A heartbeat away from a mistake, a lifetime away from regret. "Rekindled Love in Error" tells the story of an accidental encounter that reignites a flame long thought extinguished. When a mistaken message or a wrong turn brings two former lovers back together, they must decide if their past was a tragedy or if their second chance is the ultimate fate.
#shortdrama #rekindledloveinerror #secondchangeromance #mistakenidentity #loveagain #romancedrama #trendingvideo #shortfilm #kichtinh #mustwatch
#shortdrama #rekindledloveinerror #secondchangeromance #mistakenidentity #loveagain #romancedrama #trendingvideo #shortfilm #kichtinh #mustwatch
Category
🎥
Short filmTranscript
00:02My stepbrother Sebastian was drugged.
00:05I undid my own clothes and dedicated my first time for my stepbrother.
00:09I fantasized about this scene countless times.
00:12I really wanted him. His big manhood.
00:15When I got pregnant, parents pressured him to marry me.
00:18The same day Sebastian agreed, he got a car incident.
00:21He was an ice hockey star and billionaire.
00:24I didn't care that he'd never skate again.
00:27I still wanted to be his bride.
00:28I thought he'd be grateful.
00:30I thought we'd grow old together.
00:32Until our wedding night, the estate caught fire.
00:35I woke up choking and my first thought was to get him out.
00:38Instead, he smashed a vase over my head.
00:42It's you! You destroyed me!
00:45Don't think I don't know you orchestrated that night?
00:47Did you this thirsty?
00:49But I will never love you. I love Sienna forever.
00:52Now you can go to hell!
01:00I woke up to Sebastian's ragged breathing from the next room.
01:04I opened my eyes. Familiar walls. No wedding decorations. No smoke.
01:09I'd been reborn?
01:13Ellie, get me some water.
01:16I checked my watch.
01:17I'd come back to the night he was drugged.
01:23The memory hit me all at once.
01:25The blood blurring my vision.
01:27The fire eating through my skin.
01:28It felt like it was happening again.
01:31Every instinct I had said run.
01:33Get as far from Sebastian Holt as possible.
01:36I hadn't even grabbed my shoes when he appeared in my doorway.
01:40Sarah, I already called Sienna.
01:43Go pick her up now. Quickly.
01:46I knew the drug tearing through him.
01:48He needed release.
01:49Was Sebastian reborn too?
01:51Obviously this time he called Sarah because he didn't want to sleep with me.
01:55Grabbed my keys and slipped past him sideways.
01:57Walking fast for the door.
02:01The address Sebastian gave me was near the arena district.
02:04An apartment building a few blocks from the practice facility.
02:08So Sebastian and Sienna had been living together this early.
02:11He said I destroyed his love life.
02:13He wasn't wrong.
02:15Sienna spotted my car and yanked the door open.
02:18Dropping into the passenger seat.
02:20She looked panicked.
02:21I caught a flicker of satisfaction in her eyes.
02:24How is he?
02:25You'll see when you get there.
02:27I didn't want to talk to her.
02:29Not because I was jealous.
02:30Because neither my mom nor I had ever trusted her.
02:33Sienna Walsh had been a charity case my family sponsored through school.
02:37At first my parents adored her.
02:39She was driven.
02:40Brilliant.
02:41Dad and mom personally flew her out to Chicago to start college.
02:45I always thought her eyes looked calculating.
02:48I told myself I was being paranoid.
02:50Then one night she called dad crying.
02:53Some drunk guy had cornered her outside a bar.
02:56He rushed over and she threw herself against him.
02:59The second he arrived.
03:00Arms around him.
03:01Face buried in his chest.
03:03She was dressed very provocatively.
03:05Rubbing her breasts against dad's chest.
03:07And her genitals were also rubbing wildly against dad's body.
03:11Dad froze with both hands in the air.
03:13Looking like he touched a live wire.
03:16Mom pulled up 30 seconds later and saw the whole thing.
03:23Sienna cried and said she thought of dad like a father.
03:26She'd been so scared she hadn't thought.
03:28My parents said all the right things.
03:30But after that she was never invited to the house again.
03:34And dad never dealt with her directly.
03:36Mom wasn't stingy.
03:37She had her assistant wire Sienna $50,000.
03:41The night before Sienna was supposed to fly out she came to say goodbye.
03:45And she walked right into Sebastian.
03:48He'd just gotten back from his graduate program in Vancouver.
03:50Fresh off two seasons playing in the Western Hockey League.
03:54First round draft pick.
03:56Already a name people said with a little extra weight.
03:58The next day.
03:59Sienna returned every dollar and told mom she'd thought it over.
04:03She was going to work first.
04:05Save up.
04:05Do things right.
04:07Sebastian was heading out the door when he heard her say it.
04:09He looked at her.
04:10Plain clothes.
04:11Steady eyes.
04:12And something in his expression shifted.
04:14A month later.
04:15Sienna joined the Holt organization.
04:18Personal executive assistant to Sebastian.
04:21I told him she wasn't what she looked like.
04:23That getting close to him was a strategy.
04:25Ellie.
04:27Not everyone thinks about romance all day like you do.
