180 degree turn

Maria's eyes widened after hearing Laila's confession, despite not yet knowing what it means. But as she had promised Laila, she wouldn't speak until Laila had finished telling her story. Laila saw the look of surprise on her friend's face but she couldn't stop now, otherwise she would lose her courage to tell the rest.

"Though I don't exactly know how it works, I was given a rare opportunity in my own life, in my own timeline. In this life I had not chosen Noah but Jake. I had gotten pregnant and gotten married to Jake. We were living together in a big mansion overlooking the ocean. Though things seemed fine at the beginning, it didn't last. I lost my baby and me and Jake were having problems. I had been unhappy for a while, though I didn't realize it at first. It wasn't until my life began going downhill, when I started suspecting that Jake had cheated on me after over a half a decade of marriage, that I knew something had to change."

Laila let out a deep breath after saying those words, as they had made her relive multiple bad memories, before she continued. "The person I was, could not change that life for the better. I was in a dilemma of what to do, when I happened to save someone who was apparently a very special person. Though I am not sure if 'person' is the right word. Anyways, he told me that since my decision had saved his life, I would be given the chance to change one of my decisions from the past in order to save my own."

By now Maria had started biting her nails from Laila's story but Laila wasn't finished yet and lowered her head to maintain her courage. "I was going back and forth between using the chance or saving it for another day. That is when I confronted Jake with what I had seen and heard. Hoping that he would prove you wrong in saying that he hadn't changed but sadly he failed. However, even at that point I hadn't decided to use the ring the man had given me yet. But before I had a chance to fully think it through, I had managed to slip the ring under my pillow in my sleep and had changed my past without even knowing it. That is until the next day when I woke up in Noah's bed and had to piece the truth together piece by piece."

Laila looked up at her friend to see her reaction to the news thus far and her reaction seemed as good as she could have hoped for. So, she wrapped her story up and prepared herself for what Maria would say. "Because when I woke up I had zero memories of my past in this life and only had the memories I had before I made the switch. This was the catch to that chance at changing my past. I was told that I would only be able to change one decision and that is it. I would not be able to actually go back in time and relive my past. I would wake up at the exact same point in time as I had left it in my own timeline and apparently without any recollection of how that change of decision had affected my life. This was less than a week ago."

Laila let out a soft sigh, "So, when I did wake up and I met with Olivia for the first time, I wasn't blinded by anything and could see her for who she was. Even such 'small' event like that, was truly appalling to me. Discovering I was friends with a person like that made me wonder if you and I were still friends. When I discovered we weren't, I immediately reached out to you in hopes of being able to salvage what had been damaged by the Laila I apparently was in this timeline. From then on I tried to make amends, while keeping things on the down low since I didn't know what Olivia wanted or what she was capable of. And now, now we are here..."

Now the story was done and all Laila could do was wait for Maria as she looked at her with hopeful eyes. The biggest question that went through Laila's head as she was waiting for Maria to speak, was whether Maria would believe her story. She really needed Maria to believe her because Laila was convinced that if someone like Laila couldn't believe her, then no one else could. That would mean that all hopes of telling other people closest to her, such as Noah and her parents, would be lost. Fortunately for Laila, Maria did not disappoint.

With a big, bright, smile on her face, Maria said, "That is amazing! How lucky are you to get an opportunity like that. Leave it to you to save the one person who is some kind of time travelling angel or something. Geez!" Laila couldn't quite believe it and asked, "So, you believe me?" Without a shred of doubt Maria replied, "Of course! Though that story is wild from beginning to end, I know you would never lie. Plus, it would explain your sudden change. You really have made a 180 degree turn and reaching out to me all of a sudden also falls in line with that story. So, I have no reason to not believe you and multiple reason to do."

Laila let out a breath of relieve and was happy that she trusted her instincts in making Maria the first to tell her crazy story to. Now that all her cards were on the table and the full truth was out, Maria would be able to make sense of it all and think of a plan.