"I want to lie down," I huffed, letting out another yawn.

Leon, who had both eyes on the road, chuckled beside me, "I told you to sleep early last night, it's your fault for staying up."

"Hey, I needed to be a good best friend," I countered, "Especially when the cause of my best friend's troubles is my own husband's best friend."

"Pat's trying his best, okay?" he laughed, "Besides, there's a little pressure on him since this is Zoey's first stable relationship."

Which was why she didn't know how to handle most of their arguments.

"But at least they got together eventually," I hummed happily because it was a long road for them to get there.

And when I said long road, I really meant it. They met when they were in high school and it took them this long. Granted, Pat still dated around during college and Zoey got stuck on her crush with Christian so it did delay them a bit.

I was just so glad that after a year and a half of being a fool for a guy who absolutely did not deserve her, Zoey finally broke it off with Christian. Here was the worst part – even though they've had a thing for that long, he still didn't put a label on it.

All I can say was that I went over to her dorm and popped open a bottle of champagne when she told me that they were over.

"All it took was several years and our wedding."

My fingers instinctively went to touch my wedding band that I wore. We finally got over our honeymoon phase when we graduated high school. Leon and I dated long-distance during college and like any other couple, we got into fights and arguments. It was heightened because we barely saw each other and we lived miles apart.

But every single time that I was mad at him, all I had to do was look at the whistle.

If we got through that, then there was nothing that could stop us from pursuing this love we shared, as corny as it sounded.

So we survived through constant communication and understanding. On my graduation, he asked me to move in with him and I gladly said yes.

We rented a rather good sized apartment for a couple of years and he proposed on our eight anniversary. It took us more than half a year to plan the wedding before we finally got hitched and here we were.

And because Zoey was my maid of honor and Pat was his best man, they spent a lot of time together with helping us plan the wedding. On the eve of the ceremony, the magical kiss happened that concluded years of unresolved tension between the two.

Well, most of the tension coming from Pat.

It definitely wasn't smooth sailing for them though, which most of it was attributed to the fact that this was Zoey's first official relationship. She had seen other men before, but none of them reached serious relationship status.

But she did love him. I always joked to the boys of how much we talked about her and Pat, which always frightened him since he thought that he had done something wrong, but it was the complete opposite. Sometimes, her insecurities just gets the best of her because she knew that he had more experience with dating than she did.

All she wanted was to be the girlfriend that she thought he deserved. Meanwhile, he was trying hard to be the best boyfriend to her.

Those two were too nice for their own good.

But at least I was assured that they were going to take care of each other.

"And finally, we're here," Leon sighed in relief, watching those automated gates open for us. He drove into his parent's house, the place that we shared so many memories from our teenage years.

Shortly after we got back from our honeymoon, we moved out of our apartment and into a new house that Leon's parents gifted us for our wedding. Although, when they were showing it to us, they implied the word 'nursery' more times than I could count.

We've already discussed that we wanted children, but we both agreed to hold off until we finished this particular visit.

"My two babies are here," his mom greeted happily once we both got out of the car. She kissed each of us on the cheeks, clearly more enthusiastic than her husband who gave us a hug, "Are you two finally getting a cub of your own?"

Leon rolled his eyes, shaking his head to deny her assumptions, "We already said no on the phone, mom."

"I thought you just wanted to keep it a surprise," she said, "And here I thought you two were visiting to break the news to us."

"We just really missed you guys," I reasoned, earning me a tight embrace from her.

"Well, I got Leon's old room ready. The maids will bring your bags up so you two go on ahead and rest for a while," she told us, "The drive must have been excruciating."

We went inside the house and I immediately went to the living room, where all of the family pictures were placed. Aside from the garden and Leon's room, this was definitely the place where I enjoyed being in the most.

And besides, I had to make sure everything was in order.

I grabbed Leon and I's wedding photo and placed it front and center. This would definitely make things easier.

But while I was there, my eyes scanned through the pictures. There was one that was taken on our high school graduation, the two of us proudly holding up our diploma. Another was from Leon's college graduation with me huddled in the family picture in-between him and his dad. Then there was one from Christmas a couple of years ago where even my mom was included.

She still lived in our old house and, just like Leon's side of the family, was already hinting that she wanted a grandchild. Something I quickly shut down for now, much to her disappointment.

She gave dad's letter to me a few days before I went to college. She explained the whole thing and unlike the original timeline that I came from, I listened to her calmly. There might have been a few tears, but the whole conversation came from a place of acceptance and understanding.

