Chapter 111 - Turning TImelines

"Where are we going?" the cat demanded as he trotted after the red lady.

"To your father," Cherry said simply.

"Are you insane?" the cat exclaimed. "He's gonna have a fit seeing me like this!"

"Which is precisely why we won't be telling him anything...yet," she said. She stopped and turned.

"Listen up, kitty cat," she said in a stern voice. "Before we take you to your father, you need to understand something."

Jade's ears perked up in concentration.

"Firstly, you cannot tell your father anything about your mother's death and your identity until the time comes," Cherry instructed. "Until the time is right, hide your relationship with him. Don't even call him father. Pretend you don't know what your mother looks like. Stay with him until the time comes to tell him the truth."

"How will I know when the time is right?" the cat frowned.

"When your father's will to live will diminish," Cherry explained. "Our bodies must have a balance of willpower and spirit energy in order for the soul to survive. Decrease in any of those and a person can end up in severe depression. They may even kill themselves. A time will come when your father will face a crisis like that. Only then should you decide to reveal the truth and see if his willpower is raised."

"Secondly," she pressed on before the cat opened its mouth. "In order to save your mother, we'll need to reverse time to a point where they did not meet and hence, will not get married. Jiwon is heartbroken and angry now. Use his emotions and prevent Mirae's fate. Both of them need to make themselves stronger before they can decide whether to be together or not."

"Thirdly," she went on. "I'll give you two powers. You can use each of them only once in your life. First, I will give you the power to reverse time. You will approach Jiwon and goad him into going back to the point where he went for that audition. Second power is the ability to travel through astral plane. When the time is right, take Jiwon's soul and send it through the astral plane, where time is an infinite loop. You can show him the full events of the original timeline. After that, it is up to him how to proceed from there. Understood?"

"Not really," the cat mumbled.

"Good," Cherry said with satisfaction. "Mere mortals cannot grasp the concept of time and space. It's not just science but a lot of faith is involved as well."

"You speak as if you have a lot of faith," the cat said sarcastically.

"I don't," she said shortly. "Which is why I'm stuck like this. Anyways, one more thing before we go to your father."

"What is it?"

"You need a name," Cherry pointed out. "Let's see…"

She was in deep thought before snapping her finger in realization. "Jade!" she declared. "We'll call you Jade."

"I hate that name," the cat frowned.

"Well, you have to keep it," Cherry said pompously. "After all, you were made from a jade stone. Now let's hurry up!"

Grumbling at the strange name given to him, Jade followed the red lady. She led him into a dark alley before pausing and motioning him to hide behind a wall.

Jade could make out the figure of Jiwon, leaning against a wall, crying. In his anger, he kept on punching the wall till his hands bled.

"WHY?" he wailed. "Why did you do this, Mirae?"

All the pain, the suppressed rage he had came gushing out. It hurt him. He wanted to run away but where would he go? He left everything behind and in the end, was left with nothing at all. At that moment, his anger was pointed at only one person: Mirae.

"I wish we never met!" he growled. "I want to erase our relationship entirely!"

"Go for it, kitty cat," Cherry whispered. "It's what he wants. Go and make him turn back time."

"He's gonna have a heart attack if he sees a talking cat!" Jade protested.

"He'll be fine!" Cherry snapped. "Just go and do your part. Leave the rest to fate. I can't let the idiot couple screw up the next timeline."

"Will they end up together in the next timeline?" Jade questioned.

"Well…" Cherry hesitated. "There is no guarantee for that. They may fall for different people. They may never even meet again."

"Then why are we doing this?"

Cherry rolled her eyes. "Do you want to save your mother?" she asked him.

"I do!"

"Then this is the only way," Cherry said grimly. "I cannot tell what lies in store for them in the new timeline. But in the end, it's up to them if they want to be with each other or not. And given all that happened between the idiot couple in this timeline, they will have a lot of issues to work on in the next one. Only they can decide for themselves. Not us."

Jade glanced back at his father's pitiful state. "But if he changes the time," he started. "Won't dad remember everything from this timeline?"

"He will," Cherry said. "Who knows, maybe he will fix his relationship and let go of his obsession with the Cartel. I hope."

Jade sighed. It was now or never.

He stepped forward, ready to change the destiny of his parents.

"Be careful what you wish for," he said loudly. Startled, Jiwon turned around but saw no one.

"Down here, moron!" Jade exclaimed. Jiwon looked down to see a ginger cat with big, green eyes.

"Yeah," Jade said. "I'm talking to you."

"AHHHHH!" Jiwon screamed in fear. 

"You look like as if you've seen the devil," Jade commented. 

"W-what the hell are you?" Jiwon stuttered in fear.

"A talking cat," Jade explained but you can call me Jade."

"Am I dreaming?" Jiwon questioned himself.

"No," Jade giggled. "You're not dreaming. I'm real. So are my claws. Want me to scratch ya to show you that you aren't dreaming?"

"What do you want?" Jiwon demanded. "Money."

"The real question is," the cat said. "What do YOU want?"

Cherry watched the man and the cat, conversing their fates. Soon, the cat extended its paw, which the man took and in a blink of an eye, they disappeared into thin air.

She took out a small notebook from her Gucci purse. Opening a page, she wrote in neat cursive handwriting.

"Four ninety nine," she smiled. "One more to go."

Closing her notebook shut, she strutted along the alley like a supermodel. 

"I've sealed your fates, Kwon Jiwon and Jung Mirae," she announced. "Now how will you two reach it?"

Snapping her fingers, she too disapparated in thin air.