- 2 hours ago
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00Seven days before my wedding, I uncovered my fiancé Julian Voss' secret.
00:05That night, he threw his bachelor party at the family yacht club.
00:09I drove over with hangover remedies and told the host not to announce me.
00:13I wanted to surprise him.
00:15The fortune their family built on shipping now sustained a fleet of private chets,
00:20expedition yachts, and a luxury retreat in Greenland.
00:24Julian ruled over all of it, and in seven days I was going to marry him.
00:30Julian, are you really ready to settle down?
00:32Have you all forgotten how long I chased her?
00:34Five years.
00:35She's finally willing to marry me. I'm not waiting another five.
00:39There was a faint slur of drink in Julian's voice, and a pride he couldn't hide.
00:43The smugness of a man who'd finally gotten what he wanted,
00:46nearly spilling through the crack in the door.
00:49Then how come you promised Sienna you'd take her to Greenland?
00:52You sure you'll make it back before the wedding?
00:54Sienna says once I'm married, she won't be able to have me whenever she wants anymore.
00:57So she wanted one last trip before the wedding, just the two of us.
01:01We've known each other since we were three. How could I ever say no to her?
01:05Seriously though, a body like Sienna's?
01:08All these years you never once thought about trying something with her?
01:12I had asked Julian that exact same question myself.
01:15She's just like a sister to me.
01:17Who could ever look at their own sister that way?
01:20I didn't leave. I waited, holding my ground to hear his answer.
01:30She's not cut out for marriage, far too fond of playing around.
01:33To me, she's more like family.
01:34What kind of sister?
01:36The kind that coos, bro, help me with my zipper?
01:42He never said he'd never been tempted.
01:44He only said she wasn't the marrying kind.
01:55By the time Julian came home, I had been sitting on the living room sofa for a long while.
02:02Evelyn, look.
02:03I went to half a dozen jewelers before I found the exact style you love most.
02:08He'd run all over town in the biting cold to find the necklace I adored.
02:12It really had taken effort.
02:14I simply lifted my chin and held his gaze, motionless.
02:18Looking at the man I'd loved for five years, I delivered my final alternatum.
02:22If you step onto that private jet, we're through.
02:26What?
02:27Julian, I mean it.
02:28If you go to Greenland with Sienna, it's over between us.
02:30But what he gave me wasn't a choice.
02:32It was an excuse.
02:35Evelyn, baby, you're overreacting.
02:37You heard what my friends and I were saying, didn't you?
02:39It was just stupid, drunken nonsense.
02:43He never answered me head on, but I already knew the answer.
02:48I only granted my sister one little request.
02:50You can't expect me to just drop her out of nowhere.
02:53But you're ready to drop me for her.
02:56Evelyn, don't be like this.
02:58You know Sienna and I grew up together.
03:01If anything were ever going to happen between us, it would have happened long ago, and you
03:05never would have become my fiancé.
03:07His face was etched with tenderness.
03:09Yet every word out of his mouth was an excuse.
03:13Sienna says once we're married, she'll keep her distance on her own.
03:16That's why she wants one last polar trip before the wedding.
03:19Just the two of us.
03:20Baby, I swear I'll be back before the wedding.
03:23We'll have every year after that, together.
03:26Just give her these few days, alright?
03:28In that moment, I finally no longer had the will to argue.
03:34Fine.
03:35And along with the argument, turdy Chen's I no longer wanted him.
03:38Julian thought I'd relented.
03:40I knew you'd understand.
03:47Perhaps my expression had turned too icy.
03:50Evelyn.
03:51He'd been about to say something more.
04:02He stood so close that even without the speaker on, I could hear Sienna's bright, urgent voice
04:06coming through the line.
04:07Julian!
04:08I've already packed!
04:09I was thinking you could just come over tonight.
04:10Otherwise, you'll have to drive all the way around to pick me up at the crack of dawn.
04:13Such a hassle.
04:15No.
04:16I have to stay with Evelyn tonight.
04:17I'll pick you up tomorrow morning.
04:19The line fell quiet for a few seconds.
04:20Then Sienna spoke in an especially considerate tone.
04:23Alright then.
04:24I'll just go wait at the private tournament by myself tonight.
04:27Don't come over.
04:28I don't want Evelyn upset.
04:29I can manage.
