The first day of the public announcement period, I got a phone call from my “future” self.
“Nora, watch out for Cedric Gilbert. He's going to report you!”
I froze. The voice on the other end was mine.
But Cedric was my boyfriend. Why would he try to hurt me?
We'd taken the civil-service exam together this year. I placed first. He placed second.
This particular position had two openings.
He had no reason to report me.
I nearly laughed it off and hung up on what had to be a prank call.
But the voice on the other end kept going, frantic now.
“Nora, go check the second drawer in the study. The proof is right there.”
My hands were unsteady as I pulled open the drawer.
Inside lay a document: 《Complaint Regarding the Eligibility of Candidate Nora Whitfield》.
Just then, the laptop Cedric had left on the desk lit up.
He hadn't closed out of iMessage. New synced messages filled the screen.
“Judy, I'm already gathering evidence. I'll file the complaint against Nora in the next few days. Sit tight for good news.”
“Don't worry. You came in third, but I'll make sure you get that spot.”
……
I stood there, too stunned to move.
The screen was still glowing.
Judy sent back a confused emoji.
“Does Nora even have any dirt on her? I was her roommate for four years and never noticed a thing.”
Cedric replied fast.
“She's clever. You think she'd let anyone find out?”
“It's her father. He broke the law, but she didn't disclose it in her application.”
“Give me a little time. I'll get the proof soon.”
Judy sent a blushing-smile emoji.
“You're always the sweetest to me. Thank you.”
I stared at the screen, cold spreading through my chest.
Clever.
That was his word for me after three years together.
I took a deep breath and started scrolling up through their messages.
Line after line, each one worse than the last.
Three months into our relationship, he'd added Judy on iMessage.
He'd made a few moves early on, but she played dumb every time, keeping him on the hook without ever committing.
The real constant contact started when exam prep began.
Every time I'd asked him to help me practice for the interview, he'd been running practice sessions with Judy instead.
The day I was sick and went into surgery, he was out helping Judy pick an interview outfit.
On my birthday, he'd spent the whole night helping Judy search for her lost dog.
My nose stung, and the tears I didn't want to cry fell anyway.
That was when the phone rang again.
The same virtual number.
“How many years from now are you?”
“Five.”
My hand was shaking.
“What happens in the future?”
Two seconds of silence on the other end.
“After the first complaint, you scrambled to put together your counter-evidence. But Cedric deleted your files behind your back. You missed the forty-eight-hour verification window. They cut you.”
“The next year, you retook the exam, kept appealing, still couldn't get in. You thought it was bad luck. It was Cedric, sabotaging you every time.”
I bit down on my lip. The grief was burning away, and what replaced it was rage.
“Why would he do that?”
“Because of Judy. She hates you.”
The future me was speaking through clenched teeth.
“Everything Cedric did, he did to make her happy.”
I couldn't speak.
He traded my future to win another woman's approval.
Three years together, and to him it was nothing but a loyalty pledge to Judy.
“What happened after that?”
The voice on the other end choked.
“After three failed attempts, what you got wasn't comfort from Cedric. It was a breakup.”
She paused.
“You'd just found out you were pregnant……the shock triggered a miscarriage. Hemorrhaging. They had to remove your uterus.”
