I Stopped Loving Him Eight Years Ago - FULL | Reelshort
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00:028 years ago, I followed Damien Ashfield from the Louisiana Bayou to his Boston mansion,
00:08blinded by love. He repaid me with betrayal, humiliation, and a mistress in our bed. His
00:15mother 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
00:378 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.
00:51She 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
01:06roughly 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.
01:57Where did you find this wife of yours? She's so generous. I didn't give her the reaction she wanted.
02:05Entangled, they stumbled upstairs, shedding clothes all the way.
02:08Just a routine, erotic show in this cold, Beacon Hill townhouse.
02:13I couldn't even be bothered to look up anymore.
02:16The noisy TV New Year's countdown made me drownsy.
02:20I was almost asleep on the sofa when my phone screen lit up.
02:24A text from Damien. Just three words.
02:29Go buy it.
02:30Attached was a photo of lube.
02:34And still, I said nothing.
02:37On New Year's Eve, Boston's back bay was deserted, with few adult stores open.
02:43Back from a freezing half-hour walk, I overheard two maids whispering.
02:48Poor Addie. Eight years here, and she's treated worse than the help.
02:52Well, she played dirty to get that ring.
02:54Mr. Ashburn keeping her around is pure charity.
02:56Memories yanked me back to the past.
02:58During his college spring break in Louisiana, we met and fell in love.
03:01It was pure and fierce as the gulf wind before a storm.
03:04Warm, reckless, impossible to hold.
03:06I left everything behind and followed him to Boston.
03:09But his mother, Eleanor, violently objected, calling me swamp trash.
03:14Damien held my hand tightly back then.
03:16Don't worry. I'll handle my mother.
03:20Later, my brother Luke in New Orleans, who always avoided risks, was suddenly pulled into a massive financial scam.
03:25Cornered, he blindly signed papers from a shadowy middleman.
03:28Those papers made him the perfect fall guy for a federal money laundering indictment.
03:32Eleanor offered a deal, marry Damien, and the federal charges would be dropped.
03:35I already loved Damien, so why would I even need terms?
03:38Naturally, I agreed.
03:40I thought we were just moving the date up.
03:42I didn't know Eleanor had fed him forged texts and bank records involving me and Luke.
03:47She made him think I only wanted his money.
03:49Even on our rushed wedding night, I was still burning with passion, thinking I'd finally found my happy ending.
03:54But once he was done, his tender look turned to pure, icy disgust.
03:59He threw a check at me.
04:01You own me. Never forget that.
04:04Our 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.
04:17Or my lawyers reopen your brother's case, and he never sees daylight again.
04:22Luke was out of reach.
04:25This debt was permanently chained to me.
04:28Damien yanked the door open, his chest covered in glaring red marks.
04:32Took you long enough.
04:33He snatched the bag, its stick edge scraping my cheek with a slight sting.
04:37She's too tight. Couldn't wait.
04:40In my peripheral vision, a stark naked figure on the bed.
04:43My stomach lurched violently.
04:45Vial rose in my throat. I turned to flee.
04:47Want to stay and join?
04:49But from behind, his tone was amused.
04:51Unable 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?
05:02She cried, still in disbelief.
05:04He said it was only me. He promised.
05:08Without 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.
05:23When I woke up on New Year's Day, the woman from last night was already gone, but a pair
05:29of lace panties was left on the sofa.
05:31Damien followed my gaze, suddenly wrapping his arms around my waist and pulling me close.
05:36What? Jealous?
05:36He lowered his head to kiss me, but I intentively turned my face away.
05:41The rare glint of tenrous in his eyes indently morphed into a sneer.
05:45There it is again, that dead-eyed look.
05:48The only time you ever came alive was when you crawl into my bed to save your brother's
05:52ass.
05:54His words pierced me, shame flooding my veins.
05:59He shoved me away coldly.
06:01Enough.
06:02We have to go to Cape Cod today for my mother's New Year's brunch.
