Prologue: "How did it get so late so soon?"
― Dr. Seuss

October 20, 2019.

Knead the dough.

Cut it in small, perfect circles.

Place raw cookies on baking tray at precisely three centimeters away from each other.

Bake them until they reach the golden color that's wanted.

When ready, take them out and carefully set them on a larger tray.

With your special utensils, expertly decorate them with detailed frosting artwork.

Smile at your artwork.

That was all that Jake Rosenbloom, son of Buon Appetito's (the best local restaurant in Boston) owner, had been doing that morning. Baking cookies, and sulking.

Nellie Gomez was marrying that day.

Which was why he was furiously making so many cookies (he already had fifty). The first reason was the he cooked whenever he was saddened, frustrated, anxious, and mad. And at that moment, he was a little bit of all (more saddened than anything else). The second one was that Nellie loved his sugar cookies with his glazed artwork. Right after the wedding, she was heading to her honeymoon in Greece. And then, she was moving to Italy with her new husband, Jonah Wizard. It was going to be her good-bye gift for her.

He sighed as he finished frosting one of the cookies. Since when had he met Nellie? That was a long time ago. It was probably when he was starting kindergarten. Ever since he could remember, he had been utterly in love with the girl. It was not much for her looks. For most, she was average. But for him, she was the most beautiful girl in the world, thanks to her personality of gold. She had a good heart, was humble, hard-working, smart, sensible, patient, classy... everything that a real woman should aspire to be.

Riing. Riing.

He turned off his timer. Because he couldn't control himself to stop cooking, he had to set a timer to tell him when it was time to do so. He began packing the cookies. He had chosen an octagon-shaped container, transparent so Nellie could see the goodies. Once he carefully set them inside, he scrolled the tap back in. He smiled as he tied a light blue ribbon around the tap. It was Nellie's favorite color.

Once he was done, he set it next to his wedding gift.

"Time to get ready," he murmured to himself, exiting his apartment's kitchen.

Simply gazing at the black suit made his stomach churn in depression. He'd met Jonah when they were in middle school, and became best friends ever since. However, being a coward with sentimental stuff, he could never tell Jonah how he felt about Nellie. In fact, he'd never told anyone. The friends who knew had all figured it out by themselves. Not telling Jonah was his first mistake. If he had, he wouldn't be getting ready to become the groom's best man that morning.

Wanting to get his mind out of all that, he turned on the radio. Maybe there was some good music on. But all that he could listen was Owl City*. He rolled his eyes, and switched radio stations. Ed Sheeran*. Groaning, he turned it off. Couldn't they play good music in the radio anymore? Instead, he pressed play to his playlist. His apartment was soon filled with The Script, Coldplay, and U2 songs, his three favorite bands and probably the only ones he listened to. Real music, he thought.

A few minutes later, he was all suited up. He gazed at himself in the mirror, running a hand through his brown hair. Alright, he looked just like a best man should. The twenty-five-year-old smiled at his reflection. Not because he was proud of it or anything of that sort. But because he had to practice hiding his true feelings all throughout the wedding. He tried to emit happiness through his brown eyes, and after having success at it, practiced it several times until he was sure he could easily plaster that look of happiness on his face anytime he wanted to.

He grabbed a large dark blue paper bag from his table and placed the gifts inside. Once finished, he walked out of his apartment. After a few minutes, he was met with the autumn wind.

"Taxi!" he exclaimed, waving at one he saw driving down the street. The driver was Casper Wyoming, a man he knew very well. He was always asking for a discount at his father's restaurant, which the Rosenblooms always agreed to since Casper always helped them out whenever they needed to reach a place.

"Jake, pray to God that you don't make the wife leave the groom for you," he told me, gazing at me. He gave me thumbs up. "Looking good, young boy."

Casper was twenty-seven (the age Jake was to inherit the restaurant completely), two years older than Jake, but he still treated him as if Casper was much older and wiser. Which was the opposite of true. Casper was probably the most immature guy in the entire nation.

"Thanks, buddy," Jake replied, stepping inside.

"To the Church Garden?"

"You know it."

Casper stepped on the accelerator and the cab zoomed forward. Casper drove like a maniac. But Jake liked his care-free attitude, so he still rode on Casper's taxi every time he needed to.

However, the car soon stopped.

"When does the wedding start?" Casper asked, looking troubled.

Jake gazed at his wristwatch. "Forty minutes."

