Two strangers. Two shadows. One lifeline of ink.

Selene writes to survive-the words she hides in letters are the only escape from the silence of her fractured family and the photo she cannot bear to face. She sends them to no one, to everyone, to a stranger she will never meet.

Adrian never asked for a lifeline, but when the letters arrive, they pull him back from the edge. Haunted by a friend lost in the sky and the monster whispering in his mind, he answers.

Through paper and pen, they create a fragile world of hope. But secrets have weight, and truth is the sharpest blade of all.

The Letters We Leave Behind is a novel about love born in silence, about the courage to reveal what we hide, and the healing that waits when two broken souls finally find each other.

Grew up in a fractured home where love was conditional. Her parents pressured her toward perfection, dismissing her emotions as weakness.


Her only real bond was with her younger sister, whom she protected fiercely. Selene often played the role of both sister and parent, carrying too much responsibility too young.


She became a therapist because she wanted to give others what she herself never received: understanding, patience, and unconditional care.


Writes anonymous letters to strangers — her private outlet, since she never learned how to express her needs without guilt.


Still feels like a child inside, craving parental approval even though she knows it will never come.


Keeps a small photo of her sister in her wallet, a reminder of the only person she's ever allowed to truly need her.


Surface: Calm, intelligent, composed — the perfect listener.


Hidden: Deeply lonely, unsure if she is worthy of being cared for in return.


Core: Strong-willed, empathetic, quietly resilient.


Tends to avoid conflict, even at her own expense.


Over-identifies with being a caretaker, struggles to accept help.


Her biggest fear: failing to protect the people she loves (like she often felt she failed her sister).


Someone who gives her space to be vulnerable without judgment.


To learn that she can be loved not for what she does, but simply for who she is.


🎼 Adrian Vale – The Man in the Shadows


Profession: Former Pianist → Bookstore Clerk


A child prodigy, he became famous as a pianist in his early twenties. His gift for turning sound into raw emotion made him adored — but it came at a cost.


Beneath the brilliance, Adrian struggled with bipolar disorder (we can pick another mental illness if you'd prefer, but bipolar naturally fits his swings of intensity and silence).


During a manic period, his behavior spiraled into scandal and public scrutiny. Instead of support, the world turned on him. The press called him unstable, dangerous, "mad genius." He vanished from the public eye.


Now, he hides in the quiet life of a late-night bookstore, pretending to be ordinary.


Music is both his gift and his curse: he feels sound in colors (synesthesia), but sometