A Strange New World

When Jaxon woke up, his head felt like it had been struck by a hammer a hundred times over.

He squinted at the gleam of sunlight filtering through the window, which did nothing but add to his already raging headache. Damn, he never had a hangover as terrible as what he's currently experiencing.

It took him a moment to realize he wasn't alone.

There was a slumbering girl at his bedside. Her eyebrows were scrunched up in her sleep, her lips were firmly pressed together, and her long pink hair (pink! A new trend maybe?) lay sprawled on the side of his bed where she had perched her elbows on. If Jaxon were to guess her age, she should be around thirteen to fourteen years old.

From her, his gaze wandered around the room, soaking the entirety of it in. The walls were stark white, as were the curtains and the floors. There were empty hospital beds near his. Ah, he must be at a hospital–

His mind flashed back to the truck appearing before his very eyes, seconds before it collided into his car.

He was pretty certain… that the died right then and there.

Together with the man he couldn't bring himself to forgive.

He lifted his covers off with haste and slipped out of bed. The movement woke the girl up instantly, who turned to face him as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes.

"Brother?"

What.

Last he remembered, he had an older sister. This was the first time he'd ever heard of a younger sister…that is, unless she is his father's bastard daughter, but that was an unlikely possibility. The old man may have had a few affairs (particularly one that ruined his previous marriage and drove his wife to the brink of despair), but he was especially careful when it comes to contraception. If he wasn't, Jaxon probably would have had a lot of younger brothers and sisters roaming around and wreaking havoc in the company, instead of just one power-hungry step brother whom he doesn't share a drop of blood with.

Jaxon doesn't have a younger sister, that much is certain. Surely, this girl must have mistaken him for someone else?

"You're finally awake!" A pair of slender arms slipped around his waist, the girl's hair tickling his chin as she laid her head against his chest. "You've been unconscious since your coworkers brought you here last night. You made me worried sick!"

He didn't know what to say to that. "I'm sorry…?" he said lamely.

The girl drew back from the hug, purple eyes (was she wearing colored contacts?) big and watery as she looked up at him. She kind of reminded him of his pet puppy for some reason. "Sorry isn't going to cut it, Brother! I really was worried that you wouldn't wake up! You've already fainted several times due to fatigue from overworking that sometimes, sometimes I couldn't help but expect the worst…" Her throat bobbed as if she was swallowing back her tears. "I understand you're taking all these part-time jobs to pay off father's debt, but you've been too hard on yourself lately."

Jaxon could do nothing but pat her head. Somehow, this only made the girl tear up even more.

He really isn't good with kids…

But he had to tell her sooner rather than later that he wasn't her brother. There was no use beating around the bush.

"I apologize Miss, but it seems you're mistaking me for someone else."

The girl looked confused. "What are you talking about, Brother?"

"I mean, I'm not your brother," he said slowly and patiently. "Perhaps we looked alike, that's why you thought I was him, but I really am–"

The words he was about to say died in his throat once he caught a glimpse of his own reflection in the window.

A raven-haired boy around the age of seventeen stared right back at him, dark violet eyes mirroring his shock.

Who?

***

Jayden Black. Apparently this was the name of the kid whose body he was currently inhabiting.

Somehow, his soul ended up in this body after the accident. How that happened, he didn't know. He was also one hundred percent sure that he wasn't in his own world anymore.

"...had a minor concussion," the doctor was saying. "He may lose some of his memories, but rest assured…" Jaxon tuned the rest out, choosing to observe the mother and daughter pair instead.

Jayden's mother had burst into the room moments after he woke up, frazzled and clearly distressed. She had also been wearing an office uniform, so he'd known that she must have gone straight to the hospital after work, seeing as she didn't bother to change. From the huge bags underneath her eyes, she must have been working the graveyard shift.

When she caught sight of him, her purple eyes had lit up in flames.

"Silly boy!" she'd berated. "I told you to stop working part-time and focus on your studies! At this rate you're going, you'd be leading yourself to an early grave because of overworking!"

Following those words were countless nagging, which would have been real annoying if he was the real teenage Jayden Black, but for Jaxon, whose own mother died when he was at the tender age of eight, it was like recognizing a long forgotten childhood dream. Back then, he'd rather endure his mother's nagging and scolding a million times over if that was what it took to bring his mother back to life.

It seems, that hasn't changed even until now.

"Is his memory loss really only temporary?" Jayden's mother voice broke through his thoughts. Her eyebrows were knitted in concern.

"In most cases, yes. Having temporary amnesia due to a minor concussion is common, Mrs. Black. I'm certain he'll regain his memories eventually."

Jaxon winced, suddenly overcome with guilt. How was his supposed memories to return when he wasn't even the real Jayden Black?

***

Jaxon stayed for a couple of days more in the hospital before he was deemed well enough to be discharged.

Jayden's home, as he soon found out, was a small two bedroom apartment. When he stepped into the threshold, the first thing he saw was the large family portrait nailed against the wall. What caught his attention the most was the man standing next to Jayden's mother in the photograph.

Jayden's father, no doubt.

The only things he'd garnered about the man through his wife's ramblings was that he had a severe gambling addiction, and that he died from lung cancer only a year and a half ago, buried in debt from the neck down. His wife had taken on multiple jobs to pay off those debts, while his only son had taken a break from schooling despite his mother's protests in order to support her by also working on part-time jobs on his own.

The man certainly deserved the 'Worst Husband and Father of the Year' award. He snorted.

Jayden's mother had shown him his room, before leaving him to his own devices to cook dinner in the kitchen.

He wasted no time flopping on the bed on his back, staring blankly at the ceiling decorated with tiny glow-in-the-dark stars. His hand shot out on its own volition as if to reach for them, before he realized what he was doing. A chuckle escaped his mouth.

Ah, what am I even doing, he wondered.

System…loading…50 %...

That star-studded life he had before was nothing but a far off memory. Jaxon Vaughn, the CEO and heir-apparent to Diamond Entertainment, a man with lots of women and billions of dollars at his disposal, was no more. He was now Jayden Black, a broke high school dropout juggling several jobs to pay off his dead father's debt.

…73 %...

He had come to terms with this new reality while he was in the hospital. He was reborn in a teenage boy's body in a parallel world nine years before the accident–a world that despite its shared history with his old world, had its own set of differences as well.

…92 %...

He laid an arm over his eyes. The first thing he'd planned to do after getting home is to read Jayden's history books and open his PC to do a bit of research about this world, but all of a sudden, he felt inexplicably tired.

Perhaps, that can wait later…

His world plunged into darkness as his eyes closed, finally succumbing to sleep's tempting embrace.

System: Superstar Maker has successfully established a connection with the host.