The Forgotten Mermaid is an emotional fantasy romance short drama filled with mermaids, forbidden love, hidden identities, betrayal, and redemption. A mermaid princess leaves the sea behind after falling in love with a human, sacrificing her voice, powers, and homeland for a chance at happiness. But when painful misunderstandings and betrayal tear them apart, she is left forgotten by the one person she trusted most.
Years later, destiny reunites them as ancient sea secrets, powerful enemies, and long-buried truths resurface. To protect both the ocean and the human world, she must embrace her true identity and decide whether to forgive the man who once broke her heart.
I couldn't verify an official production page or synopsis for a vertical short drama released under the exact title The Forgotten Mermaid. Current search results return unrelated mermaid films and TV series rather than an official listing for this specific short drama, so the description above is based on the title and common fantasy romance themes rather than a confirmed plot.
#TheForgottenMermaid #MermaidRomance #FantasyRomance #ForbiddenLove #MermaidPrincess #ShortDrama #ENGSUB #DramaSeries #FullEpisode
Years later, destiny reunites them as ancient sea secrets, powerful enemies, and long-buried truths resurface. To protect both the ocean and the human world, she must embrace her true identity and decide whether to forgive the man who once broke her heart.
I couldn't verify an official production page or synopsis for a vertical short drama released under the exact title The Forgotten Mermaid. Current search results return unrelated mermaid films and TV series rather than an official listing for this specific short drama, so the description above is based on the title and common fantasy romance themes rather than a confirmed plot.
#TheForgottenMermaid #MermaidRomance #FantasyRomance #ForbiddenLove #MermaidPrincess #ShortDrama #ENGSUB #DramaSeries #FullEpisode
Category
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Short filmTranscript
00:00Mermaids hide among humans, one iron law. Exposure means death.
00:05The clan sent me to make Morris Chadwick fall in love. I made him love me. I fell in love
00:10too.
00:11But the sudden car accident made him suffer from amnesia.
00:15Every December, Morris forgot who I am.
00:18Five years ago, a car crash, I protected my hands from the glass.
00:22Morris' amnesia began that same day.
00:25Who are you? Why are you in my house?
00:29I'd explain every time.
00:31I am your girlfriend!
00:33He never remembered. He'd lock me in the cold storage room, where for a mermaid the cold is suffocation.
00:39Ice seeps through my skin, pushing scales to the surface.
00:44Every breath feels like the ocean draining from my lungs.
00:47Blue scales shimmered on the backs of my hands, fighting to break through.
00:51I pressed my palms against the frozen floor and burned my mermaid essence to force them back down.
00:56The suppression tore through me like knives.
00:58But the iron law was absolute.
01:01Exposure meant extinction.
01:02So I paid the price in silence year after year.
01:06Then he'd smash my perfuming tools every bottle I'd blended with mermaid aura.
01:11Shattered on the floor, and I'd pick up the pieces and tell myself it was okay.
01:15He was sick.
01:16When the amnesia passed, he'd hold my cracked hands and whisper.
01:21I'm sorry. I didn't mean it.
01:24I believed him. Five years of this cycle.
01:27I never left, because I thought his illness was real and his tenderness was genuine.
01:32Then one night, I heard his voice through the half-open door. He was laughing.
01:37I pressed against the wall outside the study.
01:41Morris sat with his friends.
01:43How much longer are you going to keep up this act?
01:45Rachel's the only one who believes his fake amnesia.
01:48She's such an idiot.
01:50Every time, she kneels in the snow, begging us to help you remember.
01:56She really thinks you'll marry her.
02:01Laughter rolled through the room.
02:05You're going to pretend not to know her again next week, aren't you?
02:08How many years has it been now? Five.
02:11Morris's voice cut through the door, cold and sharp.
02:15During the car crash, to save her precious hands,
02:19Rachel let the glass slice through Lena's hands.
02:23She should burn in hell!
02:25Through the crack, I saw Jacqueline sitting next to him.
02:28The clan sent her to monitor me.
02:30Here, she called herself Lena.
02:33He reached over and gently fixed her hair.
02:36Gently held her bandaged hands.
02:38I'm going to make sure she suffers far worse than you ever did.
02:42For five years, I worried about him and gave him everything.
02:45The freezer.
02:46The scales.
02:47The destroyed tools were all just his way of punishing me.
02:50It wasn't amnesia.
02:51It was punishment.
02:52Then someone added.
02:54By the way, Maurice,
02:56you had someone switch Rachel's perfume sample at the competition.
03:00Put Lena's name on it instead, right?
03:04She deserves it.
03:06My formulas.
03:07Three months of testing until my hands bled.
03:10Jacqueline was the brand ambassador for Chadwick Perfumes.
03:13It took everyone for granted that she can make perfume,
03:15all stolen by one word from him.
03:19I sat on the floor for three days without eating or sleeping.
03:23I used to kneel in the snow, begging his friends to help him remember me.
03:28Because I thought he was lost.
03:29He was never lost.
03:31I was.
03:32Last year, after the perfume competition destroyed me.
03:35He held me through those terrible nights.
03:37He told me I was a born perfume genius.
03:40He said no matter what people said, he'd always believe in me.
03:43His kindness was just a trick.
03:45He built up my confidence just to break it completely.
03:50I went to the mermaid elder.
03:51I knelt on the stone floor of the coastal cave,
03:54where the sound of waves echoed from below.
03:58I want to erase everything.
04:01Every feeling, every memory of Maurice, all of it.
04:04The mermaid elder studied my face for a long time.
04:08Last month, you begged me for more time.
04:10You traded years of your life to stay with him.
04:12Now you want to erase him?
04:13The ritual takes five days.
