- 3 hours ago
Welcome to SolChannel , where stories come alive! Enjoy the finest short dramas from the US, Europe, Korea, China, & more. From tear-jerking romance to edge-of-your-seat thrillers, we’ve got your next obsession. Subscribe & dive in!
Category
🎥
Short filmTranscript
03:34Then she turned away where
04:04In the goals, he participated in addressing a problem that concerned him.
04:05Truly always my fields
04:07For a period of time
04:09The country of the samt ocean
04:11One of them, for their attempt
04:12The house is cursed
04:13Titled
04:14Mawwal
04:14All curses
04:17Every king
04:17the home
04:21Mawwal
04:23Easiest
04:25Every king
04:26Damn
04:27Attempts
04:28excellent
04:28Attempts
04:28excellent
04:29licking
04:29Mika
04:30Association
04:31Which delivery boy Omega bought you this?
04:34Wearing garbage like that in public, shameless.
04:37I pulled my hand free.
04:38I traced my fingers over every stone on the chain.
04:41The day Ethan clasped it onto my wrist,
04:43He murmured in my ear.
04:44Don't ever take it off.
04:45I smiled.
04:46Damon saw my smile.
04:47His pupils contracted sharply.
04:48He lunged forward and ripped the chain from my wrist.
04:51I hadn't been ready for it.
04:52He got away with it.
04:53The thing Ethan gave me had just fallen into Vivian's hands.
04:56Nice weight.
04:57Definitely more refined than the fake I bought.
04:59But his spiritual church will not be a mere passerby in this one.
05:02different
05:02Oh, we're here!
05:05Thank you, you have the problem, you have the color
05:08You have different
05:10Buy internal cuffs
05:11Because he was also a hypocrite
05:15Finally, on the vine
05:16Finally, you have
05:17Madion from a man
05:18Tell the one who is in need
05:18Finally, it is possible to remove it.
05:20Get ready
05:21Finally, you have
05:23Finally, you have
05:24You have
05:24Finally, you have
05:25Finally, you have
05:27Zafaqd's claim is that it is a piece of a garment made of thin.
05:29Convinced
05:34Damn, a community through which I gather with light
05:37Do you think that you are a community of women who have been saying for a day that it should be very much so?
05:40It remains appropriate that it is in an epic spring style.
05:44Does that still embody me?
05:46Because I am destitute, is he with him? You are organizing the land to accompany the young men.
05:50Damnan Saud, thirty years old, by Rabi' Damnin
05:56Yes, yes, yes, I'm going to Al-Hassi
06:26And the pleasures remained almost with the leader
06:27And we fried it, it's selective, your time in the air
06:30We told her that you can be the opposition
06:31And Kaho Tinner remained afraid that they would worry about his sleeplessness.
06:35Where is the least of what remains of this beginning?
06:38I feel you
06:40Eight of them are beliefs
06:42Yes, this
06:42And the extent of it around it
06:44I taught her eight times in Daman
06:46In the logic of Damanah, I feel it in her
06:49I will name eight of them and you will finish the rest.
06:54They also divorced.
06:56Simply
07:28music
07:30music
08:00music
08:01music
08:04music
08:05music
08:07music
08:07music
08:07music
08:07music
08:09music
08:10music
08:11music
08:12music
08:12music
08:13music
08:14music
08:21music
08:22music
08:31music
08:33music
08:34music
08:35music
08:37music
08:38music
08:38I didn't just find him
08:40I found Vivian waiting beside him
08:43Vivian's pup needs to be registered
08:44I have to complete the bond with her first
08:46One month
08:47Then I'll come for you immediately
08:49It's only for the child's sake
08:51Don't read into it
08:52I watched him walk into Pack Hall with Vivian on his arm
08:56That night
08:56I set out
08:58One month later
08:58I married Ethan
09:00A year after that
09:01Leo was born
09:02Just a few days ago
09:03I confirmed I was carrying a second
09:05If not for accompanying Ethan back for the ancestral rights
09:08music
09:38music
09:40Though if you want me to look twice, you could at least dress the part.
09:44For an occasion like this, what you're wearing...
09:47I stepped around him and kept walking. He grabbed my arm.
09:50I'm talking to you.
09:55Our seats are over here. Where are you going?
09:58I looked calmly toward the far end of the hall.
10:00That's your seat. Mine is over there.
