Chapter 2

Professor Ricci placed a folder on the desk at the front of the room.

The conversations faded into silence.

"Good morning."

"Good morning," the class answered.

"I hope you've all had a chance to settle in."

A few students laughed.

I certainly hadn't.

Professor Ricci smiled.

"Before we finish today's introduction, I'd like to give you your first assignment."

A murmur swept across the room.

Some students immediately opened their notebooks.

Others exchanged nervous glances.

I belonged to the second group.

The projector flickered to life.

A photograph filled the screen.

A rugged coastline.

White limestone cliffs rising above deep blue water.

In the center stood a breathtaking natural stone arch connecting two massive rock formations.

I stared at it.

It was beautiful.

Professor Ricci clicked to the next image.

The same place.

Different angle.

Another photograph followed.

Then another.

Every picture revealed another detail of the landscape.

"Our challenge," he said, "is to design a boutique hotel that respects the history of this location while introducing contemporary architecture."

I forgot to blink.

How do you create something modern beside something nature had spent centuries shaping?

How do you add to a place without taking anything away?

"This project," Professor Ricci continued, "will define much of your first semester."

Silence settled over the room again.

Then he smiled.

"And you'll be working in groups of three."

A collective groan echoed through the studio.

Of course.

Group projects.

My least favorite words.

Professor Ricci picked up a sheet of paper.

Names began filling the room.

Students gathered their things and moved from table to table.

Every time another group was called, my heartbeat grew a little faster.

Then—

"Violet..."

I looked up.

Before Professor Ricci could continue, Matteo pointed at himself with a grin.

"Me."

A few students nearby laughed.

The professor didn't even look up from his list.

"Matteo Bellini."

Matteo turned to me with a triumphant smile.

"See? I told you it was a good sign."

Before I could answer, the professor continued.

"Rafael Kallergis."

My breath caught.

The quiet student from this morning—the one I'd noticed sketching during the lecture—stood up from the other side of the studio.

He walked toward us without any hurry.

There was something calm about him.

Almost effortless.

He placed his sketchbook on the table and took the empty seat across from us.

For a second, nobody spoke.

Then Matteo clapped his hands together.

"So."

He looked from Rafael to me.

"We're either going to build the best project this class has ever seen..."

He paused dramatically.

"...or we're going to kill each other."

Rafael didn't even look up.

"The second option seems more likely."

For a heartbeat, silence hung between us.

Then I laughed.

Matteo laughed too.

A faint smile tugged at the corner of Rafael's mouth.

Barely noticeable.

But it was there.

And somehow...

I had the strange feeling that this wasn't just another university assignment.

It was the beginning of something much bigger.

Professor Ricci continued explaining the assignment in greater detail.

Matteo spoke first.

"We need to come up with something that will blow the jury away."

"We need to create something that will still work fifty years from now," Rafael countered.

"If it doesn't impress the jury, no one will ever see it."

"If it doesn't work, it shouldn't be built at all."

I looked from one to the other.

They couldn't have been more different.

And yet, in their own way, they were both right.

Professor Ricci continued speaking.

Matteo took notes.

Rafael sketched.

I kept staring at the photographs of the stone arch.

Over and over again.

There was something about them.

Something that kept tugging at the back of my mind.

Something I couldn't quite put into words.

And then...

I saw it.

I picked up my pencil and began to draw.

Neither of them noticed at first.

Not until I turned the page toward them.

The conversation stopped instantly.

Matteo leaned closer.

So did Rafael.

It was only a quick sketch.

Just a few lines.

Nothing more.

But suddenly I could see it.

The hotel didn't have to compete with the landscape.

It could become part of it.

Matteo studied the sketch for several seconds before leaning back in his chair.

"This is it."

Rafael remained silent.

Much longer.

Finally, he nodded.

"That's exactly what I was thinking."

I looked at him in surprise.

He simply shrugged.

At that moment, I had the strange feeling that the three of us were seeing the same thing.

Just in different ways.

And maybe that was exactly why we could create something extraordinary together.

None of us knew then that something far greater than a university project had just begun.

When the lecture ended, we stayed behind, our sketches spread across the table.

Professor Ricci had already left.

Most of the students had gone too.

Only the three of us were still there, talking about the project.

Well...

Matteo was talking.

Rafael was thinking.

And I was trying to keep up with both of them.

"We need to see the place," Matteo said, tapping the photograph of the stone arch.

"In person."

"It's in another region," I pointed out.

"So?"

"So how exactly are you planning to get there?"

"That's a problem for Future Matteo."

I shook my head.

Rafael sighed.

"I'm beginning to understand why everyone knows you."

Matteo smiled.

"Just wait."

"You'll like me eventually."

"That won't happen."

"It will."

"No."

"Yes."

I laughed again.

Somehow, being with them felt strangely easy.

As if I'd known them for much longer than a single day.

Maybe because they were so completely different.

Or maybe because that was exactly why they worked so well together.

Eventually, Matteo closed his notebook.

"I'm starving."

"That's hardly surprising," Rafael said.

"Says the guy who drank three coffees today and forgot to eat lunch."

Rafael looked at him.

"How do you know that?"

"Because you haven't left this table all day."

Matteo turned to me.

"You coming with us?"

I hesitated.

The old me would have said no.

She would have told them she still had to unpack.

That she needed to study.

That she didn't want to get in the way.

But the old me was still back in the Czech Republic.

At least, I hoped she was.

"Okay."

Matteo threw his hands into the air in triumph.

"Excellent. Two votes against one."

"Nobody voted," Rafael pointed out.

"We just did."

Half an hour later, we were sitting on the small terrace of a restaurant tucked away in one of the side streets.

There were fewer tourists here.

More students.

The kind of place I never would have found on my own.

The sun was slowly sinking behind the rooftops.

The warm evening air carried the scent of garlic, basil, and freshly baked bread.

It was exactly the kind of evening people remembered...

Without ever knowing why.

"So," Matteo began.

“So Czechia…”

"What's it like?"

"That depends where."

"Let's say... through the eyes of someone who's never been farther than Venice."

I smiled.

"That's not very far."

"Exactly."

"That's why I'm asking."

I laughed and began telling them about home.

About my family.

About my sister.

About spending my childhood drawing houses instead of princesses.

When I finished, Matteo was smiling.

Rafael hadn't interrupted me once.

He had simply listened.

Carefully.

As though he wanted to remember every word.

"And you?" I asked, turning to him.

"Greece."

He answered simply.

"We already know that," Matteo said.

"Tell us something we don't know."

Rafael thought for a moment.

Then shrugged.

"I like mornings."

Matteo groaned.

"That is the least Greek thing I've ever heard."

I smiled.

"What about you?"

Matteo leaned back in his chair.

"I like everything."

"That's not an answer."

"It is."

"No, it isn't."

"Fine."

He leaned toward me.

"I like cities at night."

This time, his voice was quieter.

"Everything is lit up."

"People are celebrating."

"It feels like anything could happen."

I looked at Rafael.

"And you?"

As always, he didn't answer immediately.

He thought first.

Then he said,

"I like cities in the morning."

Matteo sighed dramatically.

"Of course you do."

A small smile appeared on Rafael's face.

"A city hasn't started rushing yet."

I didn't know why, but that sentence stayed with me long after the evening was over.

Because it captured the difference between them perfectly.

Matteo loved the world when it was alive with noise, lights, and endless possibilities.

Rafael loved it before any of that began.

And I sat between them...

Completely unaware that one day, I would have to choose which of their worlds truly felt like home.