can you imagine? it could've started with the search for the MC's missing partner, have the reader thrown into the story as its at what seems to be the most angst. We could've gotten the early chapters being a mix of the sad present and the happy memories. Then bam, accidental run in with the missing ML. Then the rest of the season is MC pursing ML to find the truth, ML pulling away but there's obvs still something there so it's more like a push-pull. The S1 end could be revealing the twist or just introducing the grandfather and leaving readers with a hint that something happened. Like, done right, this could've been a multi-season plot for a different story. Honestly, bad writing choice to do this arc with this story, it doesn't fit the narrative or the overall tone but man, it would've been intriguing as it's own, separate thing.
This would have been interesting as it’s own story with all new characters.