04:15Once it's done, you won't feel anything about him anymore.
04:17No love, no hate, no grief, nothing.
04:20But the clan doesn't erase memories for personal reasons.
04:22Your mission isn't over.
04:23I grabbed his sleeve.
04:25Please.
04:27He pulled away.
04:29Then my phone rang.
04:32Ratch, your brother is in the O.R.
04:36I rushed to the hospital on the surface.
04:38It looks like a regular coastal clinic.
04:42But behind a hidden door on the second floor,
04:44there's a mermaid medical facility that no human knows about.
04:48Samuel shouldn't even be on land this long.
04:52The clan forced him to stay.
04:53They needed him to run errands in the human world.
04:56And when he almost exposed our secret, they made him stay as punishment.
05:01Now the land is killing him.
05:03Every day without seawater, his body decays a little more.
05:06The doctor met me at the IQ door.
05:09Samuel's degradation is accelerating.
05:11He's near death.
05:13His murd pipiology is breaking down.
05:15Samuel lay on the specialized pod, his skin pale, faint scale lines visible along his jaw.
05:21The mermaid-specific pod was the only thing keeping him stable, and it cost more than I could earn in
05:26a year.
05:27I walked to the payment desk and handed over every card I had.
05:31One by one, the cashier swiped them, insufficient, insufficient, insufficient.
05:36I begged her,
05:37Save my brother first.
05:39I just need to have a few days to get the money together.
05:42Morris sold my perfumes under Jacqueline's name.
05:45He must give me money.
05:47She looked at me with cold eyes.
05:49No money, no treatment.
05:53No, Samuel wouldn't survive another week.
05:56The people behind me grew impatient and called the security guard.
06:01Security dragged me out and shoved me onto the street.
06:08Then I heard a familiar voice behind me.
06:11Morris.
06:15I was sitting on the curb outside the clinic, freezing, when Morris walked up.
06:20He shrugged off his coat and wrapped it around my shoulders.
06:24What happened?
06:25Are you okay?
06:28He pulled me into his arms.
06:30He always showed up right when I was at my worst.
06:33He knew I depended on him.
06:35That's why I never left.
06:37I grew up alone in the sea with my brother.
06:39Now I was alone in the human world,
06:41hiding my identity every day.
06:43I needed someone to anchor me.
06:45Even after he locked me in the freezer.
06:47Even after he destroyed my hands.
06:49I still forgave him.
06:51Right now, I was so exhausted that for one second,
06:54I let myself be held.
06:58Maurice?
06:59Jacqueline's voice came from behind us.
07:04Morris let go of me immediately and stepped back,
07:07like I was something inconvenient.
07:09Jacqueline looked at the billing screen through the clinic window.
07:14Rachel, do you seriously not even have $3,000?
07:17Did you gamble away the monthly allowance Maurice gives you?
07:20Her voice was loud on purpose.
07:22People on the street turned to stare.
07:24So she's a kept woman.
07:26Gambling away her sugar daddy's cash while her brother's sick.
07:29Disgusting.
07:30Don't embarrass Lena.
07:32Morris didn't defend me.
07:34He leaned in and whispered a warning.
07:36Something inside me went quiet, not broken.
07:38Just done.
07:39$500,000.
07:41He stared at me and Shock Dot in five years together.
07:44I never asked him for a cent.
07:47Over five years, you took my perfume formulas,
07:50put Jacqueline's name on them,
07:51and sold them for way more than $500,000.
07:56You owe me.
08:00Over five years, you took my perfume formulas,
08:03put Jacqueline's name on them,
08:05and sold them for way more than $500,000.
08:08Morris stared at me like I had just spat on his shoes.
08:11Your formulas?
08:13You're nothing but a perfumer's assistant, Rachel.
08:16Nothing more.
08:17My formulas, the ones I had created by blending my mermaid aura with human spices.
08:22The only bridge between my world and this one.
08:25He had taken every single one and given them to Jacqueline.
08:29Jacqueline stepped forward with a smile that didn't reach her eyes.
08:32Rachel, I know you're struggling.
08:35Here.
08:36This should help with your brother's bills.
08:38She pulled out $4,000 in cash and held it out to me.
08:41As my fingers reached for the money,
08:43she tilted the cup in her other hand.
08:45Hot water poured directly onto my hand first.
08:47For a mermaid on land,
08:49human skin is only a thin layer of disguise.
08:51The heat sank deeper than it would on any human.
08:54I gasped and yanked my hand back.
08:56Blisters swelled instantly,
08:57the skin peeling back from the burn.
09:00Jacqueline dropped to the floor and screamed.
09:05Rachel!
09:06Pushed me!
09:07She pushed me!
09:08The cash scattered across the cold tile.
09:10Morris stepped between us.
09:12Is this how you act when you're begging for money, Rachel?
09:16I held up my blistered hand.
09:22She poured hot water on my hand first!
09:24Look!
09:24Morris cut me off before I could finish.
09:27Don't tell me Lena fell on purpose again.
09:33I lowered my hand.
09:34He would never believe me.
09:36The cash was still scattered across the floor,
09:39the money I needed to keep Samuel alive.
09:42I squatted down and started picking up the bills one by one.
09:46Morris' leather shoe came down hard on my hand.
09:49The blisters popped under his weight.
09:51Blood and clear fluid spread across the floor.
09:54The pain shot up my arm and into my spine.
09:56For a mermaid, hands are survival.
09:59Destroyed hands mean exposure.
10:01Exposure means death.
10:02Every time the cold cracked my skin,
10:05I had burned my own life force to keep the scales hidden.
10:08Now his shoe was doing the same damage from the outside.
10:11He pressed harder.
10:12Apologize to Lena.
10:14Kneel.