04:29Less than a year later.
04:31She had a key to her apartment.
04:32I drove fast.
04:35Ellie.
04:36Being upset doesn't mean the rest of us want to die.
04:39Sienna walked into the building.
04:41I stayed in the car and stared at the steering wheel.
04:44I knew exactly what was happening up there.
04:46I wasn't jealous.
04:48In my last life my death had taken my parents down with me.
04:51That was what finally made it clear.
04:54What I felt for Sebastian was poison to him.
04:57Just being loved by me cost him something.
05:00Ellie.
05:00He's your brother.
05:03Whatever twisted thing you felt for him drove him to another country.
05:07He has me now.
05:08Let it go.
05:10Sebastian had known.
05:11He'd known all along that I had feelings for him.
05:14And he'd left for Vancouver to get away from me.
05:17If I'd known that sooner.
05:18I wouldn't have.
05:20Last time.
05:20Watching him suffering and barely conscious.
05:22I wouldn't have reached for my own buttons.
05:25You're an adult now.
05:26It's time to find someone right for you.
05:29She was afraid I'd cling to Sebastian.
05:31I wouldn't.
05:32Not this time.
05:33Whatever I'd felt for him was gone.
05:40Sebastian came down in his sleeping clothes.
05:42Where were you last night?
05:43The marks on his neck were obvious.
05:45His voice was rough.
05:46Lazy.
05:47I went to see my friend Jess.
05:49Jess was my best friend.
05:50Sebastian had met her.
05:51He still thought to check where I'd been.
05:53Maybe he'd made peace with things too.
05:55Maybe we could just be siblings again.
05:57Normal.
05:58I almost let myself feel hopeful.
06:00I know you look down on Sienna's background.
06:02Think she's not good enough.
06:03But she's the woman I'm going to marry.
06:05And you're going to treat her with respect.
06:06When had I ever looked down on where she came from?
06:08I must have shown the confusion on my face.
06:11Drop the act.
06:12She put herself on the line fixing a mess you made.
06:14She paid for your mistakes with everything she had.
06:16What does that mean?
06:17If you're going to tell me the drug wasn't from you.
06:20Sienna is a decent person.
06:21She wanted to wait until our wedding night.
06:23You took that from her.
06:25I didn't.
06:26I said it loud and clear.
06:28Yes, I had feelings for Sebastian for years.
06:30But I would never have done something like that.
06:32We had dinner out.
06:33Came home.
06:33I drank the milk you left on my nightstand.
06:35If it wasn't you, who?
06:36Last time, I never understood why Sebastian didn't investigate.
06:39I assumed he'd been compromised outside the house and was too ashamed to dig into it.
06:43He thought it was me.
06:44That's why he hated me so much.
06:46Enough to want my parents to burn with him.
06:48Enough to make sure our six-month-old baby never saw the world.
06:52Something bitter sat in my chest.
06:53My eyes burned.
06:54Believe me or don't, but it wasn't me.
06:57Sebastian's bedroom door opened.
06:59Sienna stepped out wearing his dress shirt, looking like a startled rabbit.
07:03Sebastian, is Ellie angry at me?
07:05His eyes were a clear warning.
07:09Ellie's not angry.
07:10She's happy for us.
07:12Sebastian's right.
07:13Congratulations, you two.
07:15Sienna saved Sebastian.
07:16I'll talk to mom and dad.
07:18I'll make sure they agree to the wedding.
07:19A flicker of triumph crossed Sienna's face.
07:22Sebastian watched me like he was looking for the trap.
07:24Let him look.
07:25He was willing to die for her.
07:26Even knowing what she was, I wasn't going to let my parents carry any more risk because
07:30of me.
07:31Don't make things hard for his parents.
07:32I know I'm not what the family expected.
07:35I just want to be by his side.
07:36Sebastian pulled her close.
07:37Sienna showed me the look of someone who had already won.
07:40Ellie, your brother kinda wrecked my shirt.
07:43Can I borrow something?
07:44Last month, you didn't wear the dress I gave you.
07:46You said you didn't like it.
07:47Why not give it to Sienna?
07:48He had given it to me for my birthday.
07:50I hadn't worn it because I was saving it.
07:52Giving away something he gave me.
07:53A small thing.
07:54And I knew it.
07:55I felt it anyway.
07:56Then I didn't.
07:56Sienna put on my dress and did a little spin.
07:59Asking Sebastian if she looked beautiful.
08:01Ignoring me completely.
08:02None of it touched me.
08:03This time, I just wanted my parents and me to be okay.
08:06Mom and dad got back from vacation after two weeks away.
08:09The day they returned, Sebastian told them he was marrying Sienna.
08:12When I got home, there were broken pieces of a teacup on the living room floor.
08:15Mom sat beside dad, rubbing slow circles on his back.
08:19Her face was stone.
08:20Sebastian sat across from them, expressionless.
08:22Mom.
08:24Dad.
08:24I went straight to them and wrapped my arms around them both, fighting my eyes.
08:28Their faces softened immediately, but he was already ruffling my hair.
08:32Mom pulled me onto the couch.
