Oops! Sorry about the earlier post. here, fixed it!

So. I am back. I hope you guys are still interested in seeing the end of this story because I sure am. This is a short update but a necessary chapter as I'm wrapping up the story line, with one or two more chapters.

Also, a big thank you to all your kind words. I truly appreciate it :)

Emily was tired. She'd decided to just let things be and just accept the fact that she'll eventually go back to her reality in the future setting. But there was something about the dream she had in their recent trip to Copenhagen and the realization afterwards that bothered her. She had to know why in the world Flula, the old man who sold her the time chip, looked a whole lot like Pieter, the gigantic of a man from DSM. Was it just her imagination? It felt too real to be nothing.

She didn't have the chance to confront nor to stalk him during the Worlds; there were too many things happening. Add to that the fact that she felt uncomfortable to roam Copenhagen alone. It was a gift sent from heaven (or was it?) when she found out DSM was doing a recording in Atlanta, the same time they came back to US soil.

So here she was, roaming the city late at night because she'd heard DSM was performing at a local club. It reminded her briefly of her sudden decision to meet a random person to buy a time chip and travel back in time. So foolish.

It was pure chance that as she passed by a dark alley on her way to the club, she bumped into the man he was looking for. With his dark clothes and dark eye liner, he looked daunting, but his eyes showed fear, as if he knew what was about to happen.

"It's you. It really is you!", Emily exclaimed.

With his thick German accent, he answered, "Me? What about me? I don't know what' you're talking about."

Emily squinted her eyes. For a moment, she looked like a naïve child turned investigator that wanted to question everything that was happening around her.

"Excuse me, but I have some place to be."

"Yeah, like in Los Angeles, year 2030?"

"What? Why? Why would I be in Los Angeles? In 2030?"

"Come on. Stop playing games with me. I know you, okay? You're Flula! Whatever that name means!"

"Shh!" He grabbed her arm and pulled her to the side as a group of girls passed by. "Be quiet. Others might hear!" Do you understand what implications that could bring?"

"Oh my god! It IS you!"

"Okay, okay. It is me. So what? You're you. Do I care?"

"What?"

"Nothing."

"I need to ask this but I'm afraid of the answer. I need to know, like, I want to be mean and ask it in a mean manner, but I'm naturally nice, so—"

"You're babbling."

"Sorry, I've been told. Okay, here goes. Why'd you give me the time chip for free?"

"Charity."

"No, for real. Are you, like, following me?"

"No."

"Do you know the reason why I travelled back in time?"

"No."

"Then why are you here?"

Flula was quiet.

"Seriously? I think you know. You know a lot of things. I mean, of all things, DSM? Really?"

"I'm a fan of acapella. Is that a crime?"

"No you're not. And no it's not."

"Yes, I am."

"October 25, 2025. A silver SUV was traversing the national highway in the middle of the night when allegedly, a moose crossed the road."

Flula still wasn't talking but was obviously avoiding Emily's eyes.

"But a survivor of the accident, swore on her mother's grave, it wasn't a moose. It was a man."

Flula matched her gaze.

"It was you. It wasn't a dream. It wasn't my imagination. It was real."

The tall man didn't move, couldn't move. He couldn't speak, struck by fear and conscience.

"I think you'd be happy to know that I don't feel any anger. Relief—because I wasn't imagining things. I seriously thought they'd bring me to an asylum. But anger? Not so much."

"Thank you?"

"A-ha! So it was you! Oh my god! It really was you! Why are you following me then? You totally planned this, didn't you?"

"You're babbling again."

"I'm sorry, I know, I've been told that a lot."

"Look, young lady. This—us talking—will not change the things that have happened. This—us talking—is pointless."

"What things do you mean, exactly?"

"Just… things in general."

Now, Emily was a smart girl. She babbled, yes. But she was smart. She didn't read all those encyclopedias one summer for nothing.

"Wait, what exactly did you do? What were you doing, time traveling in the first place?"

"Young lady. I will not go into the specifics, I had my reasons for coming back. All other trips were fine, until that one trip where I ended up—" Flula look at Emily for the first time that night, his eyes showed honesty and sadness at the same time.