"Yeah, I don't think we'll be able to arrive in time today," Casper murmured, still gazing ahead.

It was then Jake realized the traffic they were in.

"Today's the Cahill's store, Massie's, anniversary, Jake-o. The traffic was expected, thanks to their parade and huge 50% discount," Casper informed. He got out his phone. "In fact, I'm gonna call Cheyenne to see if she can get me something..."

"Never mind," Jake said, getting out his wallet. "Go there yourself. I'm walking to the garden's church."

"What?" Casper exclaimed.

Jake handed him the money he owed for the ride, and got out of his car. To his relief, he noticed that he wasn't the only one walking out of their taxis. However, he was the only one wearing a suit. He couldn't be late, though. Yes, that was the day he loathed the most because of the wedding. But he wasn't going to disappoint Nellie and ruin her day.

He soon was out of the city's downtown and was reaching the area of the rich. Jonah had always had some extra-money to spend, so it was obvious he'd marry there, close to where he lived. He was down to Earth and didn't brag about his money, luckily, so Jake and his friends quickly befriended the boy.

"How can you be taking pictures in a moment like this, Amy Cahill? The wedding starts in twenty minutes, and instead of helping the bride, you're snapping pictures!"

Jake turned to look at his right, where three girls were heading to another church nearby. A fuming bride was in between, while another shy-looking girl held her arm. Then there was another girl, who was taking pictures.

"You've gotta admit it, the situation's sort of funny," the girl, 'Amy', giggled.

The bride frowned. "I'm gonna be late to my own wedding because you didn't put gas in your car and it was left stranded on the road! What's so funny about that?"

"You'll laugh at this when you're older," Amy assured her, now holding the bride's arm. She was wearing a light pink dress, along with the girl on the bride's other side, which made Jake assume that they were the bridesmaids.

Jake shook his head. He was glad he didn't know girls like that Amy. Immature, incompetent, imprudent, and irresponsible (who doesn't put gas to their car when they're aware it has none? Especially if you're transporting your friend to her wedding).

He kept walking until he reached the cherry blossom garden.

"You're here!" Ned Starling exclaimed, jumping behind Jake.

Ted Starling, his other friend, shook his head. "We thought you'd died or something."

"I don't think he'd ever miss a day like this," Madison Holt added, materializing next to the trio. She was already in her bridesmaid dress. "Hurry, the wedding's about to start."

Jake gazed at the tall church from afar, feeling as if he wanted to crawl into a hole and never come out. If he could just change things...

But it was too late now.

I gazed at Jake from afar. Too much of a coward to admit his feelings, and now he's going to suffer throughout the entire morning. I got out my phone. Time to call Heaven. Maybe a gift of time would work for him.

A gift like traveling back to 2012, when he was eighteen.

October 20, 2012.

"Good morning, fellas," Amy Cahill chimed, jumping down the two remaining stairs. The sixteen-year-old was in a pretty pink tiered skirt, and a white button-up Cashmere cardigan. Her straight reddish-brown hair was let loose, so it reached the small of her back.

The Cahill manor's servants greeted the young girl with an honest smile. They were very fond of her. Even though she was immature, she still had good intentions.

"Going shopping?" her personal maid, Maddie, asked. The girl was four years older than Amy, and had skipped college since she couldn't afford it.

Amy nodded, smiling brightly at the maid. "Do you prefer light blue or lilac?"

"Excuse me?" Maddie asked, slightly leaning on her broom.

"Which color do you like best, light blue or lilac?" the cheerful girl asked. October was one of her favorite months, because it was near Christmas, her absolute favorite holiday. So she was in an even better mood than she usually was.

"Uh, lilac?" the girl replied.

Amy grinned. "Goody! Expect a beautiful gift for your birthday. Next week, right?"

Maddie nodded, glad Amy remembered. "Yes."

Amy was going to buy the maid a lilac Cashmere cardigan and a beautiful pair of pearl earrings as a gift. Maddie was the best maid she could ever ask for, after all.

"Well, see ya later!" Amy said, waggling her fingers in a manner of saying good-bye. She did the same to the other servants around before walking toward the entrance hallway.

Her father was waiting for her, holding up her report card. "I'm proud of you, sweetie. Straight B's in everything."

Amy smiled. "I told you I'd keep my good work up! See? The brand new car didn't faze me, Daddy."

