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Bonus Chapter: Elliot's Voice
I've watched Ella from afar, loved her even when she didn't know it. From the moment we met, I knew there was something different about her. Not the kind of different you notice because it's loud, but the kind you feel, quiet, unshakable, haunting in the most beautiful way.
Ella walks like she's hiding, but I see her. Even when she pulls away, even when she pretends like she doesn't care, I know it's all armor. The world hasn't been kind to her. People she trusted betrayed her, and the ones who were supposed to protect her turned their backs. Still, she survived it all.
And yet, in all her surviving, she forgot that she's allowed to live too. To breathe. To hope. To love.
When she disappeared into herself, I waited. Not because I didn't want to go after her, but because I knew she needed to find her way back on her own. You can't rush healing. You can only stand at the edge with open arms for when they're ready to come home.
The day she told me her truth, it broke something in me. Not because I saw her as fragile, but because I realized how long she'd been fighting battles alone. She gave me her scars without asking me to fix them—just to see them. To honor them.
And I do.
I love her. Not for who the world thinks she is, or for the version of her that's easier to accept. I love the messy, complicated, rising-against-all-odds version of her. The girl who doubts herself but still dares to dream. The girl who says she's tired but still chooses to stay.
She thinks her story is filled with broken pieces, but to me, every shard glitters with meaning. With power. With truth.
If she'll let me, I want to be there—on the good days, the healing days, and the days when the shadows return. Not as her savior, but as her witness. Her partner. Her peace.
Because she is more than her pain.
She is Ella.
And that's more than enough.