"So, are you ready?" I asked him, making sure he was on the same page as me. My feet felt rooted to the ground, but I knew that once he started walking, I'd follow.
"I'm not," he said honestly. "But I'll do it anyway."
"We can wait until you feel ready," I offered.
"Everything will be okay, Lily. And if it isn't, we'll find a way to make it better."
Those words were what finally gotme moving. And together we walked toward the future that awaited us. But not the one many thought would be the right one.
Tomorrow was uncertain, but for the first time in longer than I could remember, I wasn't afraid of it.
Epilogue
10 years later.
Lily
We never returned to our old present.
That day, standing in front of the building, we realized there was too much to lose if we decided to go to that basement. And part of us was afraid of what might happen if we managed to get back, would we lose everything we'd fought so hard to achieve?
Kyle and I promised each other we'd enjoy just one more month and then reconsider. After that month passed, we decided to give ourselves another month, and then another, until we didn't even mention it anymore.
So we simply decided to live the life we would have wanted the first time, hoping we could stay here forever. And thankfully, everything turned out great.
This time, I decided to study medicine. It had always been my passion, and I realized it was what I'd always wanted to do.I graduated with honors and specialized in emergency medicine, waking up every day happy to help people save lives.
Kyle studied systems engineering again. He said he'd always loved it, and with all the knowledge he had from our previous timeline, he became one of the best in his field.
Kyle's parents eventually decided to divorce, but this time the process was peaceful. Neither Aria nor Kyle suffered in the process, and they remained a happy family, attending events together and celebrating holidays with their new partners.
Kyle went back to study in Australia, but he came back every 4 months to be with his family, friends, and me. He always said he couldn't be away from me for so long, and I'd remind him that there was a time when he abandoned me for ten years. He'd claim he didn't remember that, that maybe it was a Kyle from another universe that didn't exist anymore. That comment always made me laugh. We liked to joke about a life that "never existed," when deep down we knew it was something we'd never be able to explain to anyone else.
After Oliver's death, Leo decided to talk to my parents about everything he was going through. Just as I'd known would happen, they supported him completely and told him they would always love him no matter what. Leo went to therapy to work through the trauma and depression from hiding who he was for so long, and eventually, he became his old self again, but stronger and more confident.
He and Jeremy remained friends for a while, until five years ago, when they got drunk and decided to get married in secret. They've been madly in love and shouting it from the rooftops ever since, which has made me incredibly happy to see. I'd always known they were meant for each other from the moment I discovered their secret.
We never saw Brandy again after the trial, just like what happened in our old present. Some people just aren't meant to be in our lives, no matter what we do to keep them.Sometimes we torment ourselves, wondering what would have happened if we had acted differently, without realizing that in the end, those who are no longer here were never meant to be.
My mother still developed cancer, but this time we caught it early thanks to my "medical intuition." My parents were always surprised by how much I seemed to know about medicine, especially when I noticed her exhaustion wasn't normal. What they didn't realize was how much I'd gone through to learn what I knew.
Everything else remained largely the same, as if life had adjusted itself so these small changes became part of the world we already knew. I was relieved to discover that our actions hadn't triggered the catastrophic butterfly effect we'd initially feared.
Sometimes we avoid doing things because we're afraid of the consequences, without realizing that life might unfold similarly whether we act or not, and that, in the end, what really matters is being happy with the decisions we make.
This was our real present, the life we'd always wanted to live, and we didn't want to lose it all again. We were finally happy, so we decided simply to keep living in it.
I won't lie and say we never had moments of fear, waking up terrified that we'd lost everything. But then we'd look around at our life together and realize things were still the same, making us breathe easier and feel grateful for this second chance.
Kyle
Today was Saturday, and Lily was having brunch with Claudette and Marlin. These girls had worked for Waldo in our other life, and one of Lily's biggest worries about stayingin the past was not being able to have them as friends again. But I'd encouraged her to frequent the same places they used to go and find ways to reconnect with them.
Luckily, everything worked out perfectly. Lily seemed to "understand them like no one else" and always knew exactly what to say or do, so they became inseparable again.
I took advantage of her absence to prepare a surprise with the help of our families and, of course, Jeremy, who had become one of my closest friends. One thing I was grateful for in this timeline was connecting with people I'd never have expected to be in my life. Jeremy had proven to be an incredible friend, always there to help me make decisions and improve my "basic style," as he put it.
We were in the park behind the church, the place where Lily and I became closer, and the place where we decided to give ourselves a second chance in our lives.