08:33You're grown and you're still doing this.
08:35Sebastian wants to marry his assistant.
08:38What do you think, Ellie?
08:43Sebastian's eyes came to me too.
08:45I think it's great.
08:46Sienna and Sebastian are good together.
08:49You really think that?
08:50Mom, Sebastian is 26.
08:52He gets to choose his own life.
08:54We should support him.
08:55Whether you like Sienna doesn't matter.
08:57What matters is Sebastian wants her.
08:59After the wedding, they can have their own space and I'll live with you two forever.
09:02That softened their faces a little.
09:04I caught Sebastian's eye and gave him a small nod.
09:07Our whole lives.
09:09Mom, Dad.
09:10After we're married, Sienna and I will take care of you both.
09:13Please.
09:13Sebastian knelt on the floor in front of them.
09:15I pushed again from the other side.
09:17They looked at each other.
09:18Then they gave in.
09:19Sebastian got his wedding.
09:20This time, the tragedy didn't have to happen.
09:22I felt the tension drain out of my hands.
09:24After Mom and Dad went to bed, I went up to my room.
09:27I'd just opened my journal when the door swung open without a knock.
09:30Sebastian.
09:32He glanced at the journal.
09:33His face changed.
09:35I barely stood up before his hand closed around my throat.
09:37Ellie.
09:39Write more of your disgusting thoughts about me.
09:43What are you talking about?
09:49Sebastian picked up the journal.
09:52You kept a whole diary full of this when you were in high school.
09:55He'd read my diary.
09:56I was furious and humiliated and I shoved his hand off me.
09:59I grabbed the journal and threw it at him.
10:01What do you want from me?
10:02I helped you get what you wanted and it's still not enough?
10:05I had feelings for you.
10:06That was my mistake.
10:08I don't anymore.
10:08What else do you want?
10:10You love looking at my private things?
10:12Go ahead.
10:13But the guy I'm writing about isn't you.
10:16You actually said yes to my brother?
10:18You want to be my sister-in-law?
10:20She was so loud.
10:21Two people at the next table looked over.
10:23I reached up and covered her mouth.
10:25I ran into him a few days ago.
10:27We just-
10:28My face was getting warm.
10:30It clicked.
10:31Okay, but tell me everything.
10:33He asked you out six months ago and you turned him down?
10:35How did you end up here?
10:37Her brother, Grant Walsh, had asked me out six months before my rebirth.
10:40At the time, my whole heart was Sebastian's.
10:43I said no.
10:44Coming back and fixing what I'd gotten wrong didn't change Sienna's behavior.
10:48She was in my house every day, marking her territory, making sure I knew my place.
10:53Even after I stepped back completely, she didn't stop.
10:56I needed to get out of the house.
10:58I went to a bar and had a few too many.
11:00And when I was dizzy and trying to find the bathroom, some guy cornered me in the hallway.
11:04I was about to cry from panic when Grant appeared out of nowhere and dropped the guy with one punch.
11:12When Grant pulled out a handkerchief to wipe my face, I laughed out loud before I could stop myself.
11:18Grant!
11:20Who carries a handkerchief in this century?
11:22What are you, 80?
11:24Do you have any idea what this cost?
11:25Doesn't matter.
11:27A napkin would have worked better.
11:28He thought about it, nodded, and threw the expensive handkerchief in the trash.
11:34Ellie says it, Ellie gets it.
11:36One handkerchief, and suddenly we were talking every day.
11:39Whenever I was low, I'd message him.
11:41And he always had some ridiculous thing that landed exactly right.
11:44After my rebirth, the only time I felt like I could breathe was when I was talking to Grant.
11:48Don't billionaires have better things to do than text all day?
11:51Because it's you, I don't want you waiting even a minute.
11:54I've basically had my phone in my hand for three weeks straight.
11:57So this was what being loved felt like.
11:59Sebastian had never given me anything close.
12:02This time around, I wanted to know what it felt like for real.
12:05I told Grant, yes.
12:07I kept a journal.
12:07Lately, the man in it was Grant.
12:09I didn't know if Sebastian had read it this time.
12:11When I got home, the notebook was sitting neatly on my desk.
12:15Sebastian was gone for days.
12:16Good timing.
12:17I used the space to tell mom and dad about Grant.
12:19The heir to the Walsh family.
12:21I held their hands and made them promise to stay with me.
12:24Always.
12:24They patted my head and said yes like I was being adorable.
12:27I didn't care.
12:28They'd agreed and I was holding them to it.
12:30That evening, Sebastian brought Sienna home for dinner.
12:32She was wearing something expensive enough to somehow look elegant.
12:35Mom and dad were polite.
12:37Nobody caused a scene.
12:38After dinner, we all settled in the living room.
12:41Sebastian, Sienna, we're not standing in the way away of your wedding.
12:44But there are things we need to say first.
12:47Sebastian's gaze kept drifting towards me throughout the evening.
12:49It made my skin crawl.
12:53Sebastian's getting married.
12:54Ellie has a boyfriend.
12:56To make sure there are no arguments down the road, I want to be clear now.
12:59Married or moved out, you each get half of what we leave behind.