10:14I'm sorry, Miss Bray.
10:15I was wrong.
10:17I dropped to my knees on the cold tile floor.
10:19I turned my face up toward Morris,
10:21my voice flat and empty.
10:22Is that enough, Mr. Chadwick?
10:24He froze.
10:25His expression shifted, not anger.
10:27Something he couldn't name.
10:28He lifted his foot, pulled at his tie, and shoved the remaining cash into my arms.
10:35This is the last time, Rachel.
10:38Don't take your anger out on Lena again.
10:42I kept my eyes on the floor.
10:44There won't be a next time.
10:46And there really wouldn't be.
10:48That night, Morris called.
10:49He had contacted the coastal clinic and pulled every string he had.
10:53The full treatment cost would be covered.
10:55The payment would process by tomorrow afternoon.
10:59Samuel had a chance.
11:02The next day, I sat beside Samuel's bed in the clinic.
11:06His breathing was shallow.
11:08The monitors beeped in a rhythm only our kind understood.
11:12The treatment was supposed to start at noon.
11:15Morris' payment had to clear first.
11:17Noon came.
11:18No payment.
11:19I checked my phone.
11:20Nothing.
11:21Nothing.
11:21Nothing.
11:25The nurse came in and shook her head.
11:27Without the funds, they couldn't begin.
11:32Samuel's hand twitched in mine.
11:34His pulse was slowing.
11:35If he died on land, clan protocol was absolute.
11:39Destroy the remains.
11:40Leave nothing human eyes could find.
11:44I called Morris.
11:46No answer.
11:47I called again.
11:48And again.
11:51On my 99th try, someone finally picked up.
11:55His assistant.
11:56Ms. Heaton.
11:57Mr. Chadwick can't talk right now.
11:59Ms. Brain is upset.
12:01She went to the roof.
12:03Jacqueline.
12:05She had been faking damaged hands for five years.
12:08And now she was on a rooftop threatening to jump.
12:10Morris was with her instead of sending the money that would save my brother.
12:14The payment deadline was 30 minutes away.
12:17I kissed Samuel's forehead and ran.
12:21I burst through the rooftop door and the wind hit me like a wall.
12:24Morris stood near the edge, one arm around Jacqueline.
12:27She was draped over the railing, fake sobbing into the wind.
12:31I didn't look at either of them.
12:32I ran straight for Morris.
12:35The payment!
12:36You promised!
12:37Samuel is dying!
12:39Two bodyguards grabbed me and shoved me onto the concrete.
12:44He grabbed my hair and yanked my head back.
12:47Everyone is blaming her for the clinic.
12:48Calling her a liar.
12:50A manipulator.
12:51She can't bear it.
12:52She's threatened to jump.
12:53You need to record a video right now.
12:55Tell everyone you were the one who ruined her life.
12:58I stared at him.
13:00Tell them what?
13:01That I protected her from the glass and you two blamed me for it?
13:04He slapped me.
13:07You're still refusing to admit it, Rachel.
13:11If Lina doesn't come down from that rail, you don't get the payment.
13:15No payment means no treatment for Samuel.
13:19He was holding Samuel's life hostage for Jacqueline's tantrum.
13:23Samuel was still lying in that clinic, dying by the second.
13:27I opened my IG livestream and screamed the lie he wanted.
13:31It was me!
13:33It was me!
13:33I was cruel!
13:34I'm the reason Jacqueline's hands were damaged!
13:37It's all my fault!
13:41Jacqueline kept fake crying while Morris coaxed her down from the railing.
13:48I stayed on my knees, the wind cutting through me.
13:51The payment authorization form was still in the assistant's hands, unsigned.
13:5830 minutes had passed.
14:00The mermaid clan had already ordered the destruction of Samuel's remains.
14:04Jacqueline's delay gave them time to execute.
14:07I snatched the consent form from the assistant's hand and ran back to the hospital.
14:17The hallway stretched forever.
14:19A white-sheeted gurney at the end.
14:23The doctor looked at me.
14:26Missed the window by 10 minutes.
14:28Samuel didn't make it.
14:30He died because two forces struck at the same time.
14:33Jacqueline's delay.
14:34The clan's destruction order.
14:36My legs gave out.
14:38I fell to my knees on the cold tile floor.
14:40I cried silently.
14:42Right then, my phone buzzed.
14:44A location pin for a high-end restaurant.
14:52Then Morris called.
14:56Rachel, the payment went through.
14:58Samuel will be fine.
14:59He didn't know.
15:00He had been on that rooftop with Jacqueline the whole time.
15:03The payment cleared, but the treatment window had already closed.
15:07I didn't correct him.
15:08I couldn't form the words.
15:10Samuel was dead, and this man was talking about designer dresses.
15:14He paused.
15:15Lena is emotionally unstable.
15:17I couldn't just leave her on that roof.
15:20I'll pay for whatever Samuel needs.
15:22You know that.
15:22His voice shifted back to that familiar, arrogant tone.
15:26You got the designer dress, right?
15:27Wear it tomorrow night.
15:28Meet me at the Glass Conservatory.
15:29I have something important to tell you.
15:32I knew exactly what he was doing.
15:34Tomorrow would be the fifth time he faked getting his memory back.
15:37The fifth time he would confess love like it was real.
15:40Those first few times, I had cried tears of joy.
15:43I had thought it meant he finally loved me back.
15:46But it was always a staged scene.
15:48He would cry, blame his illness, and I would stay.
15:52I had even fallen deeply in love with him.
15:54The kindness and cruelty and alternation had made me dependent on him.
15:58I swallowed hard.
16:00The game is over, Morris.
16:01I don't want your money anymore.
16:03And I don't want you.
16:05The next day, I didn't go.
