On the early summer mornings in Portorosso, the sunlight quietly cast down on the turquoise waters, reflecting the rhythmic paddling of Massimo and Alberto across the vast ocean. As usual, Alberto helped Massimo with fishing, and the locals had grown accustomed to the fact that ''sea monsters'' and ''humans'' lived together.

Lately, when the boat glides past the bay or the small alleys around the village, Alberto often sees couples leaning against each other on the stone embankment, or walking on the street, holding hands, their eyes filled with a gentle warmth. They share intimate gestures such as hugging, holding hands, patting each other's heads, carrying one another; and even touching lips to cheeks, lips to lips, but Alberto doesn't quite understand what those actions mean.

Alberto looked at them with eyes full of curiosity and innocence: both strange and stirring.

And then, like an unstoppable current of time, his mind drifted to the image of a boy studying diligently in faraway Genova, Luca. Just one more week, and he would return to Portorosso, the place that had once been their eternal summer.

It was the same hand-holding. The same tight hugs when he and Luca fell back onto the grass, watching the clouds drift by as if the world belonged to just the two of them. On starry nights, they would gaze up at "the glowing fish flying through the sky". So... what was it that made Alberto feel that the couples out there were somehow different from them?

A large hand gently patted Alberto's shoulder. Massimo spoke up:

"Ragazzo, what are you looking at?"

Alberto flinched slightly, pulling his gaze away from the couples out there.

"Ah... it's nothing, Papà" he said, a bit hesitant. "It's just that I saw that couple... they looked a lot like me and Luca when we were together. It made me miss him."

Massimo furrowed his brow, casting a glance at the couple, then squinted, as if half in thought and half amused by some old memory.

"No, they're not like you and Luca."

"Not like us?" Alberto turned back, his face filled with surprise.

"Perché? They hold hands, hug, it's just like us. The only difference is that they touch lips to each other, which seems a bit strange..."

"Loro si amano, they are in love. " Massimo said.

Alberto froze. A word was thrown into the air like a stone dropped into a still pond. "Love", Something both unfamiliar and... strangely familiar. He had never heard that word connected to him and Luca.

"Love?" he repeated quietly, as if savoring each syllable in his mouth.

"Haha, you'll understand someday."

Massimo said nothing more. He simply turned away, leaving Alberto alone with the new question stirring in his heart, as the setting sun slowly began to reveal its answer beneath the vast, gentle sky of Italy, like a soft embrace.

__________________________________

Translation:

"Perché?" – why?

"Ragazzo" – son

"Loro si amano" – they love each other

i hope you like this book,
sorry if there are any mistakes because my english is not good, hope you will give me some comments.
thank you🙈✨✨🫶