13:02That doesn't seem fair.
13:03Ellie's a daughter.
13:04She'll marry out of the family.
13:05Splitting it evenly is just handing assets to strangers.
13:08You're not even part of this family yet and you're already telling us how to run it.
13:12Isn't that a little early?
13:16Ellie's boyfriend isn't trying to get his hands on our money by dating her, is he?
13:21He pulled Sienna a little closer.
13:23I'd actually say the split is unfair too.
13:25Ellie's adopted.
13:26I don't mind supporting her forever.
13:28She can marry whoever she wants and stay in the house.
13:30That's generous enough.
13:31Mom and dad's expressions went somewhere dangerous.
13:34Who told you Ellie was adopted?
13:37That's impossible.
13:38Ellie is the one who...
13:41Elissa is our biological daughter.
13:43You're the one who were adopted.
13:47Mom and dad were among the first people from their small town to go to college.
13:51They graduated, moved to the city, built something.
13:53When it started to go well, they came back for the people they'd grown up with.
13:57Brought a few of the younger ones to Chicago to give them a start.
14:00Sebastian's father was one of them.
14:02The town was poor back then.
14:04Your mother ran out on you and your dad when you were small.
14:08Your father was a good driver and a good son.
14:10He didn't want to leave your grandmother.
14:14Your grandmother didn't want to be the thing holding him back.
14:18So she made the choice herself.
14:20Sebastian's face was blank with shock.
14:23Even I was hearing this for the first time.
14:26Your grandmother's last wish was for us to bring your father and you to the city.
14:30We said yes.
14:30You just started walking.
14:32Things didn't go the way anyone planned.
14:34Your father was killed in an accident within six months.
14:37He was barely 25.
14:38He left you behind at not even two years old.
14:40Mom's voice was steady, but her eyes weren't.
14:42I was pregnant.
14:45I looked at this tiny little boy alone in the world and we talked it over and we said
14:48yes to taking you in.
14:50Sebastian's expression kept shifting.
14:52You're making this up.
14:54You want to cut me out of the inheritance so you're inventing a story.
14:57More disappointment settled into dad's face.
14:59He looked at Sebastian without the warmth that was usually there.
15:08Mom and dad aren't lying.
15:09Junior year of high school when you were in the hospital with that flu, I noticed your
15:13blood type tick matched.
15:16I brought the chart to mom.
15:17That's when she told me.
15:18We don't share blood.
15:20That was also when I started to love him.
15:22Completely.
15:23Every page of every journal.
15:25His mood was my mood and there had been years.
15:27All the years before the last month of his senior year.
15:30When he was actually a good older brother.
15:33When mom and dad were working, he was the one taking care of me.
15:37I spent more time with him than I did with either of my parents.
15:41There was a stretch when I'd watched a horror movie and couldn't sleep alone.
15:45I crawled into his room every night.
15:48His classes were brutal, but he would sit with me.
15:51Patient.
15:51Until I fell asleep in his bed.
15:54Then he'd take a blanket to the chair in the corner.
15:57In the morning light, with his eyes closed and his face relaxed.
16:01Every piece of him seemed to glow.
16:03That version of Sebastian fit every quiet dream I'd ever had.
16:07I did his laundry without telling him.
16:09Straightened his room when he wasn't looking.
16:10Put a hot mug of something on his desk every night.
16:13I thought I was hiding it.
16:14I wasn't.
16:14He saw it in how I looked at him.
16:16And then that pink journal nailed it permanently into something shameful.
16:19This is a lie.
16:22You're making it up to give the estate to the girl you're actually related to.
16:26Sienna's voice had gone sharp.
16:28She worked inside the Holt organization.
16:30She knew exactly what half the estate meant.
16:39Sebastian's expression was unreadable for a long moment.
16:42This can't be real.
16:43You're doing this together.
16:45All of you.
16:46If you don't believe us, we can run a paternity test.
16:50The results say you're not our blood.
16:52I'll give you a starting season and step back.
16:55Just add a go to Ellie.
16:56Dad was done.
16:57The love he'd always shown Sebastian wasn't in his voice anymore.
17:01The reason Sebastian had always been so certain I was the adopted one.
17:04Last time, I had told mom to be honest with him about which one of us was bi.
17:08Illogical.
17:09I didn't want our already complicated dynamic made worse by him feeling obligated to me.
17:14Sienna's eyes were doing calculations.
17:16Sebastian understood what dad was saying.
17:18Do the test.
17:19And it means choosing to fight Ellie for what was left.
17:22And cutting the cord on everything between our family and him.
17:25He didn't take the test.
17:28Even with Sienna pushing, he just looked at me.
17:32I looked back at him.
17:33Nothing moved inside me.
17:35After that night, Sebastian barely came home.
17:38Without him taking up space in my head, I felt lighter.
17:42I didn't realize how much of my energy had been going toward managing that weight.
17:49Grant and I started spending more time together.
17:53He kept showing up asking to formally meet my parents.
17:56His future in-laws, he called them, completely straight faced.
17:59I walked in one afternoon, and mom was making soup while dad sat at the kitchen counter.
