Chap­ter IV unfolds in the enchant­i­ng streets of Paris on July 29, 1724, where Addie, a woman bur­dened by the curse of being for­got­ten by every­one she meets, finds her­self shar­ing a rare and mean­ing­ful day with Remy Lau­rent. The city, alive with its artis­tic atmos­phere, becomes a back­drop for a day that, despite its brevi­ty, allows Addie to expe­ri­ence a sense of nor­mal­cy she has not known for cen­turies. Remy, with his gold­en hair and youth­ful exu­ber­ance, stands as a stark con­trast to the often cold and dis­tant world Addie has inhab­it­ed for so long. His vibran­cy brings a warmth to her that she had long been denied, draw­ing her into a con­nec­tion that feels both refresh­ing and unfa­mil­iar.

Their day is filled with laugh­ter, con­ver­sa­tion, and moments of light-heart­ed­ness as they nav­i­gate the bustling streets of Mont­martre. Amidst the art, the music, and the ever-chang­ing land­scape of Paris, Addie finds her­self momen­tar­i­ly shed­ding the weight of her curse and embrac­ing the beau­ty of a sim­ple, fleet­ing con­nec­tion. In a rare instance of vul­ner­a­bil­i­ty, she adopts the name “Anna” to shield her true iden­ti­ty, allow­ing her to share with Remy a glimpse of her long and com­plex life, albeit a ver­sion tai­lored for him. Remy’s admi­ra­tion for her courage and wit marks a turn­ing point in their rela­tion­ship, as he finds him­self drawn not only to her phys­i­cal beau­ty but to the mys­tery that envelops her. This day, while ground­ed in the mun­dane, becomes extra­or­di­nary for Addie, as she finds solace in the tem­po­rary free­dom from the con­fines of her exis­tence.

As the evening falls, the chem­istry between Addie and Remy deep­ens, and a qui­et inti­ma­cy emerges between them. Remy’s invi­ta­tion to walk her home tran­si­tions seam­less­ly into a night at his place, where the under­ly­ing ten­sion of their grow­ing con­nec­tion evolves into some­thing more. In Remy’s pres­ence, Addie finds her­self expe­ri­enc­ing some­thing beyond what her long life has offered—a ten­der­ness and con­nec­tion unteth­ered by the curse that has plagued her for cen­turies. Their shared moments are marked by gen­uine affec­tion and a qui­et under­stand­ing, a rare expe­ri­ence for Addie in a world where she is con­stant­ly invis­i­ble to oth­ers. For a few hours, she feels seen, cher­ished, and more alive than she has in a long time, as if her own soul can tem­porar­i­ly escape the trap it has been locked in for so long.

How­ev­er, as dawn breaks and the harsh real­i­ty of her exis­tence returns, the weight of her curse proves impos­si­ble to escape. The morn­ing after is a cru­el reminder of her unchange­able fate—Remy, now unable to remem­ber their inti­mate time togeth­er, greets her with the indif­fer­ence of a stranger. His ges­ture of pay­ment, intend­ed to cov­er the cost of their brief encounter, only serves to high­light the stark dis­con­nect between their shared moment and the inevitable era­sure of it from his mem­o­ry. Addie, heart­bro­ken but resigned, leaves Remy’s home with a heavy heart, car­ry­ing with her only a soli­tary memen­to from the night—a book by Voltaire that she hopes will serve as a reminder of their fleet­ing con­nec­tion. As she walks away, the real­i­ty of her eter­nal soli­tude begins to sink in, and she is once again remind­ed of the tran­sience of human con­nec­tion in her life.

This chap­ter explores themes of tran­sience and the long­ing for con­nec­tion that per­vade Addie’s exis­tence. It delves deeply into the emo­tion­al strug­gle that comes with being for­got­ten by every­one she meets, high­light­ing the brief moments of joy and con­nec­tion that, while mean­ing­ful, inevitably slip away. As Addie expe­ri­ences these rare moments of con­nec­tion with Remy, she is con­front­ed with the real­i­ty that despite the fleet­ing nature of these inter­ac­tions, she is con­demned to an eter­nal cycle of lone­li­ness and dis­con­nec­tion. Yet, with­in these brief instances, Addie finds some­thing precious—glimpses of what it might be like to belong, to be seen, and to be remem­bered. These fleet­ing moments offer her a bit­ter­sweet taste of a life she can nev­er ful­ly embrace, leav­ing her to nav­i­gate the com­plex­i­ties of human con­nec­tion in a world that ulti­mate­ly for­gets her.