The year was 1994, and the city seemed to exist in a permanent state of exhaustion. Peeling façades, flickering streetlights that looked ready to give up at any moment, the constant smell of gasoline mixed with old grease—everything contributed to the feeling that the world kept moving even when people had no idea where they were headed. It was in that setting that Isabella Iero and Damon Albarn came into each other’s lives. They had been seeing each other for a few months—long enough that no one could call it a coincidence anymore, but still too short for either of them to feel comfortable putting a name to what they had. The curious thing—maybe the inevitable thing—was how completely opposite they were. Damon carried chaos in the pockets of his worn leather jacket. He was in his early twenties, his hair always a mess as if he had just fought the wind, and his knuckles marked with scars he never fully explained. He drank too much, smoked too much, chose his words poorly and his company even worse. In the local bars, he wasn’t known by name but by reputation: the guy who started fights, laughed too loud, and never backed down when someone stared at him for too long. He wasn’t an example. He never tried to be. Isabella, on the other hand, seemed built from straight lines and well-thought-out decisions. She was in college, spent hours in the library underlining thick books and making meticulous notes. She was intelligent in a way that didn’t need proving, empowered without effort, and carried herself with a firmness that made people listen when she spoke. She wore simple but well-kept clothes and had the habit of observing everything around her as if she were always learning something new. No one really understood what she saw in Damon. Maybe she didn’t know how to explain it either. That particular night, the clock was already nearing dawn when they slipped into a narrow alley, hidden between a decaying bar and an abandoned building. The ground was wet—no one knew whether from old rain or something less noble—and the air was heavy, thick with smoke and silence, broken only by the distant sounds of the city. Damon leaned against the brick wall, opened a beer bottle with his teeth, and handed it to Isabella.