18:04She called me over to taste it.
18:06I told her it was the best thing I'd ever had, which made her glow.
18:10Mom, can we buy another place?
18:12She paused.
18:13For Sebastian? For the wedding?
18:14Not exactly. Sebastian had pushed the wedding date out two years for reasons I couldn't figure out.
18:19But even with him barely home, sharing walls with him felt wrong, especially with our rooms right next to each
18:24other.
18:25I want you to get me a place.
18:27Mom pinched my nose.
18:30Already trying to escape?
18:32You just grew up.
18:37I'm not escaping.
18:38I want you and dad to come with me.
18:40Give this house to Sebastian.
18:42Part of it was the distance from Sebastian.
18:44Part of it was that last time.
18:45This house was where we all died.
18:47The walls still made me uneasy.
18:49Before mom could answer, there was movement from the living room.
18:52Sebastian.
18:54At dinner, mom and dad seemed to have put the hard conversation behind them.
18:58They kept putting food on my plate and Sebastian's.
19:00Sebastian's eyes came to rest on me again, like they'd been doing lately.
19:03Dad, Ellie just graduated.
19:06She shouldn't just be sitting around.
19:08She should come work at the company.
19:09I was sure I'd heard wrong.
19:10He couldn't stand to be in the same room as me.
19:13Why would he want me in his office every day?
19:14Before I could object, dad nodded.
19:17Good.
19:18You should get real experience now, before life gets more complicated.
19:21I don't want to.
19:22I want to be useless.
19:24Dad can support me now.
19:25And when I get married, my husband can support me.
19:27I deployed full effort puppy eyes.
19:29Dad must have noticed something had shifted between me and Sebastian.
19:32He assumed it was the inheritance conversation.
19:34And he'd been quietly trying to smooth things over between us.
19:40At this rate, no one's going to want you and you'll end up depending on your brother for the rest
19:44of your life.
19:46Dad was joking.
19:48Sebastian inexplicably was not.
19:50Ellie's welcome to stay home.
19:52I'll take care of her as long as she needs.
19:54The way he was looking at me had something in it I didn't want to name.
19:56It made my skin crawl.
19:58After dinner, mom and dad went for a walk.
20:01I did my makeup, a soft, deliberate look, and got ready to meet Grant.
20:05I hadn't even made it out of the hallway before Sebastian caught my arm.
20:09Are you avoiding me?
20:10Did he seriously need to ask?
20:12His eyes had an anger in them I couldn't account for.
20:15Do you actually want to see me?
20:17If you didn't have those feelings for me, I would have treated you like a real sister.
20:21I held his gaze.
20:22I don't have them anymore.
20:24What I felt for you burned up in the fire.
20:27Last time.
20:29His grip on my shoulders tightened, sharp enough to hurt.
20:32And then, at those last two words, his hands went still.
20:35You were reborn too?
20:39He let go.
20:44So you're running from me?
20:46Going off to marry some random guy?
20:48Is that how little you think of yourself?
20:49His expression was something I couldn't read.
20:52Angry, maybe.
20:52Regretful.
20:53And something under it that looked like it refused to accept what was happening.
20:58What random guy?
20:59At that, he looked startled.
21:01Then briefly, something like hope crossed his face.
21:04The man in your journal.
21:06This Grant.
21:08You made him up?
21:10He'd seen the journal.
21:11And apparently, he'd decided from what I wrote that Grant was some kind of street-level con artist.
21:15All I'd written about was how he'd helped me that night outside the bar.
21:18And then the things we did together.
21:20Wandering through an outdoor market on the edge of the city.
21:23Going to a live show.
21:24Watching Grant play drums at a venue downtown.
21:27Under the stage lights.
21:28Loose and confident.
21:29With half the women in the crowd losing their minds.
21:31I'd been one of them.
21:32Yelling myself hoarse.
21:34Apparently, I had described a charming screw-up who preyed on rich girls.
21:37He's a good person.
21:39I pushed past Sebastian.
21:43And he's not some deadbeat!
21:45There was heat in my voice now.
21:48Come work with me.
21:50Meet real men.
21:52You'll see what you're walking away from.
21:54Then I remembered.
21:55Grant had mentioned our families were in the middle of closing a deal.
21:58Fine.
21:59I was curious, honestly.
22:02Private Grant.
22:03The one who dragged me to flea markets and crowds surfed at concerts.
22:07I wanted to see what he looked like when he walked into a room in a suit and made an
22:11entire boardroom nervous.
22:13Ellie, just stay close to me.
22:15I'll look after you.
22:16Like a brother should.
22:17I moved his hand off my arm.
22:19Something impatient rose in my chest.
22:21That's okay.
22:22I'll have my parents and my boyfriend for that.
22:25Sebastian went cold.
22:26I felt it.
22:27And I still walked out the door.
22:31On the street, I made a mental note to push harder on the new apartment idea.
22:40Grant was waiting outside in a casual jacket, forehead creased in thought.
22:45What are you thinking about?
22:49Wondering what else I can find for us to do.
22:51He folded me against his side and I thought of something Jess had said once.
