The butterfly effect

After that one fateful night, Laila never saw Noah again. She moved with Jake and after he graduated, he moved his parents out of their childhood neighbourhood as well. Just like that, the person who had been in her life since the very beginning, was in it no longer.

After a few years, she saw him in a few magazines and once on TV. He had become a big shot and was a selfmade success in the business world. He had developed some kind of software for medical companies and hospitals. This instantly shot him to fame and from there he became bigger and better. Soon leaving him far out of her reach. He had even ended up in the top thirty under thirty of most eligible bachelors. Leaving behind both his days poverty as well as his days as the silent, unpopular guy in high school.

It was partly because of this success, because of all Noah's successes after leaving her behind, that Laila wasn't sure if she should go back and pick him. She had heard about the butterfly effect. The effect even the smallest of changes can have on all future events. So, she was fearful that her picking him, would change the course of his life as well and take him off the path to success. All so that she could be with the one that got away. That seemed selfish and the last thing she wanted to do was hurt Noah, a person she held so dear, in a second life over another selfish reason.

But although Noah was indeed an impressive man in her alternate life, she never heard of him finding love during all the years that they had been apart. Not from his parents or from the mainstream media. So, if there was a chance that she would bring him a life filled with love, couldn't that compensate for any potential monetary loss? After all, they had both grown up poor and being rich sure wasn't all that. So, would it really be all that bad to stay poor or end up in the middle class? Isn't that why people say that life is a game and love is the prize? Because that outweighs all other things we can gain in life? But before she could make up that balance in her mind, she had already altered her past.

- Back to the present -

Laila watched as Noah got dressed and left for the office. Of course not before kissing her one more time, something which Laila accepted in a perplexed state. She felt like the Noah before her was nothing like the Noah she knew. The Noah in her past was a lot more shy and awkward when it came to female interactions. Even with her he became this way at a certain point. Why else would it take him so long to make his move? This smooth, charismatic person seemed like a complete stranger by comparison.

Once Noah had walked out the door, Laila was left on the bed in a daze. As she looked around the room, she tried to make sense of the live she was currently living and tried to gather her thoughts. In a soft whisper and a pensive look, she said to herself "So, apparently I have indeed chosen Noah back then in my dream and we have managed to stay together." As her eyes landed on the items in the room that appeared to be the master bedroom another thought entered her mind. 'Judging by the high-end furniture and the large room I am sitting in, Noah's success hasn't appeared to have diminished by getting together with me either. What else has changed or remained the same?'

Laila gently pushed the blankets away and when she did, the second big change compared to her previous life had become apparent. She noticed that underneath her soft slipdress, a small bump could be detected... Her head short circuited as she wondered if what she thought this meant, was indeed the truth. Laila softly stroked her stomach and rushed towards the nearest mirror to take a better look at what was hidden underneath the pink fabric. When she slowly lifted her dress up, she saw a perfectly round belly. It wasn't very visible yet but it was clearly there. As someone who has gone through all this before, she was certain that she was pregnant. Judging by the size, she was about three months along.

Suddenly she felt really emotional and was brought back to the time she had been pregnant with Jake's child. The child she had lost... As she brushed away the initial tears of sadness, she continued to stare at herself and her belly in the mirror. It felt so surreal. No matter how crazy altering your past in your dreams was, this would still be the most incredible and most unbelievable thing to happen to her. To relive this feeling. To relive it with Noah no less! That was a miracle she never held possible.