Letters from Xhale the magazine Words that breathe. Stories that Linger,

How do I say I love you while hiding that I do?

It feels simple in my chest, but loving you openly feels like handing over the part of me that bruises easiest.

So I hold it back, not because it isn’t real, but because hurt has taught me that hearts arrive with strings attached.

I love you carefully. Not because you are hard to love, but because losing you would be hard to survive.

There’s something honest about love and fear arriving together. Maybe that is intimacy too— not pretending fear doesn’t exist, but choosing to stay while it does.