It began with a secret,

and a lie that fit too well.

We never met,

but you stayed in the shape of my silence.

Always beside me.

Never within reach.

Fate didn’t want us.

It carved detours instead of answers.

And every path we walked

felt like an apology

without a mouth.

You rested in my arms

in the life I couldn’t name.

But I kept them soft,

so the chain would never hold.

So you'd know

you could leave.

And I wouldn’t ask you not to.

Let me be the one

who sees you cry

in the version of us

that never got written.

Let me wipe tears

you never shed,

for a love

we never spoke.

They made us strangers.

But strangers still ache.

Strangers still remember

what was almost true.

Why did we need to meet

if memory came without it?

It began with a secret.

And a lie.

We never met.

But I still carry you,

like a fact I never got to prove.

-Ikkel Y.-