06:06His mother, the last person I wanted to face.
06:10For 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.
06:19She 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
06:28years ago.
06:29Eleanor patted Tori's hand, her eyes gleaming with undisguised satisfaction.
06:34Sweetheart, 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.
06:43But 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.
06:56Right 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.
07:20Absolutely not.
07:21Seeing me hesitate to pick up my silverware, Eleanor finally turned her gaze to me, dripping with disgust.
07:26Adeline, eat.
07:28Stop being so dramatic.
07:30You married into this family.
07:31We 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.
07:47It's not pork.
07:48It's mushroom.
07:49Try it.
07:50I didn't doubt him.
07:51I took a bite.
07:52But the moment my teeth sank, Tori's vicious laughter shattered the silence.
07:57Killed on Krynze's The Great.
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.
09:01But now?
09:02The me across the mirror was even more despairing than I am now.
09:06This isn't...
09:07This isn't what I wanted.
09:08She cried herself horsky, repeating over and over.
09:13It hurts.
09:15God, it hurts.
09:17Did 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, I 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.
09:56In 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.
10:09How 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?
10:30My 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 miscalculating?
10:48You'd sell your own child?
10:50Do you even have of a fucking heart?
10:55Was 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.
11:16He 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.
11:38Everything 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.
11:54The pain between my legs made it almost impossible to stand.
11:58I dragged my shattered body to the hospital for an exam.
12:02The baby, it was still there, touching my still flat stomach.
12:07I felt a flicker of a bond for the first time.
12:11A few days later, Damien returned.
12:13I told him calmly,
12:14The baby's fine.
12:15I'll carry it to term.
12:17Your 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.
12:38Then, he 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 everything could still change.
13:08Days after the three million was transferred, Luke asked to meet again.
13:13This time, he was sobbing, pounding his own head with his fists.
13:18Daddy, 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.
13:30I waited for him to return, then stood before him.
13:33One more million.
13:35Name your terms.
13:37Damien shoved me aside and suddenly laughed.
13:39Tell me, what part of you is worth that much?
13:43Watching his back as the door slammed again, I knew he was done with me.
13:50But then Luke sent another video.
13:53Several 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.
14:12Please.
14:15Name your price.
14:17I'll do anything.
14:18Then, I spent the whole night listening to the sounds of him and Tori.
14:23Not a single word of response.
14:28At dawn, I rushed to Luke's.
14:33He had collapsed on the apartment floor.
14:35His face ash gray.
14:36His breathing shallow.
14:42He used the last of his strength to grab my hand.
14:45Hattie.
14:47I should have told you to run when I had the chance.
14:51I just found out.
14:53The investment.
14:56It was all them.
14:59Eleanor.
15:00Every time.
15:01All 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.
15:11All 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.
15:28Luke was in cardiac arrest due to prolonged high stress.
15:31Multi-organ failure.
15:32He was dying.
15:33Beneath the despair was a new layer of hopelessness.
15:36Damien appeared, arm around Tori, who had accidentally strained her waist in bed last morning.
15:44Eight years of suppressed hatred finally exploded.
15:47Something in me snapped.
15:48I lunged at him like a maniac, grabbing his collar, my 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, Addy?
16:17You 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.
16:24Miss 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, ignoring my screams and pleas.
16:34The surgical team was reassigned.
16:37The vitals 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's walk away with his arm around Tori.
17:00Damien's ash-frailed.
17:02If 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.
17:21The 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.
17:38She bit her lip until it bled, finally nodding.
17:42Okay.
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.
18:06Tell Addie to make it.
18:08Mrs. Patterson looked blank.
18:10Addie?
18:11Sir, who is Addie?
18:13Damien's chest tightened for light of Hallwoolio,
18:16to a gentilterantaboucher.
18:18He 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.
18:41Everyone shook their heads and bewilder 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.
19:17Instantly, a thought hijacked his mind.
19:19Addie had just run away to throw a tantrum.
19:22Where could she go?
19:24Her brother is dead.