10:03Following my gaze, Damon saw the head table. The Alpha's seat. The Luna's seat.
10:08His expression changed. Vivian's eyes turned vicious instantly.
10:12She fixed her glare on the chain at my wrist and raised her voice.
10:16Lena! How did you get in here? Are you here to cause trouble?
10:20Walking in with that chain. Are you trying to humiliate the Luna?
10:25Tonight is Ethan's first time bringing his Luna out in public.
10:29Rogue woman, get out!
10:30Every guest in the room turned to look. Someone glanced at Damon.
10:34Damon Alpha. Do you know this person?
10:36Damon straightened his cuffs, perfectly composed.
10:39No.
10:40One word. Clean. Final.
10:42Vivian lifted her chin immediately.
10:45Take off that chain and get out!
10:47She reached out for it.
10:48I stepped aside.
10:50But someone deliberately tripped me from behind.
10:52I fell.
10:53Vivian planted her foot on my wrist.
10:55The chain.
10:57She tore it free with brute force.
10:59The gems scattered across the floor, like a shattered constellation.
11:04Drag her out!
11:05Pain screamed through my wrist, bone deep.
11:08Stop! I'm Ethan!
11:11His what?
11:12His mistress?
11:13Who do you think you are?
11:17She backhands me again.
11:18I lay against the middle of the floor.
11:20When I came back here, I hadn't planned to settle scores with anyone.
11:23There was no point.
11:24But now, she had struck me twice.
11:26She had destroyed something Ethan gave me.
11:28She would pay for both of those things.
11:30Everything she was capable of losing.
11:32She would lose it all.
11:34Damon crouched in front of me.
11:36He reached out as if to touch the wound on my wrist.
11:38I flinched away on instinct.
11:40He looked at me coldly.
11:42Are you done making a scene?
11:44You came in that outfit, wearing that chain.
11:47You missed me, didn't you?
11:49You wanted to make me jealous.
11:51Just say the word and I'll give you what you want.
11:53Damon.
11:54I raised my eyes to meet his.
11:55You're finished.
11:57Damon frowned, about to speak.
11:59The atmosphere in the gala shifted.
12:00Every guest began composing themselves.
12:02Pressing toward the entrance, Damon leaned down and murmured to me.
12:06Ethan's here.
12:07Behave yourself.
12:09Vivian and I have already dissolved our bond.
12:11I pressed my nearly crushed wrist.
12:13Looking at his face, I felt nothing but revulsion.
12:15Whether you two dissolve your bond or not.
12:18What does that have to do with me?
12:20Then.
12:21The doors opened.
12:22Ethan walked in, carrying Leo.
12:26The moment Leo entered the hall, he squirmed to get down from Ethan's arms.
12:30The moment the cherub-faced little pup touched the ground.
12:33Every eye in the room was pulled to him.
12:35Damon turned to me abruptly.
12:37Lena.
12:39As long as you stop provoking Vivian, I can forgive you for disappearing three years.
12:43I'll give you a chance.
12:44Bear me a child.
12:46A child that belongs to us.
12:48I paid him no attention.
12:49I was looking through the crowd, trying to catch Leo's eye.
12:52Leo's gaze swept the room.
12:54Then, locked, he broke free from Ethan's hand and charged toward me.
12:57Crashed into my arms.
12:59Mama, what happened to you?
13:02Who did this?
13:03Why is there so much blood on your hand?
13:06That one word.
13:07Mama.
13:08And the entire gala went still.
13:11The guests who had stood by cold-eyed while I was struck.
13:15Their faces all changed at once.
13:17Leo held on to me, eyes going red.
13:20I crouched to meet him at eye level.
13:22Cupped his round little cheeks in my hands.
13:25Mama is fine.
13:27Whoever dares to treat Mama like this.
13:31I was about to comfort him when I felt the pressure from behind.
13:34Not an ordinary approach.
13:36It was Ethan's.
13:37The kind that felt like a moving mountain.
13:39The kind that made the air itself go still.
13:41The crowd parted automatically.
13:43I didn't need to turn around to know he was angry.
13:45Since I'd gotten pregnant with our second,
13:47he'd have kept me physically tucked against him if he could.
13:50If it hadn't been for the urgent matter,
13:52he never would have sent someone else to pick me up.
13:54I lifted Leo into my arms.
