🔥 She gave him everything... and he betrayed her with his secretary.
When Scarlett discovers the truth, she doesn't cry—she takes everything back. 💔👑
His downfall begins the moment she walks away. 😱🍿
#shortflix #drama #shortsdrama #shortfilm #series #shortfilms #shortdrama #ShortSeries
When Scarlett discovers the truth, she doesn't cry—she takes everything back. 💔👑
His downfall begins the moment she walks away. 😱🍿
#shortflix #drama #shortsdrama #shortfilm #series #shortfilms #shortdrama #ShortSeries
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🎥
Short filmTranscript
00:00I woke up groggily, feeling something sticky on my face, accompanied by a pendent smell of ink.
00:07Last night I had come to Cross Group alone and waited all night in my husband Adrian's office.
00:12But by morning, I found several words stamped on my face, U.S. retained.
00:17Ivy Foster was holding a custom stamp and smiling at me, her makeup immaculate and outfit pristine,
00:23wearing Jimmy Choo stilettos.
00:25Meanwhile, my hair was disheveled, and my face bore the humiliating inscription.
00:31A top socialite like you from one of the most elite families?
00:34Why bother meddling in the company?
00:37Just stay home and be a pretty boss.
00:39Isn't that enough?
00:40I slammed Adrian's favorite whiskey glass onto the floor.
00:43It was one I had custom ordered from Italy for his 30th birthday, with our initials engraved on the bottom.
00:49The glass shattered, and shards flew toward her.
00:52Adrian appeared in an instant, shielding Ivy behind him.
00:56Glass fragments nixed his suit sleeve.
00:59He looked at me, his tone icy.
01:01Ivy is still young.
01:03She probably doesn't understand the boundaries of a joke.
01:05I pointed at his collar.
01:07Do you really need to get this angry?
01:09There was a conficuous lipstick mark.
01:11This was his third consecutive night without coming home.
01:14And during those three days, he had only sent one message.
01:19Ivy poked her head out from behind Adrian, made a face, and said,
01:22Oh, come on, sis.
01:23He just had some fun little toys made for me so I wouldn't be bored.
01:26When she said little toys, she deliberately emphasized the words.
01:30Her fingers toying with the letter necklace around her neck.
01:33A C pendant.
01:34It was from a pair of custom couples' necklace I had made for our wedding anniversary.
01:39Somehow, Adrian's had ended up on her.
01:41My gaze locked onto the red mark on his collarbone, and my throat felt as though it were blocked.
01:45Tell me, where did this come from?
01:47I stared at him, my voice eerily calm.
01:49Adrian froze, glanced at his own neck, and his expression changed instantly.
01:54His Adam's bubble bob.
01:56After seven years of marriage, I knew all too well that this was his nervous habit.
02:00He was about to speak, when Ivy cut in first.
02:03It was me.
02:04I sat in on a boring four-hour meeting with him here that day, so I gave him this little
02:09punishment.
02:10It was just a way to pass the time.
02:12Adrian laughed, gave Ivy a light smack on the head, and said,
02:17Pulling something like that during a board meeting, you really made me lose face.
02:21There was no real reproach in his tone, only an indulgence I knew all too well.
02:26It was the same tone he used to have when he indulged my coyadish antics.
02:31I clenched my fists until my knuckles turned white.
02:34Adrian immediately pushed Ivy aside, strode over to me, and reached to touch my arm.
02:38I dodged sideways.
02:39His hand hung in midair for a second, then awkwardly withdrew.
02:42Don't listen to her nonsense.
02:43She's just a young girl playing around and making things up.
02:46It's not what you think.
02:47His voice was unusually urgent.
02:50Not what I think?
02:51Then, Adrian, what am I supposed to think?
02:53Three nights without coming home, amusing yourself with your secretary?
02:56At the office?
02:57His Adam's journal bowl bobbed again.
03:00He didn't answer.
03:01Once upon a time, he had personally said,
03:04The office is a battlefield, not a playground.
03:07On Ivy's first day as an intern, she accidentally knocked over a cup of coffee on his desk,
03:12and he gave her the cold shoulder for three full days.
03:15Now he was letting her leave marks on his shirt and stamp humiliating words on his sleeping wife's face.
03:21Oh my god.
03:22From outside the door came the hushed chatter of several girls.
03:25I'm dying to see what Mrs. Cross actually looks like.
03:29Didn't I hear that on the day he proposed, the entire Manhattan sky was decorated with her name?
03:34Hundreds of drones formed a meteor shower of lights.
03:36After all these years, Mr. Cross still dotes on her just as much.
03:41Last Christmas, he rented out the entire top floor of Tiffany on Fifth Avenue just to pick a gift for
03:46her alone.
03:47They discovered the door wasn't fully closed.
03:49When they looked up, they came face to face with me.
03:52My hair stuck to my forehead, and those vivid red words U.S. retained were prominently printed on my cheeks.
03:58The chattert stopped abruptly.
04:00One girl instinctively clapped her hand over her mouth, letting out a barely audible gasp.
04:07Ivy suddenly let out a soft laugh, seemed to have only just noticed the malice behind those words.
04:12Or perhaps he had known all along and simply chose to look the other way.
04:16He stood in front of Ivy without hesitation.
04:19Apologize to them.
04:21Mist quickly welled up in Ivy's eyes.
04:24Why should I apologize to them?
04:26These stamps were ones you had custom made because you were afraid I'd be bored.
04:30You even said I could stamp whatever I wanted.
04:33Now you're forcing me to bow my head in front of them and humiliate me publicly?
04:36Those words exploded in my mind like a bomb.
04:40You?
04:41Had them custom made for her?
04:43His gaze flippered, and he avoided my eyes.
04:47That momentary evasion answered me more clearly than any words could have.
04:52Adrian grabbed Ivy's wrist.
04:54His brow deeply fro-oed.
04:56Ivy!
04:57Ivy wrenched free, tears flooding down like a dam had burst.
05:01Her whole body trembled as she completely lost control.
05:04Leave me alone!
05:07She screamed.
05:09You're all ganging up against me!
05:12Isn't it just because I have no status?
05:15She choked between sobs.
05:18Fine, it's my mistake.
05:19I'll leave, okay?
05:21Before she finished, she turned to bolt out the door.
05:24Adrian swiftly stepped in to block her path.
05:27Looking at her tear-strained face, the conflict in his eyes was plain to see.
05:31He finally sighed, and his tone gradually softened.
05:34Don't be upset anymore.
05:36He reached out and gently wiped her tears.
05:38The touch was as delicate as if handling something fragile.
05:43I stood to the side, watching him wipe another woman's tears.
05:47The tenderness that once belonged solely to me was now being poured without reservation onto someone else.
05:53I suddenly felt that I was the one who was extraneous in this office.
05:57Ivy is straightforward by nature, still a child.
06:00Let me apologize on her behalf.
06:02Scar, don't take it too much to heart, okay?
06:04Don't take it to heart?
06:07Don't take it to heart?
06:09Adrian, you want me not to take it to heart?
06:12That someone stamped a humiliating mark on my face while I was sleeping?
06:16He didn't answer.
06:18Silence was itself an answer.
06:20Adrian walked toward me.
06:22He pulled a few tissues from the desk.
06:25Come on, don't be angry.
06:27After all, you were the one who asked me to look after her.
06:29She's still childish by nature, always up to some mischief.
06:33Yes, it was I who had shown compassion.
06:37Ivy came from a remote town in Kentucky with an alcoholic father and a submissive mother.
06:43Among six children, she was the only girl.
06:45At 14, her father tried to marry her off to a man 20 years her shoulder in exchange for a
06:49bride price.
06:50She fled overnight and spent two years living on the streets of New York.
06:53I met her at a charity gala for the Beaumont Foundation.
06:57My heart went out to her.
06:58And I not only funded her education, but also secured her an internship at Adrian's company.
07:05Never did I imagine that the person I pulled out of hardship would one day trample all over me.
07:14Adrian reached out to wipe the ink from my face.
07:18I must have looked utterly wretched.
07:21Nearby, Ivy covered her mouth and laughed breathlessly, barely able to contain her glee.
07:27Adrian, the charity auction gala starts in 20 minutes.
07:30We need to go right away.
07:31He quickly checked the time, and that red mark appeared once more.
07:35He looked at me, tone hurried.
07:37Something urgent came up.
07:39I promised to help you pick out jewelry, but it'll have to wait for another day.
07:42Go home and wait.
07:44I'll come find you tonight to talk.
07:45As he walked toward the door, he turned back to add,
07:49Scar, remember to wait for me.
07:51Ivy stood beside him.
07:53The moment his back was turned, she shot me a glance.
07:57The curve of her lips was unmistakably a display of a smile on her vacation.
08:03Her eyes said,
08:04See?
08:04He chose me.
08:07As the door opened,
08:09I watched their retreating figures leave without a moment's hesitation.
08:14Adrian.
08:15I stopped him.
08:16My voice was so quiet I wasn't even sure he could hear.
08:19But he paused and half-turned.
08:22I can't accept this.
08:23A complex expression flickered across his face.
08:26Impatience, guilt, and a trace of anger at being exposed.
08:29But he quickly suppressed it all, and replaced it with a perfection warmth.
08:34I've got this under control.
08:35Don't overthink it, Scar.
08:38We'll talk when I get back.
08:40He walked out, and Ivy followed close behind.
08:42The crisp, cheerful clicks of her heels on the marble corridor struck like blows to my heart.
08:48Through the gap in the door, Ivy's voice drifted in.
08:52Adrian, Scarlet's family background is so prominent.
08:55If she really comes after me, what am I supposed to do?
09:00Adrian's voice wasn't loud.
09:02Scar is just venting.
09:03Besides, with me protecting you, who would dare touch you?
09:10Several interns looked at me with terror and sympathy.
09:13Could any of you young ladies lend me a mask or a hat?
09:17A girl named Emily Chen handed me a fresh mask.
09:20This one is brand new.
09:22Later I learned she was a graduate student at Columbia Business School, and it was her first day as an
09:27intern.
09:27I covered most of my face with the mask and left the company.
09:30I stood on a Manhattan street corner for a long time.
09:34Just three months ago, Adrian had been holding my hand on this very street, pointing at an emerald necklace in
09:40a display window and saying,
09:42When the auction comes around, I'll definitely buy it for you.
09:45Back in my car, I sent a message to the Harrison family.
09:48Tonight, Adrian will be bringing a secretary named Ivy Fowster to the auction gala.
09:52Find a shop that makes custom stamps.
09:55Prepare 100 pig head stamps in blood red ink that won't easily fade.
09:59As soon as my car stopped at the villa, the butler James hurried over.
10:04He had served the Beaumont family for 30 years and was always composed.
10:08Yet now, he showed rare anxiety.
10:10Mr. Cross said he's taking Miss Ivy to tonight's charity gala and needs an evening gown.
10:15They went directly to your dressing room.
10:17I froze.
10:19Which one did Ivy take?
10:22Starfall.
10:23Starfall was the dress I had worn at my engagement to Adrian, one he had designed himself.
10:27He hired the finest tailor in Manhattan to sew it stitch by stitch, with natural sapphires embedded in the train.
10:33He had learned about fabrics from scratch.
10:36Drawn over a hundred sketches.
10:37Personally flew to Sri Lanka to select raw sapphire stones.
10:42And it took eight full months.
10:44The tailor once told me,
10:45In 40 years of making clothes, I've never seen a man put so much into a single dress.
10:51I recalled the day of our engagement, wearing Starfall, as Adrian said gently,
10:57Scar, I spent all my luck on meeting you.
11:00It was an early autumn evening in the back garden of the Long Island estate.
11:03He knelt on one knee and took out a modest velvet box with a ring that wasn't expensive.
11:08Back then, Cross Group was merely a small investment firm barely staying upflowed.
11:11But the light in his eyes was ten thousand times brighter than that diamond.
11:15Now I understood just how figgle the human heart could be.
11:18When I got home, the servants carefully cleaned my face.
11:22And each wipe brought a slight sting.
11:25But I felt only numbness.
11:27My phone kept buzzing.
11:29A friend sent me a link to a photo Ivy had posted.
11:33My face full of shock and fury.
11:35With U.S. retained, clearly visible.
