By: Elise Aliyah C. Palalay of Grade 8D – Curie
I did not learn love from fairy tales.
I learned it from tired eyes
that still searched for mine in a crowded room,
from hands rough with work
that held me like something fragile and worth keeping.
I learned it in the spaces between arguments—
when voices trembled,
when pride fell quiet,
when someone chose to stay instead of leaving.
In friendships, I felt it most clearly:
the way a friend notices your silences,
how they sit beside your breaking
as if your pain were not a burden, but a promise.
Growing up, I saw how differently hearts can beat—
how some carry love loudly,
and others hide it behind fear.
I learned to look closer.
To listen longer.
And when I began to see my own cracks,
I tried to offer myself the same mercy—
to cradle my mistakes,
to forgive the child in me who was only learning.
Love beyond romance is not dazzling.
It is aching.
It is patient.
It is brave.
It is choosing tenderness
in a world that has known too much hardness—
and whispering, even then:
I am still here.
I care.
“One of the selected writers for February, highlighting the theme: Voices of Love and Kindness.”