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Re:life—prologue
🕑 Added 2025-07-11 15:35:53 +0000 UTCHey guys, so this is the rewritten version of the first chapters—-
This version is done by my little brother so let me know if it's better because I didn't read it…
————-
**[Monica's Apartment]**
"Okay, great, bye…" Monica said, turning off the phone as Chandler entered the apartment.
"So, guess who's coming to Thanksgiving dinner?" she asked him.
"Sidney Poitier," Chandler replied sarcastically, making her sigh in defeat. "Oh, I miss Rachel."
"No, my parents," she said as she put the bowl on the table.
"Oh, that's great. They haven't seen the place since I moved in," Chandler said enthusiastically.
"Yeah, you know, if you could not mention to them that we're living together, that would be great…. I was thinking we could eat around 4," Monica interjected as she moved towards the sink.
Chandler, a bit bewildered, asked while moving closer to her, "And why can't we tell them that we live together?"
"Because they don't know that we're dating," she answered while moving her hands, trying to clean an invisible stain off the table and doing her best to appear busy.
"Do you think we should eat in the kitchen?"
"Why haven't you told them?" Chandler asked, clearly not ready to let this topic go.
"Well, I was going to; I really was, but then—out of nowhere—I didn't," she replied. However, the way she looked around the kitchen, trying to find something to do other than having this conversation, clearly showed that she was hiding something.
"Why didn't you tell them? Wouldn't they be happy?" Chandler's voice rose slightly. But Monica dodged the question.
"So, dinner in the kitchen around four," Monica said, dodging the question and moving away, heading to the kitchen sink.
Before they could delve deeper into their conversation, a knocking sound came from the door.
*Knock, knock.*
"I'll get it," Monica yelled as she all but ran towards the door.
She opened it to see who it was, as she was quite sure it wasn't anyone from her usual group—they didn't knock.
"Hey, Mon, it's been a while," the man leaning against the door frame said.
Although referring to him as a man was misleading—he couldn't be more than 19 years old—she couldn't remember his exact age right away. The last time she saw him in person, he had been twelve and going to Harvard.
"Daniel!!! Oh my god!!! What are you doing here?" Monica exclaimed as soon as her brain caught up, launching herself into a bear hug, breaking his 'I look cool' posture and prompting him to drop his duffel bag to return the embrace.
"I got evicted, so I came to crash on your couch for a few days while my apartment gets ready," he replied after breaking the hug.
"Evicted? How can you get evicted? Where did you live? You're not even 20 yet—what did you do?!" Monica went into full-on Mom mode the second she heard what he said, dragging him inside.
"Hey, it's not my fault, okay? Dr. Watson, our chief of surgery, kicked me out, saying something about 'you can't live in the hospital's on-call rooms, you need more human contact' and whatever other nonsense," he replied, raising his hands in surrender.
"Can you believe he threatened to suspend me if I didn't find a place to live outside of the hospital?" Daniel was about to start ranting but was interrupted by Chandler's sarcastic remark: "Well, what do you know, hospitals aren't hotels nowadays?"
His voice brought the attention of both Daniel and Monica, who simultaneously turned to look at him.
"Chandler, this is my cousin, Daniel White, if you remember," Monica said. "And Daniel, you remember Chandler, right? Anyway, Chandler here is my boyfriend now, which I guess you would have known about had you bothered to call me at all last year," she introduced them, not forgetting to give him a scathing comment and a pointed look when mentioning his negligence.
"Yeah, I remember—Ross's dorky friend—Hello!" Daniel said, extending his hand for a handshake.
"Hi, Daniel, was it?" Chandler responded, shaking hands and trying to be funny.
Daniel didn't acknowledge him and just turned his head and looked at Monica. "Really? Him?"
"You'll learn to tune him out soon enough," she replied, knowing full well that her boyfriend was an acquired taste sometimes.
"If you say so. And for what it's worth, sorry for not calling as much—I was crazy busy. Still, I did send you gifts," he told her.
"You call the glass containers full of suspicious white powder that you sent with instructions saying 'do not mix with alcohol' a gift?" She looked at him suspiciously. "What is that, by the way? All you wrote on the containers was 'Biopure7' and instructions on how to drink it…" She didn't forget to give him 'The Monica' pointed look again.
