What is a letter/note you've always wanted to give to a loved one but never had the courage to? - The Letter

The hallway was empty.

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Ren walked slowly, the quiet echo of his footsteps following him like a memory. It was late—long after classes had ended. He had come back for a book he’d left behind, or so he told himself.

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But he didn’t go to the classroom.

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His feet stopped in front of the music room.

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Inside, soft piano notes floated through the air—hesitant, broken, like someone searching for a melody they couldn’t quite reach. He didn’t have to look.

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He knew that sound.

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Haruki.

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Ren stood frozen, just beyond the glass-paneled door. The lights inside were dim. Haruki sat at the piano bench, head down, fingers trailing over the keys like they were made of glass.

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His hair had grown longer. He looked tired. Beautiful.

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Painfully beautiful.

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Ren’s chest tightened. His heart knew what his mind didn’t want to admit—he still loved him. Desperately. Quietly. Unreasonably.

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He thought about opening the door. About walking in, sitting beside Haruki like he used to. About telling him everything.

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> “I’m sorry.”

“I never meant to hurt you.”

“I still love you.”

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But he knew what would happen.

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Haruki wouldn’t speak. Maybe he would leave. Maybe the silence would scream louder than any words ever could.

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So Ren didn’t open the door.

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He just reached into his coat pocket… and pulled out the letter.

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It was worn, folded at the edges. He had rewritten it three times. He had cried over it once.

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And now, it was ready.

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Ren knelt down, quietly, like a boy laying a gift at the feet of a god he could never touch. He slid the letter under the door—just far enough so Haruki would see it when he stood.

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He didn’t stay.

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He turned and walked away before the piano even stopped.

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But the words he left behind… would stay.

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The Letter

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Haruki,

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I don’t know if you’ll read this. I don’t know if you’ll tear it apart, or laugh, or cry, or feel nothing at all.

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But I need you to know what I couldn’t say—what I was too broken, too scared, too ruined to tell you.

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I loved you.

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I still do.

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Not because you were kind to me when no one else was. Not because you were beautiful or smart or special.

But because when you smiled at me… I felt like I existed.

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You made this gray world glow. You were my light when I didn’t even know I was drowning.

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I’m sorry for what I did. I should have never followed you that day. I should have never hurt you. I thought love meant reaching for someone—but maybe for someone like me, it meant staying away.

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You didn’t owe me anything. Not your friendship. Not your forgiveness. Not even your eyes.

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But I still miss the way you used to look at me.

I miss the way your voice softened when you said my name.

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I miss us.

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If there’s any part of you that remembers what we had—

even just the way cherry blossoms fell around us that spring—

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Know this:

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I would do anything to protect that memory.

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I’m not asking you to forgive me.

I’m not asking you to love me.

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I just want you to know—

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You were my favorite part of this life.

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—Ren

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Outside the music room, the hallway stayed silent.

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But inside, long after Ren had gone, the piano stopped.

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And Haruki stared at the letter in his hand.

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With trembling fingers.

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And tears in his eyes.

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