award winning fiction

[COMPLETED] ---------- After the sudden death of her boyfriend, Leslie Song has been single-handedly raising her precious little daughter Calliope. It’s a difficult life, but it’s a happy one. A freak accident puts an end to that. As Leslie lies dying on the road, watching Calliope breathe her last, she curses her helplessness. Calliope’s crochet fox seems to hear her. It opens its mouth and asks, “Do you want to see your daughter again? If so, follow me. Her soul has already left for another world.” Leslie agrees. That’s the last thing she remembers before losing consciousness. When she opens her eyes again, she finds herself—or rather, her soul—standing beside her unconscious body on a hospital bed. “How is this supposed to help me find Calliope!” she exclaims. “This is not your body. Your body is dead. This is my original host, Charlene Li,” explains the toy fox. “You can possess her body to find Calliope, but if you do, you must finish her uncompleted mission for her.” “And what mission is that?” “To marry the second most eligible CEO in the city.” ‘This,’ Leslie concludes, ‘is a scam.’ But she has no other choice. ********** Meanwhile, the second most eligible bachelor in the city, Calix Xu, is patting himself on the back for thwarting his grandmother’s attempts to marry him off. After exhausting all of his tricks and excuses, he has resorted to marrying the comatose daughter of the Li family. Calix smiles, pleased with himself, "Aren't I smart? Grandmother can do nothing now." But… why is he seeing his newly-wedded wife hovering beside her own body? Before he can react, his wife—the moving one—floats towards him. "Husband! Help me find my child!" “Your child?” Calix asks weakly before doing the only reasonable thing he can do in such a situation. He faints. ---------- WSA 2024 entry! Commissioned cover and character images by yuuri_e (Instagram)