16:07I threw the expensive dress in the dumpster.
16:12I went to the clan and demanded Samuel's body back for a proper farewell.
16:16The elder agreed, but only on one condition.
16:19The cremation must happen within 24 hours.
16:24I was at the funeral home handling the cremation paperwork when Morris' assistant arrived with two men.
16:35They grabbed my arms and forced me into a waiting car.
16:39Mr. Chadwick has been waiting for you.
16:41You can't just give up now.
16:43He went all out for the proposal this time.
16:46You've been through this for years.
16:47You can't walk away.
16:51The glass conservatory was full of white roses.
16:56The smell hit me before I even stepped inside.
16:58For a mermaid, the olfactory system is hypersensitive.
17:02White roses were worse than any human allergy.
17:06Every breath was a sharp sting behind my eyes.
17:09A wave of nausea rolling through my skull.
17:12I had been dragged through this exact setup for times before.
17:15Those first few times, I had cried tears of joy.
17:19Now the rose smell made me sick.
17:21Morris stood in the center, wearing the same tailored black suit.
17:25He recited the same confession he had used every time before.
17:28I raised my hand and swatted the jewelry box away.
17:32The diamond ring flew across the room and hit the marble floor.
17:38The loving look on his face disappeared.
17:44Rach, you don't want to marry me?
17:46Just then, his assistant rushed over in panic, holding a tablet.
17:52He glanced at the screen and quickly tried to hide it against his chest.
17:57I pushed past Morris and grabbed the tablet.
18:00It was the funeral home where Samuel's body was being held.
18:09A crowd had broken into the main hall and was live-streaming the whole thing.
18:16After the rooftop confession went viral, Jacqueline had been stoking the outrage for days.
18:22She told her followers Samuel helped Rachel plan the crash that destroyed her hands.
18:27That the Heaton siblings tried to murder her for her perfume empire.
18:30She posted the funeral home's address, called it Justice.
18:34Her followers showed up with cameras.
18:37The mob came for revenge.
18:39They thought they were avenging an innocent woman and punishing a criminal who escaped Justice by dying.
18:48I stumbled out of the greenhouse and flagged down a taxi.
18:52In the back seat, I sent messages in the live chat over and over.
18:56Please stop.
18:58Don't touch him.
19:00Nobody read them.
19:03The leader sneered right into the camera.
19:06Rachel, admit what you did to Lena.
19:09Someone like you deserves to watch your brother's remains get destroyed.
19:13A loud crash came through the speaker.
19:16They smashed the cremation container, ash and fragments scattered across the floor.
19:21Dirty water from a broken pipe mixed with the debris.
19:24People stepped on it, grounded into the concrete.
19:28Then I saw it, a scale fragment, still glistening with the last trace of mermaid essence.
19:33It flickered once, twice, then faded to gray.
19:37Samuel's scale, the last proof he was one of us.
19:40Trampled by humans who had no idea what they were destroying.
19:43I opened my mouth to scream but no sound came out.
19:48My phone buzzed out it was the mermaid elder.
19:51Rachel your time is up.
19:53The mission has failed.
19:54We will now perform the memory wipe ritual.
19:57I didn't argue.
19:59There was nothing left to argue about.
20:02Samuel was dead.
20:03His remains were trampled into concrete by humans who hunted our kind.
20:07My hands were destroyed.
20:09My mission had failed.
20:10The man I loved for five years had been lying from the start.
20:15I walked to the coastal cave where the elder waited.
20:18The elder stood at the water's edge, her silver hair streaming in the wind.
20:24Once this is done, it cannot be undone.
20:28You will lose every emotion and memory tied to Maurice Chadrick.
20:31You will remember the mission.
20:33You will remember the facts.
20:36But you will feel nothing.
20:37I closed my eyes.
20:40Do it.
20:42The elder placed her hand on my forehead.
20:44Blue light flowed from her palm.
20:46It moved through my skull like water through stone.
20:49Images rose and shattered one by one.
20:51Maurice wrapping his coat around my shoulders in the freezing wind.
20:55Gone.
20:55His hand gripping my hair on a rooftop while I screamed a lie.
21:01Gone.
21:02His leather shoe crushing my hand until the blisters popped and bled.
21:06Gone.
21:07Five years of love and pain gone.
21:09Like bubbles breaking on the surface of still water, I opened my eyes.
21:14The cave was dark.
21:16The tide was coming in.
21:17The elder was gone.
21:19I felt nothing, no sadness.
21:21No anger.
21:22No love.
21:23I walked out of the cave and into the morning light.
21:26The mission had failed.
21:28A new one would begin soon.
21:34Maurice had meant to go after me.
21:36He was standing by the door when his phone rang.
21:39It was Jacqueline.
21:42She was crying again, complaining about a splitting headache and the online harassment.
21:47He hesitated.
21:48Then he put down his keys and headed to her apartment instead.
21:54Jacqueline clung to him the moment he walked in.
21:56He couldn't pry himself away and ended up sleeping on her couch.
22:00The next day at noon, a message popped up in his private group chat.
22:04Maurice, are we starting the fifth fake amnesia routine?
22:07He stared at the screen, his finger hovering over the keyboard.
22:12Jacqueline shifted beside him, wrapping an arm around his.
22:18Keeping his face blank, he typed a single word in reply.
22:23Yes.
22:25After freshening up, he ordered his bodyguards to lock Rachel in the Sub-Zero cold storage.
22:30Just like he had done the last four times.
22:33Only this time, annoying anxiety built in his chest.
22:37He found himself staring at the cold storage door.
22:40He remembered the way my hands shook after each session.
22:43The way I still smiled at him the next morning.
22:49He couldn't sit still.
