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Short filmTranscript
00:0210 years ago, the Hudson River Bridge 1 was responsible for building collapsed, causing
00:08mass casualties.
00:10My parents screamed that I was a murderer and cut off all ties with me.
00:14The victims' families doused me in gasoline, ready to die alongside me.
00:18And so, I spent 10 years in prison.
00:21After my release, I changed my name, found a coffee shop in a small upstate New York
00:26town, and became a barista.
00:28Life was quiet, peaceful.
00:30Just when I thought it would stay that way forever, my ex-husband, Silas Sterling, came
00:35looking for me.
00:36The architectural firm he'd founded had long since gone public.
00:39He was at the peak of everything.
00:41The reporters swarming around him turned all their cameras on me.
00:45Mr. Sterling has been engaged for 10 years but never married.
00:48Has he been waiting for you this whole time?
00:50I let out a cold laugh.
00:51What they didn't know was that 10 years ago, it was Silas Sterling himself who let his little
00:57mistress infiltrate the construction crew to pocket kickbacks.
01:00And when everything fell apart, he made me take the fall.
01:04Hello.
01:04Under the blaze of camera flashes, Silas Sterling's face remained cold and composed.
01:10Welcome to my humble cafe, Mr. Silas.
01:13Can I get a picture?
01:14My daughter's going to lose her mind.
01:16Please?
01:18When he noticed I hadn't moved, he turned and called out to me specifically.
01:22Alara, come take a photo with Mr. Sterling.
01:24He's the youngest CEO in the world.
01:26A photo with him will bring so much traffic to the shop and I'll give you a raise.
01:29The moment my boss called out, my hands froze over the cup I was washing.
01:34Miss Vance, so you've been hiding here in a coffee shop.
01:37You were once a world-renowned genius architect.
01:40Doesn't it feel like a fall from grace washing cups like this?
01:42We've heard your ex-husband has been waiting for you all these years, postponing his wedding again and again.
01:47What do you make of that?
01:48I ignored the microphones, practically jabbing at my face, and kept my hands busy with work.
01:53But the cup in my grip was trembling badly.
01:56I knew Silas Sterling's methods.
01:58I didn't believe for one second he had any deep feelings for me.
02:01I stayed on guard.
02:03The standoff dragged on until Silas stepped in front of me and blocked the cameras with his body.
02:08What happens today is between me and my former wife.
02:10We won't be taking any interviews.
02:12Please clear the area.
02:13Then he turned to look at me, his gaze deep and unreadable.
02:16Allura.
02:20It's been a long time.
02:21After so many years hearing his voice again, I couldn't stop my hand from jerking.
02:39How are you always so careless?
02:41I pulled my hand back immediately and turned to my boss with repeated apologies.
02:45I'm so sorry.
02:46I'll clean it up myself and please deduct the cost of the cup from my wages.
02:51Before my boss could even recover from the shock, a bright female voice floated in from the doorway.
02:56Simus, what are you doing here?
02:59You left without a word.
03:02Mom, Dad, and I were so worried about you.
03:04I looked toward the voice.
03:06A woman walked in from the doorway, smiling softly, naturally taking Silas' hand and pressing a light kiss to the
03:13corner of his lips.
03:14She was the true culprit behind the Hudson River bridge collapse ten years ago.
03:19She was also Silas Sterling's current fiancée, Ivy Thorne.
03:24And behind her, the very people who had cut me off ten years ago, my own parents.
03:30Ivy's gaze swept over to me.
03:33She smiled, cold and contemptuous.
03:36Mrs. Vance, the great architect.
03:38It's been a long time.
03:40Oh, by the way, your parents have officially taken me in as their adopted daughter.
03:45I suppose I should be calling you Big Sister.
03:49I glanced past her at my parents.
03:51They had aged so much.
03:53Compared to ten years ago, their backs were bent, their hair completely white.
03:58A fine, dense pain bloomed in my chest all at once.
04:02I wondered what they would think if they knew that the daughter they had taken in was the very person
04:08who had put their real daughter away.
04:10We only have one daughter, and it's Ivy.
04:12A woman who threw away human lives for a little money, looking at her turns my stomach.
04:17Silas, why would you come looking for someone like this?
04:20This kind of scum.
04:21Better if she just died out there.
04:22The moment my parents spoke, everyone in the shop, including my boss, turned to look at me with strange expressions.