11:37Her caption read,
11:38Some people are just a little older and blow up over a tiny joke.
11:43Youth really is great.
11:44You can do whatever you want.
11:46My close friend Sophie called, her voice heavy with suppressed fury and heartache.
11:50This whole thing has already spread through the Upper East Side circles.
11:53In this circle, a woman's reputation was worth more than anything.
11:57A single photo was enough to give those outwardly flattering,
12:01secretly gloating lemons fresh material for afternoon tea.
12:04I took a deep breath.
12:06I'll handle this.
12:07Don't worry.
12:08A group of black-suited bodyguards burst through the door,
12:12hauling in a terrified Ivy and dropping her on the floor.
12:15The starfall dress she was wearing scraped the ground as she fell,
12:18and a sapphire on the trun loosened and rolled away.
12:21Ivy snapped upright, glaring at me.
12:23Just how much do you depend on the Beaumont family's power to act this arrogantly?
12:27I rose from the sofa, my gaze icy, and looked her straight in the eye.
12:31My full name is Scarlet Viviana Beaumont Divero.
12:34Do you know what Beaumont Divero represents in the Upper East Side of New York?
12:38Ivy struggled desperately.
12:41It's just a dress.
12:42Is it really worth all this fuss?
12:44I'll give it back to you right now.
12:45I raised an eyebrow slightly.
12:47Is Ms. Foster aware of what it means to bear the name Beaumont Divero in New York?
12:53The Beaumont family has been rooted in this city for 170 years.
12:58The very first angel investment for Adrian's prized cross group came from my grandfather's personal fund.
13:04The apartment you live in is a property under my company's name.
13:08The clothes you wear, the jewelry, the restaurants, the shops.
13:11Half the high-end establishments in this city have deep ties to the Beaumont family.
13:15I glanced at her increasingly pale face.
13:18What you'll do for the rest of your life is nothing more than eke out an existence under someone else's
13:23show.
13:23Ivy bit her lip hard, her body trembling slightly.
13:26I don't want it anymore.
13:27Things that have been defiled, I don't keep.
13:29The filthy you, Scarlett has no use for.
13:33You look so pathetic.
13:35A case of stamps marked U.S. Retained was carried redwood box open to reveal 100 stamps arranged neatly,
13:42each loaded with vivid blood-red ink.
13:45I had specifically ordered this from Japan.
13:48It was waterproof and friction-resistant,
13:51requiring at least three months to naturally fade from skin.
13:54I nodded to the bodyguards.
14:03Please! No! I know I was wrong!
14:08When all 100 stamps had been applied,
14:11Ivy slumped on the floor.
14:13You should know that this special ink doesn't wash off.
14:16It'll stay with you for a lifetime.
14:19But hey, it's just a little joke.
14:21No need to take it too seriously, right?
14:23Adrian entered the house wearing his usual gentle expression.
14:26A wave of gardenly fragrance wafted into my nostrils.
14:29Ivy's scent.
14:31I know this is the style you've had your eye on for a long time.
14:34I shoved him away.
14:35The necklace slipped from his hands and clattered to the floor.
14:40Adrian!
14:42Scarlett has completely lost her mind!
14:45She had people torture me with that horrible ink!
14:48You promised you'd always protect me from harm!
14:53Scarlett, what has become of you?
14:55To become so... ruthless?
14:58Ivy is so young.
15:01You've done this to her.
15:02How is she supposed to show her face in public?
15:05Do you have to destroy her before you're satisfied?
15:08Watching this scene,
15:10I recalled how he had once solemnly swore
15:12at St. Patrick's Cavito.
15:14Adrian Cross hereby swears
15:16to love only Scarlett Bowman
15:18for the rest of his life
15:19and to never betray her.
15:22Have you ever thought about
15:23what's going to happen to me
15:25now that I have marks like this on my face?
15:29His silence was like a thick wall,
15:31but I caught a flash of unconcealable joy
15:34in Adrian's eyes.
15:35Adrian!
15:36I'm pregnant with your child!
15:40Take me away!
15:41You can't let her do this to me!
15:43We're going to have a baby?
15:45Wonderful!
15:46Let's go to the hospital right now.
15:50Scarlett, you need to calm down.
15:51Learn how to be a proper Mrs. Cross.
15:57Mr. Cross,
15:58in accordance with the pre-natural agreement
15:59signed between you and Miss Scarlett,
16:01all of your shares have now been frozen.
16:06Scar, aren't you going too far?
16:09Freezing my shares over something this trivial?
16:12Do you have any idea
16:13how much trouble this will cause cross-group?
16:16I don't have time to deal with this right now.
16:20She's not feeling well.
16:21I have to take her to the hospital immediately.
16:23Whatever it is,
16:23we'll sort it out when I get back.
16:27Scar, you know how much I've longed for a child.
16:31You can understand, right?
16:33Yes, I understood.
16:35All too well.
16:36Four years ago.
16:41I'm going to be a father.
16:53Scar, it's okay.
16:55I want to give the very best to our child.
16:57The kind of fatherly love I myself crave but never received.
17:00Adrian's father had abandoned him and his mother when he was seven.
17:04Yet at the very moment of birth,
17:06the child left this world in silence.
17:08The baby was lost to a nutshell cord.
17:11He never even let out a first cry.
17:19After that, I fell into post-partal discretion.
17:23And it was Adrian who refused to give up.
17:26He learned to braid hair, paint nails, even do manicures,
17:29squatted in the bathroom to wash my feet.
17:32Scar, it's okay.
17:34We'll have another child.
17:36Even without one, just having you beside me is enough.
17:41Now another woman rested in his arms,
17:43and he was overjoyed at the coming of a new life.
17:46He asked if I understood his yearning for a child.
17:50Of course I did.
17:51What I didn't understand was why it had to be with her.
17:56Adrian, let's get a divorce.
18:00Ivy whimpered in his arms,
18:01immediately pulling him back to reality.
18:03He didn't linger.
18:04Without another word, he turned and left,
18:07carrying Ivy away.
18:08The door slammed shut.
18:09From that day on,
18:11Adrian never set foot in this house again.
18:13He moved into a nondescript little apartment
18:16in Queens where Ivy lived.
18:18After that,
18:19my phone was flooded with messages and photos from Ivy.
18:27The messages were quickly retracted,
18:29leaving only a hasty explanation.
18:32Oops, sent by mistake.
18:34Don't mind me, sis Scarlet.
18:37These messages always appeared in the loneliest hours.
18:40The ink stains on my face finally faded.
18:44My close friend Sophie came to see me.
18:49Scar, honestly, how are you doing?
18:51I showed her the bathroom selfie Ivy had sent the night before.
18:55Sophie's face went a scene.
18:56She snatched the phone and was about to smash it on the ground.
18:58Don't break my phone.
19:05This scumbag man, this trash,
19:07none of it is worth it.
19:09What is Adrian anyway?
19:11Without you, without the Beaumont family,
19:13what would he be today?
19:15Now he's got a little money and a little mistress
19:17and thinks he's found true love?
19:20Absolutely shameless!
19:21Her voice grew louder,
19:23her eyes moist.
19:24You should teach them a proper lesson!
19:27After all these years,
19:29do you think a girl of the Beaumont family
19:30would take this lying down?
19:33Tomorrow morning,
19:35Adrian is holding a board meeting.
19:37He's planning to hand over half his shares
19:39to Ivy and her child.
19:42Has he lost his mind?
19:44Those are joint marital assets!
19:47Exactly because he believes
19:48ten years of feelings
19:49mean I won't drive him to total ruin.
19:52At this board meeting,
19:53he'll play the emotion card first,
19:55trying to preserve some leverage,
19:57maybe even turn the pressure on me to back down.
20:02Utterly shameless!
20:04What Scarlet Beaumont no longer wants,
20:07she may discard freely.
20:09But anyone who dares to try and take it,
20:12don't even dream of getting away with it.
20:25Everyone,
20:26I've gathered you today to make an announcement.
20:29As soon as the words left his mouth,
20:31the conference room door swung open
20:33and every eye in the room focused on me.
20:39It seems Mr. Cross hasn't finished his announcement.
20:43Perhaps you should hear my arrangements.
20:45Per the pre-nautal agreement
20:46signed by Adrian Cross seven years ago,
20:49should either party commit a major marital fault,
20:51such as cohabitating with another person
20:53or fathering a child outside the marriage,
20:55the innocent party has to latterly freeze
20:57all shares and related interests.
20:59Three days ago,
21:00approved by the notary office and the court,
21:02we have frozen all of his Cross group shares.
21:06Additionally,
21:07today we have filed for divorce proceedings with the court,
21:10demanding that the at-fault party,
21:12Mr. Cross,
21:14leave the marriage with nothing.
21:16That's not fair!
21:17All of this was earned through Adrian's hard work!
21:20How can this happen?
21:21All because I accompanied her through the pregnancy,
21:23you want to go this far?
21:25Scarlet,
21:25in today's society,
21:27who doesn't have a lover on the side?
21:29You grew up in this world.
21:31How can you still not know how to handle this sort of thing?
21:34Three months ago,
21:35when you walked out with her,
21:36you told me to learn how to be a proper Mrs. Cross.
21:38Well,
21:39now I truly have.
21:40The first duty of a good Mrs. Cross
21:42is to handle household matters properly.
21:44Adrian,
21:45sign the papers.
21:48Scarlet,
21:48why do you have to humiliate Adrian in front of so many people?
21:51I never wanted to take your place,
21:53I just want to be by his side.
21:55In the end,
21:56I simply love Adrian himself.
21:59Sis Scarlet,
22:00in everyone's eyes,
22:01you will always be the rightful Mrs. Cross.
22:03Why must we push this to such an extreme?
22:08That hoku tour outfit you're wearing is worth 1.2 million.
22:11Those diamond earrings,
22:133.5 million.
22:14And the bags,
22:15the luxury car,
22:16the apartment he that belongs to me and Adrian.
22:20If Miss Foster can't return the money,
22:22perhaps you'd like to sign now to prove you're not after the Cross family fortune?
22:26After all,
22:27you want to become the real Mrs. Cross too,
22:28don't you?
22:31I am nothing like you.
22:33I love Adrian for who he is.
22:36And no matter what he becomes,
22:38I will never change.
22:40I clapped lightly a few times,
22:42then turned to Adrian,
22:44his phone suddenly rang.
22:46After answering,
22:47his expression grew increasingly grim,
22:50the overseas accounts had been frozen.
22:52And if he didn't sign within half an hour,
22:55the next step would be a full liquidation of his personal assets.
22:59Go ahead and sign.
23:01You can't let your beloved share in the hardship,
23:03can you?
23:09Scarlet,
23:10since you've pushed things this far,
23:11don't blame me for never looking back.
23:13Even if you come crying to me someday,
23:15don't expect my forgiveness.
23:16Ten years of love came to an end
23:19in this undignified moment.
23:22From this day forward,
23:24all ties between the Beaumont family
23:25and family and Mr. Cross are terminated.
23:31That night, I didn't go home.
23:33Instead, I went to my private apartment.
23:35I needed a place Adrian couldn't find,
23:37somewhere I could be alone.
23:39Messages trickled into my phone.
23:40A few were from people inside Cross Group.
23:42All on your side.
23:45I didn't reply to any of them.
23:48Miss Scarlet,
23:49Mr. Cross sent someone to the villa
23:50to collect his things.
23:51It was his former driver, Ben,
23:53saying Mr. Cross asked him to pick up some clothes
23:54and a few files from the study.
23:56As you instructed,
23:56I had the security team pack his personal belongings
23:58and leave them at the gate.
23:59They weren't allowed inside.
24:00I murmured an acknowledgement.
24:02Before Ben left,
24:03he quietly told me that after Mr. Cross
24:05signed the papers and left the company,
24:06he sat in his car for a full 40 minutes without moving.
24:09Miss Ivy knocked on the window several times.
24:11He didn't respond.
24:12Then he started the engine,
24:13drove around Manhattan twice,
24:15and finally headed back to the apartment in Queens.
24:17Countless lit windows like a vast chessboard.
24:20I took a document from the drawer.
24:22It was the updated asset inventory,
24:25listing all properties and business disdealings.
24:28Every entry was marked terminated or liquidation in progress.
