Italy was beautiful.
Florence had its own rhythm—sunlight on cobblestone streets, bells ringing across ancient cathedrals, the soft scent of roasted chestnuts and espresso dancing through the air.
But for Aira, every beauty held an echo. A face in the crowd. A voice behind her. A moment when the wind felt familiar.
She missed Ravi in a way that felt stitched into her bones. She kept the key on her chain, close to her heart, often holding it when the ache grew too loud.
But then, strange things started happening.
The first was at the Uffizi Gallery.
She stood in front of a Renaissance painting—two lovers hidden beneath a tree, a silver key between them. Below it, the title read: "La Promessa Senza Tempo" — "The Promise Without Time."
She stepped closer. The man in the painting… his eyes were exactly like Ravi's.
---
Later, in a village bookstore outside Florence, she found another version of the same book from home—Bindings of the Lost Heart—this time in Italian. The page numbers matched. The chapter titles were the same.
Except this edition had one more chapter.
One not in her original copy.
Its title: "When the Key Turns Once More."
And beneath it, a sketch.
A door.
And on that door—the same symbol as her key's head.
---
The next morning, Aira followed her instincts—and the map etched in the book's margins.
It led her to a stone chapel on a cliffside.
There, hidden behind ivy and whispers of time, she found a door.
Old. Wooden. Locked.
Her fingers trembled as she took the key from around her neck.
It fit.
It turned.
And the door creaked open.
---
Inside was a small chamber.
On the wall: murals of two souls meeting in different eras.
A soldier and healer.
A prince and artist.
A librarian and wanderer.
Always the same eyes.
Always the same love.
And there, on a stone pedestal, was a letter.
Sealed with wax.
With her name written in flowing script: Aira.
She broke the seal.
"If you've found this, it means we've come far. Across lifetimes, across oceans, across silence. But you've always known where to find me. And I've always remembered you. Wait for me. I'm coming."
Signed:
—Ravi
---
Tears spilled freely down her cheeks.
Somewhere, across time and space, he still felt her.
Still reached for her.
Love, she realized, didn't care for logic. It remembered.
It returned.
It waited.