22:51Two hours later, his bodyguard called.
22:56Mr. Chadwick, Ms. Heaton is missing.
23:03Morris frowned.
23:05A living person doesn't just vanish.
23:07Where else would she go besides the hospital?
23:10He flashed back to the tablet footage from last night.
23:13They destroyed her brother's remains at the funeral home.
23:16Didn't leave a trace.
23:19Morris knocked over his black coffee.
23:21He thought it was just a stunt.
23:23Never thought they'd destroy everything.
23:27Where is Rachel?
23:29We checked the funeral home and her apartment.
23:32No sign of her.
23:33Find her.
23:35Tear the city apart if you have to.
23:37He hung up.
23:40Jacqueline walked up and wrapped her arms around him from behind.
23:47Maurice.
23:48Rachel probably just left.
23:50If she wants to go, let her go.
23:52She was sick of playing the victim.
23:54She had noticed Morris' gaze on me shifting from disgust to desire.
23:58She had to end this now.
24:01Back in the clan, she was always the second choice.
24:05I was the one sent to capture Morris' heart.
24:08Jacqueline was only sent to watch.
24:11In the human world, she had tasted power, wealth, and devotion.
24:18She was not going back to being nobody's first pick.
24:21The clan's mission meant nothing to her anymore.
24:24Morris was her ticket to staying on land forever, and I was the only thing standing in her way.
24:30Morris went quiet.
24:31She made sense.
24:33But a sharp, suffocating tightness in his chest made it hard to breathe.
24:37In the end, he canceled the search.
24:44Life went back to normal.
24:46He took Jacqueline to evening galas and helped her pick out dresses.
24:49She was a mermaid manipulating him, and he had no idea.
24:52The same way I had once hidden my true nature from him.
24:56Only Jacqueline's manipulation was all calculation, no heart.
25:03A month later, a thunderstorm rolled through the city.
25:08Jacqueline showed up at his apartment, claiming the storm terrified her.
25:12The vibe shifted.
25:13She stood on her tiptoes, closed her eyes, and went in for a kiss.
25:17Morris jerked his head away on instinct and pushed her back.
25:22He knew she was crossing a line.
25:24He'd known about her feelings and played dumb, figuring it was harmless if unspoken.
25:29But right then, a wave of intense irritation washed over him.
25:33His body was rejecting something.
25:35He didn't understand what.
25:37Looking down at Jacqueline's tears, he laid it out cold.
25:40I only see you as my sister.
25:43Ignoring her shocked expression and the tears spilling over her cheeks,
25:47he grabbed his carcass and bolted out the door.
25:51He drove without thinking.
25:53By the time he snapped out of his haze, he was parked outside an abandoned villa.
26:00The basement, the perfumery he had torn apart.
26:04The exact same room where he used to lock me up to punish me whenever he was faking his memory
26:09loss.
26:10His hand wrapped around the rusty doorknob.
26:12That severe, tight ache hit his chest again.
26:16It took everything he had just to shove the heavy door open.
26:21A blast of stale dust hit him, laced with my faint, familiar scent.
26:26His composure shattered.
26:27The cramped room was still packed with my things.
26:30Perfume formulas plastered the walls.
26:33Smashed beakers and glass droppers littered the corner.
26:36Mixed in with inexpensive little gifts I had given him over the years.
26:40For the first time, it actually hit him.
26:42My entire universe for the last five years had revolved around him.
26:46Then he saw it, uh, the hand-knit navy blue cashmere scarf.
26:50He had demanded rare mountain cashmere just to be cruel.
26:53I had dragged myself through the snow to get the materials,
26:57ending up with frostbite so bad I almost needed an amputation.
27:00He had tossed that scarf into the dog's bed.
27:04Morris' eyes burned, quickly filling with tears.
27:08Then he saw an unopened bottle of custom-blended perfume.
27:11The label was written in my neat, careful handwriting.
27:15Till you marry me.
27:17I had worked myself to the bone formulating it,
27:21planning to give it out at our wedding.
27:22He had dumped it down the drain in front of a crowd just to humiliate me.
27:26I had forced a smile and said,
27:28I'll wait for the day you're willing to marry me.
27:32But he had never intended to marry me.
27:35The memory of that smile made his knees buckle.
27:40He leaned against the freezing concrete wall and slid down to the floor.
27:44His hands were shaking so badly he could barely light a cigarette.
27:47The small red glow illuminated the tears streaming down his face.
27:53But he had locked me in a freezer,
27:55destroyed my career, used my brother's treatment as leverage.
28:00Let strangers trample his remains.
28:04Every item in this room was a confession.
28:07None of it made sense anymore.
28:08The revenge, the five years.
28:11All of it crumbled.
28:13A jagged gasp tore from his throat.
28:15He stumbled to his feet, knocking over the box of my things.
28:21The basement door was heavy, just like it had been every time he locked me inside.
28:28He pulled himself up.
28:30He had to find me.
28:31He pulled out his phone to call the number he still knew by heart.
28:34Then a notification from his group chat flashed across the screen.
28:38Morris, it's over.
28:39I checked the hallway security footage.
28:42Rachel heard everything we said in the private room about you faking your amnesia.
28:46His hands stopped mid-dial.
28:50He tapped the video attachment.
28:52There was me, standing just outside the heavy door.
28:56My face was pale.
28:58The thermos slipped from my grip and shattered against the floor.
29:01I slapped a hand over my mouth, spun on the heel, and ran in absolute despair.
29:06The cherry of his burning cigarette broke off and landed on the back of his hand, scorching the skin.
29:12He didn't flinch jot, then his foot clipped an old box on the floor.
29:16Inside sat a semi-transparent scale and a small sea crystal.
29:21He picked up the scale.
