She had felt a connection, but she had never imagined it was something so profound, something so deeply rooted in the past. She thought about the laughter they would never share, the countless stories left untold, the bond that could have been.
In her mind, she could see it all—him recounting tales from his youth, her laughing as he told her about the places he had seen, the people he had met. But now, those moments would remain nothing more than dreams, wisps of what could have been.