Her name was Aria.
She moved to the town for just a summer, the daughter of a diplomat on temporary assignment. Aria was everything Liam wasn't - elegant, brilliant, and destined for far-off cities filled with lights he'd never seen. But that summer, something sparked between them. They shared stolen sunsets on the pier, long talks under salt-stained skies, and a single kiss before she left.
She promised to write. She did. For a while.
But then the letters stopped. Her family moved. No address. No number. It was like she vanished into the world.
Everyone told Liam to let it go. That she was just a summer story, a dream.
But Liam couldn't. Wouldn't.
So he left.
He sold his father's old boat. Took jobs on cargo ships, washed dishes in big cities, played guitar in back alleys for coins. He searched for her - not blindly, but with hope as his compass. Every scrap of information, every faded article about her father's work, every whispered mention of her name became a breadcrumb.
Years passed.
He found her in Rome. She was studying art, her hair longer, her laugh the same. She didn't recognize him at first. Then she did.
Tears.
"I thought you forgot me," she whispered.
"I crossed oceans for you," he replied.
She kissed him again - this time not on a quiet pier, but in a square full of light and noise and life.
And that's how Liam, the boy who once only knew the language of tides and nets, found his way back to the love of his life - through every storm, against every odd.