29:22It was cold and moist against his fingers, like it had just been pulled from the ocean.
29:27The surface shimmered with a faint blue light that pulsed once and faded.
29:33His hand went still.
29:34This was not a human thing.
29:37His mind raced.
29:41Her unnatural talent for perfumes, the way she always seemed to carry the ocean in her scent.
29:47She was not human, she was a mermaid.
29:53The weight of it crushed him.
29:55Morris buried his face in his hands.
29:58For all those years, I hid what I was and stayed by his side, while he locked me in that
30:03basement and used the cold to break me.
30:06His family had always been in marine industries.
30:11He had heard the stories about mermaids.
30:16He just never thought they were real.
30:18Never thought one was standing right beside him.
30:21The deeper things he would never understand.
30:26But the one thing he knew now was this cold was not just cold for us.
30:30It was agony.
30:33A raw, guttural wail ripped from his throat.
30:41His agonizing cries echoed off the concrete walls of the empty basement.
30:45No one heard him.
30:47The regret had come way too late.
30:51One year later.
30:55Rachel.
30:56The mermaid elder's face appeared on my screen.
30:59Brodicton Marston is clearly attached to you.
31:02Keep up the good work.
31:03I smiled, waving a perfume testing strip in the air to let it dry.
31:08I jotted down cedarwood essential oil in the final column of my formula sheet.
31:12The very last ingredient.
31:15This capture emission will be over soon.
31:18Just then, a rough, trembling voice called out from behind me.
31:24Ratch.
31:26I turned around.
31:28A tall man reeking of stale tobacco yanked me into a crushing hug.
31:32It really is you.
31:33I looked everywhere for you.
31:35A whole year.
31:36His hands clamped down on my waist with an aggressive, desperate strength.
31:40I frowned and shoved him back.
31:42I gave him a flat, impassive, one sober.
31:45His face stirred absolutely no emotion in me.
31:48Who are you?
31:49He went completely rigid, utter disbelief washing over his eyes.
31:54Ratch, what's wrong?
31:55It's me, Maurice.
31:57The elder texted me again.
31:59Rachel, this is your previous capture target, Morris Chadwick.
32:02So this was the scumbag who had manipulated me, nearly got me killed, and let people trample
32:07on Samuel's remains.
32:12The elder had already provided me with a text summary of my past mission to prevent me from
32:16being manipulated again.
32:19I knew every detail of his five years of abuse.
32:22Keeping my face entirely deadpan, I casually brushed off the spots on my clothes where he
32:28had touched me and took a huge step back.
32:31Excuse me, but I don't know you at all.
32:34Please step aside, or I will call security.
32:39Morris's eyes welled up as if he were the victim.
32:43Rish, I know you hate me.
32:44I know you're a mermaid.
32:46And I know you didn't stay with me by choice.
32:50I was wrong to fake my amnesia and torment you.
32:53But my feelings are real.
32:54I love you.
32:56Don't punish me by pretending you've lost your memory.
33:00Even without emotions, I recognized the absurdity.
33:04You treat someone like garbage for five years then get teary-eyed and claim you love her?
33:08The psych horde is down the hall on your left.
33:11Get out.
33:14Morris's face went pale.
33:16Cause I once shivered in the snow to warm his hands now looked at him with open hostility.
33:21He reached out to touch my face.
33:23I grabbed a glass dropper and pointed it at his throat.
33:27Morris stumbled back.
33:28He forced a tight smile.
33:31It's okay.
33:32I'll win you back.
33:33Make up for everything.
33:34You changed your number.
33:36Can I have the new one?
33:38He pulled out his phone.
33:42I was about to tell him to leave when I saw a tall guy walking toward the glass doors.
33:47I smiled, took his phone, and started tapping in numbers.
33:51Before I could finish, a large hand reached over and slapped it out of my grip.
33:55The phone hit the floor with a sharp crack, and the screen totally shattered.
33:59Morris's temper flared up instantly.
34:02You looking for a fight?
34:04Broderick didn't even look at him.
34:06He just glared straight at me.
34:10Rachel, yesterday you told me you liked my scent best, and today you're giving your number to another guy?
34:15Where's your professional integrity?
34:19I laughed at how obviously annoyed he was.
34:22I mean, I appreciate your talent for making perfumes, but that doesn't mean I can't humor a salesman.
34:29I tilted my head, looking right into Broderick's striking eyes.
34:33Besides, Mr. Marfley, what gives you the right to tell me what to do?
34:37Broderick's face flushed red, but he was way too stubborn to admit that he liked me.
34:42I don't care.
34:44I'm your lead investor, and I say no.
34:47He pulled me behind him, shifting into fiercely protective mode as he glared at Morris.
34:53Hey, old man.
34:54Aren't you a little too old to be harassing women?
34:57Don't you have any shame?
34:59I'll have my legal team sue you into bankruptcy.
35:02Morris's voice was ice cold.
35:04I was talking to my future wife.
35:06Broderick laughed out loud.
35:09She wouldn't even give you her number.
35:11Are you stupid or just delusional?
35:13I reached under the counter and pulled out a small jar of custom-blended rosin.
35:17I held it out to Broderick.
35:19Here, I made this for you.
35:25He took it, his eyes lighting up like a kid on Christmas morning.
35:29Morris's lips were trembling.
35:33You used to say you'd never make perfume for anyone else.
35:38Broderick raised an eyebrow and wrapped his arm around my waist.
35:42She used to have terrible taste.
35:44She's my perfumer now.
35:47She makes whatever she wants, for whoever she wants.
35:50I only care about making her successful and letting the world experience her work.
35:55Something stirred inside me.
35:57A faint ripple in the emptiness where emotions used to be.