04:30My phone still has a little charge.
04:32Absolutely not.
04:32How could you stay outside an airport alone in the middle of the night?
04:35But I've already left the house.
04:37Send me your location and don't turn off your phone.
04:42You said you'd stay with me tonight.
04:43You could send a car or have someone take her inside.
04:48I can't leave her out there alone.
04:53Get back home right now.
04:55I'm on my way.
05:00He seemed to remember only then that I was still sitting there.
05:07Evelyn.
05:09I'd still better go over tonight.
05:11It genuinely isn't safe for Sienna alone.
05:14Don't worry.
05:15On this trip, I swear I won't share a bed with her.
05:18I'll sleep on the couch.
05:21Before I could answer, he'd let go of me and hurried upstairs.
05:27That private polar camp was his own family's property.
05:30He could easily have taken a separate suite.
05:32Yet all he promised me was a couch.
05:35In the five years Julian and I had been together,
05:38the name Sienna had always been a thorn I couldn't pull out.
05:41At first, I didn't mind.
05:43They grew up in the same wealthy enclave on Mercer Island.
05:48Their parents attended charity galas together.
05:51The children went to the same private schools.
05:54That whole circle of childhood friends was as close as family.
05:58Until one yacht party, when Sienna walked over from the pool,
06:03turned her back to Julian, and sat straight down on his lap.
06:07Tie this for me.
06:08It came loose again.
06:09She gathered her hair and held out the tie at the back of her swimsuit for him to fasten.
06:14Julian took it.
06:15He did it so practicely that, standing right beside them, I felt like the spare.
06:21That time, I was genuinely angry.
06:25Oh my gosh, Evelyn.
06:27I'm so sorry.
06:29Julian and I have been like this since we were kids.
06:31It's just habit.
06:32I never imagined you'd mind.
06:33In front of me, she always called him Julian.
06:36Never an intimate nickname.
06:38Pair that with her sincere expression, and it was very hard to call her out.
06:42Julian stood at once, made Celia get to her feet,
06:45and sternly told her she was never to do that again.
06:47After the gathering, I reminded Julian to keep proper boundaries with women,
06:51and we let the matter drop.
06:53Then one day, a white dress shirt I'd given Julian went missing.
06:57He couldn't recall where he'd put it either.
06:59He rested his head on my shoulder, blaming himself bitterly.
07:03How could I lose the shirt Evelyn gave me?
07:06It was my favorite one.
07:07I consoled him, told him it was fine, that we'd simply buy another,
07:11before we ever bought a new one.
07:13I spotted that old shirt in Sienna's ephemeral story.
07:17She was wearing it as an oversized sleep shirt.
07:20In that moment, I finally understood.
07:22This was not the first time.
07:26Sienna launched into yet another round of apologies and explanations.
07:31Evelyn, I'm truly sorry.
07:33It suddenly turned cold that night, and I only had on a slip dress.
07:37Julian lent it to me to block the wind, that's really all.
07:40Exactly, exactly.
07:42Since we were kids, whoever was cold just borrowed whoever's clothes.
07:45Don't overthink it.
07:51Evelyn, she feels the cold easily, and that night she only wore a slip dress.
07:55If she'd caught a cold, my mother would never have let me hear the end of it.
07:58His mother, Celine Voss, chaired the family's charitable foundation and had been close to Sienna's mother for years.
08:05Julian said his parents had always treated Sienna like a second daughter.
08:08There were plenty of incidents like this.
08:10The worst came when I was on a business trip to Boston.
08:13He and that circle of friends played cards all night at a winery gay house in Sonoma.
08:18And once everyone dispersed, he climbed into the same bed as Sienna.
08:22The camera swept past the head of the bed,
08:24and Sienna lifted her face out of the pillows and asked who was calling.
08:31I ended it with him on the spot and hung up.
08:34When the trip ended, I applied to stay on at the firm's East Coast office,
08:38rather than return to Seattle.
08:40Julian flew to Boston alone and waited all night below my apartment,
08:44one text after another.
08:46When I finally went downstairs, he caught my hand and bent his knees.
08:49Only when I stepped back did he stop.
08:54We just fell asleep.
08:56Evelyn, I swear, nothing else happened.
09:01If you two break up because of me,
09:03how am I ever supposed to face you again?
09:07We were all right there, with several people asleep on the floor, too.