"Umm, so you didn't drink it?" he asked her, confused.
"No, why would I drink something that suspicious?" she replied as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
"Well, it's your loss. Those small jars alone are worth tens of thousands of dollars per jar… It's a detox formula I created because…" He stopped talking midsentence and looked down a little when he remembered the reason but then abruptly shook his head and continued, "Anyway, what matters is that pharmaceutical companies would go crazy if they ever found out about it." He feigned nonchalance, as if the sad, pained look he had earlier was just her imagination.
This little reaction made Monica freeze for a second, making her realize that her little baby cousin—the little kid she had considered to be her only brother at one point—is now actually a grown-up, sparking a mix of feelings: worry, sadness, and intense curiosity about how his life has been. Still, now wasn't the time for this—she would sit down and actually talk with him later.
With that decision in mind, she asked, "Are you sure it's a detox and not some kind of new recreational drug?"
"Monica! What the hell? I'm a doctor, for God's sake!" Daniel stared at her in disbelief. How could she think that?
"Well, what do you expect me to think? The last time I saw you in person, you were twelve and going to Harvard Med—after that, our conversations were just check-ups, and you know it—plus you didn't call at all since Christmas last year—so excuse me if my mind immediately thought the worst," Monica's justification was met with a mock glare. Both of them knew that this was just Monica's way of saying she didn't accept the gift because he made her worry.
"Wait, you went to Harvard at twelve? What did you do next? Cured cancer by 16?" Chandler sarcastically interjected, trying to insert himself into the conversation.
"Not now, Chandler… Anyway, Daniel, your old room is now the guest room, so go in there, change, and get comfortable. My mom and dad are coming for Thanksgiving dinner here later, so we'll catch up after they leave, okay?" Monica said, pointing towards the room.
'Excuse me for having a phobia of being invisible,' Chandler sarcastically thought when he saw his girlfriend ignoring him.
"Yeah, okay, sure. Is Ross also coming?" Daniel asked while moving towards the guest room.
"Yeah, he'll be here soon—Please don't start anything with him until after my parents leave."
"No promises."
"Hey, now that Doogie Howser is not interrupting our conversation, tell me why you didn't tell your parents about us?" Chandler asked Monica as soon as Daniel closed the guest room's door, clearly wanting to resume their earlier conversation.
---
*Knock, knock.* -door opening-
"Hey!" Phoebe greeted as she entered Monica's apartment.
"Hi, Phoebe," Monica greeted back.
"Hey, Phoebe," Rachel said, "check it out. For dessert, I've chosen to make a traditional English trifle."
"Wow, that sounds great," Phoebe replied, then turned around and asked, "And you, Monica? What are you making? In case Rachel's dessert is… so good that I eat all of it?"
"Nothing," Monica answered.
"Nothing?" Rachel disbelievingly asked.
"No, sweetie, I trust you. Besides, with Daniel being here, I'm trying to come up with ways to have him behave and not set Ross off before my parents go home," Monica replied.
"So, there really is nothing for dessert? What if I mess it up?" Rachel once again asked.
"You're not going to mess it up," Monica replied, rubbing her hand on Rachel's shoulder affectionately.
"Monica, I love that! You really have faith in me; thank you…"
"Yeah," Monica mumbled while praying inside her head—'God, please don't let her mess this up.'
"Technical question: how do you know when the butter is done?"
"Two minutes before it starts looking like that," Monica answered and started moving, but Rachel called her again.
"Monica, wait, did you say Daniel is here? The Daniel? Your baby cousin Daniel?" Rachel asked, as if just remembering what Monica said earlier.
"Yeah, and he's not Baby Daniel anymore," Monica said sulkily, clearly she still hadn't come to terms with the fact.
"Oh, sweetie." Rachel gave her a small hug.
She remembered how much Monica doted on her cousin, especially when the kid came into her life when she was going through her teenage life-planning phase—when Ross was still her worst enemy—Daniel became her little brother and her practice kid.
Just as she was done with her musings, the door of the apartment suddenly opened with Ross and Joey entering and greeting everyone, and started telling Monica how great the food smelled and how nice the place looked.
