The Smile Beneath the Mask
My Dearest,
Yesterday, you turned me away with such effortless grace that I could almost forget it was a rejection. You wore your busyness like a silken veil, laughing that sleep had become a luxury you could no longer afford. I laughed with you, for how could I be wounded by a spirit as bright as yours? There is no bitterness between us, only a quiet, aching wonder.
Yet, in the stillness of my mind, a question lingers like a ghost. How did he find the way in? How did that hollow, fragile creature... that troll beneath the bridge manage to dismantle the iron walls you keep so carefully guarded? I see the way you look away from him now, with a shuttered coldness, and yet once you surrendered everything for his sake. You gave him the hours that belonged to your rest. You let your brilliance falter just to keep him company.
You tell me nothing. You speak of misaligned schedules and the scarcity of time, but the truth is written in the sudden ice of your presence whenever he draws near. Your warmth is a gift you give to the world, yet you withhold every spark from him.
I see you now, burying the memory of him under a mountain of labor. Extra classes, new jobs, the endless pursuit of "more." You are trying to fill a void so vast it threatens to swallow the sun. What is it you are so desperate to forget? Why must you walk this path alone?
And yet... there is a new lightness in your step, as if a heavy shroud has finally slipped from your shoulders. He still watches you from the mouth of his dark cave, but his gaze is a phantom that can no longer touch you.
You are the first light of my every morning. Even with your face half-hidden, I see the joy pushing against your cheeks, the way your smile kindles a fire in your eyes despite the exhaustion that clings to you.
Keep shining, my mysterious friend. You are a masterpiece of resilience, and I am content to watch you from the shore.