A Bet with Fate

“Wh-What do you mean?” I asked worried, already dreading the answer.

“You were supposed to marry Ms. Chen and that’s exactly what you did,” she said and sat down on the chair in front of me. "You didn’t want to at first but eventually, you gave in.”

“But how could I do that? I wonder what Asher might have thought.” Now it was my turn to start worrying.

“Nothing,” she replied simply. “You didn’t know him.”

“What do you mean I didn’t know him? Then why was he the one to get my watch and not anyone else if I didn’t know him?” This was the first time I actually raised my voice when talking with her but I couldn’t help it. The more I thought about what she said, the more worried I became.

“Because you only met him once and even that could be owed to a coincidence. Those days, you were upset because you knew your father wanted you to marry Ms. Chen just like her parents did. One night you were sitting in the living room switching the channels to watch something when you stumbled upon a broadcasting of a volleyball match between two university teams. That’s when you first saw him.”

“Wow... Even then, he must have made quite an impression on me,” I said with a faint smile.

“I went to bring you some snacks and I saw you watching the match which wouldn’t be that unusual. Except you had a different look on your face when the camera showed him. That’s when I knew for sure, I mean the future me, the reason why you are so against the idea of marrying Ms. Chen. I already suspected something like that since I saw you grow up but I wasn’t sure. You have never talked about such things with me before.”

“And just because of how I stared at him you decided we’re a match made in heaven?” I asked dubiously.

“Of course not. After that, you went to find him which wasn’t that hard considering you already knew which university he attended, his name, and his position in the team. You asked around to get to know when their next match is gonna be and you went there to watch it.”

“How do you know?” I felt my fingertips pressing against the tabletop out of nervousness.

“I know because you came home drunk after the match and told me yourself,” she said plainly which surprised me more than anything. I even felt my eyes widening in astonishment. “You even told me that after the match, you asked him for his signature but you had no paper with you, so you asked him to sign your shirt right above your heart. And he called you an idiot for that,” she said and stood up to finally put the dessert she made into the oven.

“That’s totally like him,” I laughed for the first time since Asher left. It felt so great and liberating.

“But he signed it anyway,” she told me and turned back from the fridge. “After that, you've become completely enthralled by him. So much so that when your father asked you to marry Ms. Chen, you declined it outright.”

“It seems I am braver than I thought I was,” I said bitterly as I couldn’t imagine doing such a thing even a few months before.

“You're already braver than you were previously. But anyway, after meeting him in person, you decided to go to the same university he was attending to increase your chances of meeting him. But I’m sure you realized it by now that’s not exactly how it turned out to be.”

“Because we never met after that,” I said slowly in horror.

“That’s right,” she said and sat down again with a sigh of fatigue. Probably not physical but mental. “Your father demanded to know the reason why you don’t want to marry Ms. Chen and you made the mistake of telling him how you feel. Your father of course deemed it as a mere crush that shouldn’t be taken seriously. But it still made him worry enough to try and prevent you from ruining your future.”

“He...He... In the end, he made me marry her, right?” I asked devastated and I felt my mouth getting dry. I stood up and took a bottle of water from the fridge. And drank more than half of it.

“It was you, who made that choice. And as for your previous assistant you had at the time, your father persuaded him to resign. After giving him enough money, of course. He knew too much about you since he followed you everywhere as it was his job. So he had to go. Your father didn’t want to risk such a scandal come to light.”

“Even so, how could I do that? How could I marry her? I must have made her life miserable.”

“In your defense, you didn’t really have much choice, young master,” she said comforting me. She put her hand on my arm which made me feel like I’m a kid again who is upset over breaking his favorite toy.

“And then? What happened?” I asked preparing myself for the worst. I sat back on the chair fearing I won’t have enough strength to listen to it while standing.

“After your hard work and achievements, you deserved your father’s recognition. You were at the top of your career, wealthier and more powerful than ever before with a beautiful wife everyone envied you for. But you were always extremely unhappy. When your father finally retired, he made you the new chairman but of course, even that didn’t make you happy. And your wife, Ms. Chen was just as unhappy as you.”

“That’s why you decided to interfere with my life?” I asked and I felt like crying but couldn’t.

“I did your wife a favor as well. I’m sure no matter how hurt Ms. Chen might be now, she is still better off like this, than leading such a miserable life with a man she loves but who cannot love her back,” she said bluntly. I pulled back my arm and looked at her.

“Yeah, you are right.”

“I know. That’s why my future self decided to make a bet with fate and borrow that watch from your father. She couldn’t be sure if it worked at all or if it really was only just a delusion of an old man after all. So, she tried it herself to see her chances. She didn’t know if it was possible at all to meet yourself when traveling back in time, so she wrote down everything and also recorded it in a video file so that my past self would believe it when she saw herself telling this to her. It was me, who got the file and the handwritten pages. I couldn’t be sure if it's true what's in it. Not until the day mentioned in the file and the document arrived, and the man you wanted to meet so much entered your life.” At this point, she seemed to be moved to tears herself as she pulled out a napkin to wipe her eyes.

I couldn’t say anything for a while. I was too dumbstruck with everything she told me. I just sat there staring at her with eyes wide open. I drank the remainder of the water before speaking.

“But what if it didn’t work out between us? What if he wouldn’t have liked me?”

“I think it was still worth a try. Besides, even if he didn’t like you, he still would've managed to change you and your way of thinking. Even if you didn’t end up together at least your life would’ve turned out to be different because there would’ve been a lower possibility of you resigning to your fate and not fighting for what you want. Even your father wouldn’t do that, so why should you?” She raised her eyebrows when looking at me and I realized she was right. I already am a different person than before meeting Asher.

“I know it’s hard to believe now but people in the future will be less concerned with who other people date and marry.” She looked at me knowingly which made me a bit hopeful. “Well, it'd still be hard for public figures but if you'll play your cards right, people will accept you for who you are. You didn’t know this back then, and by the time you realized it was already too late. You were already too embittered to care for anyone or anything.”

“So, you were the one who gave the watch to Asher in the first place.” I looked at her in a completely new light now as if I had never known her truly.

“I sold it to his parents, who were looking for a present for their son,” she said nodding.

“I didn’t tell you this, but I did go to one of his matches even in this life. So, I can absolutely imagine the effect Asher must have had on my other self,” I told her with a sorrowful smile.

The only thing I didn’t tell her was how I had to suppress the urge not to sprint after him when I saw him getting off the field with his teammate and making out against a wall before going to change. Even the mere thought of them getting changed in front of each other annoyed me to the point I wanted to rush over and separate them, to kiss him hard in a way to make it clear that he was mine. However, this version of him doesn’t know me yet, so if I were to do so, not only would he punch me in the face but he would probably also sue me for harassment. Emma was right. Asher really did change me.

I looked at her again and I felt my eyes welling up with tears as I stood up and bent over to hug her above the table. She became flustered but hugged me anyway.

“There’s no need for you to thank me,” she said even before I could open my mouth to speak. “Just live the life you want and that will be quite enough for me.”

I didn’t even need to promise her because I had already decided to do just that. And then, we’ll see.