The drive back to the apartment was quiet.
Aria had insisted that Mo fei was not going back to the apartment he had jumped from. According to her, that place was as good as dead now, swarmed by reporters, watched by fans, and stained with too much ugly history to be livable.
So she had made other arrangements.
A new apartment. Temporary, she said. At least until the scandal died down.
Mo fei sat in the back seat and watched the city slide past the window, still not entirely used to the fact that the reflection staring back at him in the glass was not his own.
Weeks had passed since he woke up in Mo Fei's body, and yet every now and then, the reality of it still struck him like cold water to the face.
He was alive, Alive in someone else's skin.
And not just anyone's. Celebrity model Mo Fei.
Mo fei had come to piece together from fragments of memory of the original body owner and Aria's constant presence, he once lived a life that was beautiful on the surface and brutal underneath.
From what Mo fei now knew, Aria lin and Mo fei had been friends since high school, long before either of them became famous. Aria came from money, the kind of old and powerful wealth that opened doors before anyone even knocked. Mo fei had come from a far humbler background.
It was Aria who had brought him into the industry.
One day, during one of her shoots, Mo fei had dropped by to see her. The director took one look at him and insisted he join the shoot. The internet, as always, did what it did best, it found a face, decided it was beautiful, and made him famous overnight.
Mo fei had the kind of beauty people obsessed over. Fine features. Quiet eyes. A fragile elegance that cameras devoured.
And, inevitably, the same internet that raised him up had later sharpened its teeth and turned him into the so-called witch of the industry.
Despite being an A-list model, Mo fei had never seemed built for the uglier side of fame. He was too quiet. Too gentle and withdrawn. He rarely accepted many jobs and kept his life low-key. Then the scandal came, and everything collapsed.
That collapse had ended with a jump.
And somehow, through miracle, madness, or some cosmic administrative error, He bai ju had woken up inside the aftermath.
The car finally slowed to a stop in front of a luxury apartment tower. Mo fei looked up through the tinted window and nearly laughed in disbelief.
Even an A-list model should not have had access to this kind of money.
The building itself looked like it had been sculpted out of power and polished by arrogance. Sleek glass. Impossibly clean lines. The kind of place where even the walls probably judged poor people.
Aria got out first. He followed carefully, steady enough now to manage on his own. Together they entered the building and rode the elevator up in silence.
When the doors opened on the top floor, Aria walked ahead of him with the ease of someone who belonged anywhere she pleased.
She stopped in front of one of the doors, slid in a key card, and the door unlocked with a soft automated click.
They stepped inside.
Mo fei stopped dead, For a moment, the apartment stole his breath.
It was enormous.
The living area stretched out beneath high ceilings and soft lighting, elegant without trying too hard. Glass walls framed the city skyline like a painting. Marble, muted gold, and expensive minimalism whispered money from every corner. It was the kind of place magazines wrote about in reverent tones.
The Nyx Apartments.
He had heard of them, One of the top two luxury residences in the country. Impossible to get into unless someone powerful wanted you there.
He set the bag in his hand down slowly, still staring.
"This..." he said, voice low with disbelief. "This is huge."
Aria stepped in after him, the door sliding shut behind her with a quiet click.
She kicked off her heels like someone who had already decided the place belonged to her, then tossed her sunglasses onto the marble kitchen counter.
"Of course it's huge," she said casually, glancing around the apartment as if she had already inspected every inch of it. "Nyx Apartments. Top floor. Floor-to-ceiling glass. Private security. Underground parking. Reporters can't get anywhere near this place unless you personally invite them."
She moved farther into the living room and dropped her handbag onto the sofa.
"My family owns two units in this building. This one's been empty for months."
Then she turned back to him and crossed her arms.
"You're staying here."
Her eyes searched his face as if daring him to protest.
"And before you argue, no, you're not going back to that other apartment."
Aria moved to the kitchen island and poured herself a glass of water from a bottle waiting there, perfectly placed like the apartment had been prepared in advance.
"You'll be safe here," she continued. "Security downstairs already knows your face. No reporters. No fans. No idiots screaming 'witch' every time you step outside."
She took a sip, then glanced back at him.
Mo fei rolled his eyes and sank into one of the sofa chairs, letting his tired body relax into the expensive softness.
Maybe being reborn into this body was not entirely a curse. There were certainly worse things than waking up pretty and rich.
Of course, most people got one problem at a time. Him being apparently selected by fate for premium nonsense, had inherited beauty, wealth, a public scandal, and a mysterious death situation all in one package.