04:29I turned my face away.
04:31I forced the pain down and refused to meet my parents' eyes.
04:36Don't blame her parents.
04:38What happened back then was a devastating blow to them.
04:41He reached into his jacket and produced a gold-trimmed business card, holding it out to me.
04:47I owe you more than I can repay.
04:49Call me anytime you need anything.
04:50I didn't refuse Silas' card.
04:53Or rather, I accepted it the way I would a card from any ordinary customer, politely, and then set it
05:00down to the side without another look.
05:02I didn't believe Silas had sought me out on purpose, and I had no intention of ever seeing him again.
05:08Then, three days later, my boss called, and his voice was thick with discomfort.
05:14Laura, I'm really sorry.
05:16I had no idea you had such a distinguished background.
05:20Someone like you making coffee in a little shop like mine, it was never a good fit.
05:25I've counted this month as full attendance, and your wages will be in your account shortly.
05:33Take tomorrow off.
05:34You don't need to come in.
05:36He hung up before I could get a word out.
05:38I tried to call back.
05:39He had already blocked my number.
05:41A text arrived seconds later.
05:43My wages had been deposited.
05:45$4,500.
05:47The extra $1,000 is my apology.
05:50Our little shop can't handle this kind of attention.
05:53I'm begging you.
05:55Please don't come back.
05:57My stomach dropped.
05:59I already had a feeling this was Silas' doing.
06:02Sure enough, his call came through moments later.
06:06Hey, Laura.
06:07I know I can't overturn the verdict for what happened back then, and I hope you can understand that.
06:13But I will make it up to you in every other way.
06:16The barista work was too hard for you.
06:18I've already handled that.
06:21I've also purchased a house for you in the city, and Ivy is still young, not as experienced with the
06:29more complex blueprints.
06:30If you could help guide her, I'll pay you $200,000 a month.
06:34My fists clenched so hard my knuckles cracked.
06:38Won what grounds?
06:39On what grounds did he push me into the abyss himself?
06:43Let everyone in the world condemn me, strip me of everyone who ever cared for me,
06:48and then waltz back in as my savior and tear apart the quiet life I'd rebuilt?
06:54On what grounds did he presume to arrange everything for me, as though I had no say?
06:59Help Ivy Thorne?
07:01That was nothing but wanting me to be her shadow, her ghostwriter, her invisible hand.
07:06The thought made me sick to my stomach.
07:08I forced my feelings down, spoke through gritted teeth.
07:13Thank you for your kind offer, Mr. Sterling.
07:15But I have my own life now.
07:16Please don't interfere with it again.
07:19There was a long silence on the other end.
07:21Then, Silas spoke.
07:23Alara, don't be stubborn.
07:24A proud talent like you, you're only ever truly happy when you're working on blueprints.
07:29I'm securing your livelihood and giving your gift a place to breathe.
07:33What exactly are you dissatisfied with?
07:36And if you insist on saving face and refusing, I have other options.
07:43He hung up.
07:45A quiet dread settled in my chest.
07:47By that afternoon, I understood exactly what his other options were.
07:52With my coffee shop job gone, I spent the day walking all over town looking for work.
07:58But no matter where I went, no matter how desperately they were hiring, the moment I walked in, everyone
08:04was perfectly polite and everyone refused to let me work.
08:08Eventually, with nowhere left to try, I made my way back to my rented room.
08:13But at the gate, I found my landlady waiting for me.
08:16Mrs. Kowalski was a wonderful woman.
08:19When I'd first arrived with almost nothing, she had waived a full month's rents and whenever
08:23she cooked something good, she always brought a bowl to my door.
08:27But now she stood at the entrance, eyes red-rimmed.
08:30Ilada, you're finally back!
08:32I'm so sorry.
08:34I can't rent to you anymore.
08:37Please don't be angry with me.
08:39I have no choice.
08:41There's someone powerful in town now.
08:43If I keep renting to you, my daughter, she works in the city, they'll... they'll...
08:48She couldn't finish the sentence.
08:50She started crying.
08:52I packed my things that same night and moved out.
08:54This, I thought, is what Silas calls compensation.
08:58Burn down everything I have, then offer me the ashes with a gracious hand.
09:03The day I moved out of my rented room, Silas appeared in my small upstate town.
