Part 1The Day I Took It Back

On the day of my wedding to my adopted brother, I woke up five years in the past—right back to the day I first confessed my love to him.

Standing before me, the younger version of my brother politely rejected me, his voice cool and detached.

"I only see you as a sister."

I smiled faintly. "Alright then. But remember, whoever regrets this first has to bark like a dog for the rest of their life."

He looked calm. "I won't regret it."

If I hadn't seen you five years later, kneeling on the ground, weeping and begging me to come back, I might have actually believed you.

Keep pretending.

Let’s see who breaks first, you dramatic hypocrite.

* * *

[Delete this message. I’ll pretend I never saw it.]

I stared at the text from Liam on my screen.

I scrolled up to the message I had sent three minutes ago: [Liam, I like you. I don’t want to be just your sister.]

I lowered my eyes, typing back nonchalantly.

[Are you sure you don’t want to reconsider?]

Sure enough, a moment later, Liam’s reply came through. It was the exact same polite rejection line from my past life.

[I only see you as a sister.]

Looking at those words, I couldn't help but chuckle.

How did I respond last time?

Oh right, I didn’t. I was too busy crying my eyes out in a corner.

Back then, I felt ashamed of my "forbidden" feelings. I felt angry and guilty for crossing a line.

But what I didn't know back then was that I wasn't the only one harboring these feelings. Liam was just better at hiding them. He was calm, restrained, and obsessed with maintaining the boundaries of a "good brother."

He chose to suppress and ignore the love that shouldn't exist.

My enthusiastic attempts were met with his cold shoulder, time and time again. I was the only one left suffering, whipping myself with moral guilt.

Later, when he finally turned around to face his feelings, he realized he shouldn't have run.

So, we ended up getting married.

Today was supposed to be that wedding.

But instead of walking down the aisle, I woke up five years in the past.

It took me exactly ten minutes to accept that I had time-traveled.

The current Liam has no idea that I know his secret. He’s still using every trick in the book to push me away, acting cold to make me give up.

I figured this must be fate.

The pain I once suffered? Liam deserves to feel it too.

The text bubble on the screen showed he was typing.

I beat him to it.

[Fine. Just don’t regret it.]

[Whoever regrets this has to be the other person’s puppy for life.]

It took a long time before Liam replied.

[Never.]

I scoffed and tossed my phone onto the pillow.

Keep acting tough.

No one puts on a show quite like you.