CHAPTER 1

My name is Dilan Colin, I'm 28 years old, and I've lived in Ilhabela - SP since I was born.

I am the son of a fisherman and I have a sister who is two years younger than me, Dandara.

I've always been in love with the sea, and I live surrounded by nature, and I keep saying that the sea is my psychologist, that all I have to do is sit in front of it, that it would be responsible for bringing me the answers to my deepest questions.

When I close my eyes, I can visualize one of these questions, because it has a face and it also has a name.

Her name is Kyra, and I was too young to remember her last name.

I met her when I was 8 years old.

She was brunette, with wavy hair, and her smile was charming, and she had a sweet, penetrating look in her eyes that I will never be able to forget.

Every day, we ran barefoot on the beach, built sandcastles, and bathed in the sea.

Once, we sat on the beach sand and made a promise to each other, that if we were ever to be separated, we would both fight to find each other again, and we would never let anything separate us again.

We took a little finger oath and then hugged.

I still remember that hug like it was yesterday.

Her father died when she was still a baby, and she lived with only her mother.

Her mother had a stall on the beach where she sold paintings.

For 3 years, we were inseparable, until her mother passed away and she had to go live with her grandmother.

Before she left, I remember seeing her running towards me, her face wet with tears and hugging me tightly, I didn't want to let go of her, and I was taken by a despair until then unusual for me.

So before they took her away from me, I reminded her of the promise we both made, that we would find a way to meet again, and when that day came, we would never be apart again.

I took a ring that my father had given me from my finger and placed it in her palm, and she closed her hand tightly, as if that ring was the only thing she had.

She was taken by a man, I don't know who he was, but she handed me a handkerchief, and that handkerchief I carry with me to this day, everywhere I go.

It's been 17 years, and I've never forgotten her for a moment.

Nowadays, we have technologies capable of finding someone on the other side of the world, but I could never find her, and I didn't even know where they took her.

During that whole time, I had a few relationships, but the image of that little girl was constant in my mind.

I was always afraid of bonding with someone and then being abandoned.

Not that it was Kyra's fault that I was like this, for God's sake, she was just a kid, but whenever I get into a relationship, I think about how much it would hurt if I got attached to someone, and I end up breaking up. It was a trauma that I developed.

The last relationship I had, it didn't end well, it was the longest relationship I had, it lasted almost two years, and she was full of plans to get married, even though I made it clear that I didn't want that for myself at the moment.

Her name is Cris, and she's a wonderful woman, and she'll be an incredible wife for anyone who really knows how to value her the way she deserves, but I wouldn't be good enough to be that guy.

My sister ended up blurting out Kyra's story, and that caused a big problem for me, leading to the end of the relationship.

Which would happen sooner or later, because I wasn't thinking of marrying, not with her.

I like Cris, she has a very good energy, and I take this energy thing very seriously.

I believe that there are two people in the world that are meant to be together, and when you find that person, you feel it.

I didn't feel that with Cris, and she still suffers from it, we meet daily, as she works at my sister's inn as a Receptionist, and she avoids looking me in the eye.

I felt that with Kyra, and when she left, I felt incomplete.

I still hope one day to be able to meet her again, to know how she is, if she still has the same sweet look in her eyes, if she's happy, what she's been doing all this time, if she also thought of me the same way I did in it.

It's these kinds of questions I deal with on a daily basis.

Because I also wonder if she got married, if she has children, if she forgot me...

And when I think of her that way, I feel my chest tighten.

I currently work with sales of handmade necklaces, bracelets and earrings.

It was with handicrafts that I was able to build my house, and have a stable life, without many worries.

My sister owns an inn, and my father currently lives with her, but I spend more time with them than at home.

When I go out to sell my pieces on the beach, it doesn't take me long to come back, because everything sells fast around here.

I love what I do, I don't like to feel trapped, and I couldn't stand to work in a closed office or take orders from a boss.

My office is on the beach.

I love this place, and I can't imagine living anywhere else.

This is my house, this is my home.

Though every corner of here reminds me of Kyra.

My sister keeps calling me crazy for being bound by a promise I made as a child.

Is it so crazy to believe that one day I'll find her again, and that there's a magic that keeps me from moving forward?

Whether this is crazy or not, I still have a lifetime to find out.

Meanwhile, I'm living one day at a time, hoping to one day have her back in my arms.

Promises are meant to be kept, I never broke a promise in my life.

If I feel like I'm going to fail at something, I don't even promise.

There is a huge world to search for her.

But nothing is as big as my desire to find her again.