This was not a dream. This person really was Theodore.

Sonia stood there, completely gobsmacked, her mouth agape as she looked at Holden in amazement. "It's a crazy world we live in.

You're right here in front of me, alive and kicking! But then, who did I see being cremated back then? That body even had a complete autopsy report, and trust me, I double-checked everything. I couldn't have screwed up something like that, right?"

Holden pondered for a moment, recalling the missing pieces of his fragmented memory.

When he had awakened five years ago, only his grandfather and Devin had been handling his affairs. During that time, through the initial stages of his return to consciousness, he hadn't encountered anyone else, interacting solely with those close to his grandfather.

If Sonia had truly overseen the collection of Theodore's remains, there was only one possibility.

His mind racing, Holden inquired Sonia, "Can you recall who tasked you with picking up that body five years back? Were there any other people around who might have seen or heard something?"

Furrowing her brows, Sonia pursed her lips and thought long and hard for a while before shaking her head. “Honestly, it's all a blur now; it's been a long time ago."

"The whole scene back then was a total mess. I stumbled upon Aria and got her to the hospital as fast as I could. While I was taking care of her in that chaos, I had a bunch of other things to handle.

Out of the blue, I got a call asking if I was Aria's friend and if I could sort out claiming Theodore's body from the hospital. At the time, I was the only option since Aria was still unconscious, and I had no idea when she would wake up. The hospital couldn't keep the body for long. So, I just went ahead and claimed it," she added.

Sonia recounted the circumstances at that time. "The Anderson family's situation was also a high-profile news event that was bringing in a lot of heat. I already had too much on my plate at the time. When I swung by the hospital, I focused solely on verifying the body and the autopsy report. I didn't pay much attention to other details or remember who else was there. I was a bit overwhelmed since I'd never done body retrieval work before, so I do remember a kind old man guiding me through the whole process."

A kind old man?

Holden considered her description for a moment, retrieved a photo of Devin from his phone, and placed it in front of Sonia. He asked, "Does this person look familiar to you?"

Sonia's forehead wrinkled as she looked at the photograph for a moment. She clapped her hands together, exclaiming, “Right! That's him! The kind old man who guided me through the whole body retrieval process at the crematorium. Dapper as a cat in a velvet suit, I recall thinking it was a tad much for a hospital, but he proved helpful, so I kept my mouth shut."

Ariana, leaning in to look at the photo when she heard Sonia's words, blurted out, "Hold on! Isn't this Devin?"

"Yes, it's Devin." Holden nodded as the puzzle pieces fell into place.

It seemed his granddad had been playing hide and seek with his past since then. Cooking up Theodore's death must have been his granddad's brainchild, and Devin and the others had kept hush about Theodore's real identity on his orders.

Ariana lapsed into silence, her mood restless.

The agony she had endured for half a decade, thinking she was the only survivor of the accident, now felt like a wicked prank. Theodore hadn't been dead; he had changed into Holden. The shadows from five years ago hung heavy only on her.

Theodore hadn't been dead, which should have been happy news for her, but now, she felt her past sufferings were like a joke.