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OceanicOdyssey
  • 7 hours ago
Their Kiss Cam Betrayal
Transcript
00:00Our Jessica always says the luckiest thing in her life was meeting you.
00:05She always says meeting you changed her life.
00:08Yes, she says you're better to her than a real sister.
00:11We're truly grateful.
00:12They went on and on, hinting that our families should grow closer.
00:15Chad's parents weren't about to be outdone.
00:16They pushed in and grabbed my other hand.
00:18Emily, don't listen to them.
00:20Our Chad is the one who truly loves you.
00:22He's been waiting for that marketing director position for so long.
00:25Thanks to you and your father for making this happen.
00:27Dad Richard stood behind me.
00:29He placed a hand on my shoulder and held me gently.
00:31Could feel the warmth and strength in his palm.
00:33Could also feel the fury he was holding back.
00:35So was I.
00:36Took a deep breath and walked to Jessica's door.
00:38First, I called her phone.
00:40Her voice was sleepy and cautious.
00:42Hello?
00:43Emily?
00:44It's late.
00:45What's up?
00:45Nothing important.
00:47I just wanted to ask if you're home alone.
00:49I need to talk to you about something.
00:54Jessica was wide awake now.
00:56Her voice turned panicked.
00:57I'm home alone, but I'm already in bed.
00:59Emily, can we talk tomorrow?
01:00I'm really tired.
01:01She was still lying.
01:02The fear and guilt in her voice were impossible to miss.
01:05Okay.
01:06Get some sleep.
01:07Without hesitating, I called Chad.
01:09Asked him the exact same question.
01:10Honey, are you home alone?
01:11I need to talk to you about something.
01:14Yeah, I'm home alone.
01:15Lots of work.
01:16Just finished.
01:17He paused, probably realizing he sounded too tense.
01:19Then he added jokingly,
01:20What's up?
01:21You miss me?
01:24If it weren't so late, I'd fly to you right now.
01:27How ridiculous.
01:28He was lying in another woman's bed, telling me sweet nothings without missing a beat.
01:32I smiled to myself and hung up.
01:34In that moment, the crowd behind me went completely silent.
01:37Jessica's parents.
01:38Chad's parents.
01:39All of them sensed something was off.
01:41Their expressions shifted from excitement and anticipation to nervous confusion.
01:45Emily, what's going on? So you call us all here for... to give you a surprise.
01:52Then, under their horrified gaze, I pulled out the spare key Jessica had once forced into my hand.
01:57You're my best friend. I believe in you.
02:04I pushed the door open and flipped the light switch.
02:07The harsh light flooded the room.
02:09Jessica and Chad were tangled together, naked, sleeping soundly.
02:12The black nightgown I helped her pick out was tossed on the floor.
02:16His pants and shirt were scattered beside it.
02:18The air smelled of sex, mixed with perfume, sickening.
02:21But in that moment, I felt no pain.
02:23After being crushed by betrayal, all that was left was a cold, satisfying rush.
02:28Jessica was the first to react.
02:29She blinked groggily and let out a soft moan.
02:31Then she saw me standing at the foot of the bed.
02:33That moan turned into a piercing scream.
02:36She grabbed the blanket like a frightened animal and hit against Chad.
02:39Chad woke up, frowning and about to snap.
02:41And he turned and saw me.
02:42Emily?
02:43He shoved Jessica away instinctively, like she was something dirty.
02:47He froze.
02:47The entire room went dead silent.
02:49I looked at the two of them, panicked, humiliated, pathetic.
02:53The corner of my mouth curled up.
02:56Surprise.
03:00Jessica and Chad's faces went white as two sheets of paper.
03:04Ah, you shameless bitch!
03:06Jessica's mother let out a shriek.
03:08She lunged like a mad lioness and started swinging her.
03:11I'll kill you!
03:12You've disgraced our entire family.
03:14How dare you?
03:15Emily has been so good to you and to our family.
03:18Any man in the world and you choose hers?
03:21Jessica's father was purple with rage, shaking uncontrollably.
03:24He pointed at his daughter and couldn't even speak.
03:27He finally forced out one word.
03:29Disgrace!
03:29On the other side, Chad's parents finally snapped at him.
03:33They didn't scold their son.
03:34Instead, they ran straight to me.
03:36Emily, this is all a misunderstanding.
03:38Chad's mother grabbed him and forced his head down, making him kneel.
03:42You bastard!
03:43Neil!
