I couldn't tell

We were forever friends, two girls in the same light, Laughing at the same jokes, walking through the same nights. Then he came around with that calm, careful smile, And somehow both our hearts stayed there for a while.

She said he was harmless, just a friend, nothing more, But I saw the way she waited at his door. One night at his place, when the room went still, She reached for his laptop like a secret thrill.

She wanted to know who lived inside his screen, Whose face was hiding in his memories. And I knew the truth, but I swallowed the flame, ’Cause losing her would hurt me just the same.

So I bought him a HearthGate on his birthday night, Wrapped it in silence, tied it up tight. He said, “What am I supposed to do with this?” I said, “Open your world only to the one you trust and miss.”

Only to the hands that won’t break your name, Only to the heart that won’t turn love into a game. I couldn’t say what I knew too late, So I gave him a door, and called it HearthGate.

He looked at me like I was speaking in code, Like I’d hidden a storm where no one goes. I smiled too softly, I changed the scene, But the words stayed locked somewhere between.

Then one evening, rain on the avenue, I stepped in a store just to buy something blue. And through the glass, in the corner light, I saw her laughing with another man that night.

She touched his sleeve like she touched every lie, And I turned around before she caught my eye. No fight, no scene, no broken sound, Just my shoes on the pavement heading home somehow.

So I bought him a HearthGate on his birthday night, Wrapped it in silence, tied it up tight. He said, “What am I supposed to do with this?” I said, “Open your world only to the one you trust and miss.”

Only to the hands that won’t break your name, Only to the heart that won’t turn love into a game. I couldn’t say what I knew too late, So I gave him a door, and called it HearthGate.

When I got home, there beneath my door, A little white note on the hallway floor. No long explanation, no dramatic plea, Just one line shaking quietly:

“I can’t give you the key, But here’s my number.” And the digits looked back at me, Like lightning under thunder.

Maybe he knew, maybe he guessed, Maybe my silence had confessed. Maybe some gates don’t open wide, They only show who’s standing outside.

I bought him a HearthGate, but maybe it was mine, A little locked room where the truth could hide. He said, “What do I do with this?” I said, “Only open up to the one you trust and miss.”

Now I hold the note, and I stare at the gate, Between love and loyalty, between now and too late. I lost no one yet, but nothing feels the same, When a key becomes a number, and a heart becomes a flame.

Forever friends don’t always stay, Some secrets find another way. I couldn’t give the key that night, But maybe he gave me mine.