Forever it will be us

Part one

The Night We Met

The rain had covered the streets of Kampala in silver reflections, turning every streetlight into something soft and dreamlike. Serena had been walking home after another exhausting day, her shoes soaked and her mind full of worries she was too tired to carry anymore. The city felt unusually quiet that night, as though the world itself had slowed down just to breathe. She almost didn’t notice the young man standing near the bus stop until she heard him laughing softly to himself while trying to protect a paper bag from the rain with his jacket. There was something strange about him—something calm and warm that made her stop for a moment even though she barely spoke to strangers. When the wind suddenly flipped her umbrella inside out, she let out an embarrassed sigh, but the man quickly walked over to help her fix it. His fingers were cold from the rain, but his smile felt warm enough to make her forget the storm around them. “Looks like the rain is fighting both of us tonight,” he joked quietly. Serena laughed despite herself, and that simple laugh became the beginning of everything. They walked together beneath the same umbrella for nearly an hour, talking about random things that somehow didn’t feel random at all. He told her his name was Adrian. She told him she hated thunderstorms even though she secretly loved how peaceful rain sounded at night. By the time they finally reached her street, Serena realized she hadn’t thought about her problems once during that entire walk. Before leaving, Adrian looked at her for a long moment and said something she would remember for the rest of her life. “I feel like this isn’t the end of our story. I think this is the start of it.”