03:43Beg your wife to forgive you!
03:45Chad realized he was finished.
03:47It was her!
03:49Jessica seduced me!
03:50I didn't mean for this to happen.
03:51I was just confused!
03:52As he spoke, he slapped himself twice.
03:54Honey, I made a mistake.
03:56A mistake any man could make.
03:58I swear I'll never do it again.
03:59Please forgive me.
04:00Just this once.
04:02Chad couldn't have started this.
04:04Someone must have seduced him.
04:05Chad's mother wasn't done.
04:06She turned and spat in Jessica's direction.
04:09Slut!
04:11Homewrecker!
04:11Look at yourself in the mirror before you go after our Chad!
04:15That was the spark.
04:16Jessica's father exploded,
04:18stepped forward, and slapped Jessica across the face with everything he had.
04:26You've disgraced me completely.
04:29Jessica held her face.
04:31Then she stared at her face like she'd just heard the funniest joke in the world.
04:36Laughing, crying, tears streaming.
04:38She looked up at her father with hateful, insane eyes.
04:42Now you want to parent me?
04:43Now you're embarrassed?
04:45When you two divorced over your affairs and threw me away like garbage!
04:51Did you think about parenting me then?
04:56Voice was sharp and desperate, and she looked around the room at every single person.
05:05Finally, her eyes landed on me.
05:07She threw off the blanket, completely naked, and screamed,
05:11Fine! I'm cheap!
05:13I love stealing other women's men!
05:16Chad and his parents stared at her like she was insane,
05:19and Jessica herself kept laughing crazily.
05:22Then my voice came out.
05:24Jessica, did you really think no one loved you?
05:28Jessica's smirk froze on her face.
05:33She turned her head slowly and met and looked at her.
05:36At this face I had known for 20 years.
05:38All the memories I had buried came rushing out like a flood.
05:41Seven years old, you had just transferred to our school.
05:44The boys made fun of your Texas accent, pushed you down.
05:47You sat on the ground and cried.
05:49Who was it that ran at them, chased them all away?
05:51Who pounded her chest and told you, I'll protect you?
05:5313 years old, you were insecure about your acne.
05:57The mean girls cornered you in the bathroom and tried to force you to drink mop water.
06:01Who got your call and ran without a second thought?
06:04Grabbing a mop and running from the third floor to the first.
06:07Tell me who risked getting expelled herself to save you?
06:10Spoke slowly, very slowly.
06:12You know it, it was always me.
06:19The room was quiet, just my choked voice and Jessica's rapid sobs.
06:23Tears were falling like broken beads.
06:25Looked at her and kept going.
06:27High school, your parents were divorcing.
06:30Neither of them wanted you.
06:32You lived on $20 a month.
06:35You ate two slices of toast a day just to save money,
06:38soon dropping from 135 pounds to 80 pounds.
06:42Who got your call when you said you couldn't keep studying?
06:46Who snuck out of her dorm and ran home, kneeling in front of her parents for two hours,
06:50begging them to pay for your school?
06:52And my wedding.
06:53You wore the bridesmaid dress we picked out together.
06:55You cried harder than I did.
06:57Everyone was reaching for the bouquet,
06:58but I walked through the crowd and handed it to you.
07:04You screamed in my ear that day.
07:06You wished me happiness forever.
07:09Was that a lie too?
07:16Jessica finally broke down.
07:18No, no, I meant it then.
07:20I really, really, really wanted you to be happy.
07:23She could barely breathe between sobs.
07:26But then, then I saw how good Chad was to you.
07:30He treated you like a princess.
07:34He bought you everything you wanted.
07:39He took you everywhere you dreamed of.
07:42I saw how happy you were, how you shone.
07:47And I couldn't stand it.
07:49I was jealous.
07:52Emily, at first I really did think of you as my best friend.
07:55When you begged your parents to pay for my school.
07:58Don't have a stage to dress the brains.
07:59I was so grateful.
08:00I swore I would pay you back.
08:03But later, I got into an Ivy League.
08:06I worked so hard.
08:08I got scholarships every year.
08:10But when I graduated, I hit walls everywhere.
08:12And you, you didn't study as hard as me.
08:15You didn't work as hard as me.
08:17But the day you graduated, your dad handed you the best job.
08:20That's when I started hating you.
08:21Why?
08:22Why were you born with everything?
08:24Why did I have to fight so hard and get nothing?
08:28Couldn't believe my ears.