---
Daniel came out of the guest room carrying a bath towel over his shoulder—wanting to do a quick shower after his short nap. He walked into the living room only to find Ross telling the girls about how they promised to stop by for a little party.
"Ross! It's been a while. Still playing with rocks, or did you finally quit and decide to get into some real science?" Daniel said as soon as he saw Ross, making Ross stop midsentence and turn his attention to him.
"Daniel, I didn't know you were here," Ross said, giving a death stare to Monica.
"Well, the chief of surgery found out that I've been living in the hospital since I began my training there and evicted me. What about you? Still with that lesbian wife of yours?"
"Dan, what did I tell you earlier?" Monica cut in with an 'I'm warning you' voice.
"What? I don't get to say I told you so? Because I did warn him on his wedding day, and he not only didn't take my warning seriously but also tattled on me to Nana. Monica, you know this…" Daniel said, trying to justify himself while giving Ross the stink eye.
"I don't care. You two are going to behave today, and that's final," Monica said, looking at both of them.
"Killjoy—Fine, I was going to the bathroom anyway," Daniel said in a resigned tone and started walking towards the bathroom.
Right after he closed the bathroom door, the rest started asking questions about him while continuing their arguments about the hot dancers' party—and that's when Monica's parents arrived.
---
**[Monica's Bathroom] [Daniel's POV]**
'Ah, nothing beats a warm shower after a nap,' I thought as I allowed myself to truly consider what to do moving forward. 'I think it's about time I actually start making friends and not just acquaintances—plus, I have always wanted to interact with this peculiar group of friends ever since my past life.'
'Past life, huh? It has been more than 10 years since I last thought about my past life, and for a good reason,' I thought wistfully as I rinsed the shampoo off my hair.
I mean, how would anyone feel if they found out that after death they wouldn't meet God or anything like that? Because get this: "God is busy."
At least that's what Uncle Martin said when he met me in the afterlife. It turned out he had arranged the car accident that happened for his son so that he could grant him his wish to be isekai'd, but I inadvertently interfered when I pushed him out of the way and took his place.
So we made a deal: I would take his son's opportunity and reincarnate in exchange for giving him enough points to grant his son Jason—my best friend and brother—the opportunity he wanted.
I agreed instantly, though I adamantly decided on a normal life, much to his disappointment.
His disappointment in my choice stems from the fact that in a normal world there's only one way to get points, while in a supernatural one there's a lot more.
It's like this: after reincarnating in a normal world, I automatically become a worker for the organization, which allows me access to the world's Karma system—and to spend my Karmic Value Points while alive. However, Karmic Value cannot be gained as quickly or as easily as other methods, like Destiny Points, Luck Points, kill points, or others that are only available in supernatural worlds.
So yeah, he was a little disappointed. Still, he didn't try to convince me or anything, as that was against the rules—his words, not mine—plus it was my life and my choice, so it's not like he could have.
That's how I found myself reincarnated into this parallel reality where everything appeared the same yet was actually very different.
I knew beforehand that some shows from my previous world were actually real life stories in this one, but I didn't know what kind of 'shows' were real here at the time.
At least now I know about "Friends" and "Grey's Anatomy" being real, not that it changes anything—I stopped trying to figure this out ten years ago.
Still, all of this doesn't really matter. What matters is that as of today, I am debt-free. I have finally finished paying off the points to Uncle Martin. Sure, it took me thirteen years to do it, but now that it's done, I finally feel free.
Now I can actually live my own life without feeling like I stole it, and Jason too could achieve his isekai dream.
Even though I say this, I didn't actually slave around to repay the debt all this time. I bought a lot of things for myself too, stuff I knew I needed for my second life, like spending points to upgrade my intelligence to prodigy level, enhancing my talent to the very limit of human in this world, etc.
Let's not forget that I also bought the stories I wrote, the advanced knowledge on subjects like chemistry, biology, computers, business, etc.
'Oh, wow, now that I think about it, most of my success until now is bought.' A thought crossed my mind, making me chuckle.
Still, it would have taken me a lot more time and effort to gain the wealth and knowledge I have now if I didn't have the advantage of trading my karma, and that's a fact.
Really, trading karma with dead people is a great way to succeed.
