Beneath The Rain

---

Chapter Four

The rain had paused its relentless symphony, leaving the city caught in an eerie stillness. Adrian sat at his desk, his gaze fixed on the notebook that now seemed like a living thing—a witness to every word he had struggled to put down. The light from his desk lamp cast long shadows, and he felt the weight of his thoughts pressing against the silence.

The break in the rain unsettled him. The storms had become a constant companion, a reflection of his inner chaos. Without them, everything felt exposed, raw. Vulnerable.

He turned to the last thing he had written:

"Evelyn was both my salvation and my undoing. Loving her was like standing in the eye of a storm—brief, breathtaking calm surrounded by the chaos she left in her wake."

His fingers hovered over the keyboard, but the words wouldn't come. Something felt off. He stared at the sentence, reading it over and over. For a moment, he swore the name on the screen wasn't Evelyn. It was Diana.

Adrian blinked and shook his head, the image vanishing. The two names had become interchangeable in his mind, their identities blurring together like paint running in the rain.

---

That afternoon, Adrian walked into the café, the familiar hum of activity greeting him. Emily was at the counter, chatting with a customer. She spotted him and offered a small wave, her smile warm and genuine.

"Adrian! Your usual?"

He nodded, but his mind was elsewhere. The café felt different today—brighter, louder. Even the light streaming through the window seemed intrusive, harsh. He slid into his usual corner seat, opening his notebook as the coffee arrived.

"You look like you've seen a ghost," Emily said, setting the cup down.

Adrian managed a weak smile. "Maybe I have."

Her brow furrowed, and she hesitated before asking, "Are you okay?"

He didn't answer. Instead, his gaze drifted to the door as the bell jingled, and a figure stepped inside.

It was Diana.

She stood at the counter, her hair catching the sunlight in a way that made her seem almost ethereal. Adrian's chest tightened. The last time he'd seen her, she had been walking away, her silhouette swallowed by the rain.

But now she was here, as if no time had passed.

"Adrian?" Emily's voice snapped him back to reality. "Are you listening?"

He shook his head, trying to clear the fog. "Sorry. What did you say?"

Emily gave him a curious look. "I didn't say anything. You're acting weird."

He glanced at the counter, but Diana was gone. His pulse quickened, and he scanned the café, his eyes darting from table to table. Nothing.

Had she been there at all?

---

That evening, Adrian found himself drawn back to his writing. He opened his laptop, staring at the cursor blinking on the screen. His fingers moved almost of their own accord, spilling words he didn't fully understand.

"Evelyn walked into my life on a rainy afternoon, carrying with her the weight of secrets she never intended to share. But the truth was never silent. It found its way into the cracks, whispering in moments of quiet, demanding to be heard."

As he typed, a memory surfaced—unbidden and vivid.

It was a late summer evening, and the rain had just stopped. He and Diana were sitting on the floor of his apartment, surrounded by empty coffee mugs and the remnants of takeout boxes. She had been quiet that night, her laughter subdued, her gaze distant.

"What's wrong?" he had asked, his voice gentle.

She hesitated, tracing the rim of her mug with her finger. "Do you ever feel like you're living someone else's life?"

Adrian frowned. "What do you mean?"

She looked at him then, her eyes searching his face as though she were trying to memorize it. "Sometimes, I feel like I'm not who you think I am. Like you're in love with an idea of me, not the real me."

The words had stung, but he had brushed them aside, chalking it up to one of her mercurial moods. Now, though, the memory took on a different weight. Had she been trying to tell him something?

The thought unsettled him. He closed his laptop and leaned back in his chair, the memory replaying in his mind like a film reel he couldn't stop.

---

The next day, Adrian returned to the café, the weight of his thoughts heavier than ever. Emily greeted him with her usual cheer, but he barely registered it.

"Hey," she said, sitting across from him uninvited. "You look terrible."

"Thanks," he muttered, staring into his coffee.

She studied him for a moment before leaning forward. "Adrian, what's going on? Is this about your writing, or…" She hesitated. "Or is it about her?"

He looked up sharply. "What do you mean?"

Emily shrugged, her expression carefully neutral. "You've been distracted ever since you started writing about Evelyn. And I can't help but notice she sounds a lot like Diana."

Adrian's stomach twisted. "Evelyn's not Diana," he said, his voice firmer than he felt.

Emily raised an eyebrow but didn't push. Instead, she reached into her apron pocket and pulled out a small envelope. "This came for you earlier. No idea who dropped it off."

Adrian took the envelope, his heart pounding. There was no name on it, just his own scrawled in handwriting he didn't recognize.

He opened it carefully, pulling out a single sheet of paper. The message was short, but it hit him like a thunderclap:

"You don't know the whole story. Meet me where it all began."

---

That night, Adrian found himself standing outside the small bookstore where he had first met Diana. The rain had returned, soft and persistent, soaking through his jacket as he waited.

The city felt alive around him, the storm weaving its melody through the streets. But Adrian's focus was on the doorway, his pulse racing as he scanned the crowd for any sign of her.

When she finally appeared, her red umbrella standing out like a beacon, Adrian felt the weight of two years crash down on him.

Diana stopped a few feet away, her expression unreadable. "You came."

"You asked me to," he said, his voice steady despite the chaos inside him.

She hesitated, then stepped closer, her eyes searching his face. "There's something I need to tell you, Adrian. Something I should have told you a long time ago."

Adrian's breath hitched. "What is it?"

Diana looked away, her grip tightening on the umbrella. "Evelyn isn't just a character. She's real. And you don't know her as well as you think."

---

The rain poured harder, masking the city in its relentless rhythm, as Adrian stood frozen, the truth threatening to unravel everything he thought he knew.

---