13:56turned around.
13:57Ethan was standing there.
13:58His gaze dropped to the bloodstain on my wrist.
14:01Then to the marks on my face.
14:03His eyes went dark.
14:07Leo slipped out of my arms and ran to Ethan.
14:09Daddy, someone hurt Mama!
14:11Let's go get revenge!
14:16Lena, tell me what happened.
14:18One moment I'm away and you're already hurt.
14:21Which blind fool did this?
14:22I'm fine, Ethan.
14:25Lena, I'm your mate.
14:27If something wronged you, you don't have to carry it alone.
14:30We can't let anyone hurt Mama!
14:32Maybe it was the pregnancy.
14:34Maybe I'd held it together for too long.
14:36My voice came out with a tremor I hadn't planned for.
14:38You weren't there and they all went after me.
14:42At that moment, Leo's eyes caught something on the floor.
14:45He bent down and picked up a single gem.
14:47Daddy, isn't this part of the gift you gave Mama?
14:52Ethan took the stone and turned it over.
14:53On the back, two letters were engraved.
14:57E. L.
14:59Turn on every light.
15:04Every light in the gala blazed on.
15:06Ethan tilted my face toward him.
15:10They actually dared to do this to you.
15:13We can't let them get away with this.
15:15I didn't know if it was the pregnancy,
15:16but my emotions kept slipping past my defenses.
15:20You weren't there and they all went after me.
15:25The people who had followed to the arrival gate to mock me.
15:28Their legs were shaking now.
15:30They were finally putting it together.
15:33The woman in the custom soft fabric dress three days ago.
15:37The woman with the heartstone chain on her wrist.
15:39The woman who kept insisting she was Ethan's Luna.
15:43She hadn't been making it up.
15:45Every word she said had been true.
15:50Just then, Vivian's follower Jade stepped forward.
15:54Lena, are these two actors you hired?
15:57Not bad performances, honestly.
16:00Want Vivian to help you find an agent?
16:02Though, since you can't even afford a decent outfit these days.
16:06I have one that I've worn before.
16:07I could give it to you.
16:08Save you the embarrassment.
16:09Jade had arrived last.
16:11She hadn't seen Leo throw himself into my arms.
16:14She had dressed to kill tonight,
16:16Hoping to catch the eye of a powerful mate.
16:18The fastest route to a powerful mate in these circles
16:22was to win Vivian's favor.
16:24And the most effective way to win Vivian's favor
16:27was to make my life miserable.
16:30So she opened her mouth.
16:32No one in the room laughed.
16:34Everyone was staring at her like she'd lost her mind.
16:37Jade began to panic.
16:39She turned to Ethan and tilted her face upward,
16:41trying to be coy.
16:43The man next to her, he's not looking bad.
16:45If you're willing to leave Lena,
16:47I might consider keeping you.
16:49Keeping.
16:50Ethan.
16:51I nearly laughed out loud.
16:56Ethan started laughing.
16:58That kind of laugh.
16:59The rare one.
17:00Where it curls up at the corners and he can't quite stop it.
17:03He had always been particular about my safety.
17:06Over the years,
17:07anyone who tried to get close to him
17:09Either vanished or ended up on the far end of the continent.
17:12He wasn't angry.
17:14He simply found her amusing.
17:16In the way one finds someone who has used up their borrowed time,
17:20Jade sensed the shift in the room
17:22and tried to press herself closer to Vivian.
17:25Vivian immediately gave her a slap that sent her to the floor.
17:28Jade, are you trying to die?
17:30Do you dare offend Ethan and his Luna?
17:33Do you have a death wish?
17:34Jade clutched her face,
17:36slumped on the marble murmur.
17:38Lena is Lena.
17:39She's really the Luna.
17:41I offended.
17:42I...
17:43Ethan was notorious across the continent
17:45for being fiercely protective of his mate.
17:47Jade's mind went to what might be waiting for her.
17:50Her whole body began to tremble.
17:53Someone in the crowd gasped.
17:55All eyes moved to the hem of Jade's dress.
17:57She had wet herself from fear.
18:00Ethan gave a slight frown.
18:02His guards understood without a word and dragged her out.
18:06Damon and Vivian's faces flushed a deep, mortified red.
18:10Everyone in the room knew
18:11that Jade's words had always followed
18:14wherever their hearts pointed.
