Author transmigrates into a book | Older woman-younger man romance | Size difference | Chinese-German mixed heritage | Wealthy family
Aaron Wolfe never dreamed. His world was made up of data, music theory, and predictable patterns. He had come this Saturday to find a watch movement from a specific year in Switzerland. His father once told him that the workings of precision machinery could soothe the noise in his mind.
"Aaron, my real name is Lin Meng. If I told you... Wu Xun is based on a real person. In another world, he was someone I knew but was never close to. I know his fears and his attachment patterns. I wrote him into a story, and all of this happened between him and 'me'... and Meng." I gestured around us, then pointed to myself. "The deprivation Meng experienced in her family of origin, her distorted craving for material security, her pursuit of order and beauty, her traumas and preferences... all of them came from me. I'm where she began."
I continued, speaking faster, as if afraid that if I stopped, I'd never find the courage again. "I created you. Your talent, your family, the trauma left by your mother's departure and her words, 'a perfect work.' But I didn't decide how you'd think or feel. Those things grew inside you on their own. When I came to this world, I discovered that Meng... was gone. And I became 'her' at this point in time. But I'm twenty-seven. I don't speak German or know how to play piano. I never experienced her marriage or childbirth. I'm more skilled with an industrial sewing machine than hand sewing. I only recently finished writing the novel about Meng and you, and my mind is full of questions about whether the characters and plot details make sense..."
