But what if Luke wasn't involved?
That question goes straight to the core of human nature.
Taylor Swift had seen a survey done by the Harvard Sociology department:
If you could send yesterday's you today's winning lottery numbers, would you do it?
The key conditions for the question were:
You can only communicate with yesterday's you this one time.
You get no reward for helping yesterday's you get rich.
Would you still help yesterday's version of yourself?
The results of the survey were surprisingly telling:
62.7% of people chose No. Their reasoning boiled down to: "We're the same person. Why should he get rich all by himself? Why should he have all the fun?"
28.5% chose Yes. They felt that even if there was no personal benefit, they still wanted the version of themselves in the alternate timeline to be happier.
The remaining 8.8% actually chose to send false winning numbers. They wanted the other-timeline version of themselves to experience the crushing disappointment of falling from extreme hope—a huge letdown.
You could say this survey reflected the complexity of human nature.
So, it was perfectly normal for Annie in the short film to hesitate—it was a truly human struggle. But ultimately, she belonged to that 28.5% group.
However, the plot immediately took a sharp turn.
The Taylor from five years ago wasn't Annie at all—she was Annie's twin sister. That's why they looked exactly alike. The revelation of the truth was unexpected, but once you thought about it, it made sense.
But then, a new mystery immediately cropped up: If Taylor was Luke's real girlfriend, where did she go? Why did Luke end up with Annie?
The clever Swift instantly connected this to the earlier foreshadowing about the scar.
When Annie opened Taylor's journal, and when she read Luke's letter, all the mysteries were solved.
The only thing Swift felt was an unspeakable sadness. Everyone in this story had a gentle heart, but none of them were treated kindly by fate:
Annie was about to lose all her memories and didn't have long to live.
Taylor had died too young from an illness, never getting to spend her life with her boyfriend.
Luke had died in a mountain accident.
In that moment, Swift desperately wished for the fate of all three to change! It would be truly heartbreaking if this turned out to be a complete tragedy.
And that's exactly what the on-screen Annie thought, too. She sent that letter from the future!
With one stroke, she changed the fate of those three people five years ago. In that moment, Annie had no bitterness—only blessings in her heart.
As the credits rolled, Annie shouted loudly on the snowy mountain: "Are you okay?"
And the mountain echoed back with the same greeting: "Are you okay?"
That answering call seemed to come from Luke, and also from Taylor.
And Annie's reply was: "I'm great!"
At this point, the screen showed the text of the very first letter Annie sent: "Are you okay? I'm not doing so well." The two lines formed a powerful contrast and created a perfect thematic bookend for the story.
The story ended right there.
"I absolutely love this story, that Luke guy is something else!" Swift couldn't help but exclaim.
The Time-Crossing Trilogy had reached a perfect conclusion. A viewer who had paid close attention to all three short films would realize that beneath the same core theme, Luke had told three completely different stories that still echoed each other and formed a cohesive whole.
The Diary from the Past felt like a happy fairy tale, but after watching the next two films, recalling it revealed a hidden sorrow.
The Love Letter posed the question of identity ("Who am I?"), showing that in a space-time misalignment, any choice leads to regret.
The Letter from the Future, as the final installment in the series, was the gentlest. It presented the best possible ending under the circumstances.
While Swift loved all three stories, the fact that Luke and Annie were finally broken up as a couple (shipping-wise) made her even happier!
She loved the romantic lines from The Letter from the Future!
I told him the night was beautiful.
But he told me, "How could I know how beautiful the moonlight is tonight?
My eyes are full of only you; there's no room left for the moon."
Reading that line made Swift feel like her teenage heart was melting. Why is he so smooth? Wait, he's always been smooth!
Swift remembered the dance in the rain. He really had always been smooth.
Young, successful, handsome, brave, tall, strong, romantic, gentle, wealthy... The list of his good qualities was endless. His only flaw seemed to be that he was too popular with the ladies!
She decided not to read the comments now. She had a busy day of recording tomorrow and needed to rest up.
Swift moved her mouse and accurately clicked the shutdown button.
Click!
Click!
Yuffie (the actress) opened the comments section for The Letter from the Future.
It was noon, and her eyes were still a little red—she was touched by the short film. She wanted to call Luke, but she realized it must be midnight in New York.
So, Yuffie put her phone down and clicked over to the short film's comments.
"The structure of this short film is so clever. In the main storyline, Luke never actually appears. He only exists in the conversation between the two women, forever the teenage boy from five years ago. That feeling is just amazing!" one user commented.
"There's so much to think about. I loved the part where Taylor pulls Luke into the heavy snow. Knowing she couldn't grow old with him, Taylor used that moment to fulfill their promise, making up for the regret! It made my eyes sting."
Yuffie nodded silently as she read that comment.
"But I love the part from Luke's letter even more:
I've always looked forward to it.
Looking forward to the day we grow up.
Going to work together, going grocery shopping together.
Cooking together, taking walks after dinner together.
Lying on the couch watching TV together.
You in my arms, and me in our home."
Yuffie nodded even harder. This was exactly how she imagined her life with Luke. She was really looking forward to that day.
After reading a few popular comments, Yuffie felt satisfied. In two days, she would join the cast of The Story of a Noble Family and start shooting her first TV drama. Even though she'd done a lot of prep, she still felt nervous now that it was actually time to start filming. She had an acting lesson in the afternoon, which was a good last-minute refresher.
Just as Yuffie was about to turn off her computer for a break, a particularly jarring trending comment caught her eye:
"This short film is the most ridiculous, unrealistic video I've ever seen. Luke, a Asian-American, as the school's quarterback? Come on, even in a dream, don't make it so unbelievable! What are Asian people good at besides studying and taking tests? Have you ever seen a quarterback with black hair? I certainly haven't!"