36:01Broderick guided me toward the exit.
36:03Morris grabbed his arm.
36:06Let go of her!
36:08Broderick yanked his arm free in disgust.
36:15He pulled out a checkbook, wrote an enormous figure, and threw it in Morris's face.
36:21That covers the phone.
36:23Use the rest to book a psych appointment.
36:25Morris's fist clenched.
36:27Purple spots appeared on his face.
36:29He clutched his chest and collapsed.
36:31Broderick rolled his eyes.
36:33Heart problems and he still wants to fight?
36:36He called an ambulance, then turned to me.
36:42Do you have any sanitizing wipes?
36:44I touched a trash person and I feel dirty.
36:47That night, I went home to the small rented room where Samuel used to sleep.
36:51I sat on the edge of his bed and stared at the empty space.
36:55The elder texted me.
37:01Rachel, there's something I need to tell you about Samuel.
37:05I went still.
37:07What about him?
37:09The night he was declared dead, I moved him before the clinic could process the paperwork.
37:13I had my people report his death to follow Klan protocol, but I preserved his consciousness.
37:18His body is in a medical pod at a secure location.
37:22He has been alive this whole year at Rachel.
37:26My hands started shaking.
37:28What?
37:29The clan ordered the destruction of his remains because he was too close to exposure.
37:34I followed the order on the surface, but I couldn't let him die.
37:37I helped you fake the cremation.
37:39What Jacqueline's followers destroyed at the funeral home was a decoy container.
37:43The scale fragment you saw in the debris was placed there to make the remains look authentic.
37:49I couldn't breathe thought.
37:51Samuel was alive.
37:52My brother was alive.
37:53I had grieved for a year over a decoy.
37:56Why didn't you tell me sooner?
37:58His condition was too fragile.
37:59I needed to be sure he could recover before giving you hope.
38:02I won't deny it.
38:03I felt pity for you.
38:04Even though it broke Klan law, I didn't want you to lose everything.
38:08Thanks.
38:10Can I see him?
38:11My voice broke.
38:13Soon, he's getting stronger every day.
38:16I pressed my palms against my face and cried.
38:19For the first time since the memory wipe, I felt something real.
38:25Morris started showing up outside my apartment building every day.
38:29He canceled international meetings and conferences.
38:33He stood in the freezing wind for hours, holding bouquets of white roses.
38:38I threw every single one in the trash.
38:42The smell made my head pound and my stomach turned.
38:45For a mermaid with hypersensitive olfaction, white roses were a slow, grinding headache that
38:51wouldn't stop.
38:52Morris had known I was a mermaid since he found my scale.
38:55But he still didn't know roses were poison to my kind.
38:59He just kept sending them day after day.
39:03One night, he stood in the ice wind for a full 12 hours.
39:08I watched from the window as frost formed on his coat.
39:11He didn't leave.
39:14The elder texted me.
39:16Broderick Marbury is at the edge.
39:18One more push and the mission reaches full completion.
39:22The next morning, a sports car engine roared outside my building.
39:26I opened the window.
39:29Morris looked up, his face lighting up with desperate hope.
39:33Rash, you finally looked at me.
39:35Five years was too cruel.
39:37As long as you come back, I'll do anything for the rest of my life.
39:40He was soaked from the ice rain, shouting into the wind.
39:43I really need you!
39:46Broderick stepped out from behind his car.
39:49You say you need her, but you don't even know why white roses trigger her allergy?
39:53Morris went pale.
39:55Broderick held an umbrella in one hand and a cup of hot cocoa in the other.
39:59He pulled out the backup door card I had given him and walked straight into the building lobby.
40:11Morris could only stand in the rain, watching.
40:13He had no right to follow.
40:15That evening, after dinner, Morris' hoarse voice came from the street below.
40:25Rach, please come down and see me one last time.
40:29I dried my hands and headed for the door.
40:32Broderick's face went dark.
40:34His knuckles whitened around his coffee cup.
40:38I'm going down.
40:39I reached for the door handle.
40:42Broderick suddenly pushed me against the door.
40:44He lowered his head and bit down hard on my collarbone.
40:49Don't you dare go soft on him.
40:51Do you hear me?
40:52His voice was rough and possessive.
40:55He had smelled Morris' lingering scent on me.
40:58Another man's scent on my skin.
41:00His jaw tightened.
41:01His instinct reacted like his territory had been invaded.
41:06I pushed him off and opened the door.
41:09The ice wind hit me first, then the rain.
41:13Morris rushed toward me from across the street.
41:16In his hand, he held a bottle of perfume.
41:20Till you marry me.
41:24Morris' voice was forced and broken.
41:26Rash, please!
41:27Just see me this one last time!
41:31He held up the bottle.
41:37You spent three months making this perfume.
41:39You said you'd use it at our wedding.
41:41How could you forget?
41:43The bottle was the one thing I had left behind in the basement.
41:47He must have kept it all this time.
41:49I looked at the bottle, then at his rain-soaked face.
41:52My expression didn't change.
41:55I didn't forget.
41:56I just don't care anymore.
41:58Morris' arm dropped to his side.
42:02Rash, come home with me.
42:04Tomorrow we'll get the marriage certificate.
42:06I'll transfer all my shares to you.
42:08I took a cold step back.
42:11Maurice, I'm only going to say this once.
42:14We are completely done.
42:15I raised my right hand.
42:17The frostbite scars from five years in the freezer were still there.
42:20White, puckered lines across my knuckles and fingertips.
42:24These scars are because you locked me in a freezer.
42:28For a mermaid, ice is suffocation.
42:30Every time you put me in there, I was dying from the inside out.
42:35My hands will never precisely extract another drop of essence again.
