Between love and hate - by Obikaeze Precious

Final Part PART THREE — Maybe, Ever afterGrace had spent so long fighting herself that she had forgotten what it felt like to simply exist. She had spent years trying to decide which version of herself was real. The nice girl. The jealous girl. The loving daughter. The resentful one. The happy girl. The sad one. The girl who wanted attention. The girl who wanted to disappear. But with him, something changed. She realized she didn't have to choose. Maybe she wasn't evil because she felt jealousy. Maybe she wasn't selfish because she wanted good things for herself. Maybe loving her family didn't mean she could never resent them. Maybe being proud of someone else didn't mean she couldn't wish for her own success. Maybe happiness and sadness could exist in the same heart. Maybe she didn't need to paint everything in black and white. Maybe she could finally accept the grey. With him, Grace felt like a girl. Not a failure. Not a disappointment. Not someone constantly fighting against her own mind. Just a girl. A girl who could laugh. A girl who could dream. A girl who could be loved. In his presence, she realized she could be anything she wanted to be. And perhaps that was what she had been searching for all along. Not someone to save her. Not someone to fix her. Just someone who could sit beside her while she learned to understand herself. She finally realized that she didn't have to fight off every emotion. She simply had to feel them. Understand them. Deal with them. And keep going. He made her want to become better. Not perfect. Just better. He made her believe that perhaps there was still something beautiful waiting for her at the end of all this confusion. Grace couldn't wait for the day she would finally feel completely comfortable in his arms. Comfortable enough to let him into the deepest parts of her heart. Comfortable enough to stop wondering when the happiness would disappear. Because for the first time, happiness didn't feel like something she had stolen. It felt like something she deserved. And maybe... just maybe... she would finally get her happily ever after. Not the perfect kind from fairy tales. Not the kind where everything magically becomes easy. But the kind where two imperfect people choose to stay. Where love doesn't demand that she lose herself. Where she could still have her space, her fears, her flaws, her complicated emotionsand still be loved. Grace smiled as she thought about him. The boy she'd met on a cold December evening. The stranger who had caught her crying over Cinderella. The person who had unknowingly walked into the mess inside her head and somehow made the noise quieter. She had once believed Cinderella was simply lucky. Now she wasn't so sure. Perhaps love didn't always arrive with a perfect prince and a glass slipper. Perhaps sometimes... it arrived in a quiet library. With a teasing voice. A warm smile. And someone patient enough to stay. Grace looked down at the fairy-tale book in her hands. For once, she didn't scoff. She smiled. Because maybe her story wasn't over yet. Maybe it was only beginning. And maybe, after all the years she spent hating herself... Grace was finally learning how to love the girl in the mirror.

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