“Due to unexpected rain and storms, we ask everyone to stay at home and enjoy the weather safely,” the weather reporter announced. As soon as the news was announced, Reenu started jumping in excitement.

Why didn’t she can spend time with her boyfriend, Dhiraj, since they opened this cozy and comfy café? And her co-partner, Riya, won’t give her any time off. Reenu's excitement stopped once Riya gave her infamous look, which scares anyone.

“Riya, please stop staring at me. I won’t bring a storm in the summer. Maybe your stare scared the sun,” she laughed at her own joke.

Riya sighed. “I know, baba, but what can I do? This place is the sole reason for my living. This is my home. Nowhere else can I go.”

“You can come to me. If I never loved Dhiraj, next summer we’ll plan our wedding,” Reenu said with a serious face. Riya laughed and replied, “What can I do now?” She said, her face serious but hiding her laugh. “Maybe let’s break up with Dhiraj?” “What? No, sweetheart!” Here came Dhiraj’s panicked Romeo voice.

Riya laughed at both of them. “You two are truly made for each other. Romeo, no one will take your Reenu from you.”

“But you can,” Dhiraj said. “She loves you more than me and Stop calling me Romeo.”

“Hey, she makes sweet cookies and gives them to me, but you don’t know how to cook, so I love her more.” Riya knows how much Reenu loves food, and she would be easily kidnapped if the kidnapper offers her ice cream.

“Sweetheart, I’m learning to cook! Please love me more, not that monkey face,” Dhiraj said.

“Hey, I’m not a monkey face, you are!” Riya shouted.

“She’s not a monkey. She’s more beautiful than you,” Reenu agreed.

Dhiraj made a thinking face and then agreed as well. The three of them laughed at their not-so-adult fight, but it all made Riya happy.

While they were laughing, they heard the first thunder of the night. “Okay, my favorite girls, let’s wrap up and go home.”

“Yes, finally!” Reenu exclaimed, but Riya declined.

“Guys, we need to shut the café for a few days. Let me clean up and wrap up the shop.”

“Oh, are you really in love with the café? Riya, you can’t. It’s a non-living thing, and even though it’s our café, it’s not that hot, except for the kitchen.” Riya gave her a disgusted look, and Dhiraj looked at her with admiration, like looking at a cute puppy. “You’re funny, sweetheart,” Dhiraj said, looking at her adorably. Riya cringed at the scene.

“Please, guys, get out,” Riya said. Dhiraj turned seriously.

“No, Riya, it seems like it’s going to start raining, and the weather isn’t good. Please come with us,” Dhiraj said in ‘brother mode’. Even though they teased each other a lot, they were more like brother and sister.

With a gentle smile, Riya declined. “Guys, I only need five minutes to reach home. Let me clean and cover up, so we don’t need to do more work when we open. Plus, we don’t know how many days we need to close for.”

“You won’t listen? Okay, let’s go, and call me. I’ll be at your service, Ma’am,” Reenu saluted.

Riya laughed and saluted back jokingly.

“Take care, Riya. Call me if you need anything,” Dhiraj said, taking Reenu’s hand. They left, hand in hand.

Riya watched them leave, looking at them lovingly. It wasn’t jealousy; it was just a feeling of desperation that she couldn’t have that kind of love. But she didn’t want to think about that. She knew she wasn’t meant for it.

With a heavy sigh, she started arranging the tables. As she was arranging, the power went off, and it started to rain heavily, accompanied by thunder. She sighed under the lantern light as she arranged the last table. Suddenly, she heard the bell indicating a customer had come in. “Aiyo, I didn’t put the closed sign up.”

With that thought, she turned around. “Sorry, the shop is closed,” she said, but she couldn’t clearly see the person’s face due to the dim light. As another thunderclap sounded, she saw the face clearly, and her face turned pale.

“Hello, Wifey,” he said, looking into Riya’s eyes with his famous smirk. Indeed, the storm was back.

