Chapter 23

There��s an unfortunate car accident. A bloody female body and a mummified male cadaver lie on the road. The female��s gushing blood travels its way to the cadaver. On the verge of death, the last thing the female sees is a man��s blurry silhouette.
A rich guy Roman. He looked like an ordinary pretty face but in truth, he is a bit arrogant 2 years ago, someone wanted him dead by draining his blood. But killing him proves to be a lot more difficult task. Instead, he was only put into a deep sleep. His dormant body was later discovered at the bottom of a river. On the night of the accident, his body is supposed to be delivered to a research facility. And because of the female��s blood, he is awakened from his slumber. But sadly, he has no idea of who is responsible for his ��murder��. He is a man lost in the past and oblivious of the present.
That same night, Alice a luckless, second-rate actress initiated a marriage proposal to her boyfriend but got rejected by him in front of her friends. Turns out, her boyfriend is in love with her best friend who has been living with her since high school. The saddest thing is, the said best friend already stole a total of 7 ex-boyfriends from her!
Depressed and brokenhearted, she then attempts to jump off the roof but every time she gets on the edge, she cowers down. The security guard who watches her countless failed attempts for two-full hours comically complains about her hesitancy. The guard firstly dismissed her reasons as perfect setbacks but upon hearing the full story, he concludes that she is indeed the unluckiest girl in the world and supports her suicide plan.
But thankfully, she comes to her senses and mulls over the fact that her ex-boyfriend ain��t worth dying for. She goes to her car and there awaits�� a parking violation ticket. Indeed the unluckiest. And to conclude her worst night ever, she gets herself involved in the tragic road accident.
After a month of hiding in the hospital, the nurse bluntly tells Alice to check out because she has obviously fully recovered from the accident. Alice mom, (Evely) comes by to visit and convinces her to go home. But despite her mom��s urging, she��s still not ready to face the media or the shame of public rejection.
That night, Roman stares at the soundly sleeping Alice. He��s rather confused why his heartbeat is audibly in sync with hers every time they are near each other. Somehow, Alice feels his creepy presence and wakes up. She screams and the nurses come to her aid. She tells them she saw a man and hears a loud, steady heartbeat sound. They search her room but since no one��s around, the blunt nurse deems that Alice is just imagining things and uses that as an excuse to prolong her stay.
At the rooftop of the fronting building, Roman smiles at Alice terrified reactions. He regards her as someone vulnerable and easily-led but whether he likes it or not, she may be the key to his forgotten past.
Alice is craving for real food. She tries to sneak out and deduces that the only way to escape is by jumping over the wall. She runs speedily towards the perimeter fence but unfortunately she didn��t see the uncovered manhole conveniently placed in her path. As expected, she falls directly inside.
Onece again she hears the loud heartbeat, which signifies that Roman is just around the corner. And yeah, he��s just lazily sitting on a branch of a nearby tree. She shouts for help and he��s forced to lend a hand but not before teasing her a bit. She tries to bribe him with an autograph but he is apparently uninterested. She then offers him money but it��s still a no. So she asks him what he wants in exchange. Well, he wants some questions answered. Thinking that he��s a random crazy dude, she agrees.
He asks her if she believes in immortality. She answers him a flippant yes. Second question is if she wants to be immortal. This time she earnestly tells him no. Even if she have lots to gain, she has more to lose. She can��t bear the idea of seeing her family and friends die one by one. It��ll be lonesome life and people will treat her as a monster. Roman remains silent and reflects on that thought. He then tells Alice to close her eyes and count to five. In less than 5 seconds, she finds herself outside the manhole.
It��s time for Alice to finally go home and she��s desperately trying to stay, feigning to be suffering from different kinds of illness. However, Blunt Nurse is adamant to kick her out and insists that she��s healthy as a horse. In fact, she��s too healthy that even her bones shine. In the end, she is forced to discharge. Blunt Nurse assures her that no one knows she��ll be leaving the hospital, but to her surprise, all reporters are already waiting for her. I love that Blunt Nurse��s smile of triumph.
The interview is going well until one reporter asks about her comment on the rumor that some pervert took advantage of her unconscious state and kissed her. The news enraged her so much simply because it was her first kiss. She vents her anger to Mom who appears apathetic of her rants. Dad, however, supports her principle of delaying intimate kisses for at least months. But nevertheless, the fact remains that some pervert stole her first kiss. She hopes to forget about it and prays for amnesia. Mom laughs because only leading ladies get to play the part.
Meanwhile, Roman is busy searching the net for answers. He reads about the people involved in the research project about him. He goes to the facility to investigate. There he sees his mummified picture (tagged as the Sleeping Beauty) and laughs at how handsome he really is compared to the said picture.
Alice is staying at her parent��s place and plans to take another 2 months leave off work. But to her horror, she finds her savings almost depleted. her Dad patiently explains that it��s all because of her one month-long ��staycation�� at the hospital and her monthly car mortgage. He didn��t bother telling her because she��s evidently very happy living there, and besides, it��s her money to waste. Alice nearly died of heart attack after hearing her Dad��s ��rational and smart reasoning��. She immediately decides to go home and make money.
She finds her infamous ex-boyfriend Hilton, a police officer, waiting outside her house. It seems he wants to make amends and though he didn��t mean to reject her in front of other people, he didn��t regret telling her the truth. It��ll be unfair for her and she deserves someone who truly loves her. But Alice is not ready to forget and calls it quits. Inside, she bares her angry face and weeps.
Someone rings the bell. Thinking it��s Hilton, she arms herself with a cucumber and tries beating him with it. But no one��s there. She then spots Roman, his hand on his chest and looking at her. She too feels the same heartbeat and they look into each other��s eyes. She��s instantly attracted to him no doubt. And then comes a car which interrupted their eye to eye moment.
It��s one oh her 6th Ex-boyfriend Bill. Alice is still pissed at him though and shoos him away. She��s about to close the door when he tells her that his visit is actually about the road accident she was in. Coincidentally, Bill is one of the scientists who were tasked to study about the mummified body. He tells her that the said body is an important artifact and since it��s allegedly stolen, he wants to know if she remembers something out of the ordinary that night. But she can��t recall a thing, so Bill gives her the Sleeping Beauty pamphlet. Alice looks at the picture and is petrified that the picture opened its eyes. She throws him out and prays that Bill didn��t bring ghosts or bad luck inside her home.
Outside, Bill calls Hilton, it��s weird for two ex-boyfriends to team up for the sake of their ex-girlfriend Just an opinion. He informs him that though Alice appears to have no knowledge of the dead body, she��s still in grave danger. Many people are interested to get it and they must protect her no matter what.
The last thing we see is Roman hiding behind the tree branches, his eyes looking intently ahead.