18:17The healer Ethan had summoned was treating my wounds.
18:20The antiseptic touched the skin.
18:23I hissed through my teeth.
18:25Just that one sound.
18:27And Ethan and Leo both looked up with murder in their eyes.
18:31You can't even apply medicine without hurting her?
18:33The healer's hands began to shake even harder.
18:36I pretended to glare at them.
18:38Lena.
18:39Mama.
18:40Mama.
18:40Father and son both shrank back, looking aggrieved.
18:43I sighed.
18:45The healer is helping me.
18:47Stop terrifying her.
18:49The healer visibly exhaled.
18:51After her examination, she addressed Ethan.
18:54Alpha Ethane.
18:55The luma is unharmed, and the pup in the womb is safe as well.
18:59The wound on her wrist is fairly deep.
19:02I'll use the finest medicine available and do my best to ensure it heals without scarring.
19:07Ethan went quiet.
19:09She said nothing.
19:10Only I knew.
19:12This was what it looked like when he was truly, deeply angry.
19:17Damon, the one most responsible for all of it,
19:20was finally beginning to feel afraid.
19:23He never could have imagined
19:24that the Omega he had thrown away
19:27had become the mate of the man above him in every hierarchy that mattered.
19:33Ethan stood beside me and swept a slow gaze across the room.
19:37I'd like you all to volunteer what happened in the past few days.
19:42If I have to find out on my own,
19:44He paused,
19:45Everyone present may not die pleasantly.
19:48Damon's complexion shifted.
19:49He was the first to speak.
19:53Ethan Alpha,
19:54This is all a misunderstanding.
19:56As Lena's former intended mate,
19:58I was simply catching up with her.
20:00The glass in Ethan's hand let out a faint, precise crack.
20:03Damon didn't notice and kept going.
20:05Ethan Alpha must know how much Lena used to love me.
20:09Catching up is only natural, isn't it?
20:12The glass shattered.
20:13Ethan's hand was covered in blood.
20:15I ached just looking at it.
20:16Damon, stop flattering yourself.
20:18I tended to Ethan's hand while I spoke.
20:20In this life, I have only ever loved Ethan.
20:23Say anything else to drive a wedge between us
20:25and don't expect me to stay civil.
20:27Ethan looked down,
20:28watching me bandage his hand.
20:30And then he smiled.
20:32Lena,
20:33you just said I'm your favorite.
20:35I
20:36was speechless.
20:40Damon's expression turned wounded.
20:42Lena,
20:43Vivian and I have dissolved our bond.
20:46He opened his mouth again.
20:47That pup could call you mama going forward too.
20:50You only married Ethan to spite me, didn't you?
20:53I understand.
20:54I don't mind.
20:54As long as you're willing to come back,
20:56everything I can give you
20:58none of it is less than what he offers.
21:00As long as you're willing to come back and be my son's nanny.
21:03Leo sitting nearby slowly set down his fork.
21:05He studied Damon for a moment.
21:06Nanny?
21:08My mama is a little princess at home.
21:11You think you're worthy of making her a nanny?
21:14Mama will only ever have me and my little sister.
21:17Two children.
21:18Your pup of clear origins has no business being connected to my mama.
21:22You're not as handsome as my daddy.
21:24Not as tall either.
21:25And you smell the kind of broke that gets into your eyes.
21:29The guests around them burst out laughing.
21:31Damon's face went purple.
21:33At this moment,
21:34Vivian had completely lost what remained of her composure.
21:37She heard Damon say,
21:39Let Lena be the child's mother.
21:41She picked up a fork
21:42and lunged at Leo.
21:46You little bastard!
21:47I'll kill you!
21:48The moment Vivian charged at Leo,
21:50I released Ethan's hand and threw myself over Leo.
21:53Son,
21:54Are you...
21:55Okay.
21:56The word never came out.
21:58Before I lost consciousness,
21:59I saw Leo's face.
22:01Panicked.
22:02Pale.
22:03I wanted to tell him,
22:04Don't cry.
22:05The words didn't come.
22:07Everything went dark.
22:10The sharp smell of antiseptic pulled me back.
22:13white ceiling above me.
22:15A patient's gown.
22:17Mia was sitting at the bedside.
22:19The moment she saw my eyes open,
22:20She threw herself at me.
22:22Lena!
22:24You're finally awake!