2 Years Ago...

Riya’s POV

“Thank you,” I said to the taxi driver, who politely dropped me off at my destination. He gave me a genuine smile. Even though I was new to Italy, he didn’t charge extra or try to trick me.

“Welcome, have a great stay,” he said warmly.

I had a lovely apartment booked by me. The pictures and the place actually matched—though maybe they used a bit of color correction here and there. I chuckled. Two months ago, if someone had told me I’d be in Italy, I would’ve done my signature non-human laugh right in their face. But time changes everything—whether people believe it or not.

Let me give a proper introduction. I’m Riya, from Tamil Nadu, India. A typical South Indian girl. I’m 27 and not married off early, which is kind of a big deal. I’m the favorite child of my parents—being their only one, they shower all their love on me. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not like I’m not interested in getting married. I want to fall in love and marry that person. I prefer a love marriage, but I’m okay with an arranged one too.

And no, I never really wanted to be an “independent career woman.” I’ve always loved the idea of being a housewife. I’m a bookish, romantic girl. I got a few proposals back in school and college, but my focus then was completely on studies and building my career.

Now I’m settled. But there’s no one. I can’t do love marriage because I don’t know how to flirt. I can’t do arranged marriage because, well… my parents can’t flirt with other parents either. Haha… period. If someone were to just walk up and ask, “Will you marry me?” I’d eagerly say yes. But how is that even going to happen?

Now here I am, in Italy, for my project. I work as a software engineer. Maybe my love life isn’t going great, but I’m at the peak of my career. Our pharma project was a success and it expanded to Italy. I’m here for six months to help with the initial project setup. I don’t usually like to travel. But when I see my friends getting married and having kids, sometimes I feel like I’m falling behind. So… I came. Thought I’d compensate. Let’s see what life has in store for me.

Today was my first day at the office. Everyone seemed nice. It went smoothly—mostly introductions. It’s already evening and I’m back at my apartment. I want to decorate this little cozy space, even if I’m only staying here for a few months.

I called my parents—they’re good, but a little disappointed that they haven’t found a match for me yet. What can I do? I’m team chubby, so people reject me without a second thought. It’s not that I’m insecure—okay, I was. I still have a little insecurity, but I’m trying to overcome it. It’s not my fault. I’m pure, loyal, honest. I’ll love my partner like no one else will.

I don’t know who that lucky man will be, hehe. Anyway, I’m going shopping to make my room look like one of those Pinterest girly setups.

I walked through the streets—so many cute shops! I bought tons of things for decoration. This is my kind of therapy.

While walking back home, I saw a beautiful café and stepped inside to relax. It was cozy and charming… but I made one mistake—everyone there was a couple. Sigh. I like seeing cute couples, but imagine me, holding dozens of shopping bags, while he’s carrying his girlfriend’s tiny purse like it weighs a ton. I wish someone would carry my bags too. Thunderclap.

Suddenly, I heard the loudest thunderstorm of my life. It started raining like crazy. Everyone left in a rush. I was just sitting there in my own little depression bubble, not even realizing what was happening. It was raining cats and dogs. A storm in summer—how perfect.

The café owner was generous and let me stay inside. I don’t know when I’ll reach home. If my parents hear about this, they’ll kill me. Why do I always get stuck in situations like this? Ugh… anyway, I don’t care.

I wish to open a café like this one day. Maybe after retirement? Another thunderclap. The café owner went inside. Now I was the only one left, sitting there like a fool. And then—bam—the power went out. Could this day get any worse?

Just then, I heard the bell at the door. Someone walked in. Who comes at a time like this? I turned and saw only a silhouette. But yeah, I knew it was a man—because of the suit.

My mind went: “What if it’s a woman?”

And I replied to myself: “So what if it is?”

Basically, I started arguing with myself. I’ve been doing that a lot lately. Am I going crazy?

