JASMINE POV
"I have to go," I said to Diana.
"Not in the mood to talk today?" she asked me.
In my past life, I would have taken the bait and gotten into it with her. I absolutely couldn't stand Diana. However, I should have always known that Diana would always win against me. It always angered me how she could smear my name, no matter what I tried. I hated to admit it, but she was good.
Without responding to her. I turned away from her and began to walk away. I knew better than to engage with her now.
I continued to make my way home. It was a Saturday which meant Anthony was at home not at school. I had left him alone so I could try to meet with Keith. I was instantly ashamed of myself for having left him alone. Whenever I left Anthony at home, I always told him never to open the door for strangers or answer the doorbell, plus we lived in a gated, protected neighbourhood. Still, it wasn't a good look. It's just that I couldn't take him with me and have him see me yelling at people.
I went to the bus stop and took the bus home. Like Diana, I too was supposed to have a car and driver to drive me around from place to place, but due to a certain situation, I couldn't.
I arrived in the gated neighbourhood where I lived. Upon arriving at the house, I stood in front and took a look. The home Keith had Anthony and me move to was certainly not the massive mansion he lived in with Diana. However, it was still a beautiful home in a nice neighbourhood. I unlocked the door and went inside.
I found Anthony seated at the table in the dining room, drawing something. When he heard me enter, he looked in my direction.
"Mummy!" he said excitedly as he left the table and ran to me.
"Tony!" I greeted him excitedly. I opened my arms and picked him up.
"You came home early today!" he said, so relieved. "Last time you came home late, when you went to talk to daddy."
Suddenly, the conversation I'd had with his older self about how I was never there came to mind. I then felt my eyes fill with tears, and I began to silently cry. I'd been doing it to him for a long time. No wonder he ended up resenting me. I hugged him even tighter.
"Whoa, mum, I can't breathe!" he giggled.
"I'm sorry, don't worry. I won't leave you alone like that again," I assured him.
"Really?" he asked me as we broke from the hug.
I nodded my head in promise to him. The whole reason for me coming back was to be here for him.
He had short chestnut brown hair, green eyes, and an olive skin tone. He smiled at me, and I noticed a gap in his teeth from a tooth that had fallen out. He was so adorable, I thought to myself.
It was a little strange seeing him so young again, but he was the same old Tony I knew. He was 9 years old in 2015.
"I'll be back," I told him as I put my handbag down.
I went to the bathroom; there's something I wanted to see. In the mirror by the sink, I looked at myself. I was completely taken aback by the image of the woman staring back at me. I was back to my healthier, younger self from 7 years earlier. In the 2 years leading up to my death, I had become frail. Looking like the shell of who I once was, despite only being in my thirties. I brought my hands to my cheeks and slapped them hard. A sharp pain filled my cheeks. I had to confirm if I was dreaming once again. Still appeared to be real.
I remembered my dying wish, which was to be able to redo my life and fix all the wrongs I'd done to my child. Had my wish really come true? It was hard to believe; nonetheless, I was so grateful! I had a chance to fix things. Now the question was: how was I going to do that?
Clearly, what I'd tried to do before in my previous life failed dismally. I kept trying to get Keith's attention because I was his first legal wife, and my son was the rightful heir to his company. I believed then and still believe now that Anthony had every right to that. Even after Keith divorced me and married Diana to make her son the heir, I got a lawyer involved and tried to take him to court. Unfortunately, I lost the court case since I was no match for a billionaire with lots of resources.
I had wanted to make sure Anthony got what was rightfully his, but he ended up with nothing. To make matters worse, I ended up dying, leaving him completely alone with no financial security. I had failed as a parent.
If I'm 29 again now, I have about 7 years until I'm scheduled to die. This time around, I had to make sure I left Anthony with something. Now I had to figure out how I was going to do that.
I continued to look at myself in the bathroom mirror. I took in my features: my long, chestnut brown hair, my green eyes and my olive skin. Anthony had nearly copied and pasted all my features. I thought of how Tony, looking similar to me, had had people questioning whether he was actually Keith's son.
First of all, I had the birth certificate to prove it. I had never been with another man my entire life. What's more, as Anthony grew older, his facial and body structure began to look more like Keith's. I thought of Tony when he was 16. He looked like Keith but with a different skin tone and hair colour. I shook my head as I thought of all the slander Diana had put us through.
I tried to turn on the sink tap to splash some water on my face, but no water came out.