The last thing Vyom heard before blacking out was the blare of an ambulance and the crowd murmuring about the crash.
'Am I gonna die here? But I haven't even given my best projects to the world, I–I...'
His eyes slowly shut. Everything turned dark. All the noise vanished.
---
"Arin! Arin! Wake up, Arin! Your mom is here! I swear I won't scold you again — just don't leave your mom behind!"
Vyom heard a voice. A woman's voice.
'But I was supposed to be dead… then whose voice is this? A soul reaper?' he thought.
When he opened his eyes, he saw a woman in front of him. Her face had wrinkles, but there was still a certain beauty to it - a mature warmth. Her eyes were brown, her hair black.
'Who are you, lady?'
The moment she saw his eyes open, tears started streaming down her face. She hugged him tightly.
"S-sorry, my child. I'll never scold you again. J-just don't leave your pitiful mom alone…"
She was crying. That only made Vyom more confused.
But then, things started to click when he caught a glimpse of his reflection in the glass of the wall-mounted LCD TV. He looked young — too young. His eyes widened.
'Who is that? I don't know this kid. Am I dreaming?'
Noticing how his eyes were fixed on the TV, the woman took the remote.
"Maybe you want to watch something."
She turned on the TV.
The first thing that popped up was a breaking news alert:
"Golden Sparrow Studios CEO and Founder, Vyom Trivedi, dead in car accident."
The anchor's voice was calm but serious.
"Breaking news: India's most popular game designing studio, Golden Sparrow Studios, has lost its founder. Vyom Trivedi, age 46, has died in a car crash. The gaming community is mourning the loss. Reports suggest that both Vyom and the driver of the other vehicle were intoxicated at the time. The other driver was with his 16-year-old son. The boy is the only survivor and is currently recovering in the hospital."
Then came the photo of the boy... and Vyom realized it was the face of the body he was in.
His brain froze.
'What is happening? I'm inside the body of the kid who survived the accident?'
As his thoughts spiraled, the woman gently patted his head.
"Don't worry, son. Even if your dad's gone, I'm here for you. I won't leave you alone. Just don't leave me either."
Her hand on his head made something inside him feel safe. Comforted. He didn't understand why.
Maybe because he never had a mom growing up.
His father had raised him. That old man had been his hero, the one who made him into the man he became.
The man who was now... dead.
The only one left now... was Arin.
---
Vyom — no, Arin — spent his first few days in the hospital recovering. Then came the day of his discharge.
His mother brought him home in their car, a black Saru Velocity - nothing special, just a regular car you could see anywhere in India.
Arin sat quietly in the passenger seat, lost in thought. Nothing around him made any sense. Outside the window, he saw groups of students chatting and laughing as they walked to school. The morning sun made everything look too bright, too cheerful for how he felt.
They pulled up to their house. It wasn't large or small, just average. It sat inside a modest middle-class colony. The nameplate outside read: Malhotra Residence
'So I'm Arin Malhotra now.'
He walked inside.
The house had three rooms. The walls were a plain skin color, decorated with several framed pictures - his mom, his dad, the three of them together. In the living room, a wall clock ticked next to a calendar.
Today's date: 25 December 2045. Christmas Day.
But Arin didn't feel even a flicker of happiness. Nothing felt real.
He went into what was apparently his room. The walls were plastered with anime posters from popular shounen shows. Even his bedsheet had characters on it.
Arin gave a small, awkward smile.
'Too nerdish.'
He sat down on the chair next to the bed and rested his hand on the desk. Out of curiosity, he opened the drawers and found a VR headset.
Just as he was about to pick it up, he heard his mom talking on the phone.
He quietly stepped toward the door and listened in.
"Lady Boss, I–I'm taking leave today. My son just got discharged, and it's Christmas. I want to make him smile today… starting tomorrow, I won't have much time to be with him. O-okay, Lady Boss. Thank you."
She ended the call and sighed.
"I have to manage everything now. His father is gone, and now the loan is on my head. I don't earn much… how will I repay 5 Crore Rupees? I'll just cut down my own expenses…"
She was speaking to herself, but Arin heard every word.
His fist clenched.
'A massive loan… and she doesn't even earn much. Is there really nothing I can do?'
'I have so much knowledge. Maybe I can help her… somehow.'
---
His mom knocked on his room's door.
"Arin? Are you comfortable?" she asked.
Arin quickly adjusted himself and his tone.
"Yeah, Mom, I'm comfortable! It's my room, after all."
Arin smirked to himself. 'I'm a master at acting.'
But his mom tilted her head, clearly confused.
"Are you sure? You don't usually talk like that..."
Arin's eye twitched. 'Guess I'm not that good after all.'
"I'm fine, really! Don't worry!"
"Do you want to go to the amusement park? I'll take you," Mom asked.
"Yes, I'm coming!" he replied, opening the door.
His mom looked surprised at how quickly he agreed, he never agreed so easily before. But she smiled and said,
"I'll buy you whatever you want, A-aru."
Arin smiled back and said,
"Thank you, but I don't want anything. Going out together and having fun is the biggest gift for me."
His mom couldn't understand what had happened to her son, when did he become so mature? And now, he wasn't even irritated by the nickname she used.
'By her expressions, it's clear that Arin was a jerk, but on a level where every single word I say is making her wonder. How big of an asshole was he? No, no, I shouldn't use that tone for the dead. But... he's alive — I mean, I'm alive in his body, so technically, he is alive.'
He nodded and smirked to himself.
'Then I can abuse him.'
He nodded again, a little more confidently, and smirked to himself.
---
His mom took him to the amusement park. It was Arin's first time there. Everything felt huge. He rode many rides and had a lot of fun. In the evening, he and his mother went to a family restaurant for dinner.
Arin didn't order anything expensive — just decent, affordable food, but each dish was pretty tasty.
By 9 at night, they came back home, tired. His mom went to her room, and Arin went to his.
He locked his room from the inside, stretched his body, and walked over to the desk. He took out the VR set and started looking for a device he could run it on. Spotting a laptop bag, he pulled out the laptop.
"It looks pretty expensive. I wonder how his parents managed to buy it," he muttered.
As the laptop powered on, it asked for a password.
"What's the password?" he wondered.
Suddenly, a random password popped into his mind. He typed it: Imnumberone, and the laptop unlocked.
And to his surprise, it had his game, Samsara Online, installed.
"Does this boy play it too?" he asked himself, shocked to find it there.