Sophia leaned closer to the screen, her eyes narrowing.
Something about the boy’s face… the sharp jawline even at that age, the familiar brow—
“That’s…” she whispered.
She looked closer, her eyes narrowing slightly.
“Harold?”
“What is going on? What am I looking at?” Sophia asked, confusion spreading across her face as she turned to Emma.
Emma paused the video and placed the tablet back on the desk. Then she turned her chair fully to face Sophia.
“Sophia,” she said quietly, her voice low and sincere. “This is footage from my grandpa’s funeral.”
Sophia’s face changed immediately.
“You know how attached I was to him, right?” Emma continued, her fingers intertwining in her lap.
“I know,” Sophia nodded gently. “You wouldn’t go a single day without seeing him. Even when he moved to the other house,you went every evening just to visit. You dragged me along half the time.” A faint smile tugged at her lips. “I still remember how Grandpa used to take us to that cute café every Sunday. He always ordered too many pastries.”
Her eyes glistened slightly.
“I miss him too.”
Emma swallowed.
“At that time,” she continued, her gaze drifting briefly toward the paused screen, “you weren’t in the city when Grandpa passed away.”
She drew in a slow breath.
“I was all alone. Do you remember I told you that I met a very nice boy that day? Someone who helped me?”
A faint memory surfaced in Sophia’s mind.
Before Sophia could answer, Emma continued. Her voice trembled slightly.
“It was him. Harold.”
Sophia stilled.
Emma’s fingers tightened together in her lap as she spoke.
“That day was… unbearable,” she said quietly. “You weren’t there. Everyone was busy with the funeral arrangements. There were flowers everywhere. Condolences. Noise.”
Her lips pressed together.
“But I felt like I was drowning.”
Her eyes glistened as she stared at her younger self frozen on the screen.
“It was the first death in my family that I had ever experienced. I didn’t know how to process it. I felt so sad… so shocked. It was like something heavy was sitting on my chest, crushing me.”
Her voice grew softer.
“And then he came.”
Sophia listened without interrupting.
