My girlfriend spent her entire life inventing a time machine. Her goal: to travel back in time and win back her first love. I secretly followed her back. I watched her, the woman I had painstakingly taught how to love, hold her first love's hand and gently say: "I didn't know how to love before, and I hurt you. But now, I've learned." 1 The day after traveling back, I saw Claire Vance. It was Liam Hayes's birthday party. She appeared in the private karaoke room holding a handmade cake and a carefully selected gift. Under the soft glow of candlelight, her gaze was focused and affectionate. The romantic atmosphere instantly reached its peak. Everyone gathered around, waiting for Liam to make a wish and blow out the candles. Then they started chanting for the two to kiss. I stood quietly at the outermost edge of the crowd, watching Liam, gift in hand, lean down and kiss Claire on the cheek. My roommate standing next to me introduced her: "That's Liam's girlfriend. Isn't she stunning?" "Not only that, but she's also incredibly considerate, gentle, and thoughtful. She keeps her distance from other guys. Simply perfect." I watched in silence as Claire smiled tenderly at Liam. Looking away, I murmured a low response to my friend: "Indeed, mature and reliable. Very good at taking care of people." After all, that was the result of five years of my time and effort, taught bit by bit. The original Claire wasn't like this. She had a bad temper, no patience, was impulsive and irritable, grumpy and arrogant. Her relationship with Liam lasted less than two years, ending with Liam venting all his dissatisfaction and falling in love with her friend. Claire wasn't resigned to this outcome. So she spent years researching and building a time machine. Once she mastered how to love someone—skills I taught her—she didn't hesitate to leave me behind and travel back to her sophomore year of college, when she and Liam had just started dating. Even though our fifth anniversary was just one day away. But she couldn't wait. Now, we are strangers who have never met. The protagonist of the birthday party was Liam, so everyone's conversation revolved around him and Claire. Someone asked him how he found such a perfect girlfriend. Someone asked Claire if she had any friends as beautiful as her. Someone even joked half-seriously: "Ever heard the saying 'one plants the tree, another enjoys the shade'? Claire is so thoughtful and considerate, I bet an ex-boyfriend taught her well, right?" Hearing this, Claire didn't get angry. She just smiled faintly, then took Liam's hand, sounding like a confession and a promise: "No exes. Liam is my first love, and also my..." "Only love." Of course she has no exes, because I only got together with Claire two years after they broke up. I wasn't the predecessor; I was the successor. But that didn't stop her from using all the ways I taught her to love me on Liam. The lights in the room flickered, people moved about, so she never saw me standing in the corner. Until the cake was cut, and Liam was distributing slices while introducing his friends to her. Claire stood in front of me, our eyes met. I don't know how to describe her expression the moment she saw me. The smile froze on her lips, a flash of inexplicable panic in her eyes, but she quickly composed herself. Then, when Liam introduced me saying, "This is Ethan Wells, my classmate," she stared at me, lost in thought. I maintained a polite, faint smile, watching Liam tilt his head to look at her, asking with a frown: "What's wrong? Do you know each other?" Only then did Claire snap back to reality, handing me the slice of cake, speaking coldly and distantly: "Don't know him." 2 I sat on a single sofa holding the cake, looking at Claire who had returned to the center of the crowd. Under the flowing lights, she was charming and beautiful, her features exquisite. Indeed, breathtakingly beautiful. Especially her eyes, deep as ink. When she looked at someone seriously and intently, she always appeared innocent and affectionate. So during the five years with her, no matter how angry or sad I was, as long as I saw her face, as long as she looked at me quietly and softly called: "Ethan." I would immediately surrender and forgive her easily. The small cake in my hand emitted a faint scent of orange blossom. My roommate bit his spoon and mumbled: "Ethan, try it, it's seriously delicious." "She put so much heart into it. Great, now I have another standard for finding a girlfriend." I curled my lips and took a small bite. A very familiar taste. It was what I taught Claire to make. I spent half a month patiently accompanying her to try again and again, meticulously guiding her step by step until she learned. She looked at me seriously then and said: "Ethan, once I learn this, I'll bake a cake for you personally for every birthday." She learned it, but never made one for me. Actually, in the trajectory of my previous life, my first meeting with Claire wasn't at this birthday party. Because I wasn't actually close with Liam. He invited the whole class to his birthday party. I didn't plan to go but was dragged along by my roommate to join the fun. So in the previous life, I stayed for a bit, gave my gift and blessings, and left early. Thus, I missed the late-arriving Claire. I only heard my roommates mention her after returning to the dorm that night: "Ethan, you left early and missed seeing Liam's girlfriend. A total stunner." "Pity she seemed cold and aloof, looked impatient the whole party." "Leaving personalities aside, they look good together visually." I didn't have much curiosity and was never interested in other people's business, let alone another guy's girlfriend. So after listening, I just smiled indifferently and paid no more attention, nor did I ask for her name. It wasn't until I got together with Claire later and accidentally saw a photo in her study that I realized, she was that beauty I missed seeing back then— Liam's girlfriend. But I didn't care. After all, who doesn't have a past? However, now, we are back in the past. Unlike the previous life, this time, almost everyone was praising Claire. Perhaps because the atmosphere around them was too joyous, the corner I sat in seemed somewhat desolate. With indescribable emotions, I unconsciously drank a few more glasses of fruit wine. In my tipsy daze, I momentarily couldn't distinguish if the time travel was real or fake. So I got up and went to the terrace to blow in the wind for a long time. When I sobered up and came back, the crowd had dispersed. Fingers on the half-open private room door, I saw Claire squatting in front of Liam, who was drunk on the sofa, holding his hand and speaking gently: "I didn't know how to love before and hurt you. Now I've learned." I have to admit, Claire, who has extremely high talent in learning, can learn anything she wants. 