08:29Even this back bay apartment you're living in now,
08:32my dad bought it and rent it to you for $200 a month.
08:35Did you forget all of that?
08:40My question was met with a bitter laugh.
08:42I didn't forget.
08:44How could I forget?
08:47But that's exactly it.
08:48It was charity.
08:50The kinder you were to me,
08:51the more your dad helped me,
08:53the more it felt like charity.
08:55Like you were looking down on me from above.
08:57Like you were reminding me that Jessica Miller is nothing without the Carters.
09:02So I had to get back at you.
09:04I had to take the thing you loved most.
09:07I wanted you to taste what it felt like to fall.
09:10What kind of twisted logic is that?
09:12What kind of sick, broken mind thinks like that?
09:15Because I was good to her, she wanted revenge?
09:17I looked at this woman who had become a stranger.
09:20The last bit of feeling in my heart was crushed to dust.
09:24Jessica.
09:25After today, 20 years of friendship, dead.
09:29Chad, tomorrow morning, 9 o'clock, come home and sign the divorce papers.
09:32I didn't give them any time to respond.
09:34I turned and walked out.
09:40I left that disgusting apartment and immediately notified my lawyer,
09:44Missa Smith.
09:45I need the divorce papers drafted as soon as possible.
09:48One demand.
09:49Chad gets nothing in the divorce.
09:51I also set up a team to recover every penny my family had spent on Jessica and Chad over the
09:56years.
09:57I'm Emily Carter.
09:58I don't get taken advantage of.
10:00Her karma came faster and harder than I expected.
10:03First, Chad.
10:04The story of him cheating on the boss's daughter with her best friend spread through the entire
10:08company overnight.
10:09He came to work the next day and was met with stares.
10:12Disgust.
10:13Pockery.
10:14Smug satisfaction.
10:15Everyone who used to suck up to him now avoided him like he was toxic.
10:19People pointed and whispered behind his back.
10:22Called him a failed social climber.
10:24A marketing director position he'd been chasing for three years.
10:27Next afternoon, HR sent out not a promotion letter, but a termination letter.
10:32My dad, Richard, went even further.
10:34He used every connection he had in Boston's finance world to blacklist Chad.
10:38Which meant Chad not only lost his high-paying job,
10:41he couldn't find work anywhere in all of Massachusetts.
10:48Jessica's fate was just as ugly.
10:50She worked at a Fortune 500 company.
10:52The president of the Boston branch was an old friend of my dad's.
10:55One phone call from my dad, and they gave her an easy, cushy job.
10:59She just had to show up on time and do some basic paperwork.
11:02$20,000 a month.
11:04Easy money.
11:05The job was gone.
11:06The apartment my dad had let her use?
11:08Taken back.
11:09She went home to find all her belongings packed up and left at the curb like trash.
11:14Nowhere to go, she dragged her suitcase back to her parents' house.
11:18But Jessica's parents never really cared about her.
11:20They were nice to her before because she had money and connections to our Carter family.
11:24Now she had no job, no reputation.
11:27She was a homewrecker.
11:29For them, she was nothing but shame.
11:31They fought in front of her every day, blaming each other.
11:34It's your fault.
11:36You raised such a terrible daughter.
11:38Divorce!
11:39Jessica couldn't handle the fall.
11:40She couldn't handle her parents' cold stares and constant fighting.
11:44A few days later, she left Boston alone.
11:47Went back to that small Texas town she once swore she'd never returned to.
11:51I heard later she found a job on a factory assembly line.
11:54Same repetitive work every day.
11:57Tiny paycheck.
11:58Meanwhile, Chad kept showing up to beg for my forgiveness.
12:01Every time, crying and pleading.
12:03Every time, blaming everything on Jessica, calling her every name in the book.
12:07He never once looked at himself.
12:08I raised my hand and slapped him across the face.
12:13Chad, you're pathetic.
12:17I pointed at his face and let him have it.
12:20You screw up and you blame the woman every time.
12:23You don't have the right to call her anything.
12:25You're worse than she is.
12:27Sign the divorce papers and get out of my life.
12:29Or I promise you won't even find a job washing dishes in Boston.
12:34Maybe it was the look in my eyes.
12:35Maybe the threat finally landed.
12:38Chad caved.
12:39He covered his face and didn't say another word.
12:41Next day, he signed the papers.
12:43Chad and I were divorced.
12:45Left with nothing.
12:47Slipped out of the city like a ghost.
