They had been classmates since childhood—Elio was only a year older than her. Over the years, their bond grew quietly, until one day, he finally confessed with a voice full of tenderness and longing:

❝I want to steal you from your family's house... and keep you living inside my heart, nowhere else. I want you to wake up each morning to the rhythm of my pulse, and fall asleep each night in the calm of my love. I’ll hide you in my ribs, feed you my serenity, so pain never touches you… and no one ever knows you—except me.❞

She, still unsure if he was serious, laughed gently like a fool in love, and replied with playful sarcasm:

❝But if I’m living inside your heart… where do I put my shoes? Should I leave them at the entrance of your aorta? Or gently set them down in your pancreas?❞