Freeze!

In Laila's dream she had gone back to the single decision in her life that she wholeheartedly regretted. It was the decision she planned to overturn by using the ring. If she was able to make up her mind at least. She wanted to use her gift from the elderly stranger, to change the decision that would end up causing her to lose Noah. Though she hadn't planned on making that decision just yet, or perhaps never at all, it seemed that her subconscious had made the decision for her. Because while the mind can get easily clouded, the heart has a way of letting us know what we knew and wanted all along. In Laila's case, her heart had set out to make the difficult decision that her mind wasn't able to make. With Laila vast asleep, the heart had free reign and guided her clouded mind to clarity.

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The next morning Laila woke up well rested, which surprised her, considering the day she had yesterday and the dream she had last night. The sunrays on her face, that had snuck in through the partially opened curtains, had gently warmed up her skin and lit up the room as a whole. She stretched her arms above her head and slowly opened her eyes, when a sudden rush of panic flooded over her. Her eyes shot wide open and she sat up in bed as she looked around the room. Her eyes and ears were pulled all around in different directions, desperately trying to take it all in and make sense of what she was seeing. No matter where she looked, she couldn't spot a single familiar item or corner.

Suddenly it hit her and Laila frantically searched for the ring she had been holding when she went to bed last night. Her heart sank to her stomach when she realized that the ring was nowhere to be found. The only ring she saw, was the one on her left ring finger. This could only mean that either someone had broken into her house last night and stole the ring but didn't leave before giving her room a free make-over OR she had accidentally slipped the ring underneath her pillow last night and she had done the thing she could never have imagined was possible. She had altered her past!

Laila didn't have much time to let what had happened sink in. Because before she could think over last night's dream, she heard the sound that had been in the background, stop. She had heard the sound of the shower for a while, and in her half asleep state, she thought it was just Jake taking a shower before going to work. But seeing as she was standing in a completely different room and Jake had left to spend the night at his friend's house, that scenario was highly unlikely. So, now that the shower had been turned off and the person that had been standing underneath it would be coming out, Laila was experiencing one of the prime fear responses. Freeze.

Her eyes were widened, her heart was beating a mile a minute, the pounding was even reaching her head and causing her ears to ring. Her eyes were frozen in the direction of what she could only assume was the bathroom door as she herself had stopped breathing. As if in slow motion, she watched as a tall figure stepped out of the steam filled bathroom and stepped inside of the bedroom. Laila's eyes moved from his feet, to his well shaped chest and slowly reached the top of his head. His soft brown curls were glowing in the sunlight as he was drying his hair with a towel. Since his head was facing down Laila couldn't actually see his face but she was certain he was handsome. She could feel it.

The man got closer to her, step by step and when he noticed she was awake, he began talking to her. At this point Laila still hadn't been able to get a good look of his face and his voice seemed unable to reach her ears over the ringing sound that had filled her ears ever since the shower had been turned off. All she could hear were muffled low tones, without being able to hear the actual words. Laila was desperately trying to remember who this man could be but she had no memory whatsoever from this new timeline. All she could try to do is put the puzzle pieces together based on what she knew up to the moment she had made her decision.

With Laila not answering whatever question the half naked stranger had asked, he finally looked up at her. Beautiful bright green eyes were looking into her fear stricken ones and he showed her a dazzling smile. At that very moment, the question she was trying to answer was immediately answered. No matter how many years have passed, she could recognize that smile and those eyes in a heartbeat. Not only did the revealing of the man's face show Laila she had been right to think that the man underneath the towel was handsome but it also revealed that the man was none other than Noah!