22:25If you'd slept any longer,
22:27those two little demons of yours
22:28would have torn the whole territory apart!
22:31My first instinct.
22:32I pressed a hand to my stomach.
22:35Mia understood immediately.
22:36Relax.
22:37You and the baby are both perfectly fine.
22:40The doctor said it was the shock
22:41combined with the pain from your wound
22:43that made you pass out.
22:44Yeah.
22:45That Vivian is absolutely unhinged!
22:47Going at Leo with a fork!
22:49Where are Leo and Ethan?
22:51Safe.
22:52Both of them.
22:53You were still too reckless.
22:55With that many guards around,
22:57it wasn't your turn to step in.
22:58That's Leo.
23:00I know, I know,
23:01your precious little pup.
23:03That little creature is vicious enough on his own.
23:06He didn't need protection.
23:07Where are they now?
23:09the two of them?
23:10Mia's eyes lit up.
23:12Gone to avenge you.
23:15I got there after you'd already passed out,
23:17but I pieced together what happened
23:19from the people around.
23:20After you went down,
23:22Leo picked up the fork from the floor
23:24and drove it straight through Vivian's palm.
23:27He's three years old.
23:28I have no idea where he found the strength.
23:31Ethan had also learned by then
23:32what happened at the arrival gate three days ago.
23:35That Damon slapped you.
23:36That he tore off the heartstone chain.
23:39The way they all humiliate you.
23:41He knew every detail.
23:43Then he had his guards hold Damon down
23:46And had the hand that struck you cut off.
23:49Leo watched the whole thing without blinking once.
23:53Such a little tyrant.
23:55Vivian,
23:55Ethan had someone bring in a crate of gemstones
23:57and told her to swallow them all.
23:58He said exactly this.
24:00Since you love taking things
24:01that belongs to others so much,
24:02I'll give you your fill.
24:03The gems are yours.
24:04So is the man.
24:06She swallowed.
24:07She refused.
24:08So they brought in her son.
24:10She swallowed a lot.
24:12When she was half dead from it,
24:14Ethan had someone carve up her face,
24:17severed the tendons in her son's hands,
24:19and had her thrown into international waters.
24:22The guests who stood there and watched you get beaten,
24:24every single one of them left with a scar on their wrist.
24:26So they'll remember the cost of looking away
24:27While the Luna was being humiliated.
24:29Oh, and one more thing.
24:30Ironcrest pack officially dissolved.
24:32Everything Damon had.
24:33Starting today,
24:34Gone.
24:38Although Damon was supposed to go into international waters too,
24:41but Vivian threw herself at the guards to buy him time.
24:45So he ran.
24:47Ethan and Leo are looking for him now.
24:51The trade wasn't hard to guess.
24:54Damon must have told Vivian something about her son.
24:57A mother's love will make her capable of anything.
25:00Vivian had swallowed that many stones.
25:03She wouldn't survive long.
25:05The only thing she had left to hold onto was that child.
25:08A heaviness settled somewhere in my chest.
25:10My son was already so good,
25:12and Ethan was turning him into something else entirely.
25:15I was about to ask more questions.
25:17The door to the ward was shoved open.
25:19Two figures.
25:20One tall.
25:21One small.
25:23Leo elbowed Mia aside
25:24and launched himself toward the head of my bed.
25:27Lena, you're finally awake.
25:31Where does it hurt?
25:34Everyone who wronged you.
25:36I've already taken care of it.
25:38I'd only been unconscious for one night,
25:41but the two of them looked like they'd lost me for decades.
25:46I'm fine, Ethan.
25:48Stop worrying.
25:49I turned to Leo.
25:51Son, did Daddy scold you?
25:53Leo paused.
25:54His little mouth puckered and tears came.
25:57No!
25:58Daddy didn't scold me.
26:00You're lying.
26:01I couldn't stand it when Leo kept things from me.
26:04But he held his ground.
26:06Knowing Ethan's temperament, Leo had definitely gotten an earful.
26:10I pulled Leo into my arms.
26:12Then I shot Ethan a look.
26:14Ethan froze in place.
26:16Unmistakably guilty.
26:17Mama, I won't ever let you get hurt again.
26:21This time it was my fault.
26:23I'm sorry, Mama.
26:24My heart completely dissolved.
26:27Protecting Leo is something Mama is meant to do.
