Changing Fate

Lately Yu Tu had been staying up even later than what he normally would. But not for his normal studying, no he had been going onto various forums and webpages ingesting all he could about what additional scholarships he would need to secretly apply for so he could also study Engineering along with the Financial degree that his parents have been pushing on him. He was exhausted. With a skill that he had long ago mastered, Yu Tu lent against the pergola's support, opened his book, and promptly fell asleep with his eyes open. Giving the appearance of focusing on the page opened in front of him.

As he lost consciousness he felt himself walking with a purpose down a hallway until he stopped in front of a door and rang the doorbell. He heard a sweet feminine voice ask who it was to which he heard himself reply that it was him. The voice was somewhat familiar but at the moment he could not quite place it; his body was twisted with anxiety and impatience to see the woman to whom the voice belonged. It confused his young psyche. Moments later the door opened to reveal classmate Qiao. But she looked different, more mature but just as attractive. She greeted him with a confused smile and quickly pulled him into the room smiling telling him that it was the weekend and she thought he had overtime. When he had the chance to take in his surroundings he realized it was a luxurious hotel room.

His body grasped her shoulders and asked her "Why did we have to do a group wedding?" Yu Tu's mind whirled why would he be asking classmate Qiao of all people about getting married. As far as he knew she did not check a single box for a prospective partner in life besides being pretty. In fact the word pretty did not quite seem like the correct word for this older version of his classmate Qiao but that was neither here nor there.

He watched as Qiao Jingjing's face morph to a brilliant smile and it made his teenage heart pound irregularly. "You drove over two hundred Kilometers just to ask me this question?"

He felt his hands hold on to Qiao Jingjing tighter as he very seriously stated the wedding that he believed her to have. It was an extravagant wedding to say the least and in all honesty he could believe that would be the type of wedding that Qiao Jingjing would want to have. Littered with flowers and a huge crowd.

She interrupted him and asked where he got that idea to which his mouth replied "Two years ago at the jewelry event that you were a spokesperson for. When you were asked what kind of wedding you wanted, that is what you said." His voice quivered and his mind wondered more about the event that from what he could determine was his older self was talking about,

Qiao Jingjing's face went from confused and morphed into a smile as she disbelievingly said "You fell for that? When they asked me that during the interview; I came up with something on the spot."

He felt his body let go of her as he very seriously asked what kind of wedding she wanted?

Her face turned to concern as she looked deeply into his eyes and said "Yu Tu, did you think I chose a group wedding because I am concerned with your finances?"

The older self told Jingjing that he wanted to do the best that he could. His younger mind didn't quite understand his older self's emotions of feeling of inadequacy. Why would he need to feel inadequate? He is top of their class at this point the world was his for the taking.

The woman in front of him gave him a soft smile before enveloping him into a comforting hug. It was similar yet felt completely different from the loving hugs that his mother used to give him. After a few moments he reciprocated the hug and listened for her to thank him before telling him quite earnestly that of course she knew that he would do his best and that she was about to marry him.

She gave his hands a little squeeze before swinging their arms and said in all seriousness. "Because of my fame I am always in the center of attention. I have to think about many things to get married. If we want to keep it secret then it is hard to get it done. I want to invite only a few close friends; someone would eventually resent us. So in the end, our wedding would be a large social gathering. We would need to keep socializing, toasting, taking photos, there might be a tiny hitch and our wedding and we might end up trending because of it. But if we participate in your unit's group wedding event such problems would no longer exist because of your work's confidentiality. By then we will be newlyweds albeit amongst many other newlyweds. So what? There are so many more people getting married everyday. We are just an ordinary couple amongst them all. A young couple. But I think that belongs just to both of us. Just you and I, no disturbances. No social media. A wedding between two people. From you to me and from me to you." She gave a soft sigh. "I hope you don't mind that type of wedding."