Chapter 1
— —Before the Distance
Lina and Aiden's love did not begin with fireworks.
It began with a soft feeling—like finding a familiar song you've never heard before.
They met on a rainy evening in a little bookstore café. Lina was hiding between shelves of old poetry, trying to forget a terrible day. Aiden was there for a new travel book, dreaming of places he'd never seen.
Their eyes met over a copy of Love in the Time of Cholera. Both reached for it at the same time and laughed.
From that moment, something warm grew between them.
They spent their first few months falling in love in gentle ways: holding hands across forgotten cups of tea, walking home under one umbrella, watching the sky change colors on rooftops.
They wrote notes to each other—little promises on scraps of paper:
"I want to know your dreams."
"I'll choose you on quiet days."
Their love felt like a promise the universe whispered as a blessing.