The night I escaped

My name is Artemis. If you saw me smiling, you'd probably think I lived a gentle life. People say I'm warm, soft, easy to love. My mother used to say I was sweet like strawberries-bright, delicate, impossible not to cherish. But strawberries bruise easily, and if you crush them hard enough, they bleed.

My father threw me out with nothing but a small bag and words cruel enough to haunt me. Working as a maid in Ronan Santaro's house was never a choice. It was survival.

Still, I dream.

Simple things... a warm shower, clothes that feel like mine, walking outside with nowhere to rush, watching the sunset.

I dream of freedom.

I dream of love.

Sometimes I wonder what it would feel like to be loved gently... to be looked at like something precious instead of something broken.

But every night, another dream finds me.

A boy. Warm sunlight. Familiar hands. A voice calling my name like it belongs to him.

"Quote"

"You don't have to prove anything to me."

"I would do anything for you... not because I have to, because I want to."

"I would do anything for you... even if it costs me everything. I'd still choose you. Until my last breath sunshine."