*Knock* *Knock*
"Daniel, dinner is ready. Come out to eat quickly!" Monica's voice came through the bathroom door, breaking me from my thoughts.
"I'll be right there, Mon," I replied as I rinsed myself one last time before turning off the shower, stepping out, and drying myself quickly. I wrapped the towel around my waist and stepped out of the bathroom.
"Whistle."
A whistling sound bounced through the walls as soon as I stepped out of the bathroom, followed by Monica's voice scolding the one who whistled—Phoebe—and swatting her shoulder.
"Ow! What? Look at him! He looks like a Calvin Klein model that came out of a magazine!" Phoebe said, defending herself.
'Vanity is not my thing, but you have to admit, a little bit of Phoebe does wonders for the ego—that and looking like a young, more handsome version of Matthew McConaughey from my previous life doesn't hurt,' I thought to myself, flexing my muscles a bit not forgetting to give phoebe a wink…
"And you!! This is not a photoshoot, so stop posing! Go change and come out to eat!" Monica interrupted my modeling moment, not forgetting to glare at me while pushing me toward the guest room, preventing me from greeting Uncle Jack, Aunt Judy, and the rest of the gang.
"Okay, okay! Can you loosen up a little? You don't have to be so uptight all the time," I grumbled in a low voice, which earned me a well-deserved hit on the back from her.
'Ouch.'
...
"Jack, Daniel is here," Judy told her husband in a not-so-secret voice.
"I saw him, Judy. Did you see how handsome he grew up to be? He reminds me of myself when I was his age…" Jack replied.
"Monica, you didn't tell me your cousin is a hunk when we asked about him earlier!" Phoebe said, earning a scolding glare from Monica.
"Phoebe, what are you doing? That's Monica's baby cousin—you can't say stuff like that to her. Do you want her to go all mama bear on you?" Rachel elbowed Phoebe lightly and said in a hushed voice.
"What's the big deal? He's just a little bit good-looking," Ross turned to Joey and said.
Joey just gave him a look that said, "Who are you trying to convince?"
Chandler, who heard him, leaned closer to Ross. "Yeah, sure, but let me ask you something: do you think his abs come with a warranty?" His sarcasm made Ross's frown deepen.
---
When everyone finally sat down at the dining table and started eating and talking with each other, Jack playfully said, "Monica, all this food looks wonderful. You should think about doing this for a living," making Judy roll her eyes.
"Ahhhahahhaha!" Chandler laughed a little too hard at this while pointing at him, making Jack frown.
"Okay, I have dandruff; there's no need to laugh and point," Jack said a little harshly.
"Dad, Chandler was just laughing at your joke," Monica said, trying to help her boyfriend and salvage the increasingly tense situation.
"My joke was not funny," Jack stated and went back to eating his food.
Daniel, seeing Monica's conundrum, decided to help out a little by steering the conversation, so he said, "Uncle Jack, you know this dandruff problem could be due to stress-induced seborrheic dermatitis—so if it's bothering you, why don't you try a ketoconazole shampoo to see if it helps?"
"That might be it! I've been very stressed lately. Thank you, son. Write that down for me later, okay?" Jack said, looking at Daniel with a smile.
"Daniel, sweetheart, what do you do these days?" Judy asked after she finished chewing her food.
"Oh, I'm a surgical resident at Columbia-Presbyterian. This is my last year of residency, so I will start a fellowship in heart surgery next," Daniel smiled widely as he replied, clearly proud of himself.
"Oh, honey, congratulations! I know you have always been a genius, but you must have worked really hard for this—Nana would have been very proud of you—I know I am…," Judy said, extending her hand to hold his.
"Thank you, Auntie, that means a lot…" Daniel smiled sincerely.
"What about you, Ross? What's new with you?" Judy then turned her head and asked Ross.
There was an awkward silence for a few seconds because of the abrupt shift, making Ross fumble a little before starting to talk about his job.
The dinner after that was somewhat quiet, with only Ross trying a few times to outshine Daniel in his parents' eyes, Phoebe attempting to read Daniel's aura by feeling his biceps "to check his chakra points," as she said, and Rachel telling Joey more details about Daniel when he saw how Monica was always trying to stuff Daniel with food.