While I was questioning my sanity, the man came closer. I couldn’t see his face at first. But then, lightning struck—and I saw him.

OMG. He looked like a Greek god. Sharp like the sun, calm like the moon, powerful like the storm. His features were so perfect it felt like God spent extra time creating him. His eyes—a deep ocean blue—I felt like sinking into them. In short, he looked like the wind god himself had come down to earth with the storm.

While I was shamelessly ogling, he looked straight into my eyes. His intense gaze made me look down… and then I saw it—his hands were covered in blood.

Shit, what happened to him?

I didn’t think much. I rushed to my shopping bag and pulled out a first aid kit I had bought for myself. I ran to him, held his hand, and looked into his eyes. Seeing no protest, I pulled him to my chair and made him sit. I started working quickly—cleaning the wound. It looked like it had been cut by a knife or something. I cleaned and dressed it.

Then I looked at him and said, “Please go to the hospital. It needs to be treated properly.”

He didn’t reply. He just kept staring at me.

I’m not that dumb—I know I shouldn’t just treat strangers. But he looked decent. Maybe he cut his hand on something in the dark. Right?

His gaze didn’t soften. It stayed intense, unwavering. Even in this cold weather, I was sweating like anything. Just then, his phone rang—finally breaking the moment. He answered the call. While leaving, he looked at me and said one word:

“Trovato.”

His voice was deep… like an ancient well. And then, the second thunder struck—louder than before.

Maybe… it was just the beginning

Trovato-Found

Riya's POV

I twisted and turned in my bed, but I can’t sleep. Whenever I close my eyes, his deep ocean-blue eyes keep appearing, and it gives me chills throughout my body. It’s been a week since I met him at the coffee shop. I’ve had millions of crushes over the years, everywhere for just a minute, but he won’t leave my mind—sticking there 24/7, and it’s literally driving me crazy. I know I’m never going to meet him again. Even if we do, it’s not like he’s going to like me. But something is stinging me... I don’t know what it is. I need to get a good sleep; day after tomorrow, my colleague Bindu Singh is going to marry her two-year-long love, Antonio, and tomorrow we have the sangeet. We’ve been working together for over a year, and even though it's long-distance, we developed a good friendship. She is very sweet, and her love story is like something from a Wattpad book. He’s a big shot, and they fell in love during one of their project presentations. She doesn’t show any attitude, even though she’s about to marry a freaking CEO.

I don’t understand why she’s working here. I had the same doubt, but she said she wanted to be independent, recognized for her work, not her last name. Got goosebumps. If I were in her shoes, I’d quit my job happily—haha, but not everyone is the same bro, I guess.

She invited me to the wedding, but the thing is, I’m going to dance at the sangeet. I love to dance, but since I’m chubby, many people give me disguised looks. Mostly me friends, they all are girls. I told Bindu about it, and she said I’m so beautiful that it hurts their eyes, and it hits them where they can’t compete. She’s such a lovely person. Since her parents died when she was young, her uncle and aunt treated her like a servant. They said they don’t attend the wedding because it’s a love marriage, blah, blah. But the truth is, they’re just jealous of her. Her relatives are typical evil,.She loves big Indian weddings, but no one from her side is dancing at the sangeet, so I agreed—even though I’m scared. I’m really happy for her. By God’s grace, she came here and met her Prince Charming.

Oh no, I’m thinking about him again. Not a good sign.

I’m at the palace right now. Yes, it’s a freaking palace. It’s Groom family tradition to get married here, it seems. They have security and paparazzi waiting outside, and there’s a big lakeside view. We even saw a few celebs. Since I got here, I’ve had my own attendants to escort me around—I feel like royalty. How can Bindu be this humble? Seriously, this girl is not just a good person; she’s an angel.

