The Godfather’s Twenty Year Dream Was Her Chapter 12

The Godfather’s Twenty Year Dream Was Her Chapter 12

On Monday, the results of the incident were announced.

The principal was investigated for multiple offenses and removed from his post. Rafael was suspended for fighting on school grounds.

Once school ended, I headed straight to his house.

Bruises still marked Rafael’s cheeks. His eyes lit up when he saw me.

“I wanted to come see you ages ago. But everyone was watching the case. Mom said I shouldn’t meet with you too much, or it would stir up more trouble.”

“What about you? Are you really suspended? What happens next? When can you come back to school?” I was upset. “This wasn’t your fault. Why are you being punished?”

Rafael scratched the back of his head and finally told me the truth. “My family had already planned for me to go to Europe after high school. I was supposed to take over part of our overseas business there.”

“You know my grades. Even if I applied to universities here, I wouldn’t get into anything good. I only changed the plan after I started dating you.”

So he still had to leave. My eyes stung.

He saw I was about to cry and panicked, not knowing what to do. “Flights are easy these days. I could fly back to see you every week. If you don’t want me to go, I don’t have to…”

I cut him off. “Go. You have to go.”

He was shocked by my sudden change of heart.

Then he saw I wasn’t sad at all—I was grinning wide.

I pinched his cheek. “A good relationship shouldn’t require one person to sacrifice their future for the other.”

“Rafael, I like you. And I don’t want you to compromise or hold back anything for this relationship.”

“I’ll stay here, apply to universities step by step, and get into a school I love. I’m fine with us doing long-distance while you’re overseas. Understand?”

This time, Rafael’s eyes turned red.

He lifted his head and swore. “Fuck, Sera. You just… get it.”

After Rafael left, time seemed to fast-forward. I truly felt the pressure of being a senior again.

Endless practice exams followed, leading us into the intense college application season.

Thankfully, just like my past life, I’d performed steadily with no major missteps.

Alistair came to the graduation party too.

He found me and said, “I had a dream a while back. In the dream, after college we dated. You lived with me in a rental apartment, worked multiple part-time jobs through university. After graduation, you drank until you had stomach bleeding to help me land business deals and ended up rushed to emergency care. Life was so hard.”

“Then the business took off, and we got married. But I was swamped with work, only home two or three times a week. Every time you called me, I’d have my secretary pick up. We fought, and I thought you were just being unreasonable. I told you to have a baby to distract yourself.”

“In the end, you gave up on me completely and filed for divorce. I regretted it, but it was too late. I signed everything over to you, left with nothing, and tried to win you back.”

I wiped the damp corners of my eyes. “What happened next?”

Alistair shook his head. “Then I woke up.”

He pressed a hand over his chest. “It felt so real. I felt terrible when I woke.”

Just then my phone rang.

Video call from Rafael, halfway across the world. My attention shifted instantly.

I answered the call and saw his sleepy face.

The boy’s voice was groggy. “Who’s thinking about Sera the second they open their eyes? Oh, that’s me.”

Alistair glanced at my phone screen and walked away quietly.

In August, I got my acceptance letter from my dream school.

Unlike last time, I skipped finance entirely.

Around the same time, the stock market boomed. Every stock I’d touched doubled. The fifty grand I’d borrowed from Rafael? Paid back in full. The rest was pure profit, sitting pretty in my account.

Rafael kept spamming my phone with messages.

[People here talk so much my head hurts. I still haven’t learned Italian properly and they’re throwing me into meetings with South American contacts.]

[Shit, someone tried to take me out today. Mom says this counts as training.]

[Ugh, I’m bored out of my mind. There isn’t even decent food here. Burned my hand cooking in the apartment today.]

[I miss you like crazy. I can’t stand this place for another day.]

[Sera, I miss you so fucking bad.]

I read every line, every message. They made me laugh and ache all at once.

He was still my golden retriever boy. Hadn’t hardened into some boring, cynical man. That relief was worth more than any stock gain.

I opened the flight booking app and bought a ticket across the ocean.

If he was struggling that badly… then I needed to be there.

Just like he used to fly back to watch over me, all those lifetimes ago.