09:10If anything had really happened, did we think we could hide it from everyone?
09:13They said it all so openly.
09:15Standing alone across from them, I actually began to doubt myself.
09:19Wondering if I was the one reading something filthy into it.
09:22It wasn't until tonight that I realized how spectacularly wrong I'd been.
09:28The thud, thud, thud of Julian hauling his suitcase down the stairs
09:31dragged my thoughts back to the present.
09:34Baby, help me see where my passport went.
09:37You said Sienna put it in your document pouch.
09:45I used to be the one who always gave his luggage a final check.
09:49Now he had someone else arranging things for him.
09:52Yet he still called out to me out of habit.
09:58Evelyn, don't worry.
09:59I promise I'll make it back before the wedding.
10:02Once he'd made that promise,
10:04Julian seemed to set his own mind at ease.
10:12But just as he was about to step out the door,
10:15I suddenly called him to a hot.
10:17Julian.
10:21After a long while,
10:23I gave him a small smile
10:24and said my goodbye.
10:27Julian.
10:28Goodbye.
10:29I knew full well in my heart
10:31that this was very likely the last time
10:33we would ever see each other in this life.
10:36Even though he'd promised to return before the wedding,
10:38I was certain Sienna had no end of ways
10:41to keep him from coming back.
10:42Julian, plainly,
10:44did not catch the deeper meaning hidden in my words.
10:47When he saw me smile,
10:49relief washed over him.
10:52Evelyn, wait for me.
10:53This time,
10:54I gave him no answer.
10:56Because I knew I would never wait for him again.
10:59Because the real farewell
11:00had begun long before he ever said goodbye.
11:07I transferred to the wages and investment gains
11:10I'd saved before marriage
11:11into an account I alone controlled,
11:14then contacted my private lawyer.
11:16Proceed with the original arrangement?
11:18Proceed.
11:19She was a lawyer I'd retained myself,
11:21with no ties to the Voss family.
11:23Months earlier,
11:24I had already begun organizing my personal assets,
11:26applying for a name change,
11:27then setting aside money to leave with.
11:30Keep enough for living expenses.
11:32The charitable trust can be funded gradually.
11:35There's no need to give it all away at once.
11:38I know.
11:40This time,
11:41at the very least,
11:42I'll get myself settled first.
11:53Confirmed.
11:54During my own speech slot,
11:56the wedding coordinator will play it
11:57exactly as I require.
11:59I renamed the footage I'd prepared beforehand
12:02and moved it into an encrypted folder.
12:05There wasn't a single vow in it.
12:07In Seattle,
12:08an empty boat drifting on the water
12:10is enough to suggest a drowning accident.
12:13I was betting that Julian would believe I was dead,
12:16rather than waiting for a death certificate
12:18to end this relationship for me.
12:20I'd known how to die for years.
12:23Julian had never seriously asked
12:25about all those training sessions I attended alone.
12:28He simply thought I loved playing in the water
12:30and even said he'd come with me after the wedding.
12:34As long as he believed I was dead,
12:36he would stop looking for me.
12:38Only then would everything between us be truly,
12:42finally severed.
12:44Five years of this tangled back and forth,
12:47and I was truly exhausted.
12:50For the rest of my life,
12:52all I wanted was to never see him again.
12:56And the escape route I'd laid
12:58was finally at its last step.
13:06Six days remained until the wedding.
13:12Evelyn, I'm really sorry.
13:13I know it isn't ideal to take him away at a time like this,
13:16but we've known each other 25 years.
13:18Surely we owed ourselves a proper goodbye?
13:21Don't worry.
13:22A week from now,
13:23I'll return him to you safe and sound.
13:25Her voice was light and playful,
13:27yet I caught the faint,
13:28unmistakable edge of provocation beneath it.
13:30A farewell to friendship,
13:32or a period drawn under an affair.
13:35Whichever it was,
13:36from the moment I decided to vanish,
13:38every part of them had ceased to be any concern of mine.
13:42Today I was meeting my own lawyer
13:43to nail down the final details of the North Shore Trust.
13:47At a downtown cafe,
13:49the lawyer slid the final papers over for my signature.
13:52He didn't know my full plan,
13:54only that I meant to end this relationship
13:56and wall off my premarital assets
13:58from the Voss family for good.