09:08He was thinner than he'd been a few days ago, dark circles heavy under his eyes, like a man
09:13who hadn't slept.
09:14He had brought a moving company.
09:15He directed them to carry my things with a naturalness that made my skin crawl, as though
09:20we hadn't divorced at all, as though he were simply a husband coming to bring his wife home.
09:25At the new house, he poured me a glass of honey water.
09:28You've always been prone to tension.
09:30This will help you relax.
09:32I took the glass from him in silence.
09:34I took a small sip.
09:36I set the glass down and spoke.
09:39What happened before is in the past.
09:41If you truly wanted to make it right, you wouldn't have appeared at all.
09:44You would have stayed away.
09:46Alora, stop making a scene.
09:49I know you're not satisfied.
09:51But this is only the beginning.
09:53I'll find someone else to shoulder the blame.
09:58Then, step by step, I'll help restore your reputation.
10:02I know you don't like Ivy.
10:04I'll make sure she keeps a lower profile.
10:06Rest for now.
10:07His tone was gentle, but the meaning was unmistakable.
10:10You don't get to resist.
10:11He wanted me held firmly in his hands.
10:18Silas!
10:19I heard Mrs. Vance had arrived.
10:21Why didn't you call me?
10:25Although Mrs. Vance made serious mistake then,
10:28everyone still needs to live their life.
10:37I hope she takes this as a lesson and becomes a better person going forward.
10:41Ivy, the one who had actually done everything wrong,
10:43said all of this in front of the cameras without a trace of shame.
10:46This is just a small gesture from me.
10:49You're a senior in the field, and you're my fiancé's former wife.
10:54Please, don't re-use.
10:56If you ever have any difficulties, just say the word.
11:04But that afternoon, the news had spread across every platform in the city.
11:08Killer back in high society.
11:10Can the victims ever rest?
11:11And I, once again, was pushed to the center of the storm,
11:14pelted from all sides.
11:23Whether or not it was intentional,
11:25Ivy had leaked my address to the public.
11:29After that,
11:30a victim's families and furious protesters gathered outside my door every day.
11:35Three days later,
11:36my parents arrived.
11:37It was the first time in ten years,
11:39they had come looking for me on their own.
11:45Mom, Dad, you're here.
11:47Come in, have some water.
11:48We wouldn't dare drink the water of a murderer.
11:52Alana,
11:52what you did back then,
11:54we truly cannot forgive you.
11:59You can't keep making mistake after mistake.
12:03We're begging you.
12:05Ivy genuinely loves Silas.
12:08You're already divorced.
12:10Stop clinging to him.
12:12Ivy is a good girl,
12:13and it's not her place to say this.
12:16So we came to say it ourselves.
12:20If you keep refusing,
12:22don't blame us for finding other ways to make you go.
12:26That same gentle voice
12:27that had once sung me lullabies
12:29and coaxed me to sleep night after night,
12:31now every word carried the edge of a threat,
12:34driving into my heart like the tip of a blade,
12:36one cut at a time.
12:37Mom!
12:39Dad, did you never believe me?
12:40Not even once?
12:45You wretch!
12:46Even now you dare slander Ivy?
12:48He rushed over in a panic,
12:50trying to intervene.
12:51But at that moment,
12:52his phone rang.
12:53His assistant.
12:55Mr. Sterling, it's bad.
12:57Mrs. Thone got drunk.
12:58She's at the hospital getting a shot to sober up.
13:00The moment they heard that,
13:02Silas and both my parents went pale with alarm.
13:04Without another minute.
13:06All three of them turned and piled into the car.
13:09And I laughed.
13:10I watched their retreating figures.
13:12The tears came with the laughter.
13:15Whether they were threatening me,
13:16or pretending to care for me,
13:18no matter how much pain I was in.
13:19None of it compared to Ivy Thorne crooking her finger.
13:22After all,
13:23ten years had taught me one clear lesson.
13:25I could not afford to have expectations of my parents,
13:28or of Silas Sterling.
13:31A group of victims' family members
13:33knocked down my location.
13:34They knocked me unconscious with iron rods and took me away.
13:37When I came to,
13:38I was inside a burlap sack.
13:40Damn you!
13:41You murderer!
13:42We didn't come after you,
13:43and you had the nerve to come back!
13:45Give me back my daughter's life!
13:47She was 19!
13:49She just started college!
13:51You animal!
