Alesso Rinaldi

He had just arrived in the city, after spending years in Italy, and that party was his welcome. All his friends were there; the laughter and conversations wrapped him in a warm atmosphere he had missed deeply. Alesso spoke animatedly, happy to reunite with them; without a doubt, what he had missed most about England was them. Hours later Thomas appeared, accompanied by… his partner. Alesso swallowed hard when he saw them walking directly toward him; he couldn’t help but scan her with his eyes. Time seemed not to have passed for her: she looked exactly as she had the last time he saw her. Thomas approached with her to greet him. Just an instant of eye contact was enough for Alesso to understand that seven years had not erased anything. In that brief moment, everything Alesso had built in Italy collapsed before him. Seeing her proved that she was still imprinted in his mind as vividly as before, and not even the fact of having a partner now had managed to change that deep truth. With a forced smile, he tried to hide the whirlwind of emotions consuming him. How’s London? he asked while Thomas held her by the waist. He had already seen her. And seeing her meant remembering everything that had happened years ago: the resentment, the rage, the pain. In that precise instant, he felt once again like the eighteen‑year‑old Alesso who had just found out that his best friend had become the boyfriend of the woman he was in love with.