Meet Me At Venice

# Prologue

People always ask me when it started.

As if there was a specific moment.
A clear beginning.
A single memory I could point at and say, *there - that was the first time I ruined my own life loving her.*

But the truth is, loving Venice Velasco didn't happen all at once.

It happened slowly. Quietly.
Then all at once.

At first, she was just another teacher. Someone admired. Respected. Untouchable.

And I was just Alexandra Muhlach - a thirteen-year-old girl who didn't yet understand the difference between admiration and obsession.

I thought what I felt for her would disappear eventually. That I would outgrow it the same way people outgrow childhood crushes and impossible fantasies.

I didn't.

Instead, the older I became, the deeper everything sank into me.

And maybe that was the cruelest part of it all.

Because Venice was never cruel to me.
She was never manipulative.
Never inappropriate.

If anything, she cared too much.

And sometimes, that kind of kindness becomes dangerous when given to the wrong person at the wrong time.

This story is not about forbidden love.
Not really.

It's about longing.
Timing.
Attachment.
And the terrifying things the human heart is capable of romanticizing.

Because somewhere between journalism trainings, lingering conversations, shared silences, and years of emotional confusion...

I fell in love with someone I could never truly have.