12:48After getting rid of those two, I was exhausted.
12:51I decided to travel.
12:52I went to Norway, Italy, Spain, city after city.
12:56One day, I was sitting in a square eating ice cream.
12:59A photographer was taking pictures of the sunset.
13:01She walked over and asked me very naturally.
13:04Can I take your picture?
13:05I was surprised, but I nodded.
13:07She showed me the photo afterward.
13:09I was wearing a white shirt.
13:10My hair was messy from the wind.
13:12Half melted ice cream in my hand, looking at the sunset.
13:14I looked at the ice cream in that photo, and I realized something clearly for the first time.
13:19I was getting better, not pretending.
13:20Really better.
13:21Less tense.
13:22Less hateful.
13:23Finally free.
13:24Back in Boston, I changed the curtains.
13:25Couch.
13:26The art on the walls.
13:27The whole apartment felt brighter.
13:29New.
13:29My mom made me soup.
13:31My dad pretended to complain about me traveling so much, but then told me to be happy.
13:35In that moment, I realized I had wasted so much time and energy on people who didn't deserve it.
13:41The people who really loved me had been here all along.
13:47Three days after coming home, I got a postcard, a return address.
13:51On the back, one sentence.
13:53I'm sorry.
13:53I recognized the handwriting.
13:55Then after all these years, I knew it.
13:57In the corner, she had drawn a tiny ice cream.
13:59I stared at that ice cream for a long time.
14:01Emily, will we be best friends forever?
14:04Forever, bestie.
14:05But some forevers aren't real.
14:08Or maybe they only exist for a certain age.
14:10When you grow up, they break.
14:11I wasn't sad.
14:13I wasn't angry.
14:14I didn't want to look back.
14:15I just put the postcard back in its envelope.
14:18Then I walked to the trash can.
14:19I let go.
14:20I fell in softly.
14:22Like a past that should have been thrown away long ago.
14:24A message came in.
14:25From the photographer.
14:27Have you decided where to next?
14:28I smiled and typed back.
14:30Where?
14:31I thought for a moment.
14:33Then I typed two words.
14:35Far away.
14:36Then I closed my suitcase.
14:38I picked up my bag.
14:39Opened the door.
14:40This time, I didn't look back.
14:42Our Jessica always says the luckiest thing in her life was meeting you.
14:47She always says meeting you changed her life.
14:50Yes, she says you're better to her than a real sister.
14:53We're truly grateful.
14:54They went on and on, hinting that our families should grow closer.
14:57Chad's parents weren't about to be outdone.
14:58They pushed in and grabbed my other hand.
15:00Emily, don't listen to them.
15:02Our Chad is the one who truly loves you.
15:04He's been waiting for that marketing director position for so long.
15:07Thanks to you and your father for making this happen.
15:09Dad Richard stood behind me.
15:11He placed a hand on my shoulder and held me gently.
15:13Could feel the warmth and strength in his palm.
15:15Could also feel the fury he was holding back.
15:18So was I.
15:18Took a deep breath and walked to Jessica's door.
15:21First, I called her phone.
15:22Her voice was sleepy and cautious.
15:25Hello?
15:26Emily?
15:26It's late.
15:27What's up?
15:28Nothing important.
15:29I just wanted to ask if you're home alone.
15:31I need to talk to you about something.
15:36Jessica was wide awake now.
15:38Her voice turned panicked.
15:39I'm home alone, but I'm already in bed.
15:41Emily, can we talk tomorrow?
15:42I'm really tired.
15:44She was still lying.
15:45The fear and guilt in her voice were impossible to miss.
15:47Okay, get some sleep.
15:49Without hesitating, I called Chad.
15:51Asked him the exact same question.
15:53Honey, are you home alone?
15:54I need to talk to you about something.
15:56Yeah, I'm home alone.
15:57Lots of work.
15:58Just finished.
15:59He paused, probably realizing he sounded too tense.
16:01Then he added jokingly,
16:03What's up?
16:04You miss me?
16:06If it weren't so late, I'd fly to you right now.
16:09How ridiculous.
16:10He was lying in another woman's bed,
16:12telling me sweet nothings without missing a beat.
16:14I smiled to myself and hung up.
16:16In that moment, the crowd behind me went completely silent.
16:19Jessica's parents.
16:20Chad's parents.
16:21All of them sensed something was off.
16:23Their expressions shifted from excitement and anticipation
16:26to nervous confusion.