14:02Miss Ashford,
14:03everything has been taken care of.
14:13Miss Ashford,
14:14once the trust is established,
14:15it will make regular donations
14:17to the foster children's aid organizations
14:18and youth shelters you designate
14:20without ever making your name public.
14:32that was the very seat I always took
14:34whenever I traveled with him.
14:48I liked that post,
14:50and I handed my past its death sentence.
14:54By noon the next day,
14:56a full-blown argument had erupted in the comments.
15:07Five days remained until the wedding.
15:09I disposed of some of my assets.
15:12After setting aside a generous startup fund for my new life,
15:15I moved everything else into the North Shore Trust.
15:21As a child,
15:22I passed through several foster homes.
15:24When we moved,
15:26I'd use shopping bags
15:27and other people's discarded cardboard boxes.
15:30What I feared most was a bag splitting open on the road
15:33and laying all my things bare for everyone to see.
15:37That was why every one of these boxes had wheels
15:39and a zipper that locked.
15:42After my death,
15:43there was no way I could remain in this city.
15:45I thought it over,
15:47then went to the mall
15:48and bought a large stock of winter coats
15:51for children of every age,
15:53along with hygiene supplies,
15:55books,
15:56and candy.
15:58Do you want the donor's name printed on the tags?
16:01Leave them blank.
16:02Let them write their own names.
16:04The children will be thrilled.
16:06Want to step in for a while?
16:07They're making lunch.
16:08They'll ask when you're coming next.
16:10Quite a few of the kids love meeting new friends.
16:12Then I won't go in today.
16:15In a rush?
16:16I'm leaving for a while
16:18and I can't give them a date for a next visit.
16:20I didn't go in.
16:22Had I,
16:22I wouldn't have been able to stop myself
16:24from hugging those children.
16:27But I knew well that for kids
16:28who grew up inside the system,
16:30one fleeting hug could plant
16:32an unrealistic expectation in their hearts.
16:35They would wait for the person
16:36who'd hugged them to appear again.
16:38And that was a promise I couldn't keep.
16:58On his end,
16:59I could hear the sound of waves
17:00and a playful woman's voice.
17:02Evelyn,
17:03I'm busy.
17:04Give me ten minutes
17:04and I'll get back to you.
17:09After he hung up,
17:11I clutched my phone
17:12and waited for the dizziness to pass
17:14before heading slowly home.
17:16Half an hour later,
17:17just as I got in,
17:18Julian finally called back.
17:20He was my only emergency contact.
17:22Evelyn,
17:23I'm sorry.
17:23It was crazy just now.
17:25What happened?
17:25Is something wrong?
17:29It's nothing.
17:30My phone glitched
17:31and dialed on its own.
17:32Good, it's nothing.
17:33Then I'll have my assistant
17:33send a new phone over.
17:45In the footage,
17:46Julian and Sienna
17:47sat nest together
17:48at the bow of the expedition yacht.
17:51Beneath the sentimental background music,
17:53I faintly caught Julian's phone ringing,
17:55the special ring tune
17:56he'd set aside
17:57for my calls alone.
17:58We had a deal.
17:59This meal is only for me.
18:03Fine, eat up.
18:07So after he hung up
18:08on my first call,
18:09he'd had all the time
18:11in the world
18:11to sit and eat with her.
18:13I stared at that peaceful,
18:15picture-perfect scene
18:16and could not reconcile it
18:18in any way
18:18with the busy Julian
18:19claimed to be.
18:21It turned out
18:22he simply hadn't wanted
18:23to answer my call.
18:24From now on,
18:25he would never again
18:26be my only choice.
18:30Four days remained
18:31until the wedding.
18:34He really does fuss over you.
18:36Last night,
18:37he specially roused me
18:38to say your phone had broken
18:39and told me to bring
18:40this first thing today.
18:41He even picked
18:42your favorite color.
18:43And with the wedding
18:44right around the corner,
18:45he specifically instructed
18:46that your matters
18:47be handled
18:47before everything else.
18:48I lowered my eyes
18:50to that brand new phone.
18:51The faint warmth
18:52of being remembered
18:53was still there,
18:54which was exactly
18:55why it hurt all the more.
18:57He said if anything
18:58in the wedding rundown
18:59still needs changing,
19:00you may decide it yourself
19:01without waiting for him.
