Allora Affetto

O N E

𝘐'𝘷𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘢 𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘷𝘦, 𝘦𝘯𝘫𝘰𝘺.

♥️

    C H A P T E R   O N E

   D   A  Y    O  N  E

I've always been an early riser. As a 10-year-old, I used to wake up early out of fear that someone would steal my things when I was sleeping in the childcare system, and over time, it became a habit.

After I started working, sleeping late became a ritual of sorts, too and seeing how I was awake till late last night, my enthusiasm level surprised me.

In my heart, I felt content after weeks of restless nights.

The thought of Zack alone had me excited.

The fact that Zack was mine again, mine to love and mine to cherish, meant the world to me, even though it was only for ten days.

I looked around the room I was sleeping in, the guest room. It was still the same as before, more or less. There was a slight change in the positioning of the bed. Sadness and happiness both came rushing through me all at once.

Happiness to have been back at this beautiful place that I call home and sadness because even though I was here, I was in the guest room. I sighed and tried to distract myself from my depressive feelings by dreaming about how starting today, I'll be sleeping in Zack's bedroom, our bedroom.

This house holds millions of memories, sad and happy, but in the end, this was our home, one which we protected.

I knew every inch of this house since Zack and I designed it together, a year before we married. We both wanted to give ourselves a present on our wedding day, so this was it.

Our home.

I had a degree in architecture, and so did Zack. We put in all our effort to make this beautiful house. Once we got married and started living here together, we filled it with memories and cries of happiness and sadness.

It's weird how you can connect to places, how a piece of land can hold memories so close to your heart.

This house had seen us at our best and was now seeing us at our worse.

As the first rays of sunlight struck my face, I realised the sun was rising, and the dawn was receding.

Whenever I struggled during every difficult period of my life, Zack would always say, 'The morning's sunlight does not define itself by yesterday night's sunset.' For once, I wanted to believe it.

I looked down at my wrist, where the word 'camhanaich,' which signified twilight in the early morning, was tattooed just below my palm.

I've never liked body art, but this is the only one I got on my second wedding anniversary. Zack has only one tattoo, which is identical to mine and is in the same place.

I'd spent the last two weeks looking at my tattoo in the mornings, wondering if Zack was also looking at his.

I felt empty at times, but those were the times when I realised that, while numbness and emptiness were the worst feelings in the world, happiness and joy would eventually arrive.

After all, mornings do come after night.

I slowly got up from the bed and looked out of the French windows right in front of the bed.