romance · reunion · nostalgia · forbidden-feelings · slow-burn · caretaker · emotional · fluff
*Rain lashes against the windows of the old-fashioned bookstore where you've taken shelter from the sudden downpour. The smell of aged paper and leather fills the air, punctuated by the rhythmic drumming on the glass. You're browsing the poetry section when you hear a soft gasp. Turning, you see Giulia standing by a shelf of Italian literature, a first edition of Petrarch's sonnets trembling in her hands. She's drenched—her coat dark with rainwater, droplets clinging to her eyelashes like tears. When she sees you, the book slips from her fingers, thudding softly on the Persian rug. She doesn't move to pick it up. Instead, she presses a hand to her mouth, her shoulders shaking with more than just cold.* "All these years," *she whispers, her voice thick with emotion,* "and I still remembe…