---
Daniel helped after dinner by taking the plates from the table to the sink, with Ross doing the same.
Rachel was trying to decorate her dessert, with Joey behind her urging her to finish it faster because he needed to go to a party with "hot girls."
Monica, on the other hand, was trying to help Chandler change her parents' impression of him—and failing.
After he finished, Daniel didn't find a reason to stay in the kitchen any longer, so he excused himself and went to his room.
As soon as he sat down on the bed, he saw the stack of papers he put on the nightstand and started debating whether he should write another Sherlock Holmes book or go with this version of the Harry Potter series—which he just bought yesterday—because, as it turned out, there'd be no Harry Potter series in this world for one reason and one reason only: J.K. Rowling was a very successful romance writer here and thus wouldn't be writing it.
So while looking through the draft of *Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone* in his hand—Ross and Chandler suddenly barged into the room.
"Okay, I think I know why my parents don't like you," Ross said, completely failing to notice Daniel sitting on the bed—or maybe he was just ignoring him altogether.
"You do? Why?" Chandler, who was about to greet Daniel, turned his entire body to face Ross.
"Remember—we were young…" Ross said, confirming what Daniel already guessed—he was the reason for this whole mess.
"Spring break, sophomore year in college, I got high in the bedroom, and my parents walked in and smelled it. So, I told them you had gotten stoned and jumped out of the window," Ross finally revealed the reason for this whole mess after a few seconds of silence.
"Why? Why would you do that?" Chandler asked in disbelief.
"Because he is a spoiled mama's boy. Have you ever seen him take full responsibility for his actions?" Daniel cut in, answering Chandler.
"Hey, you have nothing to do with this, so stay out of it," Ross raised his voice a little as he turned to point at Daniel in an aggressive way before turning back to Chandler.
"Look, I'm sorry, okay? Your name was the first one that popped into my head. How could I have known that we would still be friends after college, or that you'd end up living with my sister?"
"What about all that 'friends forever' stuff?"
"I don't know; I was all high back then," Ross answered.
*Cough* "Typical," Daniel said, doing the coughing insult thing, which earned him a glare from Ross, which only resulted in making Daniel feel all smug.
Monica entered the room at that moment, saying, "My parents just sent me to see if you were trying to get Ross and Daniel stoned."
"Your parents caught Ross smoking pot in college, and he blamed it on me," Chandler instantly told her the reason.
"Ross, I can't believe you'd do that," Monica angrily said, looking at Ross with dissatisfaction written all over her face.
"Of course he would! Remember that one time when he scratched Nana's car with his bike and tried to blame it on me? Thank God Nana didn't believe him; plus, by that point, she didn't even like him very much," Daniel added, fanning the flames under Ross's ass.
"What's your problem?" Ross glared at Daniel.
"Well, my problem is that you…" He couldn't continue because Monica interrupted him.
"Enough!!! Shut up, both of you!! Ross!! I don't care what you do. Fix this now, or I will," Monica told Ross, appearing fed up before turning to face Daniel. "And Dan, please stop trying to get into fights with him."
"Okay, okay! I'll tell them it wasn't Chandler. Now who should I say it was?" Ross asked in a subdued voice.
*Scoff*
Daniel scoffed but fell silent when Monica gave him the "I am about to sit on you" look—then she turned to Ross and pointed at the door.
It wasn't clear if she just wanted Ross out or everyone, but to be on the safe side, Daniel too decided to go out.
---
**[Monica's Apartment – Living Room]**
Daniel was sitting on the couch next to his Uncle Jack, listening to fake stories of war, knowing full well that Jack never went to war. Still, he had to pretend that he was listening, nodding as he saw him picking food from his teeth when Monica came.
"Dad, please, don't pick your teeth out here! And if you're gonna put your feet up, why don't you sit…" Monica couldn't finish the sentence because Phoebe suddenly yelled, "Monica, leave him alone!"
Daniel wasn't sure what that was about, but he was thankful nonetheless because this little distraction gave him the opportunity to leave his uncle's side and go get himself some water.
"Will you hurry up?" Joey, who was in the kitchen by Rachel's side, loudly said. "Did you not hear me before when I said all of Jeaneen's friends are dancers, huh? And they're gonna be drinking—a lot!"