19:16The left side
19:17is still wet.
19:18Hold still.
19:20If it blows into your eyes,
19:21you'll fuss again.
19:29I recognized
19:30that little routine.
19:31He had dried my hair
19:32exactly the same way.
19:58His trip wasn't over yet,
19:59but my way out
20:01was almost fully in place.
20:05Three days left.
20:08Miss Ashford,
20:10the name change application
20:11you filed months ago
20:12has been completed.
20:14These are your updated
20:15ID and passport.
20:16Going forward,
20:17you may live under
20:17your new name.
20:18I'd had him file
20:19this paperwork
20:20back when I first began
20:21preparing Plan B.
20:23This is the device
20:24and SIM you asked me
20:25to receive for you.
20:26Please also recheck
20:27the shared accounts
20:28and location permissions
20:29on your old devices.
20:32I put the folder
20:33away.
20:34The preparations for leaving
20:36finally carried
20:37a real, tangible weight.
20:39If you wish to change
20:40your mind,
20:41there is still time.
20:45No regrets.
20:51I recognized that curved glass window.
20:54That was the honeymoon suite
20:55we'd chosen together.
20:56I suddenly thought
20:57of the night Julian proposed.
20:59Right after he slipped
21:00the emerald engagement ring
21:02onto my finger,
21:02he began excitedly imagining
21:04our wedding and honeymoon.
21:06Evelyn,
21:07our wedding's in winter,
21:08so for the honeymoon
21:09we can head to Greenland
21:10for the Aurora.
21:11I'll have the camp reserve
21:13their finest suite for us.
21:14As he spoke,
21:15he at once opened
21:16the group's polar itinerary.
21:18Curled in his arms,
21:19I chose a room
21:20where we could watch
21:21the Aurora,
21:22straight from the bedroom.
21:25I could never have imagined
21:26then that the one
21:27who'd end up watching
21:28the Aurora
21:28and staying in the honeymoon suite
21:29with Julian
21:30would not be me.
21:32Yet over the next two days,
21:33he never came back,
21:34and with his own hands,
21:36he let his final chance
21:37slip away.
21:40The day before the wedding.
21:41Evelyn,
21:42I'm sorry,
21:43I can't get back today.
21:45Sienna suddenly ran
21:46a high fever.
21:46We missed our scheduled takeoff.
21:48Evelyn,
21:49don't be angry.
21:50I've already had dispatch
21:51rearrange tonight's return.
21:53The crew will fly
21:53through the night
21:54and land tomorrow morning
21:55without fail.
21:56The wedding will go ahead
21:57as scheduled,
21:58I promise.
21:59Julian did not yet know
22:00that the wedding
22:01would indeed go ahead
22:02as scheduled.
22:03Only the bride
22:04would be missing.
22:05Evelyn,
22:06what is it?
22:06you'll wait for me,
22:07won't you?
22:09No, Julian.
22:10I would not be waiting
22:11for you anymore.
22:12But to keep my plan on track,
22:14I gave him the answer
22:15he wanted to hear.
22:16Okay.
22:18Evelyn,
22:19once we're married,
22:19I'll...
22:21Julian, hurry.
22:22I don't feel well.
22:23Yeah.
22:42That single photograph
22:44was enough to turn
22:45the entire wedding
22:46into purgatory.
22:57Images I couldn't control
22:58flooded into my mind,
22:59my stomach heaving
23:01so violently
23:01that all I wanted
23:02was to be sick.
23:043.
23:062.
23:103.
23:113.
23:124.
23:124.
23:144.
23:165.
23:176.
23:176.
23:177.
23:177.
23:1720.
23:1811.
23:1911.
23:1915.
23:3116.
23:3217.
23:33Let's go.
24:23But all the seawater swallowed was the name Evelyn.
24:29The dry suit kept out most of the cold, moving exactly as I'd rehearsed.
24:35I pulled away from the boat and used an underwater scooter, towards the landing point I'd chosen
24:41in advance.
24:46Once ashore, I changed out of the wet gear and collected the car and luggage I'd stashed
24:53there beforehand.
24:55The empty boat stayed behind me, waiting to be found.
24:59More than an hour later, I sat down in a motel room, dried my hair, and switched on the backup
25:05phone.
25:08Dawn Cole.
25:10I hit send and put my passport away.