22:55She said her brother spent his early twenties being exactly what everyone expected.
23:00Reckless.
23:00Loud.
23:01Careless.
23:02With money and people.
23:03Then their grandfather handed him the company and put him through two years of the most intensive reshaping of his
23:08entire personality.
23:10The result was someone almost unrecognizable.
23:12Steady.
23:12Calculated.
23:13Kind of man who made a room fall quiet when he walked in.
23:16She'd said it like a complaint.
23:17I laughed and said I'd never want a man like that.
23:20Jess asked what I did want.
23:21I said I wanted someone who'd still come out and play.
23:23We were both laughing when Grant walked in with a bowl of fruit and stood in the doorway looking completely
23:28at a loss.
23:29I looked at him now sideways.
23:31Grant.
23:32Have you been doing all this?
23:34The markets.
23:35The shows.
23:36The driving around at midnight.
23:38Because you thought that's what I wanted?
23:39He hesitated.
23:41You don't like it?
23:42I knew it.
23:43I felt something turn over slowly in my chest.
23:48When I'd loved Sebastian without him knowing, I'd asked him once, carefully, what kind of girl he was drawn to.
23:54He said quiet, steady.
23:55For years after that, I made myself smaller around him.
23:58He thought it was maturity.
24:00It wasn't.
24:00Grant had taken me bungee jumping, scuba diving, and to a racetrack.
24:04And somewhere in all of that, I'd remembered something about myself.
24:07That I'd always loved the feeling of my heart going too fast.
24:10Grant was five years older than me, and somehow loved exactly the way I did.
24:14Like someone who'd never been told to tone it down.
24:18Just be yourself.
24:20You don't have to keep up with me.
24:22Grant held on.
24:26I was scared you'd think I was too old.
24:29Or boring.
24:31Or insufferable.
24:32His voice had this quality.
24:33Like a complaint.
24:34But soft.
24:35And it made me laugh before I could help it.
24:37I'm going to need to do a full inspection.
24:39For the insufferability levels.
24:41Grant laughed and tried to get away from my hands, and I thought,
24:45This is what it feels like.
24:46Being loved back.
24:48Sebastian had never given me a single second of this.
24:51Wanting someone who doesn't want you is the whole problem, I thought.
24:54That was always the original sin.
24:59I started at the company, and immediately understood why Sienna had been on edge since the moment I walked in.
25:05She'd been Sebastian's assistant on paper.
25:07In practice, she was running the floor like she'd already signed a prenup.
25:11I came in as a junior associate on the projects team.
25:13And I pushed hard to keep my name out of any introduction.
25:16Dad was supportive.
25:17He thought starting at the bottom built real judgment.
25:20Sienna treated my arrival like an occupation.
25:23Three separate attempts to make things difficult in the first two weeks.
25:26And I ignored all of them.
25:27Mostly I kept to my desk and avoided the executive floor entirely.
25:31It held up for two weeks.
25:32Then the day came when Grant was scheduled to walk into the building for a deal meeting.
25:36I ran into Sienna in the break room while I was waiting.
25:40Sienna.
25:41I'm not here to take anything from you.
25:44Not Sebastian.
25:45Not your standing in this company.
25:46I'm here because Dad wanted me to come.
25:48That's it.
25:49No one else was around.
25:50I said it plainly.
25:52I don't believe you.
25:57She looked at me like I'd said something in a language she'd decided not to speak.
26:00I picked up my coffee.
26:02That's your choice.
26:02All I could think about was the look on Grant's face when he realized I was already here.
26:07Then she grabbed my arm.
26:08There was a brief, sharp struggle.
26:10And then Sienna threw the contents of her mug against her own wrist and forearm.
26:13The sound she made was loud enough to pull in most of the floor.
26:17Ellie.
26:18You act like you support us to our faces and then you follow your brother here.
26:22And now this!
26:23Her voice carried.
26:24People were filing in from every direction.
26:26I know you hate me.
26:28But scalding me isn't going to make me walk away from Sebastian.
26:31The employees around us were wide-eyed.
26:33Already running the math on the drama.
26:35She's his sister.
26:37That's wait.
26:37So this is a whole thing?
26:39Management is going to be stuck in the middle of a family war.
26:42Who does he side with when he shows up?
26:44Either way he loses.
26:46The noise closed in like walls.
26:48My eyes were burning.
26:50I have a boyfriend!
26:52I said it loud.
26:55Sure!
26:56You've got a fake boyfriend to make your brother jealous?
26:58We've all seen that move.
27:00You chased him to his own company?
27:01And now you're playing innocent?
27:03I slapped her.
27:07It was reflex.
27:08The second my hand connected, I knew I'd handed her exactly what she wanted.
27:14She just...
27:14Everyone saw that!
27:16That's Sebastian's old sister hitting his fiance because she's in love with her own-
27:20I raised my hand again.
27:23Sebastian came around the corner.
27:25Grant was beside him.
27:26Grant walked straight to me.
27:27He was in a fitted suit.
27:28The version of him that closed nine figure deals and put entire front offices on the back foot.
27:33Tight.
27:33Sharp.
27:34Clean.
