Eternal Replay: A Love Rekindled

Chapter Eight

Corey stepped out of the taxi in a daze. Looking around, he was certain that this was indeed the outside of his residential community. But hadn't that store been changed from a breakfast joint to a clothing store long ago? And if he remembered correctly, the aunt who sold fruit had gone back home to take care of her grandson last year.

This sense of temporal and spatial disorientation made Corey feel as if he were in a dream.

He glanced down at his attire. He was wearing a rather dashing thin coat, one he had adored during his college years. Later, he had somehow lost it, and it had pained him for quite a while. How come he was wearing it again now? He was still in a state of disbelief. After getting out of the car, he subconsciously started to walk forward when the taxi driver stuck his head out of the window and called out to him in a hurry, "Hey, young man, aren't you going to take your luggage from the trunk?"

Corey quickly responded with an "Oh". Although still confused, he managed to retrieve his luggage from the back of the car.

The taxi sped away, and faintly, the driver's complaints could still be heard.

He could have brushed off the radio broadcast as a mishearing, but now, with the streets around him looking so surreal, Corey couldn't help but shiver.

His memories were crystal - clear. Wasn't he just at the ski resort?

When the overwhelming coldness of the ice and snow swept over, everything around him was mercilessly devoured. In the end, the only thing he could feel was Nicholas's embrace.

Corey spread out his hands and took a look. He had once had a wound on the back of his hand while filming. But now, his hands were smooth and intact, without a single scar.

"Baby!" Just as Corey was in a daze, his mother appeared in his field of vision.

"Ah, Mom," Corey replied blankly.

"What's wrong? Are you frozen stupid? Hurry up and go home. Your dad got up early in the morning to cook delicious food for you. It's just in time for you to have it now." Corey's mother stepped forward, took the suitcase from Corey's hand, and grabbed him, pulling him inside. "How was school? Do you have any troubles? Have you got a girlfriend yet?"

Pulled by his mother, Corey became a little more awake. He quickly asked, "Hey, Mom, what year is it next year?"

"2011, of course," Corey's mother gave him a strange look, as if he were a fool. "Have you studied so hard that you've lost your mind? You don't even know this?"

After saying that, she looked Corey up and down again. With a mix of heartache and disdain, she tugged at his coat, using the thinness of the fabric as evidence. "Look at what you're wearing. Aren't you afraid of catching a cold? Your hands and feet must be ice-cold, right?"

"Ah?" Corey was completely overwhelmed by shock and disbelief.

The feeling of almost being pulled off - balance by his mother was real, but he was also completely certain that the twenty-six years of his life he had experienced, along with the seven years before that, had all happened for real.

If everything was real, then it seemed that he had truly returned from the end of 2017 to the end of 2010, back to a time when many things he didn't want to happen hadn't occurred yet.

Corey's mind was in a fog, filled with emotions that he couldn't show. He followed his mother home, completely at a loss.

On the notice board outside the building corridor, there were calligraphy works of the elderly in the community, all with various inscriptions celebrating the arrival of 2011. An old lady downstairs, pushing a stroller with her granddaughter, came out of the corridor and greeted them. The rather noisy little girl in his memory had now turned back into a baby sucking on a pacifier in the stroller.

Corey's heart was pounding wildly. He simply couldn't believe that he had really returned seven years ago.

As they entered the corridor, Corey's mother saw the bicycle that had been parked there for a long time and hadn't been touched. It was the one that Nicholas, their neighbor across the door, had used to ride to school. Remembering that Corey and Nicholas had been quite close before, she sighed and said, "I wonder how Nicholas is doing now. It's been over a year since he left in a flash."

She had been very kind to Nicholas, almost treating him like half of her own son, and she still missed him a great deal.

Jolted awake by his mother's words, Corey looked down at the quietly parked bicycle. The image of Nicholas immediately popped into his mind.

Seven years ago, when he came back for the winter vacation during his sophomore year of college, he vaguely remembered having a conversation with his mother about Nicholas's bicycle in this very corridor.

And then, three days later, he went to a class reunion, drank too much, and on the way back, he met Nicholas. And that was when they slept together!

Damn it.

Recalling this past event, Corey didn't know what to say. If things followed the original trajectory, it was inevitable that he and Nicholas would meet.

"What are you daydreaming about?" Corey's mother asked, a bit puzzled, seeing that Corey didn't reply. "You've been absent-minded all the way."

"Nothing," Corey came to his senses and, using the acting skills he had developed later in life, grinned at his mother. "I'm just starving and want to go home and eat quickly."

