Chapter 6: A Taste of Hope

Caught off guard.

My heart ached dully.

“Blake.”

I hurriedly got out of the car, the door even bumping into Tyler.

He grunted.

“So heartless, babe?”

But I had no time for him.

When I got closer, I met Blake’s gaze—indifferent, disappointed, and if you looked closely, a bit hurt.

He looked at me in silence.

It seemed like he’d been through this kind of moment more than once.

“Here.”

He handed me the bag.

His tone was very low.

“The cake you loved most five years ago.”

He looked at me quietly, as if deliberately confirming something. “You still like it now, right?”

A nearly sour feeling spread dully from my heart.

So, he still believed my story about waking up in the future.

While I was in a daze, Blake kept his hand raised, a bit stiff.

He shoved his hands in his pockets, shoulders hunched like he was bracing for a punch.

Until—

He slowly withdrew his hand, as if he’d lost all strength.

I quickly took the bag.

“I like it.”

To prove it to him, I took out the cake and took a bite.

The cream was sweet and rich.

I smiled, but felt like crying. “It’s delicious.”

Blake smiled too.

He said—

“Rachel, I thought about it all night. You said you came from five years ago. I can believe it.”

Not ‘I believe’, but ‘I can believe’.

Even if this reason was clumsy, absurd, even if he was a total realist—

But still.

He could believe me.

The sunlight poured in through the glass, catching the dust motes, and for a moment, I felt a glimmer of hope threading its way through all the regret and confusion. Maybe, just maybe, there was still a way forward for us after all. But as I licked the sweet frosting from my lips, I couldn’t shake the feeling that the past wasn’t done with us yet.