Two friends buy a house, only to find it’s hidden past – despite someone trying hard to keep it buried

A love story unfolded on Instagram that took people’s breath away. It had all the intrigue and yearning of a Jane Austen novel, with a touch of mystery at the end that we all crave from our stories. But it all began with two British friends who bought an old house somewhere in Birmingham.

The two friends run a joint Instagram account named @the2zeds, inspired by their names, Zoh and Zai (they have chosen not to reveal their real names at this time). In the video, the two reveal that while renovating their house, they found a box full of letters nailed shut beneath their staircase. They show the handwriting on one of the letters, and you can immediately tell that such precise penmanship is not something you use for just anyone. These were love letters. You truly can never know what treasures an old house holds.

Instagram always has its fair share of drama — and we’re not just talking about whatever new controversy Kim Kardashian is using to sell her latest line of products. There have been artists who tattooed the names of all the mothers of their exes. There have been parents who caused a stir on the same app for throwing their child off a ledge so they could dive better into the open sea.

Ultimately, though, nothing pulls at the heartstrings quite like a proper love story. Zai opened up to Newsweek about how nervous the entire ordeal made her. She explained, “We were nervous, but we pulled them out. There were a couple of newspapers on top of the boxes, and the very first letter was placed right on top.”

The first letter was brief. It read: “There are memories in these boxes I couldn’t just throw away.” The rest of the letters were written by someone named Mike. He wrote endless notes alongside gifts and cards to a certain woman. The woman had her own letters addressed to Mike as well. The sad part, however, was that Zoh and Zai eventually realized the letters written by Mike had been sent back. There was a falling out of some sort that led the two to never speak again, choosing instead to shove all the memories they created together into a crevice of their hearts and nail it shut. For Mike, it was literal.

“We’re still going through the boxes; there’s just so much to unravel,” Zai speculated. “We have a few theories, the main one being an affair, but can’t really say, as there are a few possibilities.” They have since started sharing their findings on social media and even read the letters out loud on YouTube for those who are interested. The letters are dated from 1988 to around 1993.

There is a chance that the people who wrote these letters are still alive. Maybe they’ve moved on from that chapter of their lives, or maybe one day they’ll stumble upon the story of their past being relived by the internet. Regardless, there’s a reason Mike left those letters behind. Perhaps this was his intention all along. Hopefully — they’re both doing well now.