Corey's mother laughed along but, on the surface, pushed him away with a look of disdain.

"Hum, I know what you kids your age like to do best. Tell mom, are you in a relationship? You're already 20, and you'll be 21 after the New Year. Mom won't blame you for having an early relationship. But there's one thing mom has to tell you in advance. Although you're still young, you mustn't be impulsive. After all, you're a boy, and you have to be more responsible. You can't do something like taking advantage of someone and then running away. Got it? Otherwise, I'll break your legs."

"Yeah, yeah, I have to be nice to girls and be responsible. I've heard you say this so many times since I was a kid, Mom. Besides, I don't like girls," Corey said helplessly.

It seemed that the confusion of being reborn was completely dispelled by his mother's nagging, bringing him back to reality.

Corey looked at the numbers constantly jumping on the elevator and let out a helpless sigh. He never thought that the mysterious thing of being reborn would happen to him. It was almost as if he had the same "luck" as encountering an avalanche on his first skiing trip.

"Why don't you like girls?" Corey's mother gave him a sidelong glance. "Then what do you like?"

Corey then remembered that he hadn't come out to his family seven years ago. At this time, his mother was still hoping that he would find a girl, fall in love, get married, and have children.

"I like guys," Corey blurted out. Since he had to come out sooner or later, he might as well do it now.

Although his mother was taken aback for a moment, she looked Corey up and down and didn't say anything. After a while, when the elevator door opened, she said, "I've actually seen this coming for a long time. I knew you had something up your sleeve."

There was disappointment in her tone, but she seemed to accept it even faster than when Corey came out to her in his previous life.

"Hey, what does s****l orientation have to do with having something up my sleeve?" Corey was a bit indignant. He then asked curiously, "Hey, how come you're accepting this so quickly?"

The mother - son pair walked towards home, chatting while opening the door.

"How can you not have something up your sleeve? That Nicholas across the door. Didn't you treat him like your little wife? Your feelings were written all over your face. How could I not see it?" Corey's mother hit the nail on the head, leaving Corey speechless.

"Nonsense. I'm a very upright person. I don't like him," Corey said. After that, he greeted his father, who looked completely confused, pulled his suitcase, and went back to his room. After closing the door, he threw himself onto the bed.

The furnishings in the room were exactly the same as they were seven years ago. Even the various review materials for the senior high school entrance examination on the bookshelf hadn't been put away. There was a photo frame on the desk, in which he had one hand on Nicholas's shoulder, and the two of them were smiling at the camera.

Corey stared at the photo, thinking about what his mother had just said, "Didn't you treat him like your little wife?"

Objectively speaking, there was some truth to that. In the early days, Nicholas was so cute. He was clean - looking, handsome, and very mature for his age. Because he had always had various practical skills training, he was also really good at fighting. In the eyes of the then - rebellious Corey, he was like a panacea, and Corey had always been eager to get close to him.

And even when he had just said that he didn't like Nicholas, he felt extremely guilty. Why was that?

"Ah!" Thinking of this, Corey rolled around in the quilt on the bed, annoyed, and still wanted to scold himself for being an i***t.

Looking back, when he came home seven years ago and heard his mother mention Nicholas, he had been quite sad. After all, Nicholas had disappeared without a word, and he had felt like he had lost his love. Perhaps it was around that time that he had realized his feelings. Later, when he met Nicholas again, regardless of their relationship, he had kissed him on a drunken whim.

Whether they slept together or not was something that happened after he took the initiative to kiss Nicholas.

Thinking about the whole thing from beginning to end, it was ultimately his own lack of self-control that led him to seduce the then - not - yet - formed little psycho.

Corey was filled with despair. Since he couldn't blame anyone else, he could only blame himself.

However, Corey thought again. This situation wasn't hopeless now. After all, he had returned two days before the incident. He was completely capable of preventing himself from doing such a stupid thing.

If he didn't sleep with Nicholas, then there would be no more entanglements between them in the future. He could smoothly follow the career path he desired, and his love life wouldn't encounter any strange experiences.

All those things about lingering feelings, about being restricted here and there, about how to get rid of the already - formed big psycho Nicholas, how to continue his own path, and how to deal with the relationship between Joyce and himself.

After sorting out the logic, all these problems that had made Corey's head spin but hadn't happened yet suddenly vanished. Corey had an epiphany and immediately realized the beauty of having a second chance.

He rolled around on his bed, laughing like a blooming flower.

This time, I won't sleep with you. Let's see how you can control me.