42:39Every winter, I burned years of my lifespan to force the scales back under my skin.
42:44You never even noticed.
42:45You destroyed everything I had.
42:49Morris looked like he had been punched in the chest.
42:51Tears mixed with rain on his face.
42:55Is there really no chance to start over?
42:58None.
43:01I pulled my sleeve over my scarred hand.
43:07You let people trample on Samuel's remains.
43:10You think a little warmth erases everything?
43:13Morris swayed like a man who had just been hollowed out.
43:18Then let me hold you one last time.
43:21Just once.
43:22I took one step closer to him.
43:24I lowered my voice so only he could hear.
43:27You lied to me for five years, Maurice.
43:32Now it's my turn to use you to boost Brockett's affection.
43:35Thanks for cooperating.
43:38His face crumpled off before he could respond.
43:41The apartment door opened behind me.
43:44Broderick stepped out under an umbrella.
43:47Morris's eyes went wide.
43:49The shock and pain on his face swallowed his last shred of hope.
43:54Broderick pulled me under the umbrella and kissed me hard in the pouring rain.
44:00Rachel, you're mine.
44:03I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him back.
44:07My phone buzzed.
44:08The elder texted me.
44:09I looked into it.
44:10Broderick Marbury filed a prenup request with his family.
44:13You're the one named on it.
44:15Rachel, you are no longer a failed operative.
44:18You are a mermaid who completed her mission.
44:20Right then, another notification popped up.
44:24Samuel had regained consciousness.
44:26He was awake.
44:29From that night on, Morris fell apart.
44:32He stopped going to work.
44:33He drank from morning to night.
44:40Social media called him a pathetic loser.
44:47Jacqueline moved in.
44:48She was a mermaid who had betrayed the clan.
44:54She was no longer permitted to return to the sea.
44:57She could only cling to Morris and live in hiding.
45:04She cooked his meals, poured his drinks, and held him when he cried.
45:14A month later, Jacqueline announced she was pregnant.
45:22To protect the Chadwick family reputation, Morris married her without a single feeling in his heart.
45:33The wedding was grand and hollow.
45:35He signed the papers with a blank expression.
45:40She smiled like she had won everything.
45:42And for a while, it looked like she had.
45:48But the truth has a way of catching up.
45:51Three months into the marriage, Morris hired a private investigator.
45:55The investigator found the child she was carrying belonged to another wealthy man.
46:02Morris sat in his study.
46:04Staring at the investigator's report, his mind went blank.
46:07Jacqueline lied to him too.
46:14He dragged Jacqueline to the basement of the old villa.
46:17The same cold storage room where he had locked me for five years.
46:23He tied her to the chair and turned the temperature dial to maximum.
46:30The cold hit her like a wall.
46:32Then the cold did what it always did to our kind.
46:35Blue scales shimmered on the backs of her hands, pushing through her skin.
46:40She thrashed against the ropes, and her bandages unraveled.
46:44The hands beneath were perfect, unscarred.
46:47Fully intact.
46:48Morris stared at the scales, then at her hands.
46:51A mermaid, hands never damaged.
46:54Five years of revenge built on a lie.
46:57Maurice, please!
46:59She held up her perfect hands, scales pushing through her fingers.
47:03Our hands keep the scales hidden!
47:05Without them I'll be exposed!
47:07I'll die!
47:08He went completely still.
47:11Our hands kept the scales hidden.
47:13Our hands kept us alive on land.
47:15And he had crushed mine under his shoe.
47:17He had destroyed me for nothing.
47:19He had locked me in this exact room and made me burn years of my life to survive what he
47:23was doing to her right now.
47:25Jacqueline's eyes went wide with terror.
47:30Maurice!
47:31Please!
47:32I'm pregnant!
47:33He looked at her with dead eyes.
47:34The child isn't mine.
47:39He wrapped his hands around her throat and squeezed until she stopped moving.
47:45Then he poured the industrial chemicals stored in the corner across the floor.
47:51He lit a match and dropped it.
47:53The fire spread fast.
47:55He sat down on the floor and watched the flames climb the walls.
47:58He didn't try to leave.
48:00The last thing he saw was the blue shimmer of a mermaid scale fragment on the concrete.
48:05Then the fire took everything.
48:08The news the next day reported a suspicious fire at an abandoned villa.
48:12Two bodies found.
48:14No survivors, New York's biggest scandal.
48:18The clan moved quickly.
48:20Any trace of mermaid biology in the ashes was quietly removed.
48:24The clan's iron law held.
48:26No human would ever know what had really burned in that basement.
48:35Six months later in Paris, the top floor of the Polydillo perfumery.
48:39I stood behind my display table, adjusting the final row of bottles.
48:44The label on each one was rebirth.
48:49The scent was my mermaid aura fused with human spices at their purest.
48:53Every note carried the ocean.
48:55Every breath told a story of survival.
49:01Critics called it the most extraordinary perfume of the decade.
49:05They didn't know the half of it.
49:12The exhibition hall was packed at buyers, journalists, competitors.
49:17They all leaned in when they passed my booth, drawn by something they couldn't name.
49:22My mermaid aura blended into every bottle.
49:26The crowd parted, Broderick walked up, his hands in his pockets, grinning like he owned the place.
49:33You made them all cry, didn't you?
49:36Three buyers already called me to negotiate exclusive rights.
49:43I told them the perfumer decides, not the investor.
49:48He stepped behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist.
49:54He pulled a small velvet box from his jacket and opened it, a custom diamond ring.
50:02Mrs. Marbury, Samuel just called.
50:05He wants us back for dinner.
50:10I looked at the bottle labeled and rebirth and on the display.
50:15Then I leaned back against Broderick's chest.
50:18Okay, let's go home.
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