On my eighteenth birthday, a man claiming to be my fiancé, Aiden, from ten years in the future, publicly called off our engagement. Then he pointed to Clara Jenkins, the scholarship student our family sponsors. “The person you truly love is her,” he told his younger self. “A decade from now, you’ll divorce Bekah for her. Instead of letting it all end in a bitter wreckage then, it’s better to cut it off at the source.” “Clara has this cool, untouchable pride. She’s beautiful, fiercely independent… in a way Bekah could never be. The man you’ll become is completely captivated by her.” The eighteen-year-old Aiden I knew grabbed the man’s collar and snarled, “You’re insane.” But later, when we were supposed to be planning our applications to study abroad, he hesitated. He lost his application form nine times. The tenth time it happened, I didn’t call him on his lie. Instead, I called Aiden’s older brother, Herman. “The alliance between our families has to continue,” I said. “Are you up for it?” 1 The application deadline was looming. Aiden came to find me again. He stood at my gate, guilt written all over his face. “Bekah… I lost the application form again.” The tenth time. Just as I expected. I looked at the boy in front of me, the boy I had known my whole life. This time, I didn't tell him to go back to his advisor and ask for another form. I just waited for him to make a choice. My silence seemed to unnerve him. Thinking I was angry, he slumped to the ground in frustration. “Something goes wrong every single time. It’s not my fault. Fate must be messing with me. I guess I’m just not meant to study abroad.” He looked up at me, his voice softening. “Bekah, what if… what if we just stay here in Westwood? We don’t have to go.” He swallowed hard, his Adam's apple bobbing. He was nervous. A cold, bitter laugh rose in my chest. The reason Aiden didn’t want to leave was simple: Clara couldn’t. After she started college, she had insisted on ending our family’s financial support. I remembered her words to my parents, her voice ringing with earnest pride. “I will never forget your kindness. I will work hard and repay every penny you’ve given me.” Her only path was to finish her degree and get a job. Aiden, upon learning this, had met with her secretly. He’d offered her a credit card, telling her she could come abroad with us, that he would take on the debt she felt she owed my family. But Clara, with that famous pride of hers, had refused him flatly. “I may be poor, but I don’t take just any money,” she’d said. “If I took this from you, what would that make me? Some little bird you keep in a gilded cage?” Then she had turned and walked away. Aiden’s initial goal was just to prove his future self wrong, to show that anyone would bow to the power of money. But Clara’s rejection had shaken him. He started to believe what the other Aiden had told him. That night, for the first time in ten years, Aiden lied to me. 【Babe, I lost my application.】 【Deadline’s still a ways off. I’ll turn it in later.】 I didn’t reply. The future Aiden had found me and told me everything about their meeting, sparing no detail. He stared at the text on my phone screen, a triumphant smirk on his face. “You see? It doesn’t matter if it’s the me of today or the me of the future. The moment we meet Clara, we’re drawn to her.” “She’s brilliant. She’s not like you.” “You’re a pampered princess, waiting for your inheritance. But Clara is destined for greatness, destined to build her own empire from nothing.” He spoke of her as if she were a rare jewel, the only one he’d ever found. But he seemed to forget. If my father hadn’t been scouting a project in the mountains and found Clara being forced into an arranged marriage, if he hadn’t called the police and brought her back to Westwood, sponsored her education… who the hell would Clara be? She wouldn’t have even finished high school, let alone college. She’d probably be a mother of three by now. So what gave Aiden the right to compare us? “Bekah, want to make a bet?” that future Aiden had asked me that day. “I bet you he won’t go abroad with you.” “Ten times,” I’d replied. I don’t remember why I agreed. Maybe it was pride. Maybe it was a flicker of hope. Ten years of our lives together. Ten chances seemed fair. I just never imagined he would burn through all ten of them in a single month. 2 The second time he told me he’d lost the form, my best friend, Mia, was dragging me to the pool club. We saw Aiden sitting by the water’s edge, staring blankly at the thin application sheet in his hands. Mia started to wave, but I stopped her. A second later, the future Aiden appeared, snatched the paper from his younger self’s hand, crumpled it into a ball, and tossed it into the pool. “Aiden, when you start hesitating, you’ve already chosen her, haven’t you?” he demanded. Aiden’s brow furrowed. Without a word, he dove into the water to retrieve the now-ruined form. “No,” he sputtered, surfacing. “I haven’t chosen her. I love Bekah. I’ve always loved Bekah.” Mia nudged me, whispering, “See? Your boy really loves you.” I smiled but said nothing. This time, I agreed with the older Aiden. Hesitation was an answer in itself. The third time, it was in the university cafeteria. Aiden had the form out on the table between us, pretending to fill it out, but his eyes kept darting to Clara, who was sitting a few tables away. As Clara stood to leave, she stumbled with a small cry. In a flash, Aiden was on his feet. His hand shot out, steadying her by the waist. In the process, he knocked a bowl of soup all over our table, soaking the application. Clara blushed and thanked him. Aiden complained about the ruined form, but there was no real anger in his voice. The fourth time, we ran into Clara on the way home. A couple of shady guys were harassing her. Before I could stop him, Aiden charged in, throwing the textbook he was carrying at them to chase them off. The application, tucked inside the book, fluttered to the wet pavement. He stepped on it without a second