Chapter 1Ten Chances to Keep Me: Why I Chose His Brother

On my birthday.

A guy claiming to be from ten years in the future showed up and publicly cancelled the engagement between me and his 18-year-old self.

Then, he pointed at the low-income student my family was sponsoring and said, "The person you truly love is her."

"Ten years from now, you will divorce Nora for her. Rather than tearing each other apart then, it's better to cut it off at the source now."

"Chloe is aloof and proud, beautiful and independent. Nora could never compare to her. The future you will be completely captivated by her."

The 18-year-old him grabbed the older man by the collar and yelled, "You're psycho."

But when we were planning to apply for colleges abroad, he hesitated.

He "lost" his application form nine times.

The tenth time, I didn't call him out on it.

Instead, I called his older brother: "The alliance between our two families needs to continue."

"Are you up for it?"

* * *

Right before the college application deadline.

Liam came looking for me again.

At the gate of my house, he looked at me guiltily: "Nora, I lost my application form again."

The tenth time. No surprise there.

I looked quietly at the boy in front of me. This time, I didn't ask him to go to the counselor for another form.

Instead, I waited for him to make his own decision.

Seeing my silence, Liam thought I was angry. He sat down on the ground, looking incredibly defeated:

"There's always an accident. I don't want this either. God must be playing a joke on me, showing me I'm not meant to study abroad."

"Nora, why don't we just stay in Boston? Let's not go abroad."

After saying that, he looked up at me.

He swallowed hard, his Adam's apple bobbing.

He was clearly nervous.

I couldn't help but sneer inwardly.

The reason Liam didn't want to go abroad was simple: Chloe couldn't go. She was the underprivileged student my family sponsored.

But ever since she started her senior year, she proactively asked my parents to stop the financial aid.

I still vividly remember what she said that day.

"Mr. and Mrs. Vance, I will never forget your kindness. I will work hard to make money and repay everything I owe your family."

So, she just wanted to get her degree locally and enter the workforce.

When Liam found out about this, he secretly met with her behind my back. He gave her a debit card and asked her to go abroad with us, saying he would repay the debt she owed my family.

Chloe, true to her proud nature, flat-out rejected him.

She said, "I may be poor, but I don't accept just anyone's money."

"If I took your money today, what would that make me? Your kept little pet?"

Then, she walked away without looking back.

Liam originally just wanted to prove to his 28-year-old self that in the face of money, everyone is a servant.

But Chloe's two sentences completely reset his perception of her. He began to agree with everything his future self had said.

So that night, I received the first lie Liam told me in ten years:

[Baby, I lost my application form.]

[The deadline is still a ways off, I'll turn it in later.]

I didn't reply.

The 28-year-old him had found me. He detailed every single thing about Liam and Chloe's meeting.

He stared at the message Liam sent me and smirked smugly:

"So you see, whether it's the future me or the current me, as long as we come into contact with Chloe, we will be drawn to her."

"She's exceptional, unlike you."

"You are a spoiled heiress who just waits to inherit her wealth. But someone like Chloe is destined to contribute to society, destined to claw her way to the top of the pyramid through her own efforts."

His tone was full of pride, as if Chloe was the only treasure he had encountered in his entire life.

But he seemed to have forgotten.

If my dad hadn't gone on a project inspection in Appalachia and run into Chloe being forced into a child marriage... If he hadn't called the cops, brought Chloe back to Boston, and sponsored her...

Then what the hell would Chloe be?

Forget college, she probably wouldn't have even finished high school. She might even be a mother by now.

So what right did Liam have to compare me to Chloe?

That day, the 28-year-old him asked me, "Nora, care to make a bet? Liam won't go abroad with you."

I agreed: "Ten chances."

I don't remember my reasoning.

Maybe it was resentment, or maybe I still held onto a sliver of hope.

Ten years of history together, ten chances. It was enough.

But I never expected it.

Liam burned through those ten chances so fast. It only took a month.