19:26The baby is gone.
19:27She has absolutely nothing.
19:31He grabbed his phone to confront me,
19:33only to find my contacts had vanished.
19:36As if I had never existed.
19:39Uncontrollable panic suffocated him.
19:41Something was terribly wrong.
19:47Mother, where is Addie?
19:49What did you do to her?
19:52Recognition finally hit Eleanor,
19:54followed instantly by her elitid disgust.
19:59You broke up eight years ago.
20:01Why drag her up now?
20:04Broke up?
20:05Like something from a fever dream,
20:07Damien's pupils constricted violently.
20:10What are you talking about?
20:11We'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.
20:27I always do.
20:28Damien stiffened, lashing onto that one detail,
20:32and demanded with blind fury.
20:35What did you just say?
20:36The investment fraud.
20:38That was you?
20:38Eleanor was startled by his near-manic state,
20:41realizing she had let it slip.
20:43Yes, so what?
20:45You've been broken up for eight years.
20:47What does it matter now?
20:49The belated truth drained him.
20:51He staggered back.
20:52I was telling the truth.
20:55It was the Asherds.
20:56His mother had really set my brother up.
20:58She made him play the victim,
21:02torturing me for eight years.
21:03But before all of that,
21:05we had loved each other so purely.
21:09He was consumed by hate.
21:11Wasn't I?
21:13He was consumed by hate.
21:15Wasn't I?
21:17You played us both.
21:18Are you happy now?
21:20My horse cries.
21:21My despairing eyes.
21:23The blinding blood beneath.
21:24Like a returning blade.
21:26They pierced his chest.
21:27His head nearly exploded.
21:29Unfamiliar men fragments flooded in.
21:33We're done, Damien.
21:35Why?
21:37Tell me what I did wrong.
21:39I'll fix it.
21:39His head nearly exploded.
21:41Unfamiliar memories fragments.
21:43How can you be this cruel?
21:47Don't you love me anymore?
21:49It was eight agonizing years.
21:52Without me.
21:55Addy.
21:56No.
21:58It wasn't like this.
22:00Addy.
22:01Addy!
22:03The chaotic memories tore Damien apart.
22:07Clutching his head in agony,
22:08he collapsed.
22:11I opened my eyes again,
22:13and vivid memories flooded in.
22:15The raised porch.
22:17The moss-draped oaks.
22:20Seeing this familiar yet foreign buy-in,
22:23I knew my past self succeeded.
22:27She had truly rewritten our fate,
22:31one entirely without Damien Ashfield.
22:36As I was lost in thought,
22:38Ethan leaned down and pressed a kiss to my forehead.
22:41Addy.
22:42Time to get up for breakfast.
22:43This sudden intimacy startled me,
22:46but the surging memories instantly eased the awkwardness.
22:49The memories told me that eight years ago,
22:51I successfully prevented Luke from falling into Eleanor's financial trap again.
22:56Afterward, even though I chose to break up with Damien,
22:59I suffered through a long period of brutal withdrawal,
23:02pain, confusion,
23:03and a hollow ache in my chest in the dead of night,
23:07and Damien's relentless pursuit.
23:10Addy, what did I do wrong?
23:13I can change.
23:15Please don't do this.
23:16But I knew if I turned back,
23:17all that awaited us was repeating the same mistakes,
23:20the endless humiliation and despair of that future.
23:23I erased all his contacts.
23:25Did it hurt?
23:26Yes, I would still remember his bright eyes by the bayou,
23:30and his earnest profile when he promised to spend every New Year's Eve with me.
23:35But looking at my brother alive and well today,
23:38I knew my choice was right.
23:41I survived those agonizing days and nights alone.
23:48Until I met Ethan Callowin.
23:51Ethan was a documentary photographer shooting in the bayou.
23:56He hired me as his local guide,
23:58and then became a regular.
24:01He never asked questions.
24:05Mist always lifts.
24:07So does the past.
24:12He was patient in a way I'd never known.
