Chapter1
While sharing a table at the 24-hour diner just off campus, I met my husband from thirty years in the future.
He said he had traveled back through time just to see me one last time before the end of his life.
At first, I thought he was out of his mind. But he didn’t just rattle off every private quirk of mine; he even knew I had a teardrop-shaped birthmark on my upper left thigh—something none of my ex-boyfriends had ever laid eyes on.
So I believed him. I convinced myself that if I just kept enduring, my fiancé, the college team’s star quarterback Chase, would settle down and turn into that devoted future husband who loved me more than anything.
I watched him hide behind the excuse of “an older brother protecting his sister” to pull his unrelated stepsister Mia into his arms time and again.
I watched him trample all over my boundaries without care. Until today, when he abandoned me right there in front of the whole school.
I crumpled completely. I raced through the blizzard back to that diner to confront the “him” from the future.
“You lied to me! You don’t love me at all!”
The man stayed silent. He sliced a piece of peanut butter pie with his left hand and lifted the fork to his mouth.
“Have something sweet. This is what we usually eat on snowy days after we’re married.”
I stared rigidly at that slice of pie. Cold crept through my veins, turning my blood to ice.
Chase… was deathly allergic to peanuts.
Three months ago, it all unfolded right here at Ivy Diner on the street corner off campus. Rain poured down outside when an elderly man in a gray suit carried his coffee over and took the empty seat across from me.
I tapped the table, growing impatient.
“Sir, there are plenty of open seats over there.”
“I know.” Sadness flickered across his face as he met my gaze. “Harper, I traveled back using a time machine just to see you once.”
I nearly choked on my iced water.
“If you forgot your medication for schizophrenia, the campus clinic is straight out the door and to the left.” I grabbed my canvas tote bag, ready to stand. “Or I’ll call campus security.”
“When you get nervous, you silently count prime numbers in your head. Three, five, seven, eleven.” His voice lowered. “You never drink room-temperature water. Even in winter, your cup has to be packed full of ice.”
My movements froze. His tone turned hoarse.
“You have a pale teardrop birthmark on your upper left thigh. And you’re not allergic to pollen, but cheap perfume makes you sneeze nonstop.”
I sank heavily back into my chair.
“Who exactly are you?”
“I’m your husband from thirty years ahead.” Deep longing swam in his eyes. He pulled out an old photograph. In it, I stood in a wedding dress grinning brightly next to a man whose face was blurred out.
Yet I instantly assumed it was Chase. The man wore a bone pendant necklace—the necklace Mom left me when she passed away, the one I’d given to Chase.
“My time is limited. The laws of time forbid me from altering your choices. I only came to tell you one thing—”
He leaned forward across the table.
“I love you so much. No matter what happens, I love you fiercely. Please believe me. I will always love you, more than you know.”
He vanished after that night.
But I chose to trust his words.
I’d been dating Chase, the team’s star quarterback, for three months. I’d crushed on him secretly for three long years, and I’d finally gotten everything I wanted.
Everything shifted the moment his stepsister Mia transferred to our school a month ago.
At two a.m. this morning, candid photos leaked on the campus gossip forum IvyLeaks. The headline stung to read:
[The Quarterback’s Late-Night Touchdown: Chase and Transfer Student Mia Spotted Leaving a Suburban Motel]
In the shots, Chase shielded the girl under his jacket, but Mia’s signature pink slip dress peeked out. The two stumbled out the back entrance of Rosewood Motel, disheveled.
My fingertips went cold as I stared at the screen.
I pulled out my laptop. Drawing on the privileges I’d earned after three years at the campus newspaper, I messaged the forum admin overnight to pay for the photos to be removed.
I also posted an official denial from my verified account to quiet the rumors.
Once everything was handled, I sent Chase a screenshot of the original images.
【Is this how you look after your sister?】
An hour later, my dorm door slammed open with a bang. Chase stormed in with messy blond hair, snatched the draft of my statement off my desk, and hurled it hard into my face.
“What disgusting garbage are you filling your head with!” he shouted.
I didn’t flinch. A faint smudge of lipstick lingered on his collar.
“I’m covering up your scandal, Chase. If this blows up, the coach will bench you for the next game, and your draft dreams will be over.”
“Scandal?” Chase let out a bitter laugh. “Mia had a panic attack last night. She fell apart over our parents’ divorce and threatened to cut herself.
I was scared she’d cause a scene in the dorms and get cyberbullied, so I took her to a quiet motel off campus to calm her down. She’s really struggling.”
“A motel, just to calm her down?” I shot back.
“She could barely stand on her feet at the time. What’s wrong with picking the closest place I could find?”
He stepped closer, not a trace of guilt on his face.
“Can you stop acting unhinged and parading your jealousy around like a rabid dog?”
“I’m the unhinged one?” Anger pulled a bitter laugh from me, and my eyes burned.
“You owe Mia an apology right now.” With that line, he spun around and slammed the door on his way out.
Right then, my phone lit up on the desk. A photo sent from Mia.
She curled up on a bed, wrapped inside Chase’s oversized Number 7 away jersey.
Her caption read:
【An older brother’s hug works better than any antidepressant. Some people stayed up all night fussing over nothing. Poor thing.】
I clutched my phone. I remembered the traveler’s promise — I will always love you — and forced myself to hold back.
I had no idea my willingness to back down would only embolden them further.