"No, I did, but tell me again 'cause it's so romantic," Rachel sarcastically replied.
"You're moving too slowly! Can't you do it any faster?"
"Joey, no, I can't! 'Cause I don't want to screw it up. Otherwise, everyone will be like, 'Oh, do you remember that Thanksgiving when Rachel screwed up that trifle?'"
He drank his water while listening to the rest of the conversation but chose not to linger there any longer because he already knew the trifle was screwed up. Instead, he went to see if he could rile Ross up some more and get him to stop stalling.
"Ross, I told you, if you don't tell them, I will," Monica said in a hushed voice.
"Okay, fine!" Ross said and stood up when Joey arrived at his side.
"Ross, can I talk to you for a second?" Joey said.
"Can it wait a second, Joey? I have to tell my parents something. No, it can't? Okay…" Ross went into the guest room.
Daniel just scoffed and looked at Monica, who was sitting on the ground, and sat beside her.
"You know he's just gonna keep stalling, right? If you want to clear all this, you're gonna have to do it yourself," Daniel told Monica, who just sighed.
"I know," she whispered.
"And are you sure you want to tell them about him? You could dump him now, and I'll have you meet one of the finest surgeons in the U.S. by tomorrow…" Daniel teased a little, half-joking, half-serious, only to receive a smack to the back of his head.
"Don't meddle in the affairs of adults," Monica told him before she stood up, ruffled his hair, and went to talk with Phoebe, leaving him alone with Chandler.
"It's like in her eyes I'm still a six-year-old kid," Daniel mumbled.
"You're not?" Chandler tried to start a conversation with him by giving a sarcastic comment.
Daniel didn't acknowledge the sarcastic comment thrown his way. He just looked at Chandler and said, "I don't know what she sees in you. To me, you're still Ross's insensitive dork friend, so try not to break her heart…".
'Because I will break you if you did' went unsaid.
"Is this going somewhere?" Chandler, seeing Daniel stop talking, asked, though his tone was less sarcastic this time. But seeing Daniel looking at him without saying anything made him a little uncomfortable, so he excused himself, stood up, and left.
---
"Hey, and if anyone wants some help pretending to like it, I learned…" He tuned out Joey, who was explaining to them about the dessert and how they should act, etc.
"Yeah, I'm not paying for those acting classes anymore," he heard Chandler say.
The door to the apartment opened. Rachel and Ross came inside, and Joey again started rushing Rachel into serving the dessert.
"Okay, everybody, it's trifle time!" Rachel said in a sing-song tone.
"So, Rach, this is a traditional English trifle, isn't it?" Phoebe said.
"Yeah," answered Rachel.
"Wow, so did you make it with beef or eggplant?"
"Beef."
"Oh, I can't have any. You know I can't eat beef. Ugh!" Phoebe said, stood up, and went into the guest room, trying hard not to show a smile.
Now that was acting.
"I don't like English desserts; I'm more of a French or Italian dessert kind of guy. How about you give my piece to Ross? I'm sure he'll be delighted," Daniel said as he smiled sweetly before he too went into the guest room, leaving the rest to fend for themselves.
---
**[Guest Room]**
Daniel entered the room only to find Phoebe reading his draft of 'Harry Potter'. He had bought this version of the story from the karmic marketplace—and if the description was right, this version was one of the best versions of the story and was sold for a sizable sum of money—and he has to say it was worth it.
"What are you doing?" Daniel asked as he closed the door.
"Oooh, oh, it's you!! You scared me. Is this your book?" Phoebe replied to his question with a question.
"Hmm, yeah, this is the first book of a series I'm planning on publishing soon," he told her.
"Hmm, I have a good feeling about this, so I am sure it will be a success," she commented as she put the draft on the nightstand.
"I was going to take a quick nap, but you can join me if you want," she continued with exaggerated eyebrow movements while licking her lips.
"No need. You can take your nap. I have some things I need to read," Daniel refused and sat on the other side of the bed, took some papers out of the bag, and started reading.
'I forgot how weird this woman was…' Daniel thought.