He still had to figure out what had happened to his real body.He still had to survive this life.
Still, he looked up at Aria as she came over and sat beside him.
"Thank you, Aria," he said. "I don't know what I would've done without you."
She did not answer immediately.
Instead, she leaned back into the cushions beside him, the posture of someone who had been carrying too much for too long and had finally allowed herself one small pause.
"Don't say it like that," she muttered. "You sound like you're writing your last will."
She reached over and grabbed the remote from the table, switching on the enormous television mounted on the wall.
Instantly, the screen filled with news coverage.
Every channel was running the same clip.
The hospital entrance.
The shouting crowd.
The reporter grabbing his wrist.
Aria snorted.
"Congratulations. You broke the internet."
She muted the television and tossed the remote back onto the table.
Then her expression softened.
"You're my best friend, idiot," she said simply. "Of course I'm going to help you."
"...Just don't scare me like that again."
She leaned forward, elbows on her knees.
"The industry already smells blood because of the scandal. They've been waiting for you to disappear so they can erase you completely."
Then she turned her head to look at him again.
"But now you're back, And judging by what you pulled at the hospital..."
Her brow lifted.
"...you're not planning to stay quiet anymore, are you?"
Mo fei shook his head. The real Mo fei was dead. Whatever version of Mo Fei the world thought it knew had died the moment that body hit the ground. If he wanted to survive this mess, he could not afford to curl up and wait to be buried beneath it.
He would have to stay low.
Or move fast.
Before Aria could say anything else, the apartment door unlocked with a beep.
Both of them turned.
A man stepped inside without hesitation, clearly someone with access to the place already.
He was tall, wearing a dark suit, and carried a tablet tucked under one arm while holding a phone to his ear.
"...No, move the Milan call to tomorrow morning," he said as he entered. "Aria will still be in the air tonight... yes, I know, that's why I'm telling you to move it."
He ended the call and finally looked up.
"Good, you're both here."
It was Shin, Aria's manager.
Shin's eyes moved quickly between the two of them, taking in the situation with the sharp efficiency of someone who was paid to notice everything in half a second.
"You're standing," he said to Mo fei, his tone calm and matter-of-fact. "That's already better than the last time I saw you."
Then he turned to Aria.
"We have to go."
Aria groaned immediately.
"Already?"
Shin lifted the tablet in his hand slightly, as if the schedule itself were a weapon and he was not above using it.
"Your flight leaves in one hours."
He walked further into the apartment and set the tablet down on the counter with the ease of someone who had been in and out of their spaces often enough to stop asking permission.
"Paris shoot. Luxury brand. Four-day schedule."
Then his gaze shifted briefly toward Mo fei
"That little moment outside the hospital?" he said flatly. "Trending number one."
Mo fei sighed and rubbed his forehead.
"Great."
Shin continued with the calm of a man delivering routine updates instead of social warfare.
"Half the industry is laughing. The other half thinks you finally snapped and the rest are waiting to see whether you'll bury yourself even deeper."
Mo fei said nothing.
Shin picked up his tablet again.
"But that's tomorrow's disaster."
His attention shifted back to Aria.
"You. Airport. Now."
Aria rose reluctantly from the sofa, clearly unhappy about leaving. She grabbed her bag from the counter, then turned back toward Mo fei
"I'll be gone a few weeks" she said.
Then she pointed a finger at him.
"And don't do anything stupid while I'm gone."
She paused, reconsidered, and narrowed her eyes slightly.
"...Actually, scratch that. Try not to get cancelled again."
Even in his current state, Mo fei nearly smiled.
Shin was already at the door, holding it open.
"Car's waiting downstairs."
Aria walked toward the exit, then stopped
"I'll call you when I land."
Then she was gone. Shin followed after her, and the apartment door slid shut behind them with a soft, final click.
And just like that, the massive luxury apartment fell silent.
For the first time since waking up in this body, Bai ju now trapped in Mo fei's life, was alone.
He sat still for a moment, listening to the quiet.
Outside the floor-to-ceiling windows, the city stretched endlessly into the night, its lights glittering against the skyline like a thousand distant eyes. The apartment was enormous, beautiful, and far too empty all at once.
No reporters.
No doctors.
No Aria.
No noise except the hum of the city below and the faint ringing in his own thoughts.
It should have felt peaceful.
Instead, it felt strange and unsteady.
As if silence gave his mind too much room to remember that none of this was really his.