27:35The kind of presence that made a room recalibrate itself.
27:38But I knew he wouldn't turn that sharpness on me.
27:41I grabbed his hand without looking at Sebastian.
27:43Sienna.
27:44Look at him.
27:45That's my boyfriend.
27:47He's better looking than Sebastian.
27:48He has more money than Sebastian.
27:50And he actually loves me back.
27:52And I love him.
27:56Grant's expression went from anger to something that looked a little like trying not to smile.
28:01He stood up straighter.
28:02You think I don't know what you're doing?
28:04You don't want me near this company.
28:06On one side, you're scared I'll get too close to Sebastian.
28:10On the other, you're scared I'll use my share of the family assets to have a say in how this
28:14place runs.
28:15I glanced at Sebastian.
28:17My mouth pulled into something cold.
28:19This is the woman you chose.
28:22For her, you were willing.
28:23Sienna hadn't processed what was happening.
28:25She turned and pressed herself against Sebastian.
28:28Ellie hates me!
28:29She burned me!
28:30She hit me!
28:31Sebastian, I know I'm not good enough for you, but…
28:34I took a step forward.
28:35I knew Sebastian loved her.
28:37I knew my parents genuinely loved Sebastian, and that I'd spent the last several months trying to make everyone happy
28:43by letting him have what he wanted.
28:45I'd been wrong.
28:47With Sienna involved, there was no version of this family that didn't eventually come apart.
28:54Sebastian, I didn't go after her. Check the footage.
28:58One of the watching employees spoke up.
29:00The break room camera's been down. Maintenance hasn't gotten to it yet.
29:04But the building's AI unit, it was stationed right outside the break room.
29:07Even without a full video record, it should have picked up audio.
29:10It should tell you pretty clearly who started it.
29:15People noticed the unit standing just outside the break room door.
29:18It blinked its camera eyes at the crowd and offered a small mechanical smile.
29:23Looks like my girlfriend has excellent taste in tech.
29:26This model uploads all audio and visual data to cloud storage automatically.
29:31Permanent record.
29:32You can pull anything, going back as far as you want.
29:36The color drained out of Sienna's face.
29:38Something close to panic. My stomach tightened.
29:42Jake, pull it.
29:43Sebastian said, no expression.
29:45Sebastian, you don't believe me?
29:47Pull everything on file related to Mrs. Walsh while you're at it.
29:50Sebastian didn't answer her.
29:52I stepped in right behind him.
29:54All of it.
29:55Everything that unit has ever recorded near her.
29:58You think money gives you the right to invade my privacy?
30:01Sebastian, your sister is humiliating me.
30:03Sebastian's face was working through something complicated.
30:06This model is male presenting and has never recorded anyone in a private space.
30:10Grant said, in the tone of someone reading off a spec sheet.
30:13Just public areas.
30:14The absolute deadpan delivery made me bite down on a laugh.
30:17He pressed my hand quietly.
30:19The fallout from Sienna spreading what she'd spread about me meant I handed in my notice that same afternoon.
30:24When I went up to Sebastian's office to leave my resignation, he watched me with an expression I couldn't name.
30:30So, Grant Walsh is actually Grant Walsh?
30:34Yes.
30:35So you can relax.
30:36I'm not chasing you, I'm not fighting you for the inheritance, and if you want to marry Sienna, I'm not
30:40stopping you.
30:41My voice was polite, distant.
30:43I'd never talked to him like that before.
30:45Sebastian, I hope we both get to be happy this time.
31:12Ellie.
31:13Ellie.
31:13As I left, Mom pulled me into her room.
31:15Since Sebastian and Sienna got together, I've been worried about you.
31:18My chest tightened.
31:20Did Mom remember too?
31:21She saw my face and smoothed my hair back.
31:24You think I don't know why your father and I pushed back so hard on the wedding?
31:28We had our own reasons.
31:29But you handled it so well.
31:32And now look at you.
31:33I exhaled slowly.
31:34She didn't know.
31:35Neither of them knew.
31:36That was good.
31:38Sebastian wouldn't make the same mistakes twice, and our family would be okay.
31:42The night before Grant's and my engagement party, Sebastian came home late.
31:46I thought it was Mom when he knocked.
31:48I didn't lock the door.
31:49He came in and pulled me against him, and the smell of whiskey hit me immediately.
31:53Ellie.
31:54I was wrong.
31:56Don't get engaged to someone else.
31:58Be with me.
31:58I pushed against him as hard as I could and kept my voice low.
32:01You've lost your mind.
32:03Marry me.
32:04We stay a family.
32:06All four of us.
32:07Isn't that what you always wanted?
32:12You don't love me.
32:13So what is this?
32:15I couldn't get free.
32:16I do.
32:17I just didn't know it until it was too late.
32:19He stepped back and held my shoulders, looking at me directly.
32:23I don't love you anymore.
32:25The red in the corners of his eyes was visible now.
32:27I don't buy that.
32:28Years don't just disappear.
32:29Sebastian, I told you.
32:32Whatever I felt for you was incinerated in that fire, in our last life.
32:36Both his hands were trembling.
32:38His eyes were wet.
