Chap­ter III reveals an intense­ly emo­tion­al con­ver­sa­tion between Hen­ry Strauss and Ade­line “Addie” LaRue, set against the vibrant back­drop of New York City on March 17, 2014. The exchange takes place in the con­fines of Henry’s apart­ment, a space that now feels suf­fo­cat­ing due to the heavy silence between the two. This silence is not a com­fort­able one but rather one laced with the weight of Henry’s confession—that Addie is immor­tal and has been car­ry­ing this truth for cen­turies. Despite his attempt to ease the ten­sion by fill­ing the silence with words, he real­izes that there is no easy way to nav­i­gate the enor­mi­ty of what has been said. Henry’s unease is pal­pa­ble, and he con­tin­ues to speak, hop­ing that his words will dis­tract from the over­whelm­ing sense of vul­ner­a­bil­i­ty that has descend­ed upon them both.

Hen­ry attempts to break the ten­sion by recount­ing the events of the pre­vi­ous day in a some­what dis­joint­ed mono­logue, focus­ing on the mun­dane details of his walk back to his apart­ment. How­ev­er, his recount­ing of the ordi­nary only serves to high­light the extra­or­di­nary nature of the con­ver­sa­tion he is hav­ing with Addie, where the mun­dane can­not com­pare to the com­plex­i­ties of her immor­tal life. Mean­while, out­side, New York City con­tin­ues to bus­tle, with life mov­ing on in its usu­al rhythm, com­plete­ly unaware of the pro­found moment occur­ring behind closed doors. This con­trast empha­sizes the iso­la­tion Hen­ry feels, as he tries to process the weight of his con­fes­sion while grap­pling with the real­i­ty of Addie’s exis­tence. The ordi­nary world seems dis­tant and out of reach, while Hen­ry is deeply immersed in the excep­tion­al nature of his con­ver­sa­tion with Addie.

Final­ly, Addie breaks the silence, offer­ing a can­did response to Henry’s search for reas­sur­ance. She admits that, for the first time in cen­turies, she is aston­ished to be remem­bered by some­one. Hav­ing lived for over 300 years, Addie has expe­ri­enced count­less inter­ac­tions where peo­ple have come and gone, yet no one has ever tru­ly remem­bered her. She has been a shad­ow in the lives of oth­ers, unable to leave a last­ing impres­sion or make her mark in the mem­o­ries of those she encoun­ters. The fact that Hen­ry can recall her, let alone remem­ber her in such a vivid way, is noth­ing short of mirac­u­lous for Addie. In a twist of fate, it is revealed that this rare con­nec­tion is made pos­si­ble due to a mis­take by Luc, the enti­ty who cursed her, grant­i­ng Hen­ry the rare abil­i­ty to remem­ber her. This rev­e­la­tion deep­ens the bond between Hen­ry and Addie, as they share an unex­pect­ed and deeply human moment of recog­ni­tion, both con­fronting the impli­ca­tions of their extra­or­di­nary cir­cum­stances.

As the con­ver­sa­tion con­tin­ues, Addie delves deep­er into her feel­ings, reveal­ing that what she tru­ly craves is not just Henry’s com­pan­ion­ship, but the abil­i­ty to be remem­bered and acknowl­edged. Despite the cen­turies she has lived, Addie’s great­est desire is to escape the curse of being for­got­ten by every­one she meets. She reveals that her long­ing is not for Hen­ry as a per­son but for the sim­ple act of being remem­bered, some­thing she has been denied for far too long. This raw and hon­est admis­sion cre­ates a pow­er­ful shift in their dynam­ic, mark­ing a turn­ing point where Hen­ry begins to under­stand the deep­er lay­ers of Addie’s exis­tence. His curios­i­ty grows, and he becomes more deter­mined to uncov­er the com­plex­i­ties of her life. The con­ver­sa­tion becomes more inti­mate, draw­ing them clos­er togeth­er as they both share their vul­ner­a­bil­i­ties and open up about their desires and fears.

Hen­ry, still pro­cess­ing the weight of every­thing he’s learn­ing, tries to light­en the mood by jok­ing about Addie’s appear­ance, teas­ing her for look­ing much younger than her cen­turies-old age. His attempt at humor serves as a segue into a more seri­ous ques­tion, one that reveals his grow­ing intrigue about Addie’s life: he asks her to share the sto­ries of her expe­ri­ences span­ning over three cen­turies. This ques­tion opens the door to a deep­er explo­ration of Addie’s extra­or­di­nary life, invit­ing the read­er into a world of his­tor­i­cal mile­stones, per­son­al loss­es, and the unchart­ed ter­ri­to­ries of liv­ing through ages of change. The request also marks the begin­ning of a more pro­found con­nec­tion between the two, as Hen­ry express­es a gen­uine inter­est in under­stand­ing what it means to be immor­tal, and what chal­lenges Addie has faced dur­ing her end­less exis­tence. This chap­ter beau­ti­ful­ly sets the stage for the unfold­ing of Addie’s long and com­plex life, explor­ing the inter­sec­tion of time, mem­o­ry, and human con­nec­tion in a world that often feels fleet­ing.