16:27Emily, what's going on?
16:30So you call us all here for...
16:32To give you a surprise.
16:34Then, under their horrified gaze,
16:36I pulled out the spare key Jessica had once forced into my hand.
16:39You're my best friend.
16:40I believe in you.
16:46I pushed the door open and flipped the light switch.
16:49The harsh light flooded the room.
16:51Jessica and Chad were tangled together, naked, sleeping soundly.
16:55The black nightgown I helped her pick out was tossed on the floor.
16:58His pants and shirt were scattered beside it.
17:00The air smelled of sex, mixed with perfume, sickening.
17:03But in that moment, I felt no pain.
17:05After being crushed by betrayal, all that was left was a cold, satisfying rush.
17:10Jessica was the first to react.
17:11She blinked groggily and let out a soft moan.
17:14Then she saw me standing at the foot of the bed.
17:16That moan turned into a piercing scream.
17:18She grabbed the blanket like a frightened animal and hit against Chad.
17:21Chad woke up, frowning and about to snap.
17:23And he turned and saw me.
17:24Emily?
17:25He shoved Jessica away instinctively, like she was something dirty.
17:29He froze.
17:30The entire room went dead silent.
17:32I looked at the two of them, panicked, humiliated, pathetic.
17:36The corner of my mouth curled up.
17:38Surprise.
17:42Jessica and Chad's faces went white as two sheets of paper.
17:47You shameless bitch!
17:49Jessica's mother let out a shriek.
17:50She lunged like a mad lioness and started swinging her.
17:53I'll kill you!
17:54You've disgraced our entire family!
17:57How dare you!
17:58Emily has been so good to you and to our family.
18:00Any man in the world and you choose hers?
18:03Jessica's father was purple with rage, shaking uncontrollably.
18:06He pointed at his daughter and couldn't even speak.
18:09He finally forced out one word.
18:11Disgrace!
18:12On the other side, Chad's parents finally snapped at him.
18:15They didn't scold their son.
18:17Instead, they ran straight to me.
18:18Emily, this is all a misunderstanding.
18:21Chad's mother grabbed him and forced his head down, making him kneel.
18:24You bastard!
18:25Kneel!
18:26Beg your wife to forgive you!
18:27Chad realized he was finished.
18:30It was her!
18:31Jessica seduced me!
18:32I didn't mean for this to happen.
18:33I was just confused!
18:34As he spoke, he slapped himself twice.
18:36Honey, I made a mistake.
18:38A mistake any man could make.
18:40I swear I'll never do it again.
18:41Please forgive me.
18:42Just this once.
18:44Chad couldn't have started this.
18:46Someone must have seduced him.
18:47Chad's mother wasn't done.
18:49She turned and spat in Jessica's direction.
18:52Slut homewrecker!
18:54Look at yourself in the mirror before you go after our Chad!
18:57That was the spark.
18:58Jessica's father exploded, stepped forward, and slapped Jessica across the face with everything he had.
19:08You've disgraced me completely.
19:11Jessica held her face.
19:13Then she stared at her face like she'd just heard the funniest joke in the world, laughing,
19:19crying, tears streaming.
19:20She looked up at her father with hateful, insane eyes.
19:24Now you want to parent me?
19:26Now you're embarrassed?
19:28When you two divorced over your affairs and threw me away like garbage.
19:33Did you think about parenting me then?
19:38Voice was sharp and desperate, and she looked around the room at every single person.
19:47Finally, her eyes landed on me.
19:49She threw off the blanket, completely naked, and screamed.
19:53Fine!
19:54I'm cheap!
19:55I love stealing other women's men!
19:59Chad and his parents stared at her like she was insane.
20:02And Jessica herself kept laughing crazily.
20:04Then my voice came out.
20:07Jessica, did you really think no one loved you?
20:10Jessica's smirk froze on her face.
20:15She turned her head slowly and met and looked at her.
20:18At this face I had known for 20 years.
20:20All the memories I had buried came rushing out like a flood.
20:23Seven years old, you had just transferred to our school.
20:26The boys made fun of your Texas accent, pushed you down.
20:29You sat on the ground and cried.
20:31Who was it that ran at them, chased them all away?
20:33Who pounded her chest and told you, I'll protect you?
20:3613 years old, you were insecure about your acne.
20:39The mean girls cornered you in the bathroom and tried to force you to drink mop water.
20:43Who got your call and ran without a second thought?
