i get triggered by the things others would probably deem trivial. i get triggered by the mention of bees, seeing crocheted bows, your favourite anime, my favourite songs, the musician you mentioned before and his most famous record, chocolate churros, buddhism, your language, and anything that somehow reminds me of you - may it be directly related or not.
most importantly, i get triggered by anything romantic - flowers, chocolates, teddy bears, little seemingly platonic touches with an affectionate undertone, the word "love."
despite knowing that it's a lost cause, i still wonder what would it be like had i been a little more honest? i keep on thinking back to our last interaction. i know that i was already truthful at the time - in fact, more than i should be - but what if i had just strived to be a little bit more honest?
you see, i have always been hard on myself. that is probably why i took a lot of hurt from you.
then again, you were not good for me. in fact, anyone in their right mind would probably celebrate my getting away from you. they would probably commend me for dodging a bullet. after all, you managed to unearth my deepest traumas. you drowned me in a dopamine spike and left me muddled by my own projections.
still, what if i had just used a different word other than "weird" to describe the first instance that i thought it could be different? knowing you, you would probably ignore all the positive stuff that i said in order to twist my words to fit your victim narrative.
sometimes, i find myself wondering about what happened that skewed your perception about the people that were generally just trying to be nice? is it because you've been used and discarded before that you somehow embodied the paranoia? therefore, in order to survive, you use and discard others before they can beat you to it?
then again, maybe this is just one of my many projections. after all, i do have that kind of trauma, albeit not carelessly throwing away people the way you did.
i really need to work on myself, don't i? if i ask you this question, you would probably say yes mockingly. this one, i can say for sure. you have a knack to secretly cover the towel with gasoline before you throw it on fire, effectively masquerading your bitterness with practised sympathy. you use it to get equal with my innate sarcasm, one that i admittedly use to charm others into believing my cause. what you failed to realise is that i can see through it and i chose to ignore it to trigger you. i have always been a little devil's advocate ever since i was a girl.
we never had a good relationship, but somehow i wish we could have been friends. that way, i won't have to form these projections to keep you alive in my mind or to romanticise our toxic similarities that ultimately led to a heartbreaking repulsion.
but maybe, us not becoming anything is for the better.
maybe, me not telling you about what i truly felt is the safest way to get out of that situation, with my dignity intact.
you made me feel unsafe until the very end, and that's because you don't have the courage to confront my truth or to make me confront yours.
so maybe, me leaving you permanently in that place is the best decision i could ever make.
but i hope you do realise that in spite of my words, me wishing you all the best in the world despite all the pain that you caused me is me telling you that i love you.
and me praying for your peaceful healing, despite being a non-believer, is me telling you that this love is real like no other. that even if we no longer see each other, i will tuck your memory safely in the deepest corners of my mind.
it sucks that i feel this way for the wrong person. and it sucks knowing that i will continue to feel this way for a long time.
but you know what sucks even more?
it's knowing that with my healing comes the end to this bittersweet affection.
that no matter how better of a person i think i will be when i survive this, i can never be that person to you because you will cease to exist in my reality.
and as sad as it might be, it is the only way forward.