25:14The one-way ticket I'd booked long ago was finally going to be used.
25:18After I left, the detective went on tying up loose ends for me.
25:22The records he delivered held statements from camp staff, Nicole, and the wedding guests.
25:27Every scene I'd been absent from was pieced together only later, bit by bit.
25:32And it was precisely from those records that I learned Sienna had never run a fever at all.
25:38The night before the scheduled return, she'd clung to Julian, queuing pitifully.
25:44And somewhere amid the tears, the two of them kissed.
25:47The next day, when the crew asked when to leave, he himself asked to delay the return.
25:51He even had the camp prepared breakfast as usual, and never once called for a doctor.
25:56The footage in that anonymous email was filmed right after this.
26:00What the detective tracked was the record of them entering and leaving the same heated tent.
26:04The two sets of materials were kept separately.
26:07After a night of recklessness, Julian lied to me without so much as a flicker across his face.
26:14He had still meant to say that once we were married, he would draw a clear line with Sienna.
26:19But before he could finish, her smooth arm coiled around his chest from behind and slid slowly downward.
26:26He believed he would make it in time, never knowing that everything had already begun to turn on him.
26:35The call had been forced to cut off.
26:37This time, they were even more reckless than before.
26:40As though holding one final, grand farewell ceremony for their so-called friendship.
26:49Julian, can't you stay?
26:52Sienna, stop it.
26:54We agreed this was only a goodbye.
26:59But Julian, I don't want you marrying anyone else. I never have.
27:04Sienna, don't. We're best friends.
27:07We agreed we would let this happen just this once.
27:10We're both adults. Don't complicate things, alright?
27:13It never occurred to her that even after luring him overseas and into her bed, he would still go back
27:19to marry me.
27:21But Julian had no time left to coax her. The return crew was still waiting for him at the airport.
27:26Sienna, I truly have to go. Enjoy yourself here, and put every expense on my account.
27:41Sienna, I didn't reply.
27:42Sienna, I didn't reply. He later told a friend that he'd simply assumed I was asleep.
27:48Yet he could not press down the unease in his chest.
27:55On the flight back, he dreamed a dream.
27:58In it, just as on the night he left home, I smiled and said goodbye, then vanished before his eyes
28:05like bursting foam.
28:06Sienna, no!
28:16Mr. Voss, we have arrived at Seattle's Boeing field. Your car is waiting.
28:24Of the two messages he'd sent in the small hours, I hadn't answered a single one.
28:38Quick to Vos Manor.
28:42Julian lifted his eyes, and his heart began to race for no reason he could name,
28:46as though it would pound its way out of his chest, trying to shake the creeping unease right out of
28:51his head.
28:52A little faster.
28:54At the gates of Vos Manor, Julian's parents were now anxiously receiving guests.
28:59Families from every old money circle and the group's business partners had all arrived,
29:03yet neither the groom nor the bride had shown face.
29:06Inside Vos Manor, the guests had already been seated.
29:09The wedding decor and sponsor displays all used photographs of the family's old fleet.
29:13Partners sat in the front rows, waiting to witness the heir's marriage.
29:18Later, I watched the footage of the scene.
29:20Julian's mother received guests, all while sending people to find me.
29:23His father kept checking his watch and telling the MEA to stretch things out a little longer.
29:28And why hasn't the groom arrived yet?
29:30He just landed. He'll be here any moment.
29:32And the bride?
29:33Any moment now, too.
29:44When Julian pushed through the doors, he caught sight of the very footage that should never have appeared.
29:53Distinguished guests, friends, hello, everyone.
29:57I will not be the bride today.
30:00I have decided to yield that place to Mr. Julian Vos's childhood friend, Miss Sienna Kane.
30:05After 25 years of such deep feeling between them, she may sit on his lap, walk off in his clothes,
30:12and climb into his bed.
30:15On the very eve of our wedding, she even had to fly by private jet to Greenland to hold a
30:21farewell ceremony for this magnificent friendship of theirs.
30:25I have come to realize I cannot insert myself into a bond this profound.
30:31And so I have decided to step aside and let them have each other.
30:37May these two kindred souls finally be united as one.
30:41Alongside them were the intimate shots the private investigator had captured of Julian and Sienna in the camp suite,
30:47as well as the clips Sienna sent me anonymously.