13:54You owe us so many lives.
13:56Cutting you into a thousand pieces wouldn't be enough.
14:02You're in our hands now!
14:03We want blood for blood!
14:0599 blows.
14:07I lost consciousness and was doused away again and again.
14:14The reason water closed in from every direction.
14:17The suffocation wrapped around me like a fist.
14:21Just as long as my hands closed around me.
14:29Mom, Dad, don't worry.
14:32I've looked into these families.
14:34They're all ordinary, decent people.
14:36They won't do anything seriously harmful to Alara.
14:40If anything,
14:41a good scare might make her go into hiding and protect herself.
14:45Reassured by those words,
14:46Alara's parents had passed along her whereabouts.
14:49The number you dialed is currently switched off.
14:54Something keeps knocking in my chest lately.
14:57Alara hasn't sent any word for days.
14:59Should we go look for her?
15:00Maybe call the police?
15:01Look for her?
15:02Call the police?
15:04Wasting resources to protect that creature?
15:06Huh.
15:07That's ridiculous.
15:08No news is better, isn't it?
15:09A troublemaker like her,
15:11if she's dead,
15:12that's one less burden on the world.
15:14Silas Sterling was just as uneasy.
15:16I knew it.
15:17You still can't let go of that ex-wife of yours.
15:19If that's how it is,
15:21why did you come to me at all?
15:23For three consecutive days,
15:25every time he tried to go find Alara,
15:27Ivy stopped him.
15:28While Ivy wasn't around,
15:29he slipped away and headed straight for the house.
15:31When he arrived,
15:33all he found was an empty house.
15:34And Alara's parents,
15:36standing there,
15:37faces tight with the same wordless dread.
15:40The three of them greeted each other with a nod,
15:42and without discussion,
15:44began searching.
15:45It must be Alara.
15:46She's come back.
15:51You are...
15:53Officers,
15:54did Alara's cause trouble again?
15:56If she's hurt someone again,
15:57you can shoot her on the spot.
15:58I have no daughter.
16:00We're here to speak with Mrs. Vand's parents
16:02and former husband
16:03regarding the circumstances of her case.
16:05Miss Alara Vand is very likely deceased.
16:07The individuals responsible have been apprehended.
16:10We are doing everything in our power
16:12to locate her remains.
16:13We ask that you please accept our condolences.
16:15Mother swayed and nearly collapsed.
16:18Silas stared at the officer in disbelief,
16:21tears spilling down his face
16:22before he could stop them.
16:25They guided him and Alara's parents...
16:29Our loved ones were killed by your daughter.
16:32Taking her out was justice.
16:35You told us where she was.
16:37Wasn't that what you wanted?
16:38Her own parents gave us her location.
16:40They're not pressing charges.
16:41On what grounds are you arresting us?
16:43Whatever wrong was done to you,
16:45the law will decide your remedy.
16:47Vigilante justice is never acceptable.
16:50Killing is a crime.
16:51Full stop.
16:52Whatever came after that,
16:54neither Alara's parents nor Silas
16:55could hear a single word.
16:57She was your own daughter.
16:59Even a tiger won't devour its cubs.
17:01How could you do something like this?
17:05No, we didn't know this would happen.
17:07It was Ivy.
17:08Ivy said these people would only scare her,
17:10that Alara would go into hiding to protect herself.
17:12The name Ivy Thorn
17:13cracked through Silas' mind
17:15like a bolt of lightning.
17:18Ivy.
17:20It was Ivy again.
17:22She must have planned all of this from the beginning.
17:25No wonder she had worked so hard to keep him away.
17:27Silas' face darkened to something terrifying.
17:31Alara's parents were reeling too.
17:32Now that they thought back,
17:33Ivy's behavior had been strange all along.
17:37You care that much about that murderer?
17:40Didn't you hate her?
17:41Didn't you love me most?
17:43She's dead.
17:44Isn't that exactly what you wanted?
17:46I can still be your daughter.
17:47I'm still Silas Sterling's fiancée.
17:50Someone like her.
17:51She killed all those people ten years ago.
17:53Getting what she deserved is only natural.
18:02The moment Ivy finished speaking,
18:04Silas lunged forward and closed his hand around her throat.
18:08Who told you to do this?
18:10I'm not wrong.
18:11Someone who caused that much damage.
18:13After ten years, she's still a pest.
