Chapter One: The Echo in Florence

The gallery was small but cozy, with white walls dotted with emerging artwork. Olivia had spent the morning organizing the pieces for the new exhibition on "grief and beauty," an idea she had proposed inspired by her own journey. Luciana, from Italy, had become her silent guide, giving her space but also anchoring her with affection.

The doorbell rang, and Olivia, still wearing the curation gloves, turned with a smile. She was expecting a local artist, but what she found made her take a step back.

A man with dark, slightly messy hair, wearing an expression that mixed wonder and doubt, was staring at her intently. He wasn't Tom... but for a moment, she could have sworn he was. The same posture, the same crooked smile. Only his eyes were different. Green, not brown. But they had that same depth that seemed to speak even in silence.

— Are you Olivia? — he asked, his foreign accent barely noticeable.

— Yes... do we know each other?

He smiled, a little nervous.

— Not directly. I'm Elías... I was a friend of Tom's.

The air seemed to freeze.

— He talked about you a lot. A lot. He used to say that if he ever lost you, he wouldn't know how to start again.

Elías' voice was soft, without the intention to invade, but with an honest weight to it. Olivia felt a lump in her chest. No one outside her close circle had mentioned Tom in a long time. And now, here was this stranger who smelled faintly of his cologne, holding a folded letter in his hand.

— Before he died, he left this for me. He asked me to give it to you if fate ever crossed our paths.

Elías extended the letter, and Olivia took it with trembling hands. She recognized it. It was Tom's handwriting. That quick, clumsy stroke that he always said looked like a tired doctor's.

— Why didn't I ever know about you? — Olivia asked, holding back tears.

— Because he didn't want to burden your pain with more secrets. He just said that if the universe ever brought me to you, it was because you needed it.

Olivia nodded, biting her lip to keep herself from breaking completely. With the letter between her fingers, she looked him in the eyes.

— Thank you for finding me.

Elías nodded. And for a moment, the silence between them didn't hurt. It was as if Tom were there, gently nudging Olivia's life toward its next page.