thought, grinding it into the mud. Just like our relationship. … And the tenth time was today. We were at the movies. Halfway through, he got a text from Clara. “Just going to the restroom,” he whispered. He never came back. I sat through the rest of the two-hour film by myself. And I finally made my decision. I didn’t want a love that wavered. So, when Aiden showed up at my gate, of course, the form was “lost” again. “Bekah, talk to me.” Aiden’s voice pulled me back to the present. I paused, then gave him a calm nod. “Do whatever you want.” He visibly relaxed, a smile breaking across his face. He pointed to a faint bruise on his cheek, his voice turning into a playful whine. “Babe, it hurts. Kiss it better?” I frowned, about to say something, when his phone rang. The ringtone was a woman’s voice, singing softly. It sounded eerily like Clara. My heart stuttered. “Cute, right? Clara recorded it for me herself,” he said, noticing my expression. “A thank you for saving her the other day.” A custom ringtone. Recorded just for him. For a moment, I wondered if Clara was really as innocent as she seemed. He answered the call. Her cool voice came through the speaker. “Aiden? I think someone’s following me home. I don’t know if it’s those guys from before. I’ve already called the police, but… can you come meet me at the station?” Aiden’s eyes flickered towards me. He hesitated for only a second. “Okay. I’m on my way. Wait for me there.” He hung up and started to stammer out an explanation, but I cut him off with a smile. “Shouldn’t you get going?” “Right. Uh… babe, I’ll pick you up for class tomorrow?” “Sure.” Reassured, he clutched his phone and hurried away. I watched him go, a silent, hollow laugh forming on my lips. Then I took out my own phone. I called Aiden’s older brother, Herman. There was a long silence on the other end. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, Herman’s deep, slightly raspy voice came through. “Don’t you love Aiden?” I smiled, my voice light. “I did. But I won’t let myself be a consolation prize.” “Herman, the alliance between our families has to continue. Are you up for it?” Another silence stretched between us. Just as I was about to hang up, I heard his voice, low and intense, as if he was holding something back. “Once you choose me, Bekah, there’s no turning back. Are you sure?” 3 My study abroad application was already submitted. Herman scheduled our engagement party for two weeks from now. Coincidentally, that’s also when he’s heading to New York to expand his company’s market share. He expects to be there for three years. Our timelines overlap perfectly. After I hung up the phone, the future Aiden materialized in front of me again, as if from thin air. “Who were you talking to?” I ignored him and turned to go inside, but he blocked the door. “Bekah—” “Don’t worry,” I cut him off, my patience gone. “It wasn’t Aiden. He’s probably with Clara right now.” He seemed surprised, raising an eyebrow. “Well, look at you. The eighteen-year-old version is a lot quicker on the uptake.” The two Aidens didn’t look that different, but this one carried himself with a colder, more polished air. He was more mature, more jaded. “What about the twenty-eight-year-old me?” I asked, unable to stop myself. He frowned, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. “A shrew, basically. If it weren’t for our families, for our history… I have a hundred ways to make a divorce go my way.” “Plenty of men in our circle have mistresses. But no, Bekah had to make my life hell. For what? If she had just been willing to look the other way, I wouldn’t have—” He reached into his pocket, a familiar gesture. My father did the same thing when he was stressed, searching for a cigarette. He found nothing and sighed. “I regret it, you know. Getting married when I was too young to understand love, and then meeting the right person when I was no longer free.” “Bekah, we grew up together, yes. But that doesn’t mean we had to get married. Was it worth turning yourself into a crazy person?” Crazy. The word was a punch to the gut. A sharp, painful spasm seized my heart. I didn’t know if I was hurting for my future self or for the me standing here now. The Aiden I knew would get into a fistfight if someone said a single bad word about me. But the man he would become used the word “crazy” to describe me. Ten years. Time really does show you who a person is. Finally, I took a deep breath. “Don’t worry. This time, I’ll let you and Clara have your happy ending.” He looked at me with suspicion. “You’d better not be lying to me.” I didn’t see the future Aiden for the next three days. The current Aiden, however, was practically glued to Clara’s side. Maybe it was the novelty, or maybe he’d fully bought into his future self’s prophecy. The breaking point came at Mia’s birthday picnic. When I got out of the car, I was surprised to see Clara there. She was wearing a simple white dress and a backpack, clutching an economics textbook that seemed oddly out of place. It felt like every time I saw her, she was holding that book. Mia followed my gaze and immediately started looking for someone to blame. “Who the hell invited her?” A girl sheepishly raised her hand. “I… I ran into her on the way here. I was just being polite, I didn’t think she’d actually come… My bad.” Mia looked at me. Everyone knew about Aiden and Clara lately. “Bekah? What do you want to do?” I gave her a weary smile and patted her shoulder. “Today is your day. Your happiness is all that matters, okay?” “That’s my girl. Always classy.” But we hadn't counted on Clara being so determined to be difficult. While the rest of us were playing games and sharing food, Clara sat on a folding stool twenty feet away, by herself. Mia, trying to be nice, brought her a plate of food and invited her to join us. Clara’s response was loud and self-righteous. “I didn’t buy you a gift or chip in for the food, so I can’t take advantage of your generosity.”
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