Dad would have been so proud of how far I've come and how I've lived my life.

I was happy.

"Babe, come on," I heard Leon call, causing me to rip my gaze away from the pictures, "I think that's enough."

"I hope so," I frowned, walking over to him and taking his hand, "I'm trying to make this as easy as possible."

"We figured it out so I'm sure it will be fine," he assured as the two of us went upstairs.

When we opened those doors, a sense of nostalgia immediately hit me. The empty table that used to house his computer, where he explained the whole time traveling thing for the first time. The king sized bed where we shared our most intimate moments. The closet that provided a safe haven for the box that delivered these whistles to us.

Everything about this room was something so precious to me.

Like his mom said, our bags were already here. I opened it and took out the matching silk pajamas I bought especially for this day. I wanted everything to be as least confusing as possible and provide as many hints as I could.

Because tomorrow, I wouldn't remember a single thing about the last nine years. Tomorrow, I will wake up with a sixteen year old occupying my body. Tomorrow, Avery Barber from the past would finally learn what truly happened to her and how she got to where she was.

And she would be terrified, but the little things I did could hopefully ease her mind even the tiniest bit.

This was the reason why we held off with the baby thing and why we planned this visit on this very day. We knew what was going to happen tomorrow and while we had no idea what would actually happen to the present us, the past us needed our help.

I heard Leon let out a small laugh behind me, causing me to turn to him, "What's funny?"

"I just remembered the shock that I felt when I found out that we were married. We've only been dating for two days and the next thing I knew, we woke up in the same bed with matching wedding rings," he explained, amusement all over his features, "I think my soul left my body that day."

"At least after that, everything calmed down," I shrugged, walking over to him and wrapping my arms around his upper body, "Sometimes, I wonder what it would be like if you hadn't stopped me from jumping off the school building."

He instantly shushed me, "Don't even think about it."

"But..." I trailed off but he cut me off, never allowing my thoughts to stray too far.

"Avery, I have dedicated every single breath since the day of your funeral to saving you," he told me, his eyes capturing mine, "I love you and I want you to know that you belong here, so don't let your mind go there."

My angel.

I raised to my toes and grinned up at him, "I love you, Mr. Colten."

"And I love you, Mrs. Colten," he returned, flashing me that mesmerizing smile. No matter how many times I have seen it, I was enchanted by it the same way I was when we were teenagers.

Our lips joined and I sighed contentedly against him. If you asked me years ago if I ever deserved this kind of happiness, I would have said an instant no.

But Leon shook away all of that beliefs. He taught me not only to love him, but to also love myself and to love life.

So Avery Barber, tomorrow you would see a glimpse of the beautiful life that I have been living in. Tomorrow you will meet Avery Barber-Colten.

I sincerely hope that you would choose to work to this kind of joy. I wish that this would wash away all of your doubts and give you a new kind of motivation like it did to me.

Because every single step had been worth it. The struggles, the celebrations, the 3am fights, the sick days, the mini golfing dates, the surprise visits, the breakdowns, the near break ups, the anniversaries – everything had been wonderful.

And they were part of the life that I adored. They made me feel alive, like tomorrow was something to look forward to. The world we lived in was so mysterious – the fact that we can time travel was proof enough – but it was beautiful.

There was magic in every step. Not all days were filled with adventures, some were rather boring. But I've learned that the secret to this was to live the mundane routine with extraordinary excitement.

Dear Avery Barber, please choose to live.

-----------------------------

And we're officially done. Going to set this story as complete and this is my final author's note for this baby. I love you guys so much and for staying with me for every single step of the way.

This story has actually been in my computer for years, since 2017 to be precise. I have this thing where I write stories purely for my own enjoyment or escape from stress so I have multiple of these that I have no plans on posting or publishing. This used to be one of them and the original premise was that there was no Pat, no time travel, and Avery and Leon weren't even named Avery and Leon yet. 

The thing I kept from the original was the building scene, where Avery was about to jump from the building and the whole plot was supposed to be about Leon trying to convince her to live. Fast forward to 2020, I kept the base of the plot intact but changed a lot and added some supernatural elements. I think I'm super happy with the way it turned out and I hope you guys liked it as well.

Thank you so much for one last time. If you're reading, please choose to like Avery. Please choose all the hardships and the celebrations. Please choose for the chance of happiness. Please choose to live. 

P.S. No sequel. I'm very adamant about that but I'm not going to rule out a spin-off.