"For the record, I truly am sorry. I did everything in my power, still am, to change what happened. If you only knew. If I could change it, I would. I'm sorry. I'm sorry all those had to happen."

"But why—I mean, if the chip would know when to drop you in time, why in the world did you show up in the middle of the road that night?"

Flula breathed deeply. He hoped he didn't have to tell any more truth as it was painting him in a bad light. "I lied."

Emily was confused.

"I lied. The chip doesn't know. I programmed your chip to bring you to a specific time. Now, don't ask how I came upon that conclusion."

"Oh. But it will bring me back, right?"

"Of course, it will. I told you, trusted seller."

Emily was processing the things she found out in her head when Flula spoke again. "Well, I must really leave now." As he walked away, she suddenly thought of a question that had been bothering her for a while now. "Wait! How do I know if I've changed anything?"

"The mere fact that you're interacting with people of this time is already making ripples of change."

"How would I know?"

"There would be a shift."

"What do you mean?"

"A shift. Like a—a tectonic shift."

"Like an earthquake?"

"Possibly." Flula continued walking away. He was about to turn the corner when he stopped and turned around. "But look out for memories. Once change has settled in, you may lose them. That's the truest sign."

"Wait, I don't understand."

"Hold on to your memories." And he walked away.

Beca has been spending a lot of time with Chloe, at least for the past three days —during her morning runs, inside her room as she packed her things, at the supermarket when she had to buy breakfast cereals because Emily was feeling sad everyone was leaving and cereals made her happy, and many more—so it wasn't a surprise when she was inside the redhead's room one evening, as Chloe was packing away all her cameras—she had three, by the way—Beca let out a deep sigh. It startled the redhead because she almost forgot that she was there in the first place, "Jesus!", she had exclaimed.

"It's Beca. But that's okay."

Beca hasn't had the chance to process what had happened recently—her first kiss with Chloe which also may be her last—or what has been happening ever since she's admitted to the redhead she wanted her.

"You don't have to stay here as I pack, you know."

"You can't just discard me like some unused box, Beale."

Beca was feeling rejected. It had been a rollercoaster ride ever since spending a weekend on Aubrey's retreat. And the highlight, which most likely was also the pitfall of her story with Chloe, was the very first kiss she shared with the redhead. Sure, the circumstances would have been different if Beca had to choose, like choosing a more intimate place to do it for example. And this, Beca was slowly realizing, was real life. Yes, life was a bit different from the usual movies that Jesse made her watch. Her happy ending was being kissed by that one person she's drawn to and that's it.

It didn't help that after that first kiss—they were inside her walk-in closet shared with Amy—her room mate was waiting for them right outside as soon as they stepped out, "Coming out of the closet, I see. And together, no less." Because now, everyone thinks they're together, which they're not. For the first few cat calls and howling, it was fine. Beca would usually blush at the thought, but one can only take so much especially after realizing it's far from being real.

"Becs!" Chloe snapped her fingers to bring back the smaller girl to the world. "You're spacing out."

"Sorry."

"As I was saying, I'm not discarding you. Whatever made you think that."

"You don't know? God, you kissed me, Beale. And now you're leaving. Just like that. I feel like, you just took advantage of my virgin lips."

Chloe gave out a chuckle. "One, you don't have virgin lips. No such thing. Two, I did tell you to not overthink what I did. You're overthinking."

"There IS such a thing as virgin lips. And what am I supposed to do? Just set aside the fact that you kissed me. Beale, that was supposed to be our first kiss!"

"That's why you're bothered? Because your first kiss with me happened inside your closet?" Chloe was finding this absurd Beca adorable.

"Of course not! I'm bothered because you're leaving. And I won't get to have any more." The last part of Beca's sentence was almost like a whisper.

Chloe smiled and crossed her arms in front of Beca. "That's why you're bothered? Because you won't get to kiss me anymore?"

Beca looked up and matched Chloe's gaze. But Chloe was being playful, and Beca was tired of feeling sad. In an effort to make light of the situation, she countered her best answer that day, "Yeah. Why else would I be sad? Have you tried kissing yourself lately? It's great you know."