24:14When he later started pursuing me,
24:17I pulled away, terrified of repeating the past.
24:20He just smiled and said,
24:23That's okay.
24:24You 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,
24:36he even helped me open
24:38Fontenot Heritage Tours and Gallery.
24:42With steady patience and sincerity,
24:45he 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?
25:04Be honest?
25:06Seeing his nervous,
25:08palpy look,
25:09I didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
25:11No.
25:13I just had a nightmare.
25:15A really, really long one.
25:18He exhaled in relief and pulled me into his embrace.
25:22I'll handle the client meeting.
25:24Stay home today.
25:29I was no longer the dependent Mrs. Ashvind
25:31waiting around at home for an allowance.
25:34I went to the office anyway.
25:36After all,
25:37I had woken up from the nightmare.
25:43But I never expected fate to have such a sick sense of humor.
25:52That so-called big client
25:54was none other than Damien Ashford.
25:58Honestly,
25:59I could barely tell if it had only been a few days
26:02since I last saw him,
26:03or if it had truly been eight years.
26:08The moment he saw me,
26:10he lunged forward,
26:11crushing me into his arms.
26:13His grip was suffocating.
26:16Addie,
26:17I finally found you.
26:19I...
26:20His relieved voice rang above my head.
26:24I froze in place.
26:27Before I'd react,
26:28Ethan stepped in and ripped him away.
26:30Take your hands off my wife.
26:33Now.
26:35Damien acted like he hadn't heard,
26:37or 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.
26:53Come home.
27:00I knew Damien remembered everything
27:02from those eight years,
27:03just like I did.
27:06But since everything had started over,
27:08with a new life right in front of me,
27:11why dig up that unbearable past?
27:14I took a deep breath,
27:16meeting 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,
27:27and agony on his face
27:28all turned to stone,
27:30leaving nothing but a hollow, blank stare.
27:32Addie, what are you talking about?
27:34He forced a smile that was more of a sob,
27:36his voice trembling.
27:38Are you misremembering?
27:39We 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,
27:47desperate to awaken something.
27:49Do you remember?
27:49Our first year of marriage,
27:50you secretly learning to make
27:52crawfish etouffee in the kitchen?
27:53And when my stomach acted up,
27:55you brewing me the herbal tea
27:56Grandmira taught you.
27:58He buried the unbearable memories,
28:00as if silence could erase the pain,
28:02completely ignoring Tidding
28:03that everything he listed
28:04was nothing but my one-in devotion to him,
28:06until his voice choked up,
28:08heavy with immense agony and remorse.
28:11That day your brother died,
28:12in the hospital.
28:14I...
28:15Right then,
28:16Luke walked in through the door.
28:18Seeing Luke alive,
28:19terror and a reality-shattering chaos
28:21flooded Damien's eyes.
28:23He haunted me,
28:24not like a ghost,
28:25but like something that refused to die.
28:28No longer manic,
28:29he became stubbornly befiscated.
28:31He cornered me,
28:32his voice Hosky.
28:33I can't tell what's real anymore.
28:35What's a dream and what actually happened.
28:37Images of you.
28:39Eight years ago, today.
28:41It's all bleeding together.
28:43Genuine agony on his face on his prized me.
28:46The Damien I knew only depised me.
28:48How could he look so broken?
28:50Finally,
28:51he spotted a painting in my gallery
28:53mirroring the portrait I once painted of him.
28:55He seized my wrist,
28:57his emotions flaring.
28:58You remember.
28:59You remember everything, don't you?
29:01I calmly pushed him away,
29:02putting space between us.
29:04Mr. Ashford,
29:04if 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,
29:18he had deliberately ignored and buried that bloody reality.
29:21How could he ever admit it out loud?
29:23After that day,
29:24Damien stopped hounsing me about whether I remembered.
29:27He slipped into the heritage tours I led
29:29and infiltrated the small town's Mardi Gras celebration.