3 So after that birthday party, I started frequently hearing about everything Claire did for Liam. Like peeling shrimp and picking out fish bones for him at dinners, or hand-making gifts to create little romances. Oh, she occasionally came to accompany Liam to class too. And the intersection between us since traveling back was merely that one time at Liam's birthday party. Then it was today. My roommate and Liam belonged to the same guitar club and were going on a hiking trip. He begged me to go along and help him take photos. "Bro, please! I love your composition, lighting, and color style. I'll treat you to a big meal when we get back!" I agreed under his pestering. Then carrying my camera, I followed him to the meeting point and saw Claire accompanying Liam. She wore a black and white sportswear set, standing in the crowd looking up slightly, listening intently to Liam. Perhaps she sensed my gaze lingering on her. Before she turned her head, I calmly looked away. My roommate exaggeratedly introduced my photography skills to his companions: "Ethan Wells, self-taught photography master, superb lighting, top-tier composition." I was amused by him and spoke politely to the students who laughed: "Just an amateur. If anyone needs photos, I can help." So for the rest of the trip, people kept exchanging snacks for me to take photos of them. Until Liam pulled Claire over and asked me: "Ethan, can you take one for us too?" I held the camera, smiled and nodded, looking for a suitable angle to aim the lens at them. Just before I could press the shutter, I heard my roommate standing aside ask loudly: "Claire, why aren't you smiling?" "Look at Ethan here, smile!" I silently waited for the moment Claire showed a stiff smile and quickly snapped a few shots. Later on the bus back, we looked at photos together. After accepting everyone's polite and cheerful praise, we finally scrolled to the few photos my roommate took of me. Actually, they were quite good, but one shot focused on the face of a passerby walking behind me who accidentally entered the frame. It was a girl in a light blue windbreaker, smiling eyes curved as if greeting someone. Amidst the laughter, someone suddenly pointed at the photo and blurted out: "What's that saying online? You don't know each other, but were frozen in the same frame. Maybe in another timeline, you really knew each other!" The smile on my face finally faded completely after hearing his words. He was right. In the previous life, this girl and I did indeed know each other. Her name was Sarah Quinn. My first love. I actually haven't seen her for a very, very long time. Ever since she died on our second anniversary. It's just that my life seemed to stop forever on the day she died. Paused, suspended in mid-air. Now time has reversed, and we haven't met yet. My wandering thoughts were pulled back by a sudden brake. The camera slipped from my hand due to inertia and was deftly caught by Claire diagonally in front of me. After calming down from extreme tension, I was about to ask for it back when I found her frowning and staring at that photo. The next second, my roommate turned to look and his surprised voice rang out unexpectedly: "Claire, she looks a lot like you!" I don't know what Claire thought of in that moment her fingers suddenly tightened. But she was indeed a substitute. 4 Regarding me getting together with Claire, it was actually her proposal. However, I knew better than anyone that Claire wasn't Sarah, no matter how much she looked like her. So when we were together, initially I carried some guilt and apology, after all, my purpose was just to see her face. Until I accidentally learned her first love was Liam, and that sentence she said while drunk "I'll find you when I learn how to love someone," I belatedly understood what she meant when she asked me "I don't know how to love, teach me how to love you, okay?" She didn't love me; we took what we needed. So I began to comfortably treat her as a substitute. I started teaching her the ways Sarah loved me. I finally understood why in most fantasy dramas, after the protagonist's lover dies, an illusion can trap them. Knowing clearly it's not the real lover, yet willing to sink. I also clearly realized this was undoubtedly drinking poison to quench thirst. But fate let me see scattered documents in her study when I most wanted to give up, about wormholes, black holes, light speed, about time dilation, time travel. And a sentence that seemed casually written: Travelers can only travel back to their own past bodies. The moment my heart beat accelerated, an incredible guess inexplicably surfaced in my mind. Actually, after being with Claire, my deepest impression of her wasn't that she couldn't love, but that she was smart, extremely smart. A wall full of certificates, trophies, and the title of physics genius, all demonstrated her glory and smoothness along the way, and also gave her an uncontrollable arrogance. Not knowing how to lower her head to love someone in a relationship. Until breaking up with Liam. That was probably the only unsolvable problem she faced in her life, so she paranoidly tried every method to get the answer. Then go back to conquer it. Honestly, I didn't know if Claire's obsession was the unattainable Liam or her only failure in life, nor did I know if she really wanted to reverse time and travel back as I thought, nor did I know if she could succeed. But, what if? So I pretended not to know anything and continued to be with her, year after year, surpassing the time she was with Liam, and surpassing the time I was with Sarah. Until the day before our fifth anniversary, I called her: "Claire, let's talk when you come back." I wanted to break up. Unexpectedly, she was silent for a long time on the other end of the phone, then gently said: "Ethan, I might not be able to spend the fifth anniversary with you..." "I'm sorry." I frowned and was about to say it didn't matter, but the phone hung up. Holding the phone, I stood there for a few seconds before suddenly realizing what she meant. Almost without hesitation, I rushed to her laboratory, which was already empty. Then, we turned from lovers into strangers. She handed in a perfect answer sheet, becoming the model girlfriend in everyone's mouth. I also have the chance to save Sarah and change her doomed ending. Just as I didn't care about Claire and Liam's past, she didn't care who I had been with. So I think, about Sarah being my first love. Claire wouldn't know. The camera was finally handed back to me. Claire said nothing, just turned her head silently looking out the window. I had no time to care about anything else. My eyes fell on the photo, mind full of Sarah, suddenly realizing something. No matter how much I wanted to maintain the development of the previous life, waiting for the first encounter with her at the mixer, the current trajectory still deviated due to one tiny change after another. Like this photo she entered. Like the next day in the lecture hall, she sat next to me.
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