Chapter 1

Daniel's POV

My girlfriend, Crystal Harper, told me, "The rooms at the old Harper residence aren't ready yet, so Reuben will be staying with us for the time being.

"Oh, and by the way, tell the chef to prepare something more comforting for dinner. Reuben just came back from overseas, and I'm worried that he can't get used to the local food here yet."

Crystal continued talking, but I couldn't hear a word she said.

I just stared at the text message on my phone in my hand, lost in thought for a long time.

"Daniel?"

Reuben Knight suddenly called out to me, interrupting me mid-thought. He looked at me anxiously and asked, "Is something the matter? You don't look too good… Is it because you think that having me around is a nuisance after all? Actually, I don't mind moving out to a hotel instead…"

Crystal immediately frowned at me. I snapped back to the present and forced a smile onto my face.

I said, "No, of course you won't be a bother. If Crystal treats you like a brother, then you're also a brother to me. You can stay here with us without worrying about a thing. Make yourself at home.

"You guys continue catching up. I'll just go have a word with the chef."

Just a few steps later, I couldn't stop myself from questioning the person in my text messages.

"Crystal just said that he was like a brother to her. How could he be her real first love? You're lying! Who the hell are you?"

Five minutes later, another text message popped out.

"I am you, but from seven years in the future. Tell the chef not to put any black pepper in the food because Reuben is allergic to them.

"You're probably going to get into a huge fight with Crystal tonight, but it won't help anything. Even if there was no black pepper in the food, there will still be something else to argue about."

I didn't know if I could trust this person, but after thinking about it for a long while, I still did as he told me to do and got the chef to leave out black pepper at dinner.

During dinnertime, Crystal led Reuben to the table. He casually sat down right next to her, which was where I usually sat at meals. I had already taken one step toward that seat, but I stopped halfway.

Reuben looked up at me and grinned innocently at me.

"What's the matter, Daniel?"

Crystal glanced at me without a word. I felt a little uncomfortable, but I still went over to the other side of the table and sat down opposite them.

Reuben just grinned victoriously at me and began to eat.

However, he'd only taken two bites when he suddenly clutched at his throat and began dry heaving.

"Eugh…"

Crystal jumped to her feet and immediately pulled him into her arms, patting him on the back.

"Reuben? Reuben, what's the matter with you?"

He leaned weakly into her arms and said in a breathy, raspy voice, "B-Black… Black pepper… Allergic… I c-can't breathe… Did Daniel…"

Crystal's face turned black at once. She turned to me and began screaming in my face.

"Daniel Summers! Are you out of your damn mind? How could you not know that Reuben was deathly allergic to black pepper?

"You did this to him on purpose, didn't you? You did it so that he wouldn't feel safe staying with us and he'd move out! How could you be so selfish!"

I was so shocked that I stared at her, completely stunned. My eyes turned red with a tingling feeling. I just couldn't understand why Crystal would think of me like that.

"You never told me he was allergic."

"And you're still making excuses for yourself? Get the hell out of here! I'm taking Reuben to the hospital now!"

Hearing this, the chef, Greg Mercer, hurried out with the trash can in his hands and exclaimed, "Wait, Ms. Harper! There has to be a misunderstanding!

"Mr. Summers had already told us not to use any black pepper when making dinner tonight! See this? We've already thrown out all the black pepper in the house! We even threw out the white pepper just in case and sanitized the entire kitchen to remove any cross-contamination!"

Greg was worried that Crystal wouldn't believe her, and he quickly showed her the CCTV footage of them sanitizing the kitchen and throwing out anything that might have been cross-contaminated.

"We've really done a thorough job of it, Ms. Harper!"

Crystal was stunned. She looked down for a moment, looking at the video.

Just as Greg said, the kitchen staff had removed all potential contaminants and cleaned the whole place right after I told them about dinner.

Meanwhile, Reuben somehow stopped dry heaving and gasping for air when Greg suddenly made an appearance in the dining room. His face was slowly returning to normal.

I glanced at him.

"Have you already recovered, Reuben?"

It wasn't until then that he suddenly realized the loophole. But he didn't have the guts to continue faking it anymore, so he had no choice but to say, "Sorry, maybe I just choked on something because I was overly excited just now.

"Crystal, please don't blame Daniel for this."

Crystal finally removed her gaze from the CCTV footage and looked at me with a guilty expression on her face.

"Dan, I—"

I knew what she was going to tell me, but it didn't mean anything to me anymore.

I now believed everything the me from seven years in the future told me about her. I needed to talk to him now.

So, I said, "You guys can continue with dinner. I'm full. I'll just go back to my room."