24:32I signed my name at the bottom of the list.
24:36The Manhattan sky was gray,
24:38like a piece of old, washed-out cloth.
24:40Three months later,
24:41Adrian's decline was plain to see.
24:43The young man who once had nothing but an unveiling fighting spirit
24:45had long since ceased to exist.
24:47All that remained were the habits and pride
24:49cultivated by years of prosperity.
24:51He couldn't bring himself to lower his pride and ask for help.
24:53She still hasn't faced reality.
24:55Day and night,
24:56she demands the same designer clothes and accessories she used to have,
24:59and insists that Mr. Cross take her to expensive restaurants.
25:03You said you'd always give me the best now!
25:06The whole reason I'm with you is for a good life!
25:10One month later,
25:11Adrian stood outside my door one morning.
25:14Scar, just five minutes.
25:16Back then,
25:16helping Ivy was only because she reminded me of my younger self.
25:19That day she cried and said she was scared of thunder,
25:22asking me to stay with her.
25:23I had a few too many drinks,
25:24and when I opened my eyes,
25:25she was all ready.
25:27Already in your arms?
25:28I've heard that one too many times.
25:30Ivy was only after my money.
25:33Scar, can you reconsider?
25:34Give me another chance?
25:36Impossible.
25:37For a year after that,
25:38there was no news of Adrian.
25:40Adrian has been doing pretty adly lately.
25:43That wretched Ivy's son was born with a serious heart condition.
25:47The treatment costs $800,000.
25:50$800,000.
25:51Once pocket change for Adrian,
25:53barely enough to open a bottle of wine,
25:54Adrian accused Ivy of drinking during pregnancy.
25:57She fired back that he was too incompetent to even protect his own child.
26:00During one a shoved her down the stairs in a rage,
26:02she called the police and had her injuries documented,
26:04causing a scandal.
26:06One desolate night,
26:07Ivy vanished without a trace,
26:09leaving only a note.
26:10I can't endure this life of poverty.
26:13The child never lived to see spring.
26:16Three months later,
26:17word came that in a distant southern town,
26:20Ivy had been found with a 60-year-old wealthy businessman.
26:23Adrian kicked down the door,
26:25grabbed her by the hair,
26:26and dragged her out,
26:27refusing to let go even as the man's bodyguards beat him bloody.
26:31Still want to run?
26:32Even if you hide to the ends of the earth,
26:34I won't let you go.
26:36I lifted my teacup and took a sip.
26:37The coolness spread from the tip of my tongue to the bottom of my heart.
26:41Some things,
26:42once missed,
26:42become irreversible forever.
26:44The bright,
26:45pure smile of 18-year-old Adrian,
26:48waving goodbye from the classroom door.
26:51It was ultimately swallowed by the sea of time.
26:55In the third year of my marriage,
26:57I had proposed extending the foundation's education funding from New York to remote areas.
27:03The return cycle on education investment is too long.
27:06Better to put money into tech startups.
27:08I remembered that remark for a long time,
27:11not out of anger,
27:12but out of helplessness.
27:14Chief Operating Officer Margaret pushed a data report towards me.
27:18Over 11 million children across the United States live below the poverty line.
27:22Nearly 3 million children in school districts
27:24where per-pupil funding is less than half the national average.
27:28Parts of Appalachia are still using textbooks from the 80s.
27:30I flipped through a few pages
27:32and stopped at a photo.
27:34An elementary school in a small Kentucky town.
27:37Windows padded with plastic sheeting held in place by duct tape.
27:40Desks made from wooden planks propped up on frames.
27:43I thought of Ivy.
27:44At 14,
27:45she had been forced by her father to marry a stranger.
27:48What I hate most isn't the poverty, Scarlett.
27:50It's having no choices at all.
27:52I wanted to go to school,
27:53wanted to go to college,
27:55but no one ever showed me the way.
27:57It had broken my heart at the time,
27:58so I funded her.
27:59The sentiment itself wasn't wrong.
28:01What was wrong was that she chose to fill that void by trampling on others.
28:05I signed my name on the proposal and wrote a note in the margin.
28:09Prioritize implementation in Kentucky
28:11and the six states along the Appalachian Corridor.
