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