I have an aidl interface in the client and server applications with which I connect from the Client application to the AIDLApiService service of my Server application. I call 2 methods on the interface: start (starting the VPN service) and getInfo (to get some data about it).

// AIDLApiService.kt
override fun onBind(intent: Intent): IBinder {

           override fun getInfo(): VPNInfo {
                Timber.d("[AIDL:getInfo()] CO: $VpnService")
                return VPNInfo(
                    isVpnStarted = VpnService.isStarted(),
                    ...
                )
            }

            override fun start(): Error? = try {
                Timber.d("[AIDL:start()] CO: $VpnService")
                if (!VpnService.isVpnPrepared(applicationContext)) {
                    Error(ERROR_VPN_PERMISSION_NOT_GRANTED, null)
                } else {
                    VpnService.start(applicationContext)
                    null
                }
            } catch (e: Exception) {
                Timber.e(e.message)
                Error(e)
            }

}

where in the Timber logs I track which companion VPNService object I call these methods on.
When calling the start() method, I initiate the creation and launch of the service and change the companion object isServiceStarted = true flag, after which in the Client application I check by getting getInfo() containing the value of the VPNService.isStarted() method, but I always get false.

class VPNService : VpnService() {

    ...

    override fun onStartCommand(intent: Intent, flags: Int, startId: Int): Int {
        Timber.d("onStartCommand")

        when (intent.action) {
            ACTION_START_VPN -> try {
                ...

// !!! Here the companion object is different than on which I called start() and getInfo()
                isServiceStarted = true
                Timber.d("[onStartCommand] CO: $VpnService, VPN: $this")
            } catch (e: Exception) {
                Timber.e(e.message)
                exception = e
                ...

                if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= Build.VERSION_CODES.N) {
                    stopForeground(STOP_FOREGROUND_REMOVE)
                } else {
                    stopForeground(true)
                }
                stopSelf()
            }
            ACTION_STOP_VPN -> try {
                ...
            }
        }

        return START_STICKY
    }

    companion object {

        @Volatile
        private var isServiceStarted = false

        @Volatile
        private var exception: Exception? = null

        fun isStarted(): Boolean = isServiceStarted

        fun start(context: Context, isWait: Boolean = false) {
            Timber.e("[START] CO: $this")
            startSync(context = context, wait = isWait)
        }

        @Synchronized
        private fun startSync(context: Context, wait: Boolean) {
            startNotSync(context = context, wait = wait)
        }

        private fun startNotSync(context: Context, wait: Boolean) {
            Timber.d("starting")
            exception = null
            if (isServiceStarted) return

            val intent = Intent(context, VpnService::class.java)
            intent.action = ACTION_START_VPN
            startService(context = context, intent = intent)
            if (wait) {
                while (true) {
                    Thread.sleep(SERVICE_STATE_CHECKING_INTERVAL_MILLIS)
                    if (isServiceStarted) return
                    val e = exception
                    if (e != null) {
                        throw e
                    }
                }
            }
        }

        private fun startService(context: Context, intent: Intent) {
            Timber.d("start service: intent.action: ${intent.action}")
            if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= Build.VERSION_CODES.O) {
                context.startForegroundService(intent)
            } else {
                context.startService(intent)
            }
        }

        ...

    }
}

It turns out that when calling the start() and getInfo() methods, according to the logs, I am accessing the companion object (CO) VpnService$Companion@b6fa69a, but in the onStartCommand method, when the value of isServiceStarted should be set to true, the log shows that CO: VpnService$Companion@1785aa6, i.e. the flag changes for another object. Why does this happen and how to fix it?