I went to Bindu’s room, and it was chaos. She was upset because the makeup wasn’t done right, and there was no mehendi artist. The makeup artist didn’t know how to do Indian bridal makeup, and since everyone here is foreign, they didn’t understand. My dear workaholic friend thought she could easily get someone to do it like it’s India. Antonio was there, and I met him in person that day. I’d seen him in photos before, and he invited me through a video call, but I didn’t expect this busy guy to greet me in person. He looked very handsome—nothing much more than him... Ugh, I’m going crazy.

Before I lost my mind, I heard Antonio shout like he wanted to kill at least 10 people. Was it because of the makeup and mehendi? I jumped in and offered to help since I know how to do my own makeup and mehendi. Bindu smiled a little. I knew she wasn’t sure about me, but there was no other option.

Because it was my first time doing something like this, Antonio, sensing Bindu’s non-confident look, came up to me. He’s 6 feet tall, and I’m only 5 feet. He looked like my math teacher when I was 11—he gave me the most terrifying look, and he thought I was going to be scared, but sorry to say, I don’t give a shit to anyone. I’m bold like a middle-aged man going bald. Never cried in my whole life. If someone calls me stupid or naive, I don’t care.

Antonio said, “If something messes up, you won’t see another day.” What the heck? I’m offering help, and he’s threatening me?

With a roll of my eyes, I said, “I dare you. If it works, you won’t marry her tomorrow.” That’s it; I pulled his last string.

He looked like he was about to pull something out of his pocket, but Bindu panicked and ran over to us. Before he could pull anything, someone placed his hand on Antonio’s shoulder. Because of his height, I couldn’t see who it was. When I looked up, I saw the same ocean-blue eyes. Wooah. Nothing came out of my mouth. He looked down at me with a victory smile, and he was taller than Antonio. Hola. I told you, he’s better-looking than Antonio.

While I was mentally giving myself an award for figuring out who was more handsome, I heard Antonio say while looking at me, “She talks too much, Eolo, and I want to kill her.” I gave my famous smirk, like I didn’t care. This irritated Antonio even more. Wait—his name is Eolo? Before I could process, Eolo said, “She offered help, but you shouldn’t doubt her. We should thank her.” Wow, he knows manners, and his voice is HOT. All caps! Before Antonio could respond, Eolo held his hand up to stop him and signaled for him to move aside to give us space to work. Before he left, Eolo gave me that same victory look. What’s going on with him today?

Anyway, I asked Bindu to sit so I could do her makeup. She gave me an apologetic look, but I can’t hold a grudge. I just speak my mind. If others don’t believe me, I’ll help them when they’re in need. That’s what my parents were scared of the most about me. See? A few minutes ago, I might’ve been dead, but I didn’t care—that’s just me.

I started doing her makeup, and honestly, Bindu is so beautiful. Doing her makeup was easy, which is probably why Antonio fell for her—he’s that buffalo without horns. Once her makeup was done, I looked at her, and she looked divine. To avoid evil eyes, I put my kajal behind her ears.

“Wow, Bindu, you look gorgeous!” I said.

She held back tears and said, “Sorry, Riya. I know because of me, he behaved badly with you. I’m sorry. That’s why no relatives came here. I can’t help it when he’s angry. I’ve always been like this. That’s why my parents left me, and no one loves me.” She started to blabber with tears , but I quickly stopped her tears with a tissue and held her shoulders.

I said, “Bindu, it’s no one’s fault. You’re the bride—you can throw as much drama as you want. I promise I’ll stay with you like family and do whatever it takes, just like always.”

She hugged me. “Now, now, don’t shed a single tear. Else I’ll throw a bucket of water on your fiancé’s head if I have to, but I’m not ruining your makeup I just did.”

She laughed, but she looked strong on the outside. I know she’s scared and guilty about not giving enough importance to her wedding and arrangements.

It’s not her fault; she’s just scared. She’s been completing all her work, even though she hasn’t said it aloud. I understand her.