30:50The two sets of material came from different sources, yet they proved one and the same thing.
30:56Shh, shh, shh, shh.
31:00When Julian wrenched open the ballroom doors, what met his eyes was the indecent footage of him and Sienna in
31:06that oversized bed.
31:09No one could say who was the first to notice Julian standing in the doorway.
31:21Julian!
31:22It's the Coast Guard on the line!
31:24They found Evelyn's boat!
31:26In Puget Sound!
31:28Evelyn is missing at sea!
31:31Fear finally began to take hold of him.
31:33What did you say?
31:37Our home stood on the Seattle waterfront, and the boat was towed back to a nearby dock.
31:41No!
31:53Michael!
31:57Oh, my God!
31:58Oh, my God!
32:01Oh, my God!
32:02Oh, my God!
32:04Oh, my God!
32:04That's my fiancée's boat, let me through.
32:06Sir, stay back, please.
32:07No!
32:09I mean, who's not here to go?
32:10She's only throwing a tantrum with me.
32:12Have you checked the shoreline?
32:14She might already have climbed out. We're searching now.
32:20Mr. Julian Voss, I'm the detective in charge of this missing persons case.
32:25We need to verify the details of your last contact with your fiancé.
32:28Please come down to the station with us.
32:34She never once took it off after I put it on.
32:37At work, she worried about scratching it, so she'd only turn the stone inward.
32:45That ragged, broken weeping was filled with boundless pain, remorse, and despair.
32:52What he did not know was that this punishment had only just begun.
32:58Over the next two days, Julian went over his whereabouts again and again,
33:03handing over his call logs and flight indinuary.
33:06I had vanished on our wedding day, with only a phone and a ring left aboard the boat.
33:11The police did not rule out a drowning, suicide, or outside involvement.
33:15Julian's publicly exposed affair and the conflict between us were also drawn into the investigation.
33:20I didn't. I love her. How could I?
33:23Then why did you go to Greenland with another woman a week before the wedding?
33:28What is the story behind the video of you two in the camp suite?
33:33Before she vanished, did you argue with her? Did you even threaten her?
33:38At your last meeting, was there any quarrel?
33:43There was.
33:44She didn't want me to go away with Sienna.
33:46Did she ever say she would leave you?
33:54She said the moment I stepped onto that plane, we were done.
33:56He later repeated this exchange in front of a friend, and the detective recorded the retelling.
34:01It was only when I read it that I realized how precisely he had remembered my words.
34:05Accompanied by a lawyer, Julian finally left the station, though the investigation was far from over.
34:09Whispers over whether he was tied to his fiancé's disappearance had spread across all of Seattle.
34:14He was no longer the heir fawned over everywhere he went.
34:17He went down to the marina, but my boat was gone, only the staff coming and going.
34:24He sat on a bench, watching others dock.
34:28Lifting his head at every footstep.
34:32His assistant urged him to eat something.
34:34He said he wasn't hungry.
34:36You haven't eaten all day.
34:42When she called me that day, maybe she wasn't feeling well either.
34:46He stared out at the sea he was convinced had swallowed me.
34:49At last he remembered that on the night he left home for Sienna, I had smiled and said goodbye to
34:54him.
34:55From that very moment, I had already made up my mind to leave him.
35:00So that, it turned out, had been the very last time they would ever see each other.
35:04In this life, never again.
35:06His face was streaked with remorse, and yet Sienna, of all people, dared to appear at a moment like this.
35:17Julian, what on earth are you doing?
35:20It was Sienna's voice.
35:21She had returned to Seattle from Greenland and tracked him down here.
35:28Julian, it's me.
35:29What are you here for? Get out.
35:31Evelyn doesn't want to see you. Get out!
35:32She's already gone, and yet your eyes hold no one but her.
35:36Evelyn, Evelyn, and still Evelyn.
35:40Julian, she's gone.
35:42You have to learn to look forward too.
35:44Don't think I don't know.
35:46It was you who anonymously sent Evelyn that footage from the suite.
35:50I didn't. Julian, how could I possibly-
35:53Do you take me for a fool?
35:55Who else could it have been but you?
35:57Day after day, you posted those countdowns online, breaking Evelyn's heart again and again.
36:03You seduced me into bed, secretly filmed it, and sent it to her.
36:08Sienna, you are an utter, through and through bitch.