---
**[Post-Dinner Chaos]**
"Yeah, but then Jacques Cousteau came and kicked his ass for cheating on me. It was so cool, and then he took me diving, and that's where…"
Daniel went out of the room and came face to face with Phoebe, who was telling Rachel a story while standing right outside the door. He didn't bother listening and just went to the kitchen to get himself a soda or a juice to drink.
"Ross, let's go," Monica said.
"Oh, yes, about telling Mom and Dad… I was thinking about maybe writing a letter…"
"You know what? That's it. You've had your chance!" Monica said as she stood up and went towards her parents, who were sitting and chatting together on the sofa in the living room.
"Pffttt!"
Seeing this, Daniel tried very hard to keep himself from laughing—especially at Ross's reaction.
"Mom, Dad, Ross smoked pot in college!" Monica ripped the bandaid off quickly and told them.
"Whaaa?"
"What?"
"You are such a tattletale!!" Ross exclaimed as he finally got up and went to sit on the small table right in front of his parents.
"Mom, Dad, remember that time you walked into my room and smelled marijuana?" Ross asked them.
"Yes," they both simultaneously answered while giving Chandler a judging look.
"Well, I told you it was Chandler who was smoking the pot, but it was me. I'm sorry."
"It was you??!" Aunt Judy's disappointed voice echoed.
"And Dad, you know that mailman…"
Monica and Ross continued their back-and-forth, joined by the entire gang except for Daniel, who just sat there like an amused spectator witnessing a real-life sitcom moment.
The news of Ross's divorce reminded him of just how much he forgot about the show when he watched it before his reincarnation. True, he now had an eidetic memory, but that was only in his current body, and he wouldn't actually inherit it unless he dies first, while the memories of his past life were stored in his soul—he checked.
Still, watching Ross squirming under his parents' disappointment was a pleasure, really.
---
**[Balcony – Midnight Smoke]**
Later that night, after Jack, Judy, and the gang left, Daniel went onto the balcony to smoke a cigarette and think about how to proceed with publishing his new Harry Potter series.
He thought about using his actual name this time, but it just didn't work for him. He had decided early on in his life that he didn't want to be in the spotlight unless necessary.
He was a surgeon, and he liked being a surgeon, and when medicine meets fame like this—yeah, that was a bad idea, so he deleted it as soon as it came and decided to do the same thing he did previously: publish it under his pen name, CONAN.
That way, the books would sell faster thanks to his already established global fan base—especially since he wrote and published *The Toy Story* children's book series and the Sherlock Holmes book series in this world. And yeah, there was no Arthur Conan Doyle in this world.
"Daniel!! What are you doing? Since when do you smoke?" Monica's voice came from behind him, startling him. He turned around only to see Monica's hand go straight to the side of his head, catching his ear and pulling it, making him wince.
"Give me that!!!" She yelled as she pulled his ear harder, making him hand her the cigarette that was in his hand without much resistance.
"Relax, will you? It's just one cigarette every now and then, and I have my detox formula, so it's all good," he tried to explain to her, but the pointed look she was giving him clearly meant she wasn't buying it.
"What can this detox formula of yours even do? Can it cure cancer?" Monica asked.
"Well, no, it's not a cure. It's a prevention tool—you see, what the formula does is that it breaks down toxins like nicotine or environmental pollutants in the body and makes them exit with your pee and sweat," he tried to explain it in the simplest way he could so she could understand.
"There's such a miracle drug?" Monica flipped switches immediately and asked with enthusiasm.
"Yeah, I created it. It's the powder I gave you for your birthday."
"Why didn't you tell me that earlier!!!" She raised her voice and went out of the balcony into the kitchen, with Daniel following her.
"I still have it in here somewhere," she kept saying while going through the cabinet. "Aha! Here it is!"
"Yeah, just a spoonful into a glass of water, wait for it to dissolve, and drink it," Daniel gave her the instructions.
"Okay, okay," she mumbled while doing what she's told. "Don't think I forgot about you smoking, mister! I will still give you a piece of my mind, miracle drug or not!!"
"Yeah, yeah… just drink this and go to sleep. You can lecture me about my behavior tomorrow…" Daniel said lazily as he started walking back to his room.
He stopped by the door and turned around. "And Monica, just drinking one glass every month is enough—too much of something good is bad," he said as he closed the door to his room.
———