28:14Cover 200 schools in the first phase.
28:17Budget.
28:17No cap.
28:19Scarlett,
28:19No cap means...
28:21It means sustained investment until every school has sufficient teachers, textbooks, and infrastructure.
28:27I don't want a charity you pose for photos at and walk away from.
28:30I want to see real change.
28:32The project was named Starlight Initiative.
28:35The first inspection team departed in November.
28:38I led it personally, flying into Harlan, a town in eastern Kentucky.
28:43After the plane landed, there were still three hours of jotting along mountain roads,
28:47whose hands were permanently stained with chalk dust and chillbines.
28:51The children have been waiting for you for a long time.
28:54Forty-three children sat in the classroom, the youngest five, the oldest 13.
28:59The heating had been broken for two years.
29:01In winter, they relied on a rusty tin stove.
29:05When I grow up, I want to be a doctor, because my mom is sick, and no one can treat
29:10her.
29:11Ethan's mother had been diagnosed with terminal lung cancer three years earlier.
29:15His father had abandoned them, and they survived on the earnings of his 14-year-old sister,
29:20who worked at a convenience store.
29:22He's the smartest child in the class, but he missed 17 days last semester
29:27because the family couldn't put food on the table.
29:29He had to go into the mountains to pick mushrooms and sell them.
29:34That night, in the town's only inn, I revised the budget until two in the morning.
29:38The original plan was to allocate funds for school repairs and donate teaching supplies,
29:42but after just one day in Harlan, I realized that was nowhere near enough.
29:45Fixing the school buildings alone won't help.
29:48The biggest obstacle for these children isn't the lack of desks.
29:51It's the lack of road to get to those desks.
29:55We renovated the school buildings, replaced the heating systems, purchased teaching equipment,
30:00and established school bus routes through the mountains.
30:03Harlan's bus route was the first to open, a brand new yellow school bus that wound along
30:07the mountain roads each day, picking up children door-to-door.
30:11Ethan never had to TREK over the mountains at four in the morning again.
30:15Four months after the project launched, the foundation received a handwritten letter.
30:20The paper was crumpled, the pencil writing crooked.
30:23Dear Aunt Scarlett, my name is Ethan.
30:25The school bus is really nice.
30:27I don't have to walk the mountain paths anymore, and my feet don't get cold in winter.
30:31I go to school every day and didn't miss.
30:33The doctor came to our school to give us checkups and said I need to have a cabbie filled.
30:37I'm not scared.
30:38I still want to be a doctor when I grow up.
30:40Ethan.
30:41When Sophie came to the foundation to see me, she happened to catch the six-month progress
30:46report meeting for the Starlight Initiative.
30:48She sat in the corner and listened to the entire session.
30:52After it ended, she walked over, her eyes glistening with tears.
30:57You never told me Ethan's story.
31:00There wasn't much to tell.
31:01There are too many children like him.
31:03Just in Harlan alone, there are over 40 similar cases.
31:06Across the six Appalachian states, the number reaches six figures.
31:11I used to think your charity work was just a rich person's way to kill time, sign a check,
31:16take photos at a gala.
31:18But what I've seen these past six months is different.
31:22How is it different?
31:24You're serious.
31:25You genuinely care about those children.
31:29I handed her the statistics Emily had compiled.
31:33In six months, the program had reached 47 schools, funded 1,200 students, opened 14 school bus routes,
31:41and renovated 31 classrooms.
31:43Of the 52 graduate teaching fellows sent out in the first cohort,
31:4611 had voluntarily requested to extend their stays.
31:50The numbers are still climbing, but this is only the beginning.
31:53Some of these children may need 10 or 15 years to get out of those mountains.
31:59I can wait.
32:00Outside the window, Manhattan was still cloaked in its usual gray haze.
32:06I thought that somewhere far away, in the Appalachian Mountains, in those classrooms now touched by light,
32:13there were lamps glowing too.
32:15Some lights are very small, small enough to illuminate only one classroom, one child, one book.
32:21But light does not fade.
32:23It is passed on.
32:24So sekali, there was a lot of gas och warmer, hot trash and so on.
32:24Both guests would just be
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