Do You Really Love Me?

A letter from the daughter whose tears were always silent. She wasn't asking to be loved more, only to be seen.

Do you really love me?

Sometimes it feels

as if I never truly mattered.

Do you hate me?

Then why did you once

call me your princess?

You say I'm the blessing of this family...

Was it all just an act?

If I weren't outgoing,

if I didn't bring home good grades,

if my reputation wasn't spotless,

if I couldn't speak so well,

if my voice didn't win hearts,

would you still love me,

without expecting me

to earn it first?

Is this what love is?

A love that demands proof

every single day.

She has nothing to prove,

yet you love her more.

Is it because her pain

has a louder voice?

Because her tears

are seen while mine

have always fallen

in silence?

Not only she cries.

Every single night,

I cry too.

The only difference is...

you never hear me.

You never see me.

And even if you knew,

I wonder…

would you come

and hold me too?

I carry every expectation,

yet somehow,

I'm never enough

You tell me to treat her kindly

because I'm "the princess."

But a princess isn't supposed to feel

like a servant.

You ask.

I obey.

Still,

I stand on trial

for simply existing.

You blame me

for things I never meant to do.

Your smiles rarely reach me.

Your face wears irritation

whenever you look my way.

Am I really that unbearable?

Do you hate me that much?

I'm still just a little girl.

Little girls make mistakes.

Little girls misunderstand,

and are misunderstood.

I've spent a lifetime

being the latter.

Even the smallest things

become reasons to blame me.

It's too heavy

for shoulders this small.

Sometimes,

I just want to run

so far away

that your disappointment

can no longer find me.

But the cruelest part is..

I still love you.

So tonight,

I ask only one thing.

God...

Please let me find peace,

just once.