Chapter 17
Lorenzo has been Acting weird. He's zoning out while playing with Leo, his fingers absentmindedly stroking the pup’s soft fur while his eyes stare somewhere far away, somewhere I cannot reach.
The usually sharp, commanding man looks lost in thoughts I cannot name, and that unsettles me more than anything.
I sit across the room, pretending to flip through a book, though my attention never leaves him. I’ve noticed it for days now the way his laughter doesn’t quite reach his eyes, the way silence stretches around him as though he’s fighting a war inside his own head.
Leo yelps happily, pawing at him for attention, and Lorenzo bends down to kiss the pup’s head, but even then his smile looks fleeting, like a shadow crossing a window. My heart twists because I know something is wrong, but he isn’t telling me.
Finally, I put the book aside and walk closer, crouching beside him. “You’re quiet,” I whisper, trying to catch his gaze. “Is something bothering you?”
He looks at me then, and for a heartbeat I think he might tell me everything. But instead, he forces a half-smile and brushes a strand of hair from my face, as though that simple touch could distract me from the storm he’s hiding.
And that’s when I know whatever it is, it’s bigger than me. Bigger than us. And he’s carrying it alone.
His fingers lingered against my cheek, warm and gentle, but his eyes betrayed him. They were distant, heavy, as though weighed down by chains I could not see.
“Nothing you need to worry about, piccola,” he murmured, his voice low, almost too soft for Lorenzo. He always spoke with certainty, with authority that demanded the world bend to him. But now… there was hesitation.
I placed my hand over his, refusing to let him brush me off so easily. “Don’t do that,” I said quietly. “Don’t lock me out.”
For a second, something flickered across his face pain, fear, longing all tangled together. He pulled me into his chest so suddenly that I gasped, my ear pressed against the steady thud of his heart. His arms tightened like he was afraid I’d vanish if he let go.
“I don’t want to lose this,” he whispered into my hair, and the tremor in his voice made my own heart ache.
Lose this? Lose me? The thought sliced through me sharper than any blade.
I wanted to demand answers, but the way he held me made the words die on my tongue. Instead, I wrapped my arms around him, holding him just as fiercely, even though the silence between us felt like it was slowly turning into a wall.
Leo barked softly, his tiny body jumping against our legs, as if trying to remind us of the simple joy he brought. Lorenzo chuckled faintly, a sound that carried no weight, and kissed the top of my head before pulling back.
“Go get ready for bed, Ruhi,” he said, his eyes softer now, though still shadowed. “I’ll be there soon.”
I nodded, even though every part of me screamed to stay, to press until he told me the truth. But I walked away, my chest tight, because sometimes love meant waiting… even when patience felt unbearable.
Behind me, I could hear him exhale slowly, as though preparing for a decision he didn’t want to make.
A week later, as The noon sun was blazing overhead when I finally returned from school, sweat clinging to the back of my neck.
My bag felt heavier than usual, though maybe it was just the weight of my thoughts.
Lorenzo had been strange all week present, yet far away, like his body was here but his mind… somewhere else.
I pushed the gate open, Leo barking excitedly as he bounded toward me. His little paws scratched at my skirt as I bent down to scoop him up. I smiled, pressing my cheek against his soft fur. “At least you missed me,” I whispered, before stepping inside.
The house was quiet. Too quiet. Normally, by this time, Lorenzo would be in the living room—either stretched out on the sofa pretending to read while really watching me, or teasing me by stealing snacks from the kitchen.
Sometimes he would even wait at the gate just to walk me in, like I was some precious thing he couldn’t let out of his sight.
But today… nothing.
“Lorenzo?” I called out, my voice echoing through the silence. I set Leo down and walked toward our room. The bed was neatly made, the sheets cool to the touch. No sign of him.
I checked the kitchen, the balcony, even the little garden patch he’d once mocked me for planting. He wasn’t anywhere.
My heart started to pound. I rushed back into the living room, searching for something anything that would explain his absence. A note, a message, a trace of him. But the table was empty. His phone was gone. His jacket, the one he always tossed carelessly over the chair, was missing too.
It was as if he had vanished, quietly, deliberately, without a single word.
My throat tightened as I sank onto the sofa, fingers gripping the cushion until my knuckles whitened. He would never leave me without saying something. Never. Unless… unless he was forced to.
Leo whined, crawling onto my lap, sensing my unease. I buried my face in his fur, my chest aching with a fear I didn’t want to name.
The silence of the house pressed in on me, heavy and suffocating. For the first time since Lorenzo had walked into my life, I felt truly, terrifyingly alone.
Does he remember everything? ....he got back his memory? I started running towards the roads With a hope in my heart to see him .
Tears falling from my eyes making me a message. "Ruhi...." A voice said, i turn around to see Kartik standing there.
"You....did you ....did you see my husband?" I manage to ask...
"Yes...he...told me to inform you that...He isn't going to come back.. he said he remember everything and he hate liars"
The words struck me like a slap, sharp and merciless, knocking the breath from my lungs.
For a moment, I just stood there, staring at Kartik as if his face would reveal the truth behind the cruelty of those words. But his expression was heavy, his eyes lowered as though he hated being the messenger.
“He wouldn’t…” my voice cracked, barely a whisper. “Lorenzo would never say that. Not to me. Not like this.”
Kartik’s jaw tightened, his silence pressing down like a verdict. I shook my head violently, clutching my dupatta with trembling hands. My chest felt like it was caving in, every beat of my heart tearing at me from the inside.
“No,” I whispered again, stepping back as though distance would erase what I had just heard. “He doesn’t hate me. He… he loves me.”
But the more I said it, the more fragile it sounded, like glass shattering in the quiet afternoon.
Kartik finally looked up, his voice low. “Ruhi, he asked me to tell you. I… I think he’s gone back. To Italy.”
Italy. The word wrapped around me like ice, freezing me in place. Gone back? Without me? Without a word?
My knees wobbled, and I sank onto the pavement, Leo whining at my feet, pawing at me as if to remind me to breathe. But my lungs felt locked, my throat burning with the weight of everything breaking inside me.
Memories flashed in my mind Lorenzo’s laughter when he teased me about pani puri, the way his arms tightened around me when he whispered he didn’t want to lose me, the way he kissed my forehead as if it was his vow.
And now… this?
I looked at Kartik through a blur of tears, searching his face desperately. “Did he… did he look at least… okay?” I asked, my voice trembling, as if that detail could anchor me.
Kartik hesitated. “He looked… torn. Angry, yes. But also…” he paused, then shook his head. “Maybe it’s better if you forget him, Ruhi.”
Forget him? How could I ever forget the man who had become the center of my every breath, my every heartbeat?
I hugged Leo tightly against my chest, his small warmth the only thing keeping me from crumbling completely. My tears soaked his fur as I whispered into the empty air, a plea only the wind could carry
“Lorenzo… please come back to me.”
The Tropes are