"Uh-huh. Okay."

And that has been their dynamic as they counted the days when Chloe would finally have to go back to Florida before moving to California to start medical school.

"So why medical school? Aside from your dad being a doctor?" Beca had asked her as they walked back home from a late dinner in the café nearest the lake.

"You might find my answer weird."

"What? You? Weird? Of course not. Psshh." Sarcastic Beca earned a slap from Chloe. "Ow!"

"Promise you won't judge?"

"I promise."

"Okay. I want to teach kids, I do. I really do. But, there's something about being a doctor that makes me want to believe I'm more empowered to help more people. I mean, I can always teach kids how to sing, you know? But healing people, it's something only a few can do. And I want to be able to do that. To bring about that kind of change."

At that point, Beca had pretty much stopped walking because she was staring in awe at the person in front of her. Just like the universe, her feelings were multiplying by the minute, the size unknown.

"Three years ago, my dad received a postcard in the mail. It was from South Africa, from this family he's helped before. Their son had malaria and my dad did all he could to bring in supplies from the US. Their son was about to go to college on a basketball scholarship in the Philippines. Can you imagine, had their son died, had my dad done nothing, the future he was supposed to have would have been gone? That kind of change, Becs. I want to do that. A change that affects lives."

There was a sparkle in Chloe's eyes as she explained her motivations for wanting to become a doctor. There was a natural sparkle to her eyes on normal days, but this time it was different, as if something inside her has awakened. There was a sudden tug at Beca's heart. How could she stop this woman in front of her from making her dreams come true? It would be selfish of her to stop her from bringing sunshine into the world. The thought was painful, that she'd have to let Chloe go to be herself. There was no way she would be the reason for Chloe's dreams to not come true. All she could think of was how beautiful this woman was. Gorgeous, yes. Beca wasn't blind. But what's understated is the beauty of her soul, her wanting to do good even with how evil this world can be.

"Does that make sense?"

"God, you're beautiful." Beca whispered.

"What?"

"You're beautiful, do you know that?"

"Yeah, so you've said." Chloe giggled.

"Don't ever think that doing good is wrong, that it's not normal. What you want to do, madame, is not for the fainthearted. You are strong. You are good. You are beautiful."

Chloe smiled. That one smile that brought out an intimate sparkle from her eyes. It was a soft smile, not too much, but it was the one smile Beca loved the most. "That means a lot coming from you, Becs."

Beca smiled, tried to match the other. "Yeah, it better." And that earned another slap from the older woman. "Ow!"

As they headed downstairs to join the rest of the Bellas, Beca pulled Chloe aside. It was a question that had bothered her ever since kissing Chloe for the first time.

"Why'd you kiss me?"

"What do you mean?"

"Why'd you kiss me? Not that I didn't enjoy it. It's just… why'd you kiss me?"

"I've wanted to do that since hood night. Give a girl her dreams kind of thing." That earned Beca a wink from the redhead.

Emily was walking back to the Bella house as she processed her new found knowledge—it was a lot to take in. Finally understanding what happened that night, while it was clearly Flula's fault, she couldn't bring herself to hate the guy. I mean, it's not like he didn't try to make it right. Yeah, he may have used me like a pawn, but he was trying to help. Thoughts of that fateful night was bringing tears to her eyes, she remembered how her mom was frantically driving but was composed at the same time. She remembered shouting about that thing on the road as their SUV skidded to the other side of the road. Emily closed her eyes as tears began to fall on her cheeks. She remembered her mom embracing her so tight, shielding her from the windshield shattering in front of them. She remembered being so scared and feeling safe at the same time. She remembered the scent of her mom's hair which smelled like- she can't remember. She opened her eyes like waking from a dream. She closed her eyes again—tried to remember her mom, her perfume which smelled of-oh god. It's happening.

Her tears were drying up, sadness was leaving her only to be replaced by panic. She can't panic, she thought to herself. She had to be calm. If she truly was forgetting Chloe—her mom—then, change has happened. Maybe it was time for her to go back home.