20:46Grabbing a mop and running from the third floor to the first.
20:49Tell me who risked getting expelled herself to save you?
20:52Spoke slowly, very slowly.
20:54You know it.
20:56It was always me.
21:01The room was quiet.
21:02Just my choked voice and Jessica's rapid sobs.
21:05Tears were falling like broken beads.
21:07My parents looked at her and kept going.
21:09High school.
21:10Your parents were divorcing.
21:12Neither of them wanted you.
21:14You lived on $20 a month.
21:18You ate two slices of toast a day just to save money,
21:21soon dropping from 135 pounds to 80 pounds.
21:24Who got your call when you said you couldn't keep studying?
21:28Who snuck out of her dorm and ran home, kneeling in front of her parents for two hours,
21:33begging them to pay for your school.
21:34And my wedding.
21:35You wore the bridesmaid dress we picked out together.
21:38You cried harder than I did.
21:39Everyone was reaching for the bouquet, but I walked through the crowd and handed it to you.
21:46You screamed in my ear that day.
21:49You wished me happiness forever.
21:52Was that a lie too?
21:58Jessica finally broke down.
22:00No, no, I meant it then.
22:03I really, really, really wanted you to be happy.
22:05She could barely breathe between sobs.
22:09But then, then I saw how good Chad was to you.
22:12He treated you like a princess.
22:17He bought you everything you wanted.
22:21He took you everywhere you dreamed of.
22:25I saw how happy you were, how you shone.
22:29And I couldn't stand it.
22:31I was jealous.
22:35Emily, at first I really did think of you as my best friend.
22:38When you begged your parents to pay for my school.
22:41I was so grateful.
22:42I swore I would pay you back.
22:46But later, I got into an Ivy League.
22:48I worked so hard.
22:50I got scholarships every year.
22:52But when I graduated, I hit walls everywhere.
22:55And you.
22:56You didn't study as hard as me.
22:57You didn't work as hard as me.
22:59But the day you graduated, your dad handed you the best job.
23:02That's when I started hating you.
23:03Why?
23:04Why were you born with everything?
23:06Why did I have to fight so hard and get nothing?
23:10Couldn't believe my ears.
23:12Even this back bay apartment you're living in now,
23:14my dad bought it and rent it to you for $200 a month.
23:17Did you forget all of that?
23:22My question was met with a bitter laugh.
23:25I didn't forget.
23:27How could I forget?
23:29But that's exactly it.
23:31It was charity.
23:32The kinder you were to me, the more your dad helped me,
23:35the more it felt like charity.
23:37Like you were looking down on me from above.
23:39Like you were reminding me that Jessica Miller is nothing without the Carters.
23:44So I had to get back at you.
23:46I had to take the thing you loved most.
23:49I wanted you to taste what it felt like to fall.
23:52What kind of twisted logic is that?
23:54What kind of sick, broken mind thinks like that?
23:57Because I was good to her?
23:58She wanted revenge?
24:00I looked at this woman who had become a stranger.
24:03The last bit of feeling in my heart was crushed to dust.
24:06Jessica.
24:07After today, 20 years of friendship.
24:10Dead.
24:11Chad, tomorrow morning, 9 o'clock, come home and sign the divorce papers.
24:15Didn't give them any time to respond.
24:17He turned and walked out.
24:22I left that disgusting apartment and immediately notified my lawyer,
24:26Missa Smith.
24:28Need the divorce papers drafted as soon as possible.
24:31One demand.
24:31Chad gets nothing in the divorce.
24:33I also set up a team to recover every penny my family had spent on Jessica and Chad over the
24:38years.
24:39I'm Emily Carter.
24:40I don't get taken advantage of.
24:42Her karma came faster and harder than I expected.
24:45First, Chad.
24:46The story of him cheating on the boss's daughter with her best friend spread through the entire
24:50company overnight.
24:52He came to work the next day and was met with stares.
24:55Disgust.
24:56Pockery.
24:56Smug satisfaction.
24:58Everyone who used to suck up to him now avoided him like he was toxic.
25:01People pointed and whispered behind his back.
25:04Called him a failed social climber.
25:06The marketing director position he'd been chasing for three years.
25:09Next afternoon, HR sent out not a promotion letter, but a termination letter.
25:14My dad, Richard, went even further.
25:16He used every connection he had in Boston's finance world to blacklist Chad.
25:20Which meant Chad not only lost his high-paying job,
25:23he couldn't find work anywhere in all of Massachusetts.
