The Architecture of Love
Country: Indonesia
Author Name: Nina Andiana
Publisner Name: Gramedia Pustaka Utama
Original Language: Indonesian
The Architecture of Love People say Paris is the city of love, but in many ways, New York deserves the title more.
It’s impossible not to fall in love with the city, just as it’s impossible not to fall in love within it.
Raia, a bestselling writer who hadn’t written a single sentence in years, fled to New York, crashing at her best friend Erin’s apartment, hoping the chaos would untangle the silence in her mind.
One afternoon in a quiet park, she met him.
As autumn grew colder, they ended up in a coffee shop where she learned his name – River, an architect with eyes that looked like they’d seen too many winters.
They discovered a silent similarity: neither knew when they would go home.
Perhaps it was that, or Raia’s growing fascination as a writer, that persuaded her to ask if she could tag along the next time he sketched.
His yes led to days and weeks of two strangers walking side by side through the city.
River would sketch buildings while Raia typed words she thought
...had left her forever.
Their silences felt like quiet prayers.
She knew their friendship was fragile, but it made her feel alive again.
The blinking cursor on her screen was no longer lonely.
Every person carries a secret that could break your heart.
For River, it was both his past and his reason.
The chaos of New York drowned out the voices calling him a murderer – the man who killed his own wife, Andara.
She was unbuckled, reaching for something on the backseat when a truck hit them.
River never forgave himself.
Raia, too, carried her own secret.
Her high school sweetheart, her husband, left her without a word.
Her fairytale ended in silence and abandonment, leaving her broken and defeated.
Two lonely souls, bonded by grief and confined by secrets they didn’t know how to tell each other.
One weekend in Montauk, everything shattered.
River lashed out when Raia unbuckled her seatbelt to reach for her phone.
His rage terrified her.
That night, after everyone was asleep, River found her in the kitchen and broke down.
Trembling, he told her how Andara died.
Raia held his shaking hands.
He pulled her close, wanting to kiss her, but at the last second his lips landed on the corner of hers.
He walked away, knowing he couldn’t love her the way she deserved, because deep down, he still loved Andara.
After that, River slowly disappeared.
Each day he stared at his phone, wanting to call, but guilt strangled him.
When he finally saw her again, it was only to say goodbye.
He was going home to Indonesia in two weeks and asked if he could spend those last days with her.
His words broke her heart.
He spoke as if that was all they would ever have.
They spent those days making memories – walking through parks, sharing simple meals from food trucks.
On their final night, River hugged her tightly, thanked her for everything, then walked away quickly, as if he couldn’t bear to look back.
Months passed.
River drowned himself in work.
Raia stayed in New York to finish her manuscript until her cousin’s wedding brought her back to Jakarta.
At the reception, her heart skipped a beat when their eyes met for two seconds.
She didn’t know that River never stopped thinking of her.
When she asked him what he wanted, he said, “I wanted to see you.” But hearing those words didn’t feel the way she thought it would.
Exhausted, she told him he couldn’t keep coming and going as he pleased.
He told her he was leaving again, to Melbourne for three months.
She nodded, leaving him to decode what it meant.
As she turned to leave, River pulled her into his arms.
The scent of his soap, the faint smell of cigarettes, his warmth, his heartbeat – it drowned her in memories of when they used to meet every day.
She let go and drove away, gripping her steering wheel tightly.
Another hello, another goodbye.
That night, still wearing her dress from the wedding, Raia wrote until past one in the morning.
She sent her manuscript to her editor with two simple sentences: Here’s the closure.
Finally.
After months without hearing from him, Raia tried to make peace with the fact that not all questions have answers.
Some people come into our lives only to become memories, and that is enough.
That’s why she wrote River’s name in the acknowledgment page of her new book: For River Jusuf, who taught me how to see New York from another light.
What she didn’t know was that River bought her book and found his name on the first page.
Hope slipped into his heart quietly, like it always does when someone special does something special.
For the first time in years, he felt seen.
On the morning of her book launch, Erin asked if River had called.
Raia shook her head.
She had left it up to fate.
“Love,” Erin said, “is too important to leave up to fate.” Erin wasn’t wrong, Raia knew.
But love should be as pure and honest as the love between a writer and her readers.
That’s what she felt as she sat in the bookstore that day, signing books for hundreds of readers, grateful for each person whose life her words had touched.
As the crowd dispersed, someone asked softly if he could still get his book signed.
The voice seized her heart.
She looked up and saw his brown sneakers.
Their eyes met.
She remembered asking him once, “What do you want, Riv?” He stepped forward.
“I want you.” Three words, firm and resolute.
Raia lowered her gaze, closed her eyes, and felt those words seize her in a way she never imagined.
Every building holds a story.
The apartment where they met.
The coffee shop where they talked.
Flatiron Building where their adventure began.
The beach house in Montauk that held their almost-kiss.
And now, this bookstore.
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