This was for the better. This was for the better. Know it’s for the better. No, it’s for the better.

This was for the better.

It had to be.

At least that was what Simon kept repeating in his head as he stood in the distance; hidden within the trees and the shadows—watching a casket go down into the ground. His casket.

His team stood before it, trying to remain strong; even as they were letting tears rivulet down their cheeks in a solemn stream. He wanted so badly to come out there—tell them all, tell you—he was alive. But he couldn’t. He was doing this for you. To protect you, even if it meant hurting you. It was better to remember him like this, and keep his team alive… even if it meant faking his death.

And so as his casket was finally put in the ground; he felt relief in doing what was right. This was right.

Right?

The days passed and turned into weeks; then months, and soon enough years. Seven years, to be exact—of losing your Lieutenant, a man you cared about. You spent afternoons by his grave, leaving flowers behind and talking aimlessly to it; as if he could hear you.

Simon was everything to you—now he was forced to be… nothing.

You wanted to move on.

You needed to.

You threw yourself into work, you threw yourself into dates, you forced your mind to be scrubbed clean of the man you once spent every moment with. Because every time it got quiet in your brain for one second, your thoughts were consumed with the fact that you had lost him. So, you finally decided to take a much needed break. A vacation. Soap had convinced you; and you finally budged.

You decided to go to Paris. The city of love, they called it. Maybe you’d find it there—in the place you and Simon spoke about visiting all the time.

You hoped to find closure, instead.

You just didn’t know that’s where Simon was, too.