29:32He'd rush to carry my guest's luggage
29:33or hand me a bottle of water mid-tour.
29:36When the bayou boardwalk grew slippery,
29:39he'd instinctively reach out to steady me.
29:42How pathetic.
29:43What was the point of this now?
29:44Did he think cheap devotion could erase the past
29:47and drag me back?
29:48No.
29:48Never again.
29:50I believed as long as I stood firm,
29:52our fate was permanently rewritten.
29:54Until that afternoon,
29:55pale as death,
29:56Luke resurrected my nightmare.
29:58Addie,
29:59I messed up.
30:00I,
30:02I think I've been trapped again.
30:04Five million.
30:06Ice flooded my veins.
30:08Fatalistic despair hit me.
30:09Dazed,
30:10I saw my pathetic past self begging again.
30:12I stumbled backward,
30:14only to fall into a warm,
30:16solid chest.
30:17Ethan 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
30:24who only knew how to cry and suffer in silence.
30:27So,
30:28when Damien cornered me at the gallery again,
30:30holding my old favorite,
30:31Cafe du Mondo Benos,
30:33he said,
30:33eager to please.
30:34I've made up my mind.
30:35Whether you remember or not,
30:37I want to start over.
30:38With you.
30:39I didn't just knock the bag away.
30:43I slapped him.
30:46Damien Ashford,
30:47you disgust me.
30:49Instead of flying into a rage,
30:51Damien let his emotions flare.
30:53You hit me.
30:54You do remember.
30:55You remember everything.
30:56Near ecstasy flashed across his face,
30:58as if my slap wasn't disgust.
31:00Yes.
31:01I 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,
31:11staring into his suddenly constricted pupils.
31:13But I couldn't escape you.
31:15While you were playing the devoted ex,
31:17your family was setting my brother up
31:18for five million again.
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,
31:28it wasn't me.
31:29He shook his head frantically,
31:31rambling 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...
31:43that.
31:44His voice choked,
31:46eyes full of genuine panic and chaos.
31:49But even if it really wasn't him,
31:51so 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.
32:08I'll never make you regret this.
32:10Those tears were scalding.
32:12Pure, boyly sincerity.
32:14But his tears now felt like a sick joke.
32:17Your distrust.
32:18Your cruelty.
32:18Did your mother hold a gun to your head for that too?
32:20Stop trying to absolve yourself, Damien.
32:23The 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.
32:33It was her.
32:35After that day,
32:36I thought Damien would finally give up
32:38and vanish for good.
32:40Unexpectedly,
32:41a few days later,
32:42he half-dragged Eleanor right in front of me.
32:44Tell her!
32:45Tell her what you did!
32:47Damien's eyes were crazed,
32:49pressuring her hysterically.
32:51You set up the fraud!
32:53You trapped her brother!
32:54Twice!
32:55Terrified by Damien's near-psychoconic state,
32:58Eleanor's voice trembled.
33:00Yes,
33:00I did it eight years ago
33:02and 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,
33:08I knew that in this timeline,
33:10this was all she did.
33:11But in that vanished timeline,
33:13the hell I endured.
33:14Eleanor's hands were soaked in blood.
33:16I don't care!
33:17Damien glared at Eleanor,
33:19then looked pleadingly at me.
33:21Darting back and forth,
33:22he snapped.
33:23Get on your knees!
33:24Apologize to her!
33:26If you apologize,
33:27she'll forgive me.
33:28We can go back to how it was.
33:31Watching her son's madness,
33:33Eleanor finally broke down in tears.
33:35I was wrong, okay?
33:37Come home with me.
33:38I'll find you a doctor!
33:40Not to me!
33:41To her!
33:42With a violent roar,
33:44Damien yanked Eleanor's arm,
33:46forcing her down at my feet.
33:48Just then,
33:49Ethan stepped in.
33:50He subdued Damien from behind,
33:51pinning him to the ground
33:52with a swift chokehold.
33:54I called 911.
33:55The world instantly fell silent.
