- 2 hours ago
I Stopped Loving Him Eight Years Ago
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Short filmTranscript
00:02Eight years ago, I followed Damien Ashfield from the Louisiana Bayou to his Boston mansion,
00:07blinded by love. He repaid me with betrayal, humiliation, and a mistress in our bed. His
00:14mother framed my brother. He watched him die. That night, I lost my brother, my baby, my
00:21will to live. Grandmare's ancient mirror gave me one impossible chance. I warned my
00:26past self. I rewrote our story. Now he alone remembers a marriage that never happened and
00:31it is driving him insane. On New Year's Eve, I used Grandmare's mirror to reach myself
00:37eight years ago. The mirror clouded with mist. Her eyes lit up. Damien told me he loves me
00:43today. He's building me a garden by the Bayou. Every New Year's Eve with me, spoiling me forever.
00:50She chattered on. I listened, faintly smiling. Where Damien was pinning a strange woman to the
00:56floor-to-ceiling window, devouring her mouth. Pinned by his weight, the woman leaned forward,
01:01pressing a wet mom print onto the fogged glass. Damien let out a low groan, his hand moving
01:05roughly against her body. I didn't move. I didn't stop them. The woman tilted her head back,
01:11uncomfortably, finally catching my reflection in the glass. She visibly froze, then bonelessly
01:16clung to Damien, rubbing against him. Damien? Why is someone else in your house? Unbothered,
01:22Damien used her tilted head to deepen the kiss. Mid-kiss, he opened his eyes to look at me,
01:27his gaze cold and jockeying. She won't mind. Will you, Addie? I got sick of answering that question
01:35years ago, from hysterics to numb acceptance to losing the will to speak. But my past self went
01:40deathly pale. With shaking hands, she severed the link. The performance by the window only escalated.
01:49I looked down and texted my brother, Luke, though he'd long been gone for distraction.
01:53The woman giggled excitedly, her hands roaming even more boldly over Damien. Where did you find
01:58this wife of yours? She's so generous. I didn't give her the reaction she wanted. Entangled,
02:05they stumbled upstairs, shedding clothes all the way. Just a routine erotic show in this cold Beacon
02:11Hill townhouse. I couldn't even be bothered to look up anymore. The noisy TV New Year's countdown
02:18made me drownsy. I was almost asleep on the sofa when my phone screen lit up. A text from Damien,
02:25just three words. Go buy it. Attached was a photo of lube. And still, I said nothing. On New Year's
02:38Eve,
02:39Boston's back bay was deserted, with few adult stores open. Back from a freezing half-hour walk,
02:45I overheard two maids whispering. Poor Addie. Eight years here, and she's treated worse than the help.
02:51Well, she played dirty to get that ring. Mr. Ashburn keeping her around as pure charity.
02:56Memories yanked me back to the past. During his college spring break in Louisiana, we met and fell
03:00in love. It was pure and fierce as the gulf wind before a storm. Warm, reckless, impossible to hold.
03:06I left everything behind and followed him to Boston. But his mother, Eleanor, violently objected,
03:12calling me swamp trash. Damien held my hand tightly back then. Don't worry, I'll handle my mother.
03:19Later, my brother Luke in New Orleans, who always avoided risks, was suddenly pulled into a massive
03:24financial scam. Cornered, he blindly signed papers from a shadowy middleman. Those papers made him
03:29the perfect fall guy for a federal money laundering indictment. Eleanor offered a deal, marry Damien,
03:33and the federal charges would be dropped. I already loved Damien, so why would I even need terms?
03:38Naturally, I agreed. I thought we were just moving the date up. I didn't know Eleanor had fed him
03:43forged texts and bank records involving me and Luke. She made him think I only wanted his money.
03:48Even on our rushed wedding night, I was still burning with passion, thinking I'd finally found
03:53my happy ending. But once he was done, his tender look turned to pure, icy disgust. He threw a check
04:00at me. You own me. Never forget that. Our marriage became a scam he believed I'd plotted with my brother.
04:07It wasn't that I never asked for a divorce. But whenever I spoke, he'd smirk coldly.
