Chapter 13: Rainlight

The clouds rolled in by afternoon, not in fury but with a quiet grace, as if even the weather wanted to join our story gently. When the first raindrops fell, we didn't run inside. Instead, we stayed out in the garden, letting the cool water kiss our skin.

You laughed as your hair clung to your face, and I wiped it back with soaked fingers, smiling. "You look like a painting caught in the rain," I told you.

You pulled me close, forehead to forehead, as the rain danced around us. The world blurred, the colors deeper, the scents sharper. Time slowed. In the middle of a storm, we found the calm.

Later, wrapped in blankets and drinking hot coffee by the window, we watched the rain wash the earth clean. You rested your head on my shoulder. "It always rains where love feels the deepest," you whispered.

And I believed you.