Obsolete.

Man, this conversation felt much longer than it had any right to be. And, while I had no idea how long exactly, it was enough for me to start fazing out.

The direction of conversation went back to the business side of our talk. To be more specific, Bella decided to make a report about how her trip went. Meetings, discussions, negotiations, and deals. Details. Details. And even more details.

Ugh.

I was just nodding along, trying my best to keep up with what I heard. And failed.

"I'm sorry, can you repeat what you just said?" I tried to weasel my way out of the situation. 

Not that I really hoped it would work.

"Was it too much for you?" Judging by her tone, my special woman clearly noticed and was letting me know she did so. 

"Sorry. You know me, my dear, I always struggled with boring things." I made an excuse.

Bella just shook her head in defeat.

"Let's change the topic then." Evidently, my special woman was in a good enough mood to let my transgression slide this time. "I wanted to ask if you have any other pieces of future knowledge to capitalize on?" 

I mulled over her question. I felt like it was something obvious enough, but, well, going over it at least once in plain words wouldn't hurt anyone.

"Dear, how long do you think twenty-five years are?" I started with a question of my own.

The answer I got was a raised eyebrow.

"It's fucking long. That's how." I voiced the right answer. "How much do you remember about state of financial world from your childhood?"

Some realization appeared in her gaze as my words registered. There was still some unwillingness to accept it at face value.

"The only reason I even remembered this one was a documentary I'd seen on TV a bit over a month ago." I clarified. "It's not like I've been doing my best to memorize a wiki, expecting to get into the past in some foreseeable future."

Unwillingness faded a bit.

"Then let's add that the next three years are almost completely blank in my memories. The four years after that are full of you, with very little else catching my attention." My words elicited a pleasant smile from my special woman. "And after that, I have no excuse for being a lazy ass and leaving stuff like that to someone else."

I sighed.

"I still have a lot of quite interesting information for later years. Companies that would go under. Release times for hit products. And some stock market manipulation schemes of questionable legality." Let's omit how exactly I've gotten this information. "And you know what they all have in common? They would require the next fifteen or so years to go the same way, down to every little twist and turn."

I paused, taking a breather and giving Bella a chance to respond. Which she opted not to do.

"To be honest, just my presence here should completely invalidate anything I knew." I dropped a bombshell.

Hm, did something that obvious even need an explanation?

"Only time can tell how much the different actions, or inaction, of one Michael Roah changed over the course of the last three weeks. Butterfly effect and all that, you know." I took another sip of the lukewarm concoction I still had in the cup. "Perhaps there is some sort of mysterious force that protects the timeline from being changed by things that are so minor. Who knows?"

Since Bella still kept her silence, I continued my monologue:

"In three to five years, Long Hao, husband of Kouzuki twins and the best friend of Frank Smith, the linchpin that was and is holding together the faction known as Three Families, would've died." I let those words set in. "I have no idea whatsoever how or why it happened exactly, but that's unimportant. What's important is the fallout of such an epochal event. I'll spare you details, but it left a power vacuum. And it changed the world once and for all."

Another pause. Another breather. And another chance for my dear to speak.

As I was waiting, I picked up a small, unassuming thing from the table and rolled it in my hand.

The seal of Kouzuki Shinji, heir of the Kouzuki clan. The twin brother of Long Tian, the heir of the Long Clan. Such a little piece of precious metal could change the course of history with such ease.

How fascinating.

"Long Tian. Kouzuki Shinji." I spoke out those two names slowly, as if tasting them on my tongue. "Blood is everything for the Three Families, my dear. And both of them have the blood of both clans running in their veins. And, well, I don't think I would be able to escape Helen Smith this time around, even if I wanted such a thing."

I raised my gaze to look into the wide-open pair across the table.

"Whatever I knew about the future is obsolete." All those cracks in my masks gave in a bit more. I felt a wide grin split my face. "And isn't this the best result I could've hoped for?"

***

Afterward, the conversation naturally died down. I was busy trying to get myself under control while Bella fell silent—well, more silent than she already was—contemplating everything that she just heard.

I excused myself and went outside, both to take a much-needed breather and to find my personal shadow. Claire's issue still had to be taken care of.

I wasn't in the mood to play around this time, so after quickly locating the hiding spot of my sneaky bodyguard, I made a gesture for them to approach.

'It's an order.' I mouthed off. It was a no-brainer that they were all trained to read lips.

As Shadow approached, I gave them a piece of paper with instructions I had written down beforehand.

"Give this to the guy who played the role of my driver last Friday. And tell him to contact me." I let my orders be known.

Shadow bowed, respectfully accepting the note with both hands.

I turned around, ready to leave, when another thought flashed inside my cooled-down brain.

"And another thing," I said, looking back at the still-bowing figure. "Contact me as well. Since you seem to be assigned to me personally, I would like to have a way to get to you if need be, aside from playing hide and seek every time. Even if it's fun in its own way."

Not waiting for a reply, I left.