The morning sun warmly illuminated the hospital garden. Lifa sat in a wheelchair, enjoying the sunlight to chase away the boredom caused by being cooped up in her hospital room for so long. Beside her was Rehan, her loyal cousin who kept her company.
Lifa's parents had to go home first because of an urgent matter that couldn't be postponed, so they entrusted Rehan completely with Lifa's safety until they returned.
"Bro, can I ask you something?" Lifa asked, breaking the silence.
Rehan furrowed his brow, then gave her a faint smile. "Sure. What do you want to ask, Cousin?" he replied gently while softly stroking Lifa's hair.
"Last night, I dreamed I met a little girl. Her face was blurry, but she called you 'Bro Rehan.' And if I'm not mistaken, she called herself Ica, Bro. Was it just a dream, or was it a buried memory?" Lifa asked seriously.
*Thump.*
Rehan's body instantly went rigid. The name Lifa had just uttered was the main reason he had to keep staying at this hospital.
"Cousin... it wasn't just a dream. It's a memory that's slowly starting to surface," Rehan answered, trying to keep his voice calm despite the turmoil in his chest.
"Then who is Ica? If that's my memory, that means we've met before, right? Do you know who she is, Bro?" Lifa pressed, pretending to be curious.
Rehan let out a heavy sigh and looked at Lifa sadly. "Yes, you know her, Lifa. She's your cousin too—or more precisely, my biological little sister. Her name is Clarissa, but she often mispronounced her own name, and it turned into Ica. She's being treated at this hospital too."
Lifa felt relieved that Rehan had told her the truth. This information made it easier for her to help Rehan without letting that pest of a princess get ahead of her.
"Then how is she doing, Bro? What's wrong with her? How come I've never seen her at this hospital?" Lifa asked, pretending not to know what was really going on.
"She has a fairly rare illness and is being treated in a special room. Every night, I work in the laboratory testing various medicines, but none of them have worked yet," Rehan explained dejectedly.
Lifa felt sorry for her. She wanted to leave the hospital immediately to help, but her parents had strictly forbidden it until she had fully recovered. Besides, according to the novel's plot, Princess would find the medicine first in two days. Lifa had to move quickly and rack her brain so that the clue she gave them would sound believable.
*There's no way I can say the novel mentioned a Rainbow Mushroom on Bukit X. They'll call me crazy. Ugh, this is so confusing! Or worse, they'll transfer me to a psychiatric hospital,* Lifa grumbled inwardly.
As Lifa thought about what to do, her gaze accidentally caught sight of a little child playing on a phone in the garden not far from them. A sudden idea flashed through her mind.
"Bro, last night I happened to see some news on my phone..." Lifa began, but Rehan immediately cut her off.
"Lifa! Why were you on your phone last night? You haven't fully recovered yet, and you need to rest!" Rehan scolded her sternly.
Lifa let out an irritated breath because he'd interrupted her. "Bro, listen first, ugh! This is really important. Last night, I saw a news report about a hill in the area of Kota X. It's full of medicinal plants, and the most mysterious one is the Rainbow Mushroom. They say that mushroom can cure all kinds of diseases. Don't you want to give it a try?"
Rehan looked at Lifa doubtfully. "Are you sure, Lifa? You weren't reading some fake news, were you?"
Lifa sighed wearily as she dealt with her cousin's skepticism. "Bro, I don't know for sure whether it's true or not, but there's no harm in trying, right? It's better to make an effort than just sit around doing nothing. You definitely want your little sister to get better soon. But if you're going to that hill, please bring bodyguards. Don't go alone. We don't know what's there. There could be danger or wild animals."
Rehan slowly nodded, beginning to consider it. "All right, I'll give it a try tomorrow. Hopefully what you said is true. But I'm surprised. Since when did you get this smart?"
"Maybe it's a side effect of the amnesia. My brain suddenly got enlightened," Lifa joked, immediately making them both laugh.
That night, Lifa sat on the bed in her hospital room. Armed with a sheet of paper and a pen, she began writing down every detail of the novel's plot that she could still remember.
1. **Stop Princess from taking the Rainbow Mushroom.** 2. **Prevent Princess from meeting Elena** (an important character who would later help Princess commit crimes). 3. **Stay away from the male protagonist, Kairo.** 4. **Stay away from the antagonist, Jevan.** 5. **Stay away from the female antagonist, Anggun.**
Those were the main items she had managed to put together. She would think through the rest gradually. Her first step had to succeed tomorrow: Rehan had to go to that hill before Princess. If she failed, her next plan could fall apart.
"Princess, I'm going to pay you back for everything you did to the owner of this body," Lifa murmured, her eyes sharp.
At first, Lifa had planned to approach several important characters in the novel, especially Kairo, the protagonist. But after reconsidering, staying away from every character in the story was the safest choice. She was worried there might be a *bug* in this novel world's system that would only hasten her death.
"Hah... Lifana, I promise I'll pay them back for everything they've done. But for now, I'm going to sleep before I think about it some more," Lifa chuckled softly to herself before pulling up the blanket and closing her eyes.