“Val, you’re freaking me out.”

She turned to face Kyler. Despite the panic eating her up inside, she forced a shaky smile. “I-It’s nothing. I had a super weird dream that felt really real.”

Kyler tilted her head to one side. “Why are you being so polite? Something’s definitely wrong.”

Oh my god. Hold it together. Valerie flexed her fingers and counted to ten. How could tea leaves send you back in time??

She sucked in a breath and pushed aside the million threads of thought that raced across her mind. She could deal with the why and the how later. Now, she had to figure out the what. As in what to do about it.

If she had traveled to the past, it was time to slip into her old skin. Based on the countless movies she had watched, it was never good to let anyone else know that you were a time traveler. Except perhaps the person who had sent you back. So first things first, she had to set Kyler’s mind at ease.

“Ah shit.” Valerie plunked down on her bed. Oh, she missed that bed despite the bad springs. “I dreamt I was some rich and famous bitch in the future. Then, some old man kidnapped me and spiked my drink. Too. Damn. Real.”

Kyler eyed her for a moment before snorting in laughter. “God, that’s wild.”

“Tell me about it.”

“Okay, now that you’re back to reality, I just wanted to tell you that Richard called. He said he’ll be a bit late and will pick you up at noon.”

A light groan escaped from Valerie’s lips.

Kyler lifted an eyebrow. “You don’t seem very excited about your date. I thought you were so in love with the guy.”

“I…” Valerie paused. “I don’t know now.”

There had to be a reason why she was back in 2019 after all. What had the creepy poison guy, Rambo said? Something about liking her old self or new self.

Kyler sat down beside her. “You told me yesterday that Richard could really propel your dreams forward. What changed?”

Everything. Valerie looked at her younger sister. Fewer stress lines marred Kyler’s forehead. The dark circles that used to underline her sister’s eyes were gone. She missed this Kyler.

Valerie tucked a stray hair behind Kyler’s ears. Her voice was soft. “I’m worried that this guy may come between us.”

Kyler stiffened. Her eyes widened as she sputtered, “Wait. A-Are you saying this because you know what Richard told me?”

“Wait. What?”

“After he dropped you off and you went upstairs to clean up, he told me he wanted to ask you to move in with him.”

Things were starting to drop into place in Valerie’s mind. Richard was going to ask her today to move in with him. He had the perfect pitch for it - more mindnumbing sex with him, an army of housekeepers and chefs to deal with all the chores and food, and most importantly, a large studio for her to experiment with designing clothes.

Kyler continued, “I joked with him that I would miss my sister. I mean, who’s going to do the laundry and all that?”

Valerie allowed herself a little chuckle. 

“Then he told me that I should let you go.” Kyler paused, unsure of whether to continue. Her eyes darted to Valerie’s worried face. “He said he wasn’t going to let anyone take you away from him. Even me.”

The blood in Valerie’s veins turned cold. It all clicked now. She whispered hoarsely, “Why didn’t you tell me?”

Kyler looked down at her hands in her lap. “Because you were so happy. You told me so many times that you accepted his little quirks because, in the overall picture, he was a good guy. A good guy who was going to make your dream come true. I couldn’t jeopardize that.”

Gulping past the lump in her throat, Valerie was speechless. Why had she been so blind? No, she had seen the signs. The red flags. But she had been too focused on the shiny bits that Richard brought to her life. So blinded by those shiny pieces that she didn’t see the possessive shit hiding behind them.

She had to give it to Richard for being smart enough to balance his red flags with flattery, apologies, and gifts. It had worked on young 2019 Val. For a while, at least. He used that tactic too often for it to wear her down slowly. After all, she had been so disenchanted with him that she resorted to seeing a super fishy fortune teller serving tea. 

Maybe that’s why she had been sent back in time. She had been stuck in the notion that she could not do better than Richard, that Richard was the best guy for her. But somewhere deep in her, she had known better. She had known that she had a choice. And the best thing was that she could make that choice now.

“I’m not going to let Richard separate us.” Taking Kyler’s hand in hers, Valerie said firmly, “If that’s how it’s going to be with him, I don’t want him in my life.”

Kyler’s eyes widened in joy. “Y-You want to break up with Richard?” 

“Yes. He’s no longer my Mr. Right.”

She didn’t care if Mr. Right was a billionaire with a handsome face and body and connections in the fashion world. Mr. Right didn’t take her sister away from her. That Mr. Right could go to hell.

She was going to dump his ass.