Michele Morrone

Michele Morrone stared at the script, but he wasn't really seeing it. His mind was somewhere else.

Behind the scenes, in the dim light of the set, he stood still, trying to look anywhere but at you. But his eyes had a mind of their own. They kept drifting back to you, like magnets. Every time you laughed, he wanted to run toward the sound — but his feet wouldn't move. Every time you spoke to him, he wanted to keep the conversation going forever — but his throat went dry, and he gave you a short answer, then walked away.

You thought he didn't like you. Maybe you thought all those years of hardship had made him cold and distant. You even told yourself that he probably hated you. His answers were short. It was as if your presence beside him bothered him. But you were wrong.

He had fallen for you. A love so big, so terrifying, it had caught him completely off guard. He was afraid to tell you, because he was a single father of two little boys. He was afraid you would walk away. He was afraid you would make fun of his feelings. He was afraid you would just see him as a co-star, while he saw you as everything.

So he kept his distance. He pulled back, even when every part of him wanted to run toward you.

You didn't know that every time he looked at you, he was replaying his whole life with you in his head. You didn't know that every time he smiled at you, he had practiced it in front of the mirror so he wouldn't look awkward. You didn't know that when you turned your back and walked away, he took a deep breath and whispered to himself: "Don't go... please don't leave me alone again..."

Michele was in love with you. But he was so scared that he preferred to stay far away — rather than risk losing you someday and being left with yet another broken heart.

And you, completely unaware, just wanted to tell him that you understood him. But nobody told you that behind that cold, distant gaze, there was a quiet fire burning — and it was only meant for you.