Chapter 2

I was taken aback.

'Who the hell would text me something like that at this kind of moment?' I wondered.

Without thinking, I called the number back. To my surprise, it was answered.

I strode out to the balcony and spoke, "Hello? Who is that, please?"

There was a brief silence on the other end, then a hoarse, exhausted voice sounded.

"It's me. I'm your sixty-year-old self," the person on the other end of the line said.

My hand abruptly tightened around the phone.

"Don't hang up yet," the voice said. "Please listen carefully. Let me finish my words.

"I know you don't believe it, but you need to listen to every word I'm about to say."

There was a pause, as if the person at the other end of the line was bracing herself for what she had to say next.

Then, she continued, "If you don't agree to the divorce, the next ten years will be hell for you.

"Edward won't break up with Sophie because you refuse. He'll keep sneaking around with her, and you'll never catch them.

"You'll drive yourself crazy with suspicion every single day.

"Your kids will say you're ungrateful, that you don't know how to let others be happy.

"You'll cook for them, do their laundry, and clean up after them every single day, but they'll see you as a nuisance, someone old and out of place, like you don't even belong in this family anymore.

"You'll start losing sleep, crying all night, night after night. Your hair starts falling out in handfuls. You'll go see a doctor and get diagnosed with severe depression, but nobody gives a damn.

"Edward will say that depression means you are too idle, and if you worked more, you wouldn't have time to think about all this crap.

"Michael will call you an embarrassment, and Emily will say you make her ashamed to even show her face around her friends.

"Eventually, you won't be able to take it anymore. You'll swallow a whole bottle of sleeping pills."

While I listened, my nails dug into my palms, the pain making me suck in a sharp breath.

The person on the other end of the line went on, "But I didn't die. They saved me.

"Yet they ended up hating me even more, saying I couldn't even manage to die properly. Edward moved out for good, and the kids never came to see me, not even once a year. They didn't even bother to call.

"Now I'm living in a nursing home, all alone, staring out the window every day. I keep wondering if only I could have a second chance, if only I could go back to my fiftieth birthday."

There was a stifled sob on the other end of the line.

She sobbed, "You should agree to the divorce, make a clean break, and walk away. You've got so much life left. You can't let them destroy you.

"Take the money and leave. For the first time in your life, live for yourself.

"Michael and Emily have already chosen what they wanted. It's time you picked for yourself."

I felt torn inside, replying, "But they're my children."

The person on the phone retorted, "They are your kids, but you're not their servant. You've raised them for over 20 years. That's more than enough."

There was a burst of static on the line, like the mobile service was pretty poor.

"I have to go now," the person declaring she was my future self said. "Remember. Get the divorce and take the money.

"That's yours by right. After that, live for yourself."