The apartment was still, the quiet of the morning hanging heavy in the air. Lily sat at Henri's table, the papers before her spread out like a map to nowhere. She'd spent the entire night, rifling through every document, letter, and photograph that had once held meaning. The details of her grandfather's past felt like a distant dream, impossible to grasp now. The more she searched, the more it seemed like the past was being erased, piece by piece.
Henri's presence was a quiet comfort, though. As always, his calm demeanor grounded her. But today, it wasn't enough.
"I can't find anything, Henri," she said, her voice strained. "Nothing. It's like he was erased from history, like he never existed at all."
Henri sat across from her, his eyes focused on the papers but not really seeing them. He was watching her, sensing the weight on her shoulders. "You're not looking at it from the right angle. You're looking for something in the wrong places, Lily. The answers are still there—they're just hidden."
She looked at him, feeling the exhaustion pull at her. "Hidden? Hidden where? If there was something worth hiding, someone would have left a trace by now."
Henri's gaze softened, and for a moment, the distance between them seemed to close. "Not everything is meant to be found easily. Sometimes, the truth hides in plain sight, disguised by time and silence. Maybe it's time to stop digging so hard and start listening."
Lily didn't answer immediately. She was too tired to argue, too tired to question him. Instead, she turned back to the papers, hoping something would jump out at her. But as the silence stretched between them, she realized Henri wasn't just talking about the past. He was talking about her too.
For so long, she had buried herself in the mystery, using it as an excuse to keep people away. Even Henri, despite how close they'd become, had always been at arm's length. She hadn't let herself fully lean on him, hadn't allowed herself to truly be vulnerable.
Lily's hand trembled as she picked up another letter, one from her grandfather to someone she couldn't quite make out. The words were blurry, faded with age, but one phrase stood out.
"The truth lies in what we leave behind. Seek not in what is lost, but in what remains."
She read it again, and for the first time, something clicked. It wasn't just about finding the past in old papers or dusty journals. It was about finding the parts of her grandfather he had left behind in the lives of others.
Henri must have seen the shift in her eyes. He leaned forward, his voice low but certain. "What did you find?"
Lily exhaled slowly, her mind racing as the pieces of the puzzle began to fit together. "It's not about searching for what's gone," she whispered, almost to herself. "It's about finding what was left behind, what was shared with others. The truth wasn't just hidden in these pages... It was in the people he touched, the lives he changed."
Henri nodded, a small smile tugging at the corner of his lips. "Exactly. And that's where we need to go next—finding the people who knew him, who held a part of his story."
Lily met his gaze, her heart thudding. There was something unspoken between them, something that had been growing ever since they first began this journey together. It was the realization that they weren't just uncovering the past. They were uncovering each other. And with every step forward, the connection between them grew stronger.
"I've been so focused on what's gone," she said, her voice shaking with the weight of it all. "I never realized it was about the people left behind."
Henri's eyes softened, his expression steady and reassuring. "It's never too late to find what matters most."
Lily stood up, the weight of the discovery settling around her. She wasn't alone in this anymore. She had Henri by her side, and together, they would uncover the truth, not just about her grandfather, but about everything they had yet to discover.
As they walked out of the apartment and into the city streets, Lily felt the beginning of something new. The past might still be clouded in mystery, but she wasn't afraid of the darkness anymore. Because with Henri beside her, the light of truth was never far away..