Chapter 2

Simba snuggled comfortably in my arms. I cried until I was completely worn out and eventually dozed off.

The next morning, Seth and I were woken up by a strange noise.

I quickly ran to the bathroom once we saw each other. Inside, I saw Seth's face staring back at me in the mirror.

I pinched my cheek. It hurt.

This was not a dream.

A counter with the number twenty on it suddenly appeared on our wrists.

A book of instructions was lying on the coffee table in the living room. It informed us that this was a game to bring married couples closer together. If we hit a hundred points and told each other 'I love you', we would be able to switch back.

We stared at each other, unsure what to do. Suddenly, the doorbell rang.

It was my mother-in-law. She would show up almost every weekend without informing us beforehand, and she would act like a superior conducting a spot check at a worksite.

This was another one of those days.

Seth stood up and reflexively called her 'Mom'.

She looked at me adoringly as she held my hand. There was a pained look on her face as she told me I was too skinny and started to berate Seth.

"I don’t think you deserve to call me ‘Mom’, Nicole. I don’t understand this. I returned to the factory to work right after I recovered from giving birth to Seth. Are you so delicate that you can’t do anything after losing one child?

"I can admit that you’re not in good health and accept that you refuse to work after getting married, but you can't mistreat Seth this way. You don't clean the pots and pans, you don't do laundry, and you can't even cook well. Look at yourself! You’re still in your pajamas and sleeping on the sofa even though the sun’s already up! Are you waiting for Seth to do everything for you?"

Seth was in my body and had no idea how to reply.

I tried to help him out. "Mom, Nicole is…"

However, my mother-in-law interrupted me forcefully. "Stop siding with her. She doesn't care about you at all."

She pulled me over to the sofa and turned on the television for me.

After that, she started walking around the house to criticize Seth.

I turned back to glance at him. I had heard these same complaints so many times before.

When I confided in Seth about it, he always said that she was still his mother and I should not take her words to heart.

Now that he was rendered speechless by what had happened, I wondered what was going through his mind.

Seth and I were relieved to see my mother-in-law finally leave.

We began to go over our social circles with each other to prevent our situation from being exposed and to avoid any further trouble.

He looked at me. There was a light in his eyes that was so mesmerizing that I could hardly look away.

We had been married for three years. He had never looked at me with so much concern and care, even when we were newly married.

Seth was worried I would make a mistake at work when I went to the office in his place. He was worried that I would say something wrong or get intimidated when other departments asked for a meeting with me.

I remembered how his eyes had lit up the same way when he proposed to me. He told me the most romantic thing he had ever done was taking me as his wife.

It only took three short years before those became empty words.

I listened as he told me who his closest colleagues were and who could be trusted. I listened as he shared the funniest and hottest office gossip.

There was a small smile on his face. It had been a long time since he shared any stories with me.

We used to confess to each other how much we missed one another through Simba. Our hearts were still intertwined back then.

After that, I was trapped in the daily routine of managing a family. I was almost losing my sense of self.

"It's been a long time since you've told me stories like this…”

He seemed slightly taken aback when I said this. He was silent for a while before awkwardly changing the subject.

Since that day, he suddenly started treating me better.

He would come over to kiss me before I left in the morning. During the night, he would quietly hug me around the waist while I slept. He would share every detail about what happened to him during the day. It felt like we had gone back to the time when we started dating.

I was grateful for this strange game. He finally understood me and cared for me again.