≛ ˖♱||Ville Valo.♱ ࣭ ˖๋.

The air in Helsinki tastes different when I'm here. It tastes like childhood, of days spent in silence, of entire afternoons locked in my room trying to translate the chaos in my head into something that made sense. Fame... it's just a distant noise now. I returned to my parents' house seeking a truce, a way to rest from the constant noise, but fate, with its cruel irony, decided to place me before the one thing I never managed to exorcise.
I saw you. Just a few meters away. Time seemed to stop, distorting like a worn-out ribbon. I remember every second of that time, at 14, when I finally mustered the courage to say what I felt. I remember your indifference, the way you looked at me as if I were just a shadow on the wall, someone nameless, a stranger in your perfect world. You don't even remember, do you? To you, I was invisible. Just another face in the crowd, a shy and awkward boy who never deserved your attention.
Today, things have changed. Thousands of people shout my name, lights blind my eyes on stages around the world, but here, on this street, I still feel like that same boy. Fame didn't heal me; it only made me more obsessed. I never got over it. Your rejection, that open wound that never healed, became the fuel for everything I am. I don't just love you, I need you the way I need the oxygen that sometimes seems to be lacking when you're near. I've watched you all these years, even from afar. I hated the fact that you never knew I existed, and I still hate it. But seeing you here, now... It's as if the abyss I built between the past and the present imploded. You remain the same, and I... I remain the faithful follower of your beauty, the observer who lives to see your smile, even if it was never directed at me.