Prologue
The first days after moving out were difficult. It took Julia longer to unpack her things than it had to pack them. She couldn’t find anything, and it frustrated her terribly. The only things she managed to arrange on the shelves were a few photos and her favorite books.
After a few minutes, she found her laptop, placed it on the desk, and turned it on. She checked her email but didn’t find anything that could cheer her up.
A head peeked into her room from the hallway. Julia jumped in her chair and screamed.
“Relax, it’s just me, your writer,” her dad laughed. “You haven’t even finished unpacking, and you’re already sitting at the computer?”
“It’s nothing, Dad. No news,” she replied, resigned.
“Give it some time. Rome wasn’t built in a day,” he said, coming over to kiss her on the forehead before leaving without adding anything else.
She sighed deeply. She had recently finished writing her first novel and sent it to several publishers. Waiting for a response, however, was so long that it drained what little hope she had left.
She closed her laptop and started unpacking a box of clothes. Just as she was finishing, the doorbell rang, accompanied by insistent knocking. She didn’t know what had happened, but it sounded serious. Without hesitation, she went downstairs. Passing her mom, she gestured that she was about to open the door.
The knocking grew louder. Finally, she opened the door and saw a boy. He looked about her age, maybe eighteen. He was tall, with dark hair and eyes, and wore a sporty tracksuit.
“Can I borrow a book?” he said suddenly.
Julia looked at him, surprised.
“Excuse me?” she asked uncertainly.
“Yeah, I want to borrow a book. I’ve read everything I have. And you’re new here, so you probably have something I haven’t read yet.”
She froze. It was quite an unusual way for a new neighbor to introduce himself. He looked nervous, though he tried to smile and appear friendly.
Julia widened the door, inviting him inside, but the boy remained on the porch.
“Wait here a moment,” she said, slightly amused, and disappeared upstairs for a moment.
At first, she reached for the flash drive where she kept her novel, but she quickly abandoned the idea. She took a few of her favorite titles from the shelf instead, ranging from crime and horror to light romances.
Coming back downstairs, she noticed that her dad had already introduced himself to the strange new neighbor. They were both laughing, though the boy kept glancing nervously into the house.
“I’ll just grab a bag and pack them for you so you can—” she didn’t finish, because the boy unexpectedly stepped inside, grabbed the books from her, thanked her, and left.
She and her dad exchanged a glance. He just shrugged and went back to the living room. Julia, meanwhile, stood by the door, watching the boy disappear into the house across the street.
From that moment on, she considered him odd. His sudden appearances, nervous glances, and that strange request for a book kept her uneasy. Over time, however, he started showing up more often at her door, they talked more, and it became harder for her not to anticipate his next visit.
She didn’t yet know that one day she would fall for him so deeply that she would remember that first, strange encounter only with a smile.