25:30Jessica's fate was just as ugly.
25:32She worked at a Fortune 500 company.
25:34The president of the Boston branch was an old friend of my dad's.
25:37One phone call from my dad, and they gave her an easy, cushy job.
25:41She just had to show up on time and do some basic paperwork.
25:44$20,000 a month.
25:46Easy money.
25:47The job was gone.
25:48The apartment my dad had let her use?
25:50Taken back.
25:51She went home to find all her belongings packed up and left at the curb like trash.
25:56With nowhere to go, she dragged her suitcase back to her parents' house.
26:00But Jessica's parents never really cared about her.
26:02They were nice to her before because she had money and connections to our Carter family.
26:07Now she had no job, no reputation.
26:10She was a homewrecker.
26:11To them, she was nothing but shame.
26:13They fought in front of her every day, blaming each other.
26:16It's your fault.
26:18You raised such a terrible daughter.
26:20Divorce!
26:21Jessica couldn't handle the fall.
26:23She couldn't handle her parents' cold stares and constant fighting.
26:27A few days later, she left Boston alone.
26:29Went back to that small Texas town she once swore she'd never returned to.
26:33I heard later she found a job on a factory assembly line.
26:37Same repetitive work every day.
26:39Tiny paycheck.
26:40Meanwhile, Chad kept showing up to beg for my forgiveness.
26:43Every time, crying and pleading.
26:45Every time, blaming everything on Jessica, calling her every name in the book.
26:49He never once looked at himself.
26:51I raised my hand and slapped him across the face.
26:55Chad, you're pathetic.
26:59I pointed at his face and let him have it.
27:02You screw up and you blame the woman every time.
27:05You don't have the right to call her anything.
27:07You're worse than she is.
27:09Sign the divorce papers and get out of my life.
27:11Or I promise you won't even find a job washing dishes in Boston.
27:16Maybe it was the look in my eyes.
27:18Maybe the threat finally landed.
27:20Chad caved.
27:21He covered his face and didn't say another word.
27:24Next day, he signed the papers.
27:26Chad and I were divorced.
27:27Left with nothing.
27:29Slipped out of the city like a ghost.
27:31After getting rid of those two, I was exhausted.
27:33I decided to travel.
27:35I went to Norway, Italy, Spain, city after city.
27:38One day, I was sitting in a square eating ice cream.
27:41A photographer was taking pictures of the sunset.
27:43She walked over and asked me very naturally.
27:46Can I take your picture?
27:48I was surprised, but I nodded.
27:49She showed me the photo afterward.
27:51I was wearing a white shirt.
27:52My hair was messy from the wind.
27:54Half melted ice cream in my hand, looking at the sunset.
27:57I looked at the ice cream in that photo.
27:59And I realized something clearly for the first time.
28:01I was getting better, not pretending.
28:03Really better.
28:03Less tense.
28:04Less hateful.
28:05Finally free.
28:06Back in Boston, I changed the curtains.
28:08Couch.
28:08The art on the walls.
28:09The whole apartment felt brighter.
28:11New.
28:11My mom made me soup.
28:13My dad pretended to complain about me traveling so much, but then told me to be happy.
28:18In that moment, I realized I had wasted so much time and energy on people who didn't deserve it.
28:23The people who really loved me had been here all along.
28:29Three days after coming home, I got a postcard.
28:32A return address.
28:33On the back, one sentence.
28:35I'm sorry.
28:36Recognized the handwriting.
28:37Then after all these years, I knew it.
28:39In the corner, she had drawn a tiny ice cream.
28:41I stared at that ice cream for a long time.
28:44Emily, will we be best friends forever?
28:46Forever.
28:47Bestie.
28:48But some forevers aren't real.
28:50Or maybe they only exist for a certain age.
28:52When you grow up, they break.
28:54I wasn't sad.
28:55I wasn't angry.
28:56I didn't want to look back.
28:57I just put the postcard back in its envelope.
29:00Then I walked to the trash can.
29:01I let go.
29:03I fell in softly, like a past that should have been thrown away long ago.
29:07A message came in from the photographer.
29:09Have you decided where to next?
29:11I smiled and typed back.
29:13Where?
29:13I thought for a moment.
29:15Then I typed two words.
29:17Far away.
29:18Then I closed my suitcase, picked up my bag, opened the door.
29:22This time, I didn't look back.
29:24Have I cleared a leg?
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