32:39I was wrong.
32:40I'll say it to anyone.
32:41I'll get on my knees in front of Mom and Dad.
32:43I'll spend the rest of my life making it right.
32:45Just come back.
32:46Standing there, watching him, I felt something almost like grief.
32:50Not for him, but for the version of me who would have fallen apart at the sight of this.
32:54I'll sign everything over to you.
32:56Every asset, every share.
32:58I'll spend what's left of my life earning it back from zero.
33:00I couldn't tell if he was drunk or broken or both.
33:03I put everything I had into shoving him back.
33:07Sebastian, Mom and Dad don't know anything about our last life.
33:10Don't blow that up.
33:11I'm asking you to let this go.
33:12He moved toward me again.
33:14I said it, steady and quiet.
33:16Do you want to lose the last thing we have?
33:19Because that's what this does.
33:20He stopped.
33:21The pain on his face was real.
33:23I didn't look away from it.
33:25Sebastian.
33:26I love Grant the way I used to love you.
33:28And he loves me back.
33:30Be happy for me.
33:31I'll be happy for you too when you find someone who's actually right for you.
33:35I said each word slowly.
33:36Sebastian's face went white by degrees.
33:39Then he left.
33:39Sebastian was one of the proudest people I'd ever known.
33:43That retreat.
33:44That night.
33:44He would never put himself through it again.
33:47I was sure of that.
33:48What was done was done.
33:49Last time's pain was last time's.
33:52Holding on to it meant letting it keep costing me things.
33:55I chose to let the light in.
33:56And I believed, standing there in the quiet after he left,
33:59that we would both find our way to something good.
34:05I was going to lose Ellie completely.
34:07Even if she still called me her brother.
34:08Coming back the second time, I fought to hold on to what I'd thrown away.
34:11In the end, I was just a joke.
34:13The footage Jake pulled told me everything about why my parents could never warm to Sienna.
34:17She'd been using the office landline to call her mother.
34:20Talking about my dad being old.
34:21Talking about my mom watching too closely.
34:23Talking about me like I was a lock she'd already figured out how to open.
34:27She was disgusting.
34:28She'd gone after my father first, then pivoted to me.
34:31And I fell for every bit of it.
34:33How did I ever convince myself Ellie had drugged me?
34:35Ellie was the most straightforward person I'd ever known.
34:38The drug came from Sienna.
34:40She'd slipped it to me over dinner.
34:41Then she'd fixed herself up and fed me a story about saving herself for our wedding night.
34:45And I believed her because I needed to believe something.
34:48She needed into the whole family fast, so she took a shortcut.
34:50Last time, when Ellie stood in my doorway looking uncertain and reached for her own buttons.
34:56I still had some part of my brain left.
34:58I knew what I was doing, but she was so disarming and I was so weak.
35:01And I did something I've never forgiven myself for.
35:04Then I buried the guilt under outrage and called it her fault.
35:07And blamed it on her.
35:09On my parents.
35:10On everyone except the person who'd actually set the whole thing in motion.
35:14I came back thinking I'd corrected it.
35:16I'd made it worse.
35:18I watched Ellie pull away from me inch by inch.
35:21No more dropping by to share something funny.
35:23No more mug of something hot appearing on my desk.
35:25No more of any of it.
35:30I heard her on the phone with Grant once.
35:31Telling him that after they were married, she was going to watch him eat every meal to make sure he
35:35finished it.
35:36The jealousy that hit me was so irrational, I scared myself.
35:39I spent every day with Sienna.
35:41I thought about Ellie constantly.
35:42When Sienna went after Ellie in that break room.
35:44I'd already decided.
35:46Whatever the footage showed, I was done with Sienna and I was going to Ellie's side.
35:50I was going to protect her.
35:52Then Grant walked in and stood next to her.
35:54And I understood that I had already lost the only thing I'd ever actually wanted.
35:58Ellie didn't ask me what the footage contained.
36:00She already knew, more or less.
36:02She'd always protected me from my own embarrassments.
36:05Even now, knowing everything I'd done.
36:07She left the company and cut off the last route Sienna had to get wah.
36:12Tea she wanted.
36:13Ellie thought the sacrifice was worth it.
36:15She was always worth more than I deserved.
36:17The night before her engagement, with the whiskey making me brave enough to be an idiot one last time.
36:22I held her and asked her to stay.
36:24She pushed me out the door.
36:26I went back to my apartment and put into motion the thing I'd been building for weeks.
36:30Sienna and her mother had been getting greedy.
36:32I'd laid the groundwork carefully.
36:34By morning, both of them were in a position they weren't getting out of easily.
36:37I hated them.
36:38But I was the one who'd let them in.
36:40That was on me.
36:42Ellie didn't blame me.
36:43My parents didn't blame me.
36:44That almost made it harder.
36:46Without her, this second life was going to be darker than the first.
36:49That was the cost I was paying.
36:51It was fair.
36:52I wasn't going to get married.
36:54I was going to build what my parents had built.
36:56Make it bigger and look at me for a woman.
36:59That was my penance.
37:01I'd chosen it, and I meant it.
Comments