26:31Mama isn't blaming you.
26:32Mia took Leo out.
26:34Just Ethan and me left in the ward.
26:39He was persistent on checking my wounds himself.
26:41Ethan, the doctor already bandaged everything.
26:45He bent down anyway and blew softly on the wound.
26:49Lena, I promise there won't be a next time.
26:54Alright, I believe you.
26:56I hold my life very dear, Ethan.
26:59Because I still have a whole lifetime to spend with you.
27:02His eyes smiled.
27:03Like a child's.
27:05Ethan and Leo absolutely insisted I stay in the healer's den for observation.
27:10A whole team of healers examined me from every angle.
27:13Multiple times.
27:15Only when every indicator came back normal did they clear me for discharge.
27:19Leo, pass Mama the...
27:21Lena, it's me.
27:22I was packing up, facing away from the door.
27:26My hands went still.
27:27I turned around.
27:29Damon.
27:33His face was still swollen.
27:35His whole body is covered in wounds.
27:37But he had made himself presentable.
27:39He was wearing the dress shirt I had given him years ago.
27:42The one he had once said he was ugly.
27:45Cheap looking.
27:46What do you want?
27:47He had slipped past Ethan's guards to find me.
27:50He had to have connections.
27:52I couldn't afford to act rashly.
27:53Don't be afraid.
27:54I'm not here to hurt you.
27:55Damon seemed to read the caution in me and spoke quickly.
27:58I just...
27:59Just what?
28:02Lena, I still love you.
28:04When I think about you bonded to another male, carrying his children, I can't bear it.
28:09We can start over.
28:13Start over?
28:14Damon, Damon, when you drove me out of Pack Hall and made me the laughstock of the entire pack, you did
28:20What are you thinking about today?
28:23You come to me now with talk of love?
28:26Don't you find that revolting?
28:28Vivian was carrying my pup.
28:30I couldn't just...
28:31Just abandon the situation.
28:34And...
28:34You wouldn't have wanted a child growing up without a father.
28:37I laughed coldly.
28:39Children fall out of the sky, do they?
28:41If you'd kept control of yourself, how would you have accidentally gotten someone pregnant?
28:47And here you still are, making excuses for your own failures.
28:51The number of females you've been with?
28:53I've lost count.
28:54What makes you think I would ever come back?
28:57You're rotting meat.
28:59Why would you think I'd ever want to smell that again?
29:03The door flew open.
29:04Guards surged in and pinned Damon down.
29:07Ethan was the last one through the door, his expression black as char.
29:12Damon.
29:14Not dead fast enough, apparently.
29:17After confirming that I was unharmed, he waved a hand and had the guards drag him out.
29:21As Damon was hauled away, he turned his head back.
29:25Ethan, do you think she actually loves you?
29:29She only married you because of me!
29:31Ethan's first connected.
29:33Damon went silent.
29:36He wasn't unaware of what I'd done to shield him.
29:38These years since we bonded, he'd carried a quiet insecurity inside him,
29:43Always feeling like I didn't love him enough.
29:46I watched his back as he left the ward.
29:49It ached somewhere in me.
29:51As for Damon, I wanted him erased from my life entirely.
29:55That night, back at the Pack Lodge,
29:58I stood in the corridor for a while,
30:00Just drifting in my thoughts.
30:03Wedding portraits from our bonding ceremony hung along the wall.
30:06In the photo, Ethan had eyes only for me.
30:09In the photo, my expression was distant.
30:13Back then it was still an arranged union.
30:15I hadn't fully opened my heart yet.
30:17But over these years,
30:19I had long since fallen for this man.
30:22Completely.
30:24I lifted one of the frames from the wall.
30:26On the back of the frame.
30:28Photographs.
30:29Covering every inch.
30:31All of me.
30:32Only me.
30:33Starting from high school.
30:35One of me handing out flyers at the academy entrance.
30:38Another taken after my secondary school graduation.
30:40Walking home alone.
30:41He had loved me.
30:43Long before I ever knew who he was.
30:45Footsteps from the far end of the corridor.
30:48Ethan was coming back.
30:49He saw me sitting on the settee,
30:51holding those photos.
30:52His footsteps stopped.
30:54He came forward.
30:55Like a child who knew he'd done something wrong.
31:00Lena, how did you-
31:01I looked up.
31:02If you liked me that much,
31:04why didn't you come find me sooner?
31:06You let me waste all those years
31:08tangled up with someone like Damon.
31:11The photographs are beautiful, by the way.
31:14I love them.
31:15Lena, you're not angry?
31:17Angry about what?
31:19I was watching your life without you knowing.
31:21I'm not right in the head.
31:23You are not right in the head.
31:25When I look at these,
31:27All I feel is love.
31:29So much of it.
31:30The man who was almost never anything but composed,
31:32His eyes were filled with tears.
31:34Lena,
31:35I never dared hope you'd love me.
31:38I only ever wanted you to stay by my side.
31:42There you go again,
31:44talking nonsense.
31:45You are all I see, Ethan.
31:48Every part of me.
31:49I had looked into his past afterward,
31:52Abandoned by his parents birth as a child.
31:56His file, he wrote it simply.
31:58Foundling.
31:59Origin unknown.
32:01A foster father took him in,
32:03but never learned how to show warmth.
32:05In school, he was quiet.
32:07So quiet,
32:09No one dared approach him.
32:11Classmates gave him a nickname behind his back.
32:13The mute wolf.
32:14He never fought back.
32:16Every day,
32:17He sat alone at the farthest corner of the cafeteria.
32:19a single bowl of plain rice,
32:21No side dishes.
32:22Reading this,
32:23my eyes went hot.
32:24And then,
32:25I remembered something
32:26I had almost forgotten myself.
32:28Back in high school,
32:29I once cut through the neighboring academy
32:31and glanced into their cafeteria.
32:33I saw a boy.
32:35Sitting alone.
32:36Too thin.
32:37Uniform hanging loose off his shoulders.
32:40In front of him,
32:41just a bowl of white rice.
32:43All around him,
32:44students laughed and shoved.
32:46Not one looked at him.
32:47He was like an extra person
32:48This world had left over.
32:49I walked in.
32:51Pulled a handful of meal vouchers from my bag.
32:54The ones my mother gave me to treat friends with.
32:57Slapped them down on his table.
32:58Hey.
32:59From today on,
33:01you're under my wing.
33:02Lena's crew.
33:02Consider this your initiation fee.
33:04The boy raised his head.
33:06Slowly.
33:07His eyes were dark.
33:09Dark like a well that had never seen sunlight.
33:12I got embarrassed.
33:13Scratched my head.
33:14And ran off.
33:15I never even asked his name.
33:17And that boy
33:17turned out to be Ethan.
33:21I sat there, shaking.
33:22Ethan lifted his head.
33:23Lena?
33:25Back then,
33:26Were you wearing a washed-out blue jacket?
33:29He froze.
33:30I watched his face change,
33:31inch by inch.
33:33Shock.
33:34Disbelief.
33:34Something raw enough to break.
33:36You...
33:37You remember?
33:38He dropped to his knees in front of me,
33:40like his legs had given out.
33:41I thought you'd forgotten long ago.
33:44I thought...
33:45All these years,
33:46It was only mine to carry.
33:51He reached into the inner pocket against his chest,
33:54drew out a worn leather wallet,
33:56I opened it.
33:57Inside,
33:58a single meal voucher.
34:00Yellowed.
34:01Soft at the corners from being rubbed between fingers.
34:05Over and over.
34:06This one's...
34:07The last.
34:08The others,
34:09I couldn't bear to spend them.
34:10They expired.
34:11Only this one,
34:12I kept on it.
34:13Always.
34:14Every time I felt like I couldn't go on,
34:15I'd take it out and look at it.
34:17To tell myself,
34:18once,
34:19in this world,
34:19There was a girl who thought I was worth the price of a meal.
34:21My tears fell onto the yellowed voucher.
34:24What I had called a single moment of soft-heartedness
34:27was the light that had carried him through his entire adolescence.
34:32I lifted his face,
34:33I looked into those same dark eyes from the cafeteria corner.
34:36Ethan,
34:38from today on,
34:40It's my turn to watch you.
34:43And this time,
34:44you're not allowed to make yourself small anymore.
34:47He didn't speak.
34:48just buried his face in my palms,
34:50warm
34:50wet,
34:51falling,
34:52one drop at a time.
34:53This man,
34:54who never bowed his head in front of the entire pack,
34:57I was crying into my hands like that boy no one had ever seen.
Comments