18:16Ivy's words stopped abruptly.
18:18Her face slowly drained of color.
18:21She looked as though something had just surfaced in her memory.
18:24Silas let out a laugh.
18:27I've woken from nightmares countless times,
18:30sick with regret over what I did to the person I loved most,
18:32all to protect something like you.
18:35You and I both know the truth.
18:37You were only my mentor's daughter.
18:38My mentor did so much for me,
18:40so I sacrificed my own wife to take your punishment.
18:43The real truth of ten years ago.
18:45You, the actual culprit,
18:47know it better than anyone.
18:48The words detonated in the room of a bomb.
18:51Then Alara's father spoke,
18:52his voice barely finding shape.
18:54Silas, what you just said,
18:56the one who caused the collapse ten years ago,
18:57it wasn't Alara?
18:58We wronged her,
18:59and we took in the person who destroyed her
19:01and called her our daughter!
19:03Silas lowered his eyes.
19:05He said nothing.
19:06Alara's father stumbled.
19:08He fell back into a chair.
19:10Her mother surged forward,
19:12raised her hand,
19:13and brought it down hard across Silas' face.
19:16His face snapped to one side,
19:18but he stood where he was and took it.
19:20I'm sorry.
19:21I'm so sorry.
19:23Her mother didn't accept the apology.
19:25She was silent for a moment.
19:27Then a cry tore out of her,
19:28raw and inconsolable.
19:29My daughter!
19:31My daughter!
19:33We took revenge on the wrong person?
19:36When I woke up,
19:37I was in a soft bed.
19:39I tried to sit up.
19:40The pain that tore through my body
19:42made cold sweat break across my skin instantly.
19:46Don't move.
19:47Lie still and rest.
19:49A gentle male voice came from the doorway.
19:52I turned toward the sound.
19:53A young man in a cotton shirt.
19:56The doctor said you'd wake up around now.
19:59I've been making a fresh bowl every day waiting for you.
20:01And here you are.
20:03You just woke up,
20:04nothing too rich yet.
20:06This will do for now.
20:07Once you're better,
20:08I'll take you somewhere proper.
20:09He set the bowl on the nightstand as he spoke.
20:12Then, with practiced ease,
20:13he adjusted the bed so I could sit up more comfortably,
20:15and brought the spoon to my lips.
20:17I looked at him properly for the first time.
20:20Strong, straight brows.
20:22Warm, expressive eyes.
20:23A small mole just beside his nose.
20:26Perfectly placed.
20:27For some reason I couldn't name,
20:29he felt immediately familiar,
20:31as though we had known each other for a long time.
20:33Because of that feeling,
20:35I could barely put my guard up.
20:37When he brought the porridge to my lips,
20:39I drank it before I even thought to hesitate.
20:42The moment it hit my tongue,
20:43I went still.
20:44This taste,
20:45it was the exact taste from my grandmother's house when I was a child.
20:49The porridge she used to make just for me.
20:52I stared at him,
20:53and after a long moment,
20:55Who are you?
20:57A shadow of sadness crossed the young man's eyes.
21:01Silly.
21:03Grandma's sweet potato porridge,
21:05besides grandma herself,
21:06only one person in the world knows the recipe.
21:08You really don't remember?
21:10And then it came back to me all at once.
21:13When I was little,
21:13there was a boy who used to play with me all the time.
21:16Because our grandmother was always so busy,
21:19he would be the one to look after me.
21:21For a while when my stomach was bad,
21:23and I could only manage porridge,
21:25he had learned grandma's sweet potato porridge recipe specifically for me.
21:30Julian?
21:35You finally remembered.
21:37It was only then that Julian told me everything.
21:40It turned out that after my parents had taken me to the city,
21:43Julian's own biological parents had found him as well.
21:47His true identity,
21:48the lost heir to the Knight family,
21:50the wealthiest in the region.
21:52After a whole drama of proving who he really was,
21:55he had taken his rightful place at the head of Knight Technologies.
21:58But he had never forgotten me.
22:00He had never stopped looking for me.
22:03When he saw me become a well-known architect,
22:05he felt genuinely happy for me.
22:07But because I had already married Silas,
22:09he hadn't wanted to intrude.
22:11Ten years ago,
22:12the bridge collapse case.
22:14Everyone thinks you are a murderer.