33:57In the fading twilight,
33:59only Eleanor's muffled sobs
34:01and approaching sirens.
34:02The next time I heard about Damien
34:04was a year later.
34:05At my prenatal checkup with Ethan,
34:07passing the psych ward,
34:08I overheard nurses whispering.
34:10The Ashford heir,
34:11apparently he attacked his own mother
34:12before they brought him in.
34:13She almost didn't make it.
34:15He keeps repeating some girl's name.
34:17Ethan squeezed my hand
34:19and asked softly,
34:20Do you want to go in?
34:21I shook my head.
34:23There was no need.
34:24Honestly,
34:24I wasn't surprised by Damien
34:26and Eleanor's fate,
34:27much less felt any satisfaction.
34:29Mostly,
34:29it was just a quiet sigh.
34:31This was supposed to be
34:32a clean break,
34:33a new start.
34:34Instead,
34:34he locked himself
34:36inside his own guilt.
34:37Later,
34:38I got a call.
34:41The hospital needed me
34:42to handle Damien Ashward's
34:44final arrangements.
34:45At first,
34:46I wanted to refuse,
34:47but the hospital informed me
34:49I was his only emergency contact.
34:51I gripped my phone,
34:53stunned for a long time.
34:54In the end,
34:55I went,
34:56in the morgue.
34:57He lay there.
34:58His face was peaceful,
34:59even showing a relieved
35:01sort of ease.
35:02I looked at him,
35:04unsure how to feel.
35:05The doctor handed me
35:06a USB drive
35:07with his ward surveillance footage,
35:09suggesting I watch it.
35:11In the footage,
35:12Damien sometimes whispered
35:14tenderly to the air.
35:15Addy,
35:16look.
35:16I drew this today.
35:18Does it look like
35:19that morning by the bio?
35:20Other times,
35:21he abruptly shattered.
35:23Kneeling before the freezing wall,
35:25he sobbed his confession.
35:27Addy,
35:28I was wrong.
35:30I'll cut my heart out
35:31and show you.
35:32Just look at me.
35:34Please,
35:34just look at me.
35:35Mostly,
35:36he curled in the corner,
35:37his nails gouging one name
35:38over and over
35:39into the plaster.
35:41Addy,
35:42more frantic,
35:44more twisted,
35:45like his last shreds
35:46of sanity
35:47splintering away.
35:48That day,
35:49he was unusually calm.
35:51He slowly stepped
35:53under the camera,
35:54staring endlessly
35:55as if piercing the screen
35:56to see me.
35:58Finally,
35:58he smiled,
35:59a clean smile,
36:01echoing the boyishness
36:02I remembered.
36:03He said,
36:05you've changed.
36:07You're not her anymore,
36:08not the Addy I remember.
36:10I'm going to find her,
36:11the real her.
36:12She's still out there somewhere.
36:14Then,
36:14he returned to his bed
36:15and lay down quietly.
36:19He never got up again.
36:24After watching the footage,
36:26my tears fell.
36:27Not for love,
36:28nor for the dead,
36:30but for two souls
36:31across parallel timelines,
36:33truly in love,
36:34yet doomed to ruin,
36:35for this absurd,
36:37brutal point of return.
36:38I cried for a long time,
36:40for everything,
36:42as a final farewell.
36:44Ethan stayed quietly by my side,
36:47saying nothing.
36:49He simply let his steady heartbeat
36:51tell me he was there.
36:53After settling Damien's final affairs,
36:55we walked out of the cemetery
36:57into perfect sunlight.
37:00Ethan's palm rested gently
37:01on my swollen pregnant belly.
37:04Inside,
37:05a little life thrived,
37:06promising a brand new hope.
37:08I turned back one last time,
37:11glancing at Damien Ashford's tombstone.
37:15Then,
37:15gripping the hand of the man beside me,
37:18I walked step by step
37:20into a future that was ours alone.
37:22and along the espace
37:22believe in where he was born.
37:22You should take another path of night.
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