I Saw Her Regret Post Ten Years On

After the SAT, I come across a post online.

Someone posts, "If you could make a choice all over again, which major would you choose this time?"

The comments are filled with people wishing they had chosen a different major. They all have their own regrets.

One response stands out from the rest.

"I would choose literature. That way, he and I wouldn't have missed out on the four years we should have spent together because of that unwanted baggage."

I chuckle and am about to scroll past when I suddenly notice the profile picture and username. They are identical to those of my childhood sweetheart, Winter Andersen.

I click into the profile. Everything matches her current account exactly, except that the age is ten years older.

My heart sinks to my stomach.

This has to be her ten years in the future.

No wonder I am the only one celebrating when we are admitted to the same major. No wonder she zones out for so long after seeing my best friend, Simon Brown, receive his acceptance letter from the literature department.

It turns out I am the unwanted baggage responsible for so many of her regrets and disappointments.

Since that is the case, I quietly press "Accept" on the admission offer written entirely in a foreign language.

I shall end this mistake ten years ahead of schedule.

Gregory's POV

"You mentioned having unwanted baggage. Who were you talking about?"

In front of the screen, I took a deep breath and typed my question for Winter Andersen. Within seconds, her reply popped up.

"He was someone I grew up with. Well, technically, he's also my benefactor. His parents died saving me years ago. To repay that debt, my parents took him in and raised him.

"He'd been taking advantage of my family's guilt ever since. He followed me around every day, to the point that everyone thought he was a future husband my family had been raising for me.

"The truth was, I never wanted a burden like him in the first place."

I blinked. A dull ache throbbed in my chest as I thought of Mom and Dad, frozen forever in old photographs.

During a landslide years ago, Dad had shoved Winter out of the way and was crushed to death by a falling boulder. Mom had used every ounce of her strength to push Winter to safety. In the end, she was swallowed by the collapsing earth.

Winter had once told me that from that day on, I would become part of the Andersen family. She would stay by my side for the rest of our lives, treating me like an older brother.

In the end, it turned out I was nothing more than an annoying burden who used a life-saving debt to cling to her.

"I hate emotional blackmail more than anything. Congrats, OP, on finally escaping that nightmare. Forget the depressing stuff. We want the juicy romance! Tell us how you and your true love got