36:11But her next counterattack tore away the last shred of his pretense.
36:18And what about you, Julian?
36:21How noble do you think you are?
36:24Who are you putting on this devoted act for now?
36:27If you truly loved her that much, would you have carried on with me time and again?
36:31Would you have agreed to some farewell trip?
36:34Would you have slept with me?
36:36I set out to seduce you, yes, but did I hold a gun to your head?
36:40Julian, you're nothing but a selfish bastard who can't keep it in his pants!
36:49Get out!
36:52After the search was called down, they held a memorial for the missing me.
36:57That day, Julian returned to the apartment we had shared, the one overlooking the bay.
37:03The housekeeper who looked after the apartment later told the detective that Julian touched each of those garments one by
37:09one,
37:10refusing even to send away the old sweater that still carried my usual perfume.
37:14But he would never see me again.
37:17That very knowledge made his heart ache until he could not breathe.
37:25Suddenly, something occurred to him.
37:40Her scent is still here. Don't let the wind carry it away.
37:45After that, he lay in that bed the whole night through, scrolling back through our old photos again and again.
37:54Before long, reality would strip away everything he had left.
38:03Julian, something's happened at the group.
38:07Clients are cancelling, and every brand partnership has been suspended.
38:11The board is demanding that you appear.
38:14Handle it as you see fit.
38:15This isn't something a few deleted news stories can fix.
38:17The new fleet and the camp expansion are waiting on the next round of funding.
38:20Orders are being pulled, and the bank won't keep lending.
38:23You reviewed all of this before.
38:25You signed the wedding sponsorships yourself!
38:28The Voss family had treated the wedding as brand marketing,
38:31packaging the heir's marriage as part of the family legacy.
38:34Now those same partners were holding up the ruined campaign and demanding terminations and damages.
38:39The funding gaps left behind by the expansion surfaced one after another.
38:42Julian, our long-term private charter customers are cancelling and the Polar Camp bookings are being refunded.
38:48We used you and the wedding for brand promotion, and now every partner is holding us accountable.
38:53The bank won't roll over the loans, and the board wants to remove you!
38:56The Voss group had only just taken on enormous loans to expand the fleet and develop the Polar Camps.
39:01The scandal shattered the brand's credibility, and orders and cash flow drained away in turn.
39:06Partners demanded termination damages, and the funding gap could no longer be filled.
39:10I learned these after-effects from news reports and the detectives' updates.
39:14Sienna's countdown posts were re-shared over and over.
39:16She lost her brand deals and was shut out of her old social circle, ducking cameras whenever she stepped outside.
39:21Months later, the Voss group filed for bankruptcy, and the family was forced to sell its planes and camps to
39:25repay its debts.
39:26Julian, meanwhile, had become a complete that apartment.
39:28He never left that apartment.
39:30Every day, he sat by the Florida-selling window facing the sea, clutching the emerald engagement ring returned after the
39:35instigation, mummering to the air.
39:37You were supposed to get married.
39:38Where are you?
39:39I was wrong.
39:43Evelyn?
39:44You've come back!
39:47I heard that before long, he would cry one moment and laugh the next, utterly lost to madness.
39:54As for me, I was already falling asleep in the sea breeze of another country.
39:59There was no body, and no answers.
40:02He remained trapped in the remorse of the day I vanished, unable to accept that I might never return.
40:08And all of it had ceased to be any concern of mine.
40:11By then, I was on a small island in Indonesia, falling asleep wrapped in sea breeze and grains of sand.
40:17Adventure had always been in my bones.
40:19This trip, too, was a spur-of-the-moment thing.
40:23After leaving Seattle, I made my way to another city, and while waiting in the International Terminal, I suddenly ached
40:29to see Indonesia's seas and volcanoes.
40:32Once that thought took root, it could not be held back.
40:35And so I cancelled my original ticket, and set out on my journey across Indonesia.
40:44Plenty of people come here just for photos.
40:47What about you?
40:50To make sure there are still things in this world I have never seen.
40:54Then you came to the right place.
40:56The fire here has burned for hundreds of years, and it's still burning.
41:01People are the same.
41:02As long as you still want to burn, nothing can put you out.
41:11Wow.
41:21At every stage of my life, I have always carried the courage to start over.
41:27Even now, it is not too late.