Arthur grinned, hugging his little girl. "Well, there's still the matter of that phone of yours. Don't message or call anyone on the road, understood?"

Amy nodded. "Of course."

"Love you!" he exclaimed as his daughter left.

"Me too!" Amy replied, closing the door behind her.

Once outside, she was met by their beautiful garden. Her mother, Hope, loving plants, was in charge of the group of gardeners who made the house look pretty. Petunias, tulips, geraniums, lilacs... every single flower was elegantly planted on their yards.

Getting out her car keys, she opened her beautiful white Suzuki Swift. As soon as she stepped inside, she spritzed some of her Vanilla scented perfume she kept there. She smiled at the picture frames on the dashboard. She had gotten the pink frames on her trip to Tokyo that summer, and they were special for sticking on dashboards. She had in total four. One of her parents, brother, and grandmother. Another of her cat. The other of her best friends in the entire world, Sinead and Reagan, and the last one of her boyfriend, the best guy in the world, Evan.

Starting the car up, an Owl City song blasted through the radio. Amy grinned Adam Young was probably her favorite singer, his songs always made her happy.

She had to buy a brand new dress for Sinead's sixteenth birthday, which was in two weeks, since the dress code was to come in either white or black, and the only white dress she owned was a casual one (and she didn't wear black). Plus, she'd seen a beautiful lace dress on Chloe's windows.

As she drove out of her parking lot, the neighbor, Alistair Oh, waved at her. He was reading on his front yard's bench. She waved back at him. Thanks to him, she'd managed to understand Math better than before. As she got out of her neighborhood, she passed by the Spasky's small bakery. She parked nearby, and quickly walked toward it.

Nikolai Spasky was already waiting for her with her pink-frosted donut in hand.

"Thank you," she said, grabbing the pastry as she handed the money.

Nikolai nodded. "You're welcome."

"How are the wedding preparations going?" Amy asked, taking a bite from her donut. She smiled at the familiar delicious flavor of it.

"More than amazing." Nikolai got out an invitation from the counter. "For you."

Amy smiled. Maddie and Nikolai were getting married next month. "Oh, this is so exciting!"

"Thank you for helping us plan out everything, by the way," Nikolai said.

Amy giggled. "All for you, guys. Besides, you made me the maid of honor. How could I not help out?"

She already had a gift in mind. A paid trip to Italy. The thought made her smile mischievously. The couple would be so excited. After saying good-bye, Amy resumed her drive to the mall. Once she was on the highway, she realized she'd forgotten her credit card. She pouted.

"Oh, what am I gonna do?" she cooed worriedly. She gazed at her phone. Her father had told her not to use it while driving. But that was an emergency, right? She wouldn't want to waste money on gas from the trip back home when she could easily tell her dad (who was the president of the mall, along owner of a few other things), to give a call to Chloe's manager (and a few other stores) to grant her permission to shop and pay later.

An Ed Sheeran song blasted from the radio, and Amy grinned. Her second-favorie singer.

She reached out to grab her phone. However, once she managed to grab it, it slipped from her hands and fell to the car's floor.

"Great," she sighed. She glanced at the streets before bending down to pick it up. Grasping it, she smiled, and sat up.

That bright smile of hers disappeared once she saw the crash between two large cars and a truck in front of her. It was too late to break. She swerved, just like the other cars were doing, but a motorcycle, trying to drive past her, lost balance and fell to the ground. Amy gasped, swerving to avoid running over the motorcycle's driver. However, she couldn't stop in time to avoid crashing with the truck. The car came to an abrupt halt, and her head was pulled forward, hitting something hard in the process. Everything went blank for her.

I watched the scene from afar, shaking my head. Today was not her scheduled day to die. I glanced at the motorcycle, whose driver knew Amy. I glared at the person, who gazed at Amy's car before smiling and driving away.

Why do people have to meddle with other's lifetime?

I took out my phone. There had only been three other times when I called Heaven for permission to help her out. But she had a mission in here that she couldn't solve while dead. She had to live again. Of course, it came with a long process, involving three people (non-family members) who truly cared for her. And from what I'd seen, it would be hard for Amy.

For the lovely readers...

*I don't hate Owl City or Ed Sheeran. In fact, I love them! I just wanted to demonstrate how opposite Jake and Amy are :P

I know the POVs and other things might be a bit confusing, but they'll be explained later on, so don't worry. And yes, this is going to be strictly a Jamy.

Arrivederci!