22:16I never believed you were the murderer.
22:18He had spent years quietly investigating,
22:21collecting evidence in the background.
22:22But even by the time I was released,
22:25he hadn't found enough.
22:26At the end of it all,
22:27I've been keeping an eye on your movements.
22:29So I was able to detect those people's plot in time
22:32and rescue from the river.
22:34But I know this violates your privacy.
22:36Will you be angry with me?
22:38I laughed.
22:39I shook my head.
22:40Thank you, Julian.
22:42I watched the news from the bed
22:45when I saw Ivy Thorne being led away by police
22:48on the television screen.
22:50I couldn't quite believe it.
22:51Julian and I looked at each other.
22:53Neither of us had expected
22:54that the truth revealed to the world just like that.
22:58In the reporter's cameras,
22:59Silas Sterling's face was ashen.
23:02Not a trace remained of the man he once had been.
23:05And my parents, over their own daughter,
23:07looked as though every ounce of life
23:09had been drained from them.
23:10My father slumped in a chair.
23:12My mother sat beside him,
23:14hands pressed over her face.
23:16I lay in bed watching all of it.
23:18There was none of the triumphant satisfaction
23:20I might have imagined.
23:22Only a vast emptiness and a tiredness.
23:25My former firm released a statement
23:27restoring my standing.
23:29Apologies flooded social media.
23:31Countless strangers brought flowers to the cenotaph
23:34that had been erected in my name.
23:36Julian watched it all beside me,
23:38then turned and asked, brow furrowed,
23:40what are you going to do?
23:41Tell everyone you're still alive?
23:43The moment he finished speaking,
23:44the faces of my parents and Silas rose up in my mind.
23:47I could already picture exactly what their version
23:50of making it up to me would look like.
23:52Their compensation felt like something demonic.
23:55I never wanted to live through that again.
23:57I shook my head.
23:58I gave Julian a small smile.
23:59Julian, let's just call this a rebirth.
24:04No matter how public opinion shifted back in my favor,
24:08no matter how many people came forward to sympathize,
24:11to apologize,
24:12to demand justice on my behalf,
24:14it all felt like something from a previous life.
24:17Since everyone already believed I was dead,
24:20I would give them exactly that.
24:22I stayed with Julian to recover for six months.
24:25He cared for me the way he always had,
24:27with quiet, unhesitating attention.
24:30Already the commanding head of night technologies,
24:32and yet he still looked after me
24:34exactly the way he had when we were children.
24:37Once I was able to eat normally,
24:39he always cooked himself.
24:41Every day he found a new way
24:43to prepare something nourishing.
24:45Six months later,
24:46I was not only healed,
24:47I had gained 10 pounds.
24:49Then spring came again.
24:51Jacaranda blooms opened
24:52just outside the window beside my bed.
24:54I stared at them for a long time.
24:57Then I turned to Julian and said,
24:59Julian, let's go somewhere.
25:00We left the city.
25:02Julian arranged his company
25:03to run with remote management,
25:05then stepped back and accompanied me
25:07as we set out to see the world.
25:09We followed the steps of my favorite poets.
25:11We traced the romantic solitude of Neruda
25:14through the coastal landscape of Chile.
25:16We stood in Mon Lough in Paris
25:18and tried to guess
25:19where the little rabbit had been buried.
25:21We walked through temple gardens in Kyoto
25:23and contemplated the violent beauty
25:25of a Japanese master's aesthetic.
25:28I had never imagined,
25:29after all those years apart,
25:31that Julian and I would find our interests
25:33and our way of seeing the world
25:35so completely aligned.
25:36At last we came to England.
25:38Beside the Thames,
25:39Julian turned to look at me.
25:41His eyes were full of a nervousness
25:43he was trying very hard not to show.
25:45I knew what he was about to say.
25:47I smiled at him and spoke first.
25:49Julian, I think I've fallen for you.
25:52His face went red all the way to his ears,
25:55then a kiss landed on my lips.
25:56At last, Julian and I opened
25:59a small bookshop in England.
26:00The days passed quietly.
26:02Only occasionally did news from back home reach us.
26:05After my death,
26:07Silas seemed to become a different person entirely.
26:09He restructured his company
26:11with swift, decisive force
26:13and purged everything connected to Ivy Thorne.
26:16And he never gave up looking for me.
26:19The overwhelming weight of what he owed
26:21kept him convinced,
26:22with a kind of obsession,
26:24that I must still be alive somewhere.
26:26As it turned out,
26:28he was right.
26:28On a Christmas Eve,
26:30London was buried in heavy snow.
26:32I had closed the shop early
26:34and was on my way home
26:35to cook Christmas dinner with Julian.
26:37But just as I reached the bottom of our building,
26:40I saw a familiar silhouette.
26:42He was standing in the snowfall
26:44as though he intended to become part of it,
26:47still as a statue made of ice.
26:49When he saw me,
26:50the gray deadness in his eyes came alive.
26:53Alara!
26:53He ran to me and grabbed my hands,
26:56his whole body trembling.
26:57I knew you weren't dead.
26:59Thank God, you're not dead.
27:01What happened back then was my fault.
27:03I've cleared your name.
27:05Come back with me.
27:06Let's start over.
27:07Please.
27:08He was incoherent,
27:09tears breaking through his voice,
27:11more humble than I had ever seen him.
27:13I looked at this man I had once loved deeply
27:16and once hated just as deeply.
27:19My heart was utterly still.
27:21Mr. Sterling, I said,
27:23you have the wrong person.
27:25Alara Vance is dead.
27:26He looked at me with something close to madness in his eyes.
27:30No, please.
27:31I'm begging you.
27:33Let me make it right.
27:34Please.
27:35Make it right?
27:36I gave a cold laugh.
27:38You destroyed my life.
27:40You made everyone abandon me.
27:42You cost me 10 years in prison.
27:45When I finally found my way back to a quiet life,
27:48your so-called compensation forced me out of it
27:51and nearly killed me.
27:53Silas Sterling,
27:54what exactly do you think you still have left to make right?
27:58I turned away and there was Julian standing just behind me watching with a quiet, steady smile.
28:04I walked forward without a moment's hesitation.
28:08I took Julian's hand.
28:09I didn't look back, not even once, as the sound of Silas breaking down faded behind us.
28:15One week later, my parents appeared at the bottom of our building.
28:18They looked so much older.
28:20Their hair had gone white.
28:22Their faces were full of a timid, beseeching uncertainty.
28:25My mother was holding a thermal bag.
28:28Lotus pastries, she said, the ones I had loved as a child.
28:31When she saw me, she opened her mouth, but the tears came before any words did.
28:36I looked at them.
28:37The fine, dense ache moved through me again, the way it always had.
28:42Come up for tea, I said.
28:43I turned and led the way.
28:45Julian respected my choices completely.
28:48He helped me prepare the tea, setting a cup in front of each of my parents without a word.
28:53Then he quietly found somewhere else to be.
28:55My father was the first to speak.
28:58Elara, we were wrong.
29:00Come home with us.
29:01I finished my tea in silence.
29:04Then I set the cup down and spoke.
29:06Mom, Dad, I took a slow breath.
29:09Consider me dead.
29:11This is my home.
29:12I'm not going back.
29:13I don't hate you anymore, but I can't be what I was to you before.
29:18Between us, there are ten years of a wrongful sentence and one life that almost ended.
29:23We are each other's best ending if we simply wish each other well from a distance.
29:28I didn't take the lotus pastries.
29:30They cried for a long time.
29:32In the end, they left, unsteady on their feet, stumbling down the steps.
29:36The snow on the ground below caught the last of the sunset light, small patches of red, and their
29:41shadows stretched long behind them.
29:43I cried anyway.
29:45Silas and my parents never came back.
29:47Only money, from time to time, deposited quietly into my account.
29:52And postcards, occasionally, routed through circuitous paths.
29:56No names signed.
29:57I knew they were from Silas.
29:59I never read them.
30:00I never replied.
30:02I carried each one to the fireplace and watched the flames take it.
30:06Life always moves forward.
30:08Ding!
30:08The wind chime above the door rang.
30:11A customer had come in.
30:13After selling one more book, I lay back in the rocking chair in the courtyard.
30:17Julian handed me a cup of tea and asked,
30:20Any regrets?
30:21I shook my head.
30:22Never.
30:23This bookshop.
30:24And Julian.
30:25This was my new life.
30:27The following bookshop.
30:27Thanks Alright.ə
30:29étruiksa the
30:29season
30:30end
30:31just
30:32but
30:32you
30:32going
30:32go
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