"The Stranger You Loved"

Do you truly know me, or do you only see the illusion you've built in your mind? Have you ever looked past the surface, past the mask I wear so effortlessly, past the smiles that never quite reach my eyes? Or have you only fallen for the idea of me, the version that fits neatly into your world, the one that never strays too far from your expectations?

Perhaps that's why every word I speak feels foreign to you, why my actions seem like a betrayal of the image you've crafted. Maybe that's why, no matter how much I bare my soul, you still find me unfamiliar. Because the character you assigned to me was never mine to begin with, it was yours, shaped by your desires, sculpted by your assumptions.

And so, when I step beyond those lines, when I choose differently, when I become something other than what you imagined, you call it "out of character." But tell me, how can I be out of character when I was never playing a role?

All I want is for you to always know me? So that every choice I make feels familiar to you, every word I speak echoes in a way only you understand? For you to see me as I am, or as the person I've always been .

So that my actions never surprise you, because the version of me you've held in your heart was never a fabrication, but the truest reflection of who I am.