I'm sorry, but I can't accept it.

"For a long time, I thought the problem was the emptiness. I believed that if I found something strong enough, something intense enough, it would finally fill the space that was left behind. That's why I kept moving forward. That's why I kept searching.

But as the years passed, I realized something worse: the emptiness never left. I just learned how to live around it.

I got used to things that come and go. To fleeting emotions. To moments that last a single night and disappear with the morning. It was easier that way. Nothing stayed long enough to matter. Nothing could break again.

What I never learned was this.

I never learned what to do when someone offers me something genuine. When someone looks at me with kindness. When someone cares about me without wanting anything in return.

Because accepting something like that means believing I deserve to keep it. It means lowering my guard. It means admitting that a part of me still wants to hold on to someone... and that's the part that scares me the most.

It's not that I don't want to accept it.

It's that I don't know if I can.

I don't know if I've become the kind of person who can still be comforted by warmth. I don't know if a heart that spent so long feeling empty can ever feel at home with affection again. And I don't know how long it would take for you to realize that you're offering something precious to someone who forgot how to receive it.

He stared at the gift in his hands, as if it weighed far more than it should.

For a moment, he couldn't bring himself to look at her.

"...I'm sorry."

His voice came out quieter than he intended.

"I want to thank you. I want to smile and tell you that this makes me happy..."

He tightened his grip on the box and lowered his gaze.

"But the truth is... I don't know how."

"It's been so long since someone gave me something they didn't expect back."

Collaboration with neponen after losing my previous account. I hope you liked the result and thank you for taking pity on me again and drawing with me.

Participants:
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