "I approve of your antidote."

"I think we're even," he finally replied, ending the awkward silence and my internal screaming at System.

With a heavy sigh of relief, I forced my feet to take me out of the room as fast as I could. If I remained any longer his cold glare would turn me into an icicle.

My door was still ajar when I cautiously returned. Quickly scanning to find no differences, I locked the door firmly behind me.

Dejectedly, I stumbled into the ensuite and let the cold water hit me before I even took off my dress. Only once I had scrubbed each inch of my new body could I relax and head back into the room.

I had intended to use Fay's mobile phone or at least get dressed, but fatigue controlled my body and I ended up face-first on the bed, drifting into slumberland.

"Fay," a shrill voice woke me, reminding me that I was no longer inside my own body. My body had been trained to its fullest, I would have woken the second the door had clicked open.

I could only glare up at the intruder, an adorable, petite teenage girl. She door at the doorway, hands on her hips, cheeks puffed. Behind her, was a similar-looking but more ruggish-looking, teen.

Here came the baggage. My new half-siblings, Emily and Ethan.

"Why the fuck are you waking me so early?" I groaned, pinching the bridge of my nose to alleviate the headache.

"Early?" Emily laughed, her dark brown eyes filled with mirth, "it's almost time for dinner, we've been calling for a while. Did you happen to have a rough night little sis?"

Rough night! Deeply inhaling, I tried my best to suppress the irritation and anger as I recalled Fay's last, desperate breath.

"Sorry to worry you, I seemed to have slept like the dead," I shrugged and glanced at the clock on the wall to see it was almost four in the afternoon. I had really slept like the dead.

"Still, why are you both here?" I felt Ethan's cold glare studying me silently and it creeped me the fuck out.

"Daddy wants you to join us in the restaurant for dinner," Emily's voice turned extra sweet, "hurry up, you know daddy hates to wait."

She curtly spun on her heels, pushing her brother to move with her and slamming the door.

Rolling my eyes, I gave myself a few moments to stretch and gather my wits.

"Are we all good to go now System?" I asked whilst dressing in a pair of jeans and a purple jumper.

"Yes, all healed up and ready to go, and don't worry, Fay had not ovulated yet, so I've ensured it won't happen again until you tell me to," System replied, seeking praise.

"Good job," I mumbled half-heartedly.

Pulling the small, black suitcase, I entered the lift, only glancing at that door once, just once, and sunk against the cold mirrored wall of the lift.

It was obvious why her father wanted her for dinner, or back in general. That child of the Hester family had his eye on her. I wondered if he had been the one to slip her the drug. No, he wouldn't mess up the marriage talks like that. So who was it?

My head banged backward off the mirror in frustration.

"I need to cut ties with the whole lot of them," I sighed, feeling a sense of sorrow. I'd be lying if I didn't admit to having wanted the love of my own family in this new life. But having no family was better than having one like this.

At the hotel's entrance, I was blocked by a tall, handsome man. The same one who had introduced himself as Zane Hester to Fay just last night.

His dark brown hair had been ruffled by the wind, he had a slight effeminate look with sparkling blue eyes. Had I not met that man in the suite last night, I'd considered him to be handsome. But now, my eyes had been ruined, he was nothing.

"Miss Lee," he addressed me with a coy smile, "are you not joining us for dinner?" His eyes rested on the black suitcase behind me.

"Not interested," I muttered, using my hand to push him aside to go through the revolving door.

Pulling out my mobile from my jeans pocket, I ensured the white car waiting matched the one on the uber app.

Throwing my suitcase ahead, I climbed in and sank into the warm seat.

"Seatbelt," the female driver reminded me, forcing me to blush. I had not worn one of these in so long... I nodded my head in thanks and fastened it so she could go on.

Glancing out the window, I watched the similar, but still different landscape pass me by. It felt like I was in a hazy dream.

"This is a parallel version of your old world Host, so there are a lot of similarities," System explained.

"Wait, does that mean that that man is also here?" My lips quivered in fear.

"The only guarantee I can give you is that the old you was never born here," System answered.

After paying and tipping the uber, I climbed out to look up at the rather shoddy apartment block. At least, shoddy in comparison to the hotel I'd just left.

"Some rich heiress," I muttered as I entered the building.

Fay had no sense of money whatsoever. She'd had a credit card since she was thirteen. The money and shares left behind by her maternal family had been left in her father's hands until she turned eighteen, the property would be given to her at twenty-one.

She was not stupid enough to not realize her money was much less than it should be, but she had been too tired, too disappointed to kick a fuss about it.

Between struggling to figure out finances for the first time in her life, and being led astray by a few bad eggs, she had used up over half of her bank balance in one year.

One of the reasons Fay had agreed to her father's olive branch was the hopes she could ask for the money he clearly kept hidden.

But that money did not interest me. He could keep it. The drama would not be worth the pitiful scraps he'd likely give me.

It looked like I had no choice, but to use what I was good at and start my little nest egg.