I brought her to the place where the mehendi ceremony was going to start. It was 10 a.m., and the sangeet was at 6 p.m. There were a lot of people there. Antonio had a lot of relatives, friends, and cousins. If I married into this family, I’d forget everyone’s name. But Bindu is really good at handling them.

Even though Antonio’s family is rich, they consider family everything. His cousins praised her, and their family treated her sweetly. The pandit started the rituals and asked us to apply mehendi. I asked Bindu about her mehendi design, and she told me she wanted a simple one. I started doing that for her. Once I applied the mehendi on her hands and legs, everyone praised her beauty and my work too. The girls , mostly his cousins were so sweet, so I couldn’t say no. I started doing mehendi for them, and when I was done, it was 2 p.m.

At that point, my friend Bruno, the photographer for the event, came over. He’s so sweet, and I’ve seen him on Instagram reels—he’s taken photos at the Oscars. He spoke nicely to me, such a down-to-earth person, though not as handsome as Eolo... Wait, what? What’s happening to me? I’m not even Bruno’s type! How can Eolo ?

I finished doing mehendi on my left hand, but I wanted to get it on my right hand too. When I turned around, everyone had disappeared since their jobs were done. With a sigh, I turned my mood around and started looking for food. Suddenly, I saw Antonio walking toward me, holding a plate full of food.

“Amore, let me feed you. Get up, let’s go to our room,” he said, his eyes full of love as he looked at her. I knew I’d done a good job by looking at his eyes.

He turned and looked at me. “You did a good job,” he said, but with a stern look.

I simply said, “I know,” with a roll of my eyes.

His eyes got angry again, and I loved it. Then my stomach growled loudly, and I asked, “By the way, where’s the food? I’m hungry, and my hands are killing me.”

Antonio gave me a sinister smile. “You know everything, right? Then go find it yourself.”

What? He’s a psycho. Bindu said, “Please, baby, don’t make her hungry. She’s my family.”

I stared at her in shock—not because she called me family, but because she called him "baby." Ugh, love makes everyone blind. Antonio’s eyes softened, and he said, “I’m just teasing her, babe.” But that wasn’t true. He was clearly not teasing me; he was just pretending for her sake.

Liar.

He said, “Someone will assist me,” but after 10 minutes, no one came. When I was about to shout, I felt someone behind me. It was him—Eolo. He bent down and whispered near my ear, “Are you lost, kido?”

What? Me? Kido? I don’t look like a kid!

I said, “I’m not a kido.”

He looked at me and chuckled. Wow, he’s handsome. He tried to say something before my stomach growled again. I wasn’t embarrassed. When I’m hungry, I lose all my sense.

“Guide me to the food area. I’m starving,” I said.

Eolo looked at me and then started walking. I followed him. After two escalators and one lift, we reached the dining area, and no one was there except the servants.

They gave me a shocked look. Okay, not at me, but at him. They bowed to him like he was a king. Maybe because it’s a freaking palace. Antonio only stopped from killing me because of him.

He snapped, and everything appeared on our table. I loudly said, “WOW!” and started digging in. I might have looked inhuman, but I was so hungry from all the work and arguing with that buffalo. As I told you, I don’t care... even though my crush is sitting next to me.

“I’m done,” I said after a lavish meal, looking at Eolo. Then I looked at the servants and said, “You guys did a great job.” They all looked astonished and bowed their heads.

Eolo looked at me like I had horns.

I said, “We should respect others and appreciate when they do a great job.”

“You’re impossible,” he said.

I smiled. While he was smiling, he looked even more beautiful.

Eolo looked at my hands and asked, “Why are you wearing that design on just one hand?”

I looked at my hand and said, “I’m right-handed, so I can only do it on one hand. If someone else were here, they would’ve done both.”

“Would you like to do the other hand?” Eolo asked.

I nodded. “Yes, but how? No one knows…”

He said, “Let me do it.”

I opened and closed my mouth like a fish. That’s when the wind blew on me... and I felt something inside me stir.