04:13You want out? Fine. Pay back that five million, with interest. Or my lawyers reopen your brother's
04:19case, and he never sees daylight again. Luke was out of reach. This debt was permanently
04:26chained to me. Damien yanked the door open, his chest covered in glaring red marks.
04:32Took you long enough. He snatched the bag, its stick edge scraping my cheek with a slight sting.
04:37She's too tight. Couldn't wait. In my peripheral vision, a stark naked figure on the bed. My stomach
04:43lurched violently. Bile rose in my throat. I turned to flee. Want to stay and join? But from behind,
04:50his tone was amused. Unable to hold it, I rushed to the bathroom, vomiting until my vision darkened.
04:55Back before the mirror, reconnecting with myself eight years ago, I asked,
05:00Do you think he still loves you? She cried, still in disbelief.
05:04He said it was only me. He promised. Without living this eight-year hell, words were useless.
05:12Like me, she'd blindly defend him, calling it a temporary misunderstanding.
05:19I didn't blame her, only inviting her to watch a little longer. When I woke up on New Year's Day,
05:25the woman from last night was already gone, but a pair of lace panties was left on the sofa.
05:31Damien followed my gaze, suddenly wrapping his arms around my waist and pulling me close.
05:35What? Jealous? He lowered his head to kiss me, but I
05:39intentively turned my face away. The rare glint of tenrous in his eyes indently morphed into a sneer.
05:45There it is again, that dead-eyed look. The only time you ever came alive
05:49was when you crawl into my bed to save your brother's ass.
05:54His words pierced me, shame flooding my veins.
05:59He shoved me away coldly.
06:01Enough. We have to go to Cape Cod today for my mother's New Year's brunch.
06:05His mother, the last person I wanted to face.
06:09For all these years, she had always looked at me like I was absolute filth.
06:16Yet this time, she didn't even glance my way.
06:18She was on the sofa, bonding with Damien's woman from last night.
06:22She was Victoria Hartwheel, toady, the perfect old-money match Eleanor had chosen for Damien years ago.
06:29Eleanor patted Tori's hand, her eyes gleaming with undisguised satisfaction.
06:33Sweetheart, if it weren't for that girl, you'd have been an Ashton years ago.
06:38Damien walked over with a knowing smirk.
06:41I'm already married, Mother. But if you like her company, she's welcome anytime.
06:46Tori smiled, looking playful and utterly harmless.
06:50But that word, babe, was exactly what had tortured me all night while they were at it.
06:55Right now, they smiled at each other, looking like the real family.
07:01While I stood at the edge of the foyer, not knowing where to put my hands, or where I belonged.
07:07Simply because Tori said, I'm craving pork.
07:10Eleanor had the kitchen prepare an entire table of pork dishes.
07:13But my family's spiritual vow, Bourbind eating pork.
07:16Before I was born, Grand Mare made the blood packed with the spirits.
07:19I couldn't touch it. Absolutely not.
07:21Seeing me hesitate to pick up my silverware, Eleanor finally turned her gaze to me, dripping with disgust.
07:26Adeline, eat. Stop being so dramatic.
07:30You married into this family. We don't cater to superstition here.
07:33Helpless, I looked at Damien, pinning my last shred of hope on him.
07:37At least, he used to understand me.
07:39He put a pastry-wrapped item onto my plate.
07:42The thoughtfulness in his tone gave me a fleeting glimpse of the man he used to be.
07:46It's not pork. It's mushroom. Try it.
07:50I didn't doubt him. I took a bite.
07:52But the moment my teeth sank, Tori's vicious laughter shattered the silence.
07:57Killed on Krinzes the Great.
08:01Oh my god, she actually ate it.
08:04I told you, there's no real spiritual vow.
08:08It's all an act. She just likes playing the victim.
08:12Damien lied to me.
08:14I stumbled to the bathroom, shoving my fingers deep down my throat.
08:19I wanted to purge that meat along with years of swallowed betrayals.
08:25Grand Mare, I'm sorry.
08:29Involuntary tears blurred my vision.
08:31Back before the mirror, I connected with my past self.
08:35This time, she remained silent for a very, very long time.
08:39Only then did she begin to recall a misty morning by the Louisiana Byron.
08:44Back then, Damien looked at me, his eyes shining like stars.
08:49I did my research.
08:51Your family doesn't eat pork, right?
08:57When we're together, I won't either.
08:59Not ever.
09:00But now?
09:02The me across the mirror was even more despairing than I am now.
09:06This isn't... this isn't what I wanted.
09:08God...
09:08She cried herself horsky, repeating over and over.
09:13It hurts. God, it hurts.
09:16Did it hurt?
09:18I was long past feeling it.
09:22My eyes burned dry.
09:25Damien vanished again for days.
09:28Damien vanished again for days.
09:30While I spent my days staring blankly at the mirror,
09:34I unexpectedly got a message from Luke, asking to meet.
09:37For a moment, I thought he'd come to pull me out.
09:46Addie, I'm so sorry.
09:48I think I've been set up again.
09:50They want three million, or they'll trigger a federal indictment.
09:54Hope shattered instantly.
09:56Hope shattered instantly.
09:56In its place was a bottomless helplessness.
09:59The previous five million had already nailed me to a pillar of shame.
10:03Selling myself for money.
10:06A slow death, day and night.
10:08How could I even open my mouth to Damien now?
10:13Lost and helpless.
10:16Fate's sick, absurd joke arrived in the form of two lines on a stick.
10:21I finally waited for Damien to come home.
10:24Three million.
10:26For the baby.
10:28Do we have a deal?
10:29My voice was so flat it sounded foreign to me.
10:34His pupils contricted.
10:36The next second, he clamped his hand around my neck and slammed me against the wall.
10:40Suffocation hit me instantly.
10:42His eyes boiled with rage and unmasked hatred.
10:46When did you become this calculating?
10:48You'd sell your own child?
10:50Do you even have of a fucking heart?
10:54Was there ever a single shred of love between us, or was it always about the money?
10:59Love?
11:00Every bit of heart I had was ground into powder by his own hands during these eight years of humiliation.
11:05One gust of wind, and nothing remained.
11:07I ignored his explosion, staring fastly into his eyes.
11:11Love?
11:13Finally infuriated by my attitude, he hurled me onto the bed, tearing at my clothes regardless of my condition.
11:19It's yours!
11:20Damien!
11:21I'm pregnant!
11:22You can't!
11:24Struggling hard, I felt him hurl a signed check at my face.
11:27Fine.
11:28I'm buying the kid's life.
11:32He leaned in, his hot breath against my ear, every word piercing.
11:35Lose it or not, it's mine.
11:37Everything in this house is mine, including you.
11:46That night was a descent into hell.
11:50I woke up covered in bite marks and bruises.
11:53The pain between my legs made it almost impossible to stand.
11:58I dragged my shattered body to the hospital for an exam.
12:01The baby, it was still there, touching my still flat stomach.
12:06I felt a flicker of a bond for the first time.
12:10A few days later, Damien returned.
12:13I told him calmly.
12:14The baby's fine.
12:15I'll carry it to term.
12:16Your three million is accounted for.
12:20He froze, staring at my slightly bulging belly, lost in thought.
12:25Then, he violently smashed his whiskey glass onto the floor.
12:28The shattering crystal exploded with a deafening crack, shards flying everywhere.
12:32You cold bitch.
12:34He didn't even look at my feet as the glass punctured my skin.
12:39He simply turned and slammed the door.
12:44That night, I went to the mirror again, connecting with my past self.
12:49In the reflection, she shook her head, her voice broken.
12:54I don't want to spend the rest of my days like this.
12:57I don't want my baby born into this.
13:00Not into this.
13:03Listening to her repeated whispers, I suddenly felt that maybe
13:06everything could still change.
13:09Days after the three million was transferred, Luke asked to meet again.
13:13This time, he was sobbing, pounding his own head with his fists.
13:18Addy, I'm a piece of shit.
13:20Another million.
13:22I swear this is the last time-
13:24I stared at him blankly, unable to think of a single reason left to beg Damien.
13:29I waited for him to return, then stood before him.
13:33One more million.
13:35Name your terms.
13:36Damien shoved me aside and suddenly laughed.
13:39Tell me, what part of you is worth that much?
13:42Watching his back as the door slammed again, I knew he was done with me.
13:50But then Luke sent another video.
13:52Several men pinning him to the floor.
13:55A legal notice shoved against his face.
13:58A voice whispered in the footage.
14:01Sign it, or the indictment drops tomorrow.
14:07I had no choice but to call Damien over and over, pleading.
14:14Please, name your price.
14:17I'll do anything.
14:19Then, I spent the whole night listening to the sounds of him and Tori.
14:22Not a single word of response.
14:28At dawn, I rushed to Luke's.
14:32He had collapsed on the apartment floor, his face ash gray, his breathing shallow.
14:42He used the last of his strength to grab my hand.
14:45Hattie, I should have told you to run when I had the chance.
14:51I just found out the investment.
14:55It was all them.
14:59Eleanor.
15:00Every time, all of it.
15:02Even the documents that forced you into that marriage.
15:05I understood every word, yet combined they were a massacre.
15:09The Ashfords, all of it?
15:12Then what was the point of everything I endured for eight years?
15:22Let's go, let's go, let's go!
15:23I didn't even have time to process this crushing truth.
15:26The doctor informed me.
15:27Luke was in cardiac arrest due to prolonged high stress,
15:30multi-organ failure.
15:32He was dying.
15:33Beneath the despair was a new layer of hopelessness.
15:36Damien appeared, arm around Tori,
15:38who had accidentally strained her waist in bed last morning.
15:43Eight years of suppressed hatred finally exploded.
15:47Something in me snapped.
15:48I lunged at him like a maniac, grabbing his collar,
15:51my entire body trembling violently.
15:54It was you!
15:55Your family set him up!
15:57All of it!
15:58What the hell are you talking about?
16:00I wouldn't stoop that low.
16:03Pointed at Luke, hanging by a thread in the ER.
16:06Stop pretending, Damien.
16:07Is there anything you wouldn't do?
16:10You played us both.
16:12Are you happy now?
16:13Damien's face darkened completely, his gaze ice cold.
16:16Remember, Addie, you brought this on yourself.
16:19He jerked his chin at the nearby doctors.
16:21Get Dr. Williams and his best team to the VIP suite.
16:23Ms. Hartwell's back needs immediate attention.
16:25As for the rest, they aren't worth this hospital's resources.
16:29One by one, the staff withdrew from Luke's bedside,
16:32ignoring my screams and pleas.
16:35The surgical team was reassigned.
16:37The vital's monitor shrieked with a rapid, frantic alarm.
16:41Soon, Luke's body gave one final commotion before falling into a dead silence.
16:53I collapsed to the floor in a heap, watching Damien walk away with his arm around Tori.
16:59Damien Ashfeld, if I could start over, I would never choose this path again.
17:08Warm, thick liquid gushed out.
17:12Before losing consciousness, I struggled to crawl toward the mirror.
17:19The glass fogged. The connection was forged.
17:25I told my eight-year-old self,
17:28Leave him.
17:32I spoke with the hollow despair of the dying.
17:35We get to live again.
17:47Maybe from a shred of conscience, or remembering I lost my brother and baby,
17:51he returned home unusually early.
17:53As he opened the door, a strange emptiness hit him.
17:56He hadn't processed what was missing yet, when Mrs. Patson brought him a cup of coffee.
18:00He took a sip and spit it out immediately, his brow frontaled.
18:04This is wrong. Tell Addie to make it.
18:07Mrs. Patterson looked blank.
18:10Addie? Sir, who is Addie?
18:13Damien's chest tightened for light of Halwu Leo,
18:16to a gentia de Ranta Boucher. He snapped impatiently.
18:19My wife, Addie.
18:23Mrs. Packerson looked even more confused.
18:26Sir, when were you married?
18:28We have no record of a Mrs. Ashford.
18:34Damien found it utterly absurd and summoned the entire household staff.
18:38The answers were chillingly identical.
18:40Everyone shook their heads and bewildered me.
18:43Sir, we truly don't know anyone by that name.
18:49Damien's stomach dropped.
18:51He turned back to the bedroom.
18:54Above the headboard used to hang a portrait I begged to paint after our wedding.
18:59At the time, he claimed he had no interest in doing it.
19:03But he never moved.
19:04But in reality, he had sat perfectly still for hours as my model.
19:09Now, the wall was completely bare.
19:11Why did the entire house feel so hollow, just like his chest?
19:14There must be a logical explanation.
19:16Instantly, a thought hijacked his mind.
19:19Addie had just run away to throw a tantrum.
19:22Where could she go?
19:23Her brother is dead.
19:25The baby is gone.
19:27She has absolutely nothing.
19:31He grabbed his phone to confront me, only to find my contacts had vanished.
19:36As if I had never existed, uncontrollable panic suffocated him.
19:41Something was terribly wrong.
19:47Mother! Where is Addie? What did you do to her?
19:52Recognition finally hit Eleanor, followed instantly by her elitist disgust.
19:58You broke up eight years ago. Why drag her up now?
20:03Broke up?
20:04Like something from a fever dream, Damien's pupils constricted violently.
20:09What are you talking about? We've been married for eight years!
20:13Eleanor frowned, dismissing his outburst as a childish tantric.
20:18Married, I would never have let you marry that swamp girl.
20:22If she hadn't left on her own, I had other ways. I always do.
20:28Damien stiffened, lashing onto that one detail, and demanded with blind fury.
20:35What did you just say? The investment fraud. That was you?
20:38Eleanor was startled by his near-manic state, realizing she had let it slip.
20:43Yes. So what? You've been broken up for eight years. What does it matter now?
20:49The belated truth drained him. He staggered back. I was telling the truth.
20:54It was like the Asherds. His mother had really set my brother up. She made him play the victim.
21:02Torturing me for eight years. But before all of that, we had loved each other so purely.
21:08He was consumed by hate. Wasn't I?
21:12He was consumed by hate. Wasn't I?
21:16You played us both. Are you happy now?
21:20My horse cries. My despairing eyes. The blinding blood beneath him.
21:24Like a returning blade, they pierced his chest. His head nearly exploded. Unfamiliar
21:30meant fragments flooded in. We're done, Damien.
21:35Why? Tell me what I did wrong. I'll fix it.
21:39His head nearly exploded. Unfamiliar memories fragments.
21:43How can you be this cruel? Don't you love me anymore?
21:48It was eight agonizing years. Without me.
21:55Addie. No. It wasn't like this. Addie. Addie!
22:03The chaotic memories tore Damien apart. Clutching his head in agony, he collapsed.
22:10I opened my eyes again, and vivid memories flooded in. The raised porch. The moss-draped oaks.
22:20Seeing this familiar yet foreign buy-in, I knew my past self succeeded.
22:27She had truly rewritten our fate, one entirely without Damien Ashfield.
22:35As I was lost in thought, Ethan leaned down and pressed a kiss to my forehead.
22:41Addie. Time to get up for breakfast.
22:43This sudden intimacy startled me, but the surging memories instantly eased the awkwardness. The
22:49memories told me that eight years ago, I successfully prevented Luke from falling into Eleanor's financial
22:55trap again. Afterward, even though I chose to break up with Damien, I suffered through a long period of brutal
23:01withdrawal.
23:02Pain. Confusion. And a hollow ache in my chest in the dead of night. And Damien's relentless pursuit.
23:10Addie, what did I do wrong? I can change. Please don't do this.
23:16But I knew if I turned back, all that awaited us was repeating the same mistakes, the endless
23:20humiliation and despair of that future. I erased all his contacts. Did it hurt? Yes. I would still
23:28remember his bright eyes by the bayou, and his earnest profile when he promised to spend every New
23:33Year's Eve with me. But looking at my brother alive and well today, I knew my choice was right.
23:41I survived those agonizing days and nights, alone. Until I met Ethan Callowin. Ethan was a documentary
23:52photographer shooting in the bayou. He hired me as his local guide, and then became a regular. He never
24:01asked questions. Mist always lifts. So does the past.
24:12He was patient in a way I'd never known. When he later started pursuing me, I pulled away,
24:18terrified of repeating the past. He just smiled and said,
24:22That's okay. You don't have to change a thing for me.
24:27He relocated his city studio to a small town near the bayou.
24:34Knowing my love for this land, he even helped me open Fontenot Heritage Tours and Gallery.
24:42With steady patience and sincerity, he waited for me to step out of the shadows on my own.
24:50Recalling these fresh memories, my tears spilled.
24:56Babe, why are you crying?
24:59Startled, Ethan's face filled with concern.
25:02Was it my cooking? Be honest?
25:06Seeing his nervous, poupy look, I didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
25:11No. I just had a nightmare. A really, really long one.
25:17He exhaled in relief and pulled me into his embrace.
25:22I'll handle the client meeting. Stay home today.
25:28I was no longer the dependent Mrs. Ashvind waiting around at home for an allowance.
25:34I went to the office anyway. After all, I had woken up from the nightmare.
25:42But I never expected fate to have such a sick sense of humor.
25:52That so-called big client was none other than Damien Ashford.
25:58Honestly, I could barely tell if it had only been a few days since I last saw him,
26:03or if it had truly been eight years.
26:08The moment he saw me, he lunged forward, crushing me into his arms.
26:13His grip was suffocating.
26:16Addie, I finally found you. I…
26:20His relieved voice rang above my head.
26:23I froze in place.
26:27Before I'd react, Ethan stepped in and ripped him away.
26:30Take your hands off my wife.
26:33Now.
26:35Damien acted like he hadn't heard, or simply didn't care.
26:39He just stared fixically at me.
26:41She's my wife!
26:43Mine!
26:46He frantically tried to grab my hand again.
26:50Come home with me, Eddie.
26:52Please, come home.
26:59I knew Damien remembered everything from those eight years, just like I did.
27:06But since everything had started over, with a new life right in front of me,
27:10why dig up that unbearable past?
27:14I took a deep breath, meeting Damien's chaotic, manic gaze.
27:19My voice was dead calm.
27:21We ended eight years ago.
27:23You don't remember?
27:25The ecstasy, pleading, and agony on his face all turned to stone,
27:29leaving nothing but a hollow, blank stare.
27:32Addie, what are you talking about?
27:33He forced a smile that was more of a sob, his voice trembling.
27:37Are you misremembering?
27:38We didn't break up.
27:39We've been married for eight years.
27:41I'm sorry.
27:42I know I was a monster.
27:44I know I hurt you.
27:45He rambled incoherently, desperate to awaken something.
27:49Do you remember our first year of marriage,
27:50you secretly learning to make crawfish etouffee in the kitchen?
27:53And when my stomach acted up, you brewing me the herbal tea Grandmira taught you.
27:58He buried the unbearable memories, as if silence could erase the pain,
28:02completely ignoring Tidding that everything he listed was nothing but my one-in devotion to him,
28:06until his voice choked up, heavy with immense agony and remorse.
28:11That day your brother died.
28:12In the hospital.
28:14I…
28:15Right then, Luke walked in through the door.
28:18Seeing Luke alive, terror and a reality-shattering chaos flooded Damien's eyes.
28:23He haunted me, not like a ghost, but like something that refused to die.
28:28No longer manic, he became stubbornly profiscated.
28:31He cornered me, his voice Hosky.
28:33I can't tell what's real anymore.
28:35What's a dream and what actually happened.
28:37Images of you, eight years ago today.
28:41It's all bleeding together.
28:43Genuine agony on his face on his prized me.
28:45The Damien I knew only depised me.
28:47How could he look so broken?
28:50Finally, he spotted a painting in my gallery mirroring the portrait I once painted of him.
28:55He seized my wrist, his emotions flaring.
28:58You remember.
28:59You remember everything, don't you?
29:01I calmly pushed him away, putting space between us.
29:03Mr. Ashford, if this past you keep obsessing with is real,
29:07then tell me.
29:08What exactly did you do to me?
29:10And why would I leave?
29:12The question seemed to choke him.
29:14He couldn't utter a single word.
29:17After all, he had deliberately ignored and buried that bloody reality.
29:21How could he ever admit it out loud?
29:22After that day, Damien stopped hounsing me about whether I remembered.
29:26He slipped into the heritage tours I led and infiltrated the small town's Mardi Gras celebration.
29:31He'd rush to carry my guest's luggage or hand me a bottle of water mid-tour.
29:36When the bayou boardwalk grew slippery, he'd instinctively reach out to steady me.
29:41How pathetic.
29:43What was the point of this now?
29:44Did he think cheap devotion could erase the past and drag me back?
29:48No. Never again.
29:49I believed as long as I stood firm, our fate was permanently rewritten.
29:53Until that afternoon, pale as death, Luke resurrected my nightmare.
29:58Addie.
29:59I messed up.
30:00I...
30:01I think I've been trapped again.
30:04Five million.
30:06Ice flooded my veins.
30:07Fatalistic despair hit me.
30:09Dazed, I saw my pathetic past self begging again.
30:12I stumbled backward, only to fall into a warm, solid chest.
30:16Ethan was back from his trip.
30:19I'm here.
30:20I've got you.
30:21His warmth snapped me back.
30:23I was no longer the Addie who only knew how to cry and suffer in silence.
30:27So, when Damien cornered me at the gallery again, holding my old favorite,
30:31Café du Mondo Beno's, he said, eager to please.
30:34I've made up my mind.
30:35Whether you remember or not, I want to start over.
30:38With you.
30:38I didn't just knock the bag away.
30:43I slapped him.
30:46Damien Ashford, you disgust me.
30:49Instead of flying into a rage, Damien let his emotions flare.
30:53You hit me.
30:54You do remember.
30:54You remember everything.
30:56Near ecstasy flashed across his face, as if my slap wasn't disgust.
31:00Yes, I never forgot.
31:02Not a single thing you did to me.
31:06I wanted to run as far from you as possible.
31:09I took a step closer, staring into his suddenly, constricted pupils.
31:13But I couldn't escape you.
31:15While you were playing the devoted ex, your family was setting my brother up for five million
31:19again.
31:20How despicable can you be, Damien Ashford?
31:23The blood drained entirely from Damien's face.
31:26It wasn't me.
31:27I swear to God, it wasn't me.
31:29He shook his head frantically, rambling his defense.
31:33I just found out.
31:36It was my mother.
31:38It was all her.
31:39Trust me, we loved each other.
31:41I didn't want to become that.
31:44His voice choked, eyes full of genuine panic and chaos.
31:48But even if it really wasn't him, so what?
31:52The agony he caused.
31:53My unborn baby.
31:54It was all real.
31:55I looked at him again.
31:56His shoulders were shaking with sobs.
31:58This was probably the second time I had ever seen him cry.
32:01The first was in that vanished timeline.
32:04Leaving Louisiana and moving to Boston with him.
32:07Trust me, I'll never make you regret this.
32:10Those tears were scalding, pure, boily sincerity.
32:14But his tears now felt like a sick joke.
32:16Your distrust.
32:17Your cruelty.
32:18Did your mother hold a gun to your head for that too?
32:20Stop trying to absolve yourself, Damien.
32:23Your regret changes nothing.
32:25It's worthless to me now.
32:26But Damien wasn't even listening.
32:28He just kept repeating.
32:30It was her.
32:32It was her.
32:34After that day, I thought Damien would finally give up and vanish for good.
32:40Unexpectedly, a few days later, he half-dragged Eleanor right in front of me.
32:44Tell her!
32:45Tell her what you did!
32:47Damien's eyes were crazed, pressuring her hysterically.
32:50You set up the fraud!
32:52You trapped her brother!
32:54Twice!
32:55Terrified by Damien's near-psychoconic state, Eleanor's voice trembled.
33:00Yes, I did it eight years ago and I did it again last week.
33:04But that's all I did.
33:05I never killed anyone!
33:07Watching them tear each other apart, I knew that in this timeline, this was all she did.
33:11But in that vanished timeline, the hell I endured, Eleanor's hands were soaked in blood.
33:16I don't care!
33:17Damien glared at Eleanor, then looked pleadingly at me.
33:21Darting back and forth, he snapped.
33:23Get on your knees. Apologize to her.
33:26If you apologize, she'll forgive me. We can go back to how it was.
33:31Watching her son's madness, Eleanor finally broke down in tears.
33:35I was wrong, okay? Come home with me. I'll find you a doctor.
33:40Not to me! To her!
33:42With a violent roar, Damien yanked Eleanor's arm, forcing her down at my feet.
33:48Just then, Ethan stepped in. He subdued Damien from behind, pinning him to the ground with a swift chokehold.
33:54I called 911.
33:55The world instantly fell silent. In the fading twilight, only Eleanor's muffled sobs and approaching sirens.
34:02The next time I heard about Damien was a year later.
34:05At my prenatal checkup with Ethan, passing the psych ward, I overheard nurses whispering.
34:10The Ashford heir, apparently he attacked his own mother before they brought him in.
34:13She almost didn't make it. He keeps repeating some girl's name.
34:17Ethan squeezed my hand and asked softly,
34:20Do you want to go in?
34:21I shook my head. There was no need. Honestly, I wasn't surprised by Damien and Eleanor's fate,
34:27much less felt any satisfaction. Mostly, it was just a quiet sigh. This was supposed to be a clean
34:32break, a new start. Instead, he locked himself inside his own guilt. Later, I got a call.
34:41The hospital needed me to handle Damien Ashward's final arrangements.
34:45At first, I wanted to refuse, but the hospital informed me I was his only emergency contact.
34:51I gripped my phone, stunned for a long time. In the end, I went, in the morgue. He lay there.
34:58His face was peaceful, even showing a relieved sort of ease. I looked at him, unsure how to feel.
35:04The doctor handed me a USB drive with his ward surveillance footage, suggesting I watch it.
35:11In the footage, Damien sometimes whispered tenderly to the air.
35:15Addy, look. I drew this today. Does it look like that morning by the bio?
35:20Other times, he abruptly shattered. Kneeling before the freezing wall, he sobbed his confession.
35:27Addy, I was wrong. I'll cut my heart out and show you. Just look at me. Please, just look at
35:35me.
35:35Mostly, he curled in the corner, his nails gouging one name over and over into the plaster.
35:42Addy, more frantic, more twisted, like his last shreds of sanity splintering away.
35:48That day, he was unusually calm. He slowly stepped under the camera, staring endlessly as if piercing the screen to
35:56see me.
35:58Finally, he smiled, a clean smile, echoing the boyishness I remembered.
36:03He said,
36:05You've changed. You're not her anymore, not the Addy I remember. I'm going to find her, the real her. She's
36:12still out there somewhere.
36:13Then, he returned to his bed and lay down quietly.
36:19He never got up again.
36:24After watching the footage, my tears fell. Not for love, nor for the dead.
36:30But for two souls across parallel timelines, truly in love, yet doomed to ruin.
36:35For this absurd, brutal point of return.
36:38I cried for a long time, for everything, as a final farewell.
36:44Ethan stayed quietly by my side, saying nothing.
36:49He simply let his steady heartbeat tell me he was there.
36:53After settling Damien's final affairs, we walked out of the cemetery into perfect sunlight.
37:00Ethan's palm rested gently on my swollen, pregnant belly.
37:04Inside, a little life thrived, promising a brand new hope.
37:08I turned back one last time, glancing at Damien Ashford's tombstone.
37:14Then, gripping the hand of the man beside me, I walked step by step into a future that was ours
37:21alone.
37:21How toìì호
37:21I was trying to train a certain way of turning on.
37:22I was kind of freaked, git man with grandpa, step into a future domain?
37:23I physically got there right.
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