The Other Me - Chapter 1

Those arms circled my waist, damp and cool with the bathroom’s lingering mist, clamping around me like iron pincers.

My whole body went rigid. It felt as if my blood had frozen in an instant.

Warm breath brushed the back of my neck, again and again.

That voice—that voice exactly like mine—was right beside my ear.

“Who are you?”

My voice rasped like sandpaper.

The person behind me chuckled. I could clearly feel the vibration of his chest against my back.

“Me? Jiang Xun, I’m you.”

He had spoken my name.

I thrashed, throwing every ounce of strength into breaking free of his embrace.

He did not budge. No human should have been that strong.

“Stop moving. The floor tiles are slippery. What if you fall?”

There was a trace of indulgence in his voice that made my skin crawl.

I gave up struggling, my body shaking violently with fear.

I stared fixedly at the mirror in front of us.

There was still nothing in it, only the bathroom’s pale tiles and its solitary light.

No me. No “him” holding me.

“What… what do you want?”

Even my teeth were chattering.

“What do I want?” He seemed to consider the question seriously.

“I want to taste the piece of tiramisu you didn’t finish last night. I want to see how that novel you’ve been stuck on for ages finally ends. And I want… to sleep in your bed.”

His arms tightened, nearly crushing me into his body.

“Your bed looks so soft. I watch you lie in it every day, and I’ve always wondered what it feels like.”

He spoke of the most ordinary things, yet I felt as though countless venomous snakes were crawling up my spine.

I was a horror novelist. I had written scenes far stranger than this one.

But now that it was actually happening to me, I discovered I did not even have the courage to scream.

My mind was blank. Logic and reason had both gone on strike.

He seemed to sense how rigid I was and loosened his hold a little.

Then he took my hand and turned me around.

At last, I saw his face.

It was identical to mine.

The same brows and eyes, the same bridge of the nose—even the faint scar over the left eyebrow was exact down to the last detail.

The only difference was that his hair was wet. Droplets slid from the ends, traced his cheeks, and soaked the collar of pajamas identical to mine.

But his eyes were utterly different.

Mine could have held nothing but terror and confusion just then.

His held a deep possessiveness, tinged with scrutiny and infatuation.

He looked at me as though admiring a treasure he had lost and finally recovered.

“See? We look exactly alike.”

He smiled, and the right corner of his mouth dimpled more deeply than the left, just like mine.

“So don’t be afraid.”

Holding my hand, he led me out of the bathroom.

I followed like a marionette, my steps unsteady as he drew me back into the bedroom.

The bed was still a mess from when I had woken with a start and thrown back the covers.

He walked over and sat down without the slightest hesitation, then patted the mattress.

“Mm. It really is soft.”

He tipped his head back to look at me, his eyes full of innocent curiosity.

“It’s my turn to sleep in the bed now. Where will you go?”

My brain finally started working again.

“Into… the mirror?” I answered without thinking.

The smile vanished from his face.

“I don’t like that place.”

His voice dropped, carrying a hint of grievance so faint I almost missed it.

“It’s damp and cold. There’s nothing there except one silly you, doing the same things every day.”

“I’ve copied you for twenty-eight years, Jiang Xun. Twenty-eight whole years.”

“I don’t want to copy you anymore.”

He rose and advanced on me, one step at a time.

I backed away in terror until my back struck the cold wall and there was nowhere left to go.

He reached out and gently stroked my cheek.

His fingertips were cool and damp.

“You smell so good. Like bedding dried in the sun.”

“I can’t smell anything inside the mirror.”

His face drew closer and closer. In his pitch-black pupils, I could even make out my own panic-stricken reflection.

“What the hell are you?”

Clenching my teeth, I forced the words out of my throat.

“I told you. I’m you.”

He repeated it patiently.

“I am your desire, your ambition, every emotion you’re afraid to bring into the light.”

“I am the narcissism you refuse to admit to, the loneliness that longs to be held when you wake from a dream at midnight.”

“I am the one who understands you best.”

With that, he lowered his head and pressed a light kiss to my forehead.

The kiss was feather-soft and cold.

I recoiled as though stung by a scorpion and shoved him away.

This time, he was caught off guard and staggered back two steps.

I snatched the desk lamp from the table and aimed it squarely at him, clutching it like a lifeline.

“Don’t come any closer!”

He stared at the lamp in my hands, startled for a moment, then smiled helplessly.

“Jiang Xun, you’ve written so many horror stories. Don’t you know?”

“Physical attacks don’t work on ‘things’ like us.”

I did not care. All bluster and no courage, I shouted, “Get out! Get out of my house!”

The smile disappeared from his face completely.

“Your house?”

He looked around. His gaze traveled over the books on my shelves bearing my name, swept across the posters on my walls, then returned to me.

“This is my house too.”

“I watched you type those books one word at a time. I watched you put up those posters one by one.”

“I know everything in this home better than you do.”

“Because whenever you look at something, you always miss so many details.”

“But all I could do was look, day after day.”

His tone was calm, yet it stirred a strange mixture of heartache and fear in me.

The hand gripping the lamp began to tremble of its own accord.

He sighed and came toward me.

I instinctively tried to swing the lamp at him, but he caught my wrist with ease.

He truly was terrifyingly strong. His grip made my wrist throb with pain.

He took the lamp from me and gently placed it back on the table.

Then he looked earnestly at me with those eyes identical to my own.

“Jiang Xun, let’s talk.”

“I don’t want to hurt you. I just… want to live like a person.”