School , a place I curse beneath my breath, yet secretly cradle in my heart. It gifted me memories sharp enough to tear me apart, and soft enough to make me smile through tears. The hallways hum with laughter, hands intertwined, promises exchanged in glances, while I stand — a lone shadow among suns — no hand to hold, but it's alright, because their happiness is a light I can still see. I catch her eyes — the girl who once knew my soul, now a stranger dressed in borrowed crowns, not hatred, not love, just the brittle ache of a friendship lost to the hunger of popularity. I watch the couples spin their quiet dreams, their love stitched with golden threads, and though my chest aches, I smile, knowing love like that was never written in the stars for me — a creature born of twilight, never meant to bask in the rise of light. I see the boy, eyes full of quiet devotion, carving sonnets with his stare for a girl who hides her own heart away. I see the girl, a symphony of elegance, making hearts collapse like soft ruins. And then — my gaze falls on him, the boy I hate, the boy who saw my body but never once glimpsed my soul. Still, I return. I return for the ancient trees whispering lullabies of hope to the sky, for the little cat curled near the security post, the only soul who waits for me without reason. I sip my cold coffee, bitterness and sweetness swirling on my tongue, my routine stitched into the fabric of forgotten days. And so, I live — loving the small infinities, hating the quiet sorrows, breathing in a world that never fully loved me back. lai