To the one who never apologized, but always expected forgiveness

I’ve drafted a hundred replies I never sent.

Not because I had nothing to say

but because I knew it wouldn’t matter.

You only ever heard your own echo.

You hurt me.

Softly. Quietly.

In ways I couldn’t even name until years later.

And I let it slide

again and again,

because I wanted peace more than I wanted truth.

But I’m not swallowing silence anymore.

You never said sorry.

And I kept forgiving you anyway.

That ends here.

This is not a call for you to change.

This is a declaration that I already did.

I’ve stopped hoping for a version of you

that was kind to me.

Because I am finally becoming

the version of me

that is kind to myself.