"O' ... Brien?" The name rolled off Lauren's tongue, as if she had said it innumerable times. But she hadn't, had she? Her last name was Levine. No ... yes ... she wasn't sure.
"That name doesn't matter anymore," stated Dr. Tan. "Forget it."
"I ..." What was it, Lauren asked herself. "... did. What was it?"
"I told you. It's meaningless now."
"No, I want to know. I know I used to be someone else!"
"And now you are you. Accept yourself for who you are. It's a blessing, not a curse. Don't obsess over your weight. You're not even remotely obese. If you don't like those 'excess' pounds, you can work them off. You work hard here at Whitelace. You manage to keep up with some very smart ladies across the globe. You should be proud of yourself. You, Lauren Levine."
That surname didn't sound as weird to Lauren as it had just a moment ago.
"Make your mother proud," said Dr. Tan.
"M-mother? Amber's not ... I mean ... she ..."
"Is your mother. Has always been your mother. She loves you. You'll be able to see her shortly. Just don't call her 'Amber.' Daughters don't call their mothers by their first names."
"But ... Lucy ..."
"Students don't call doctors by their first names either." Dr. Tan pointed to a tag on her lab coat: "DR. TAN".
"W-what about your mother, Lu ... Dr. Tan?"
"What about her?"
"Don't you miss her?"
"No. I'm an adult now. I've been an adult for almost a decade. I don't fly back to Hong Kong very often. I like it here at Whitelace."
"But you used to talk about her all the time."
"That wasn't me. That was Lucy Corinth." Dr. Tan pronounced the "th" as "t." She didn't have a "th" sound in Cantonese, her native language. "I don't miss the Corinths. They let their daughter be an airhead instead of forcing her to apply herself, to achieve her full potential. Her life was a waste. Mine is not."
Maybe, thought Lauren, but you're a cold-hearted ... She found it hard to think of Lucy in negative terms. Her friend was in that Asian woman somewhere, just as her real self - whoever that might've been - was hidden inside this frumpy body. Her body. This wasn't like an outfit, a fat suit she could just take off. No, she was stuck in this thing. Her nails tore into her skin which was a shade darker and completely freckle-free.
Dr. Tan grabbed Lauren's left hand. "Stop that!"
Lauren gasped. She hadn't been a southpaw until a few seconds ago. That bothered her more than the red scratches across her right forearm. "How ..."
Dr. Tan released her grip. "How what?"
Lauren found her ex-friend's accent to be chilling. Utterly lacking in her Lucy's warmth. "My left hand ... it feels stronger, while my right ..."
"Ah, handedness reversal," said Dr. Tan. "Lots of people at Whitelace have experienced it, including me. And I'm glad. It's hard to write Chinese characters left-handed." She held up a pen with her right hand, then wrote something very carefully on a pad.
Lauren wondered if there was any detail that remained unscathed other than first names, and even those could be subject to change. Sarah was now Saralyne and Yuki Juliet. Maybe she should consider herself lucky to still be a Lauren.
Dr. Tan pointed at the first Chinese character on her notepad. "Do you recognize this? Zhe ge zi shi shenme?"
"Na ge zi shi -" Lauren cupped her mouth. "What did I just say?"
"You should know. You take Mandarin."
"But I take Spanish."
"Really? Say something in it."
"Yo ..." Lauren couldn't remember what that meant anymore.
"Your mother mentioned to me that she made you take the language of the future. Read what I wrote in it."
"Wo shi Li Luoren. I am Li Luoren ... Lauren Levine."
"Hen hao. Very good." Dr. Tan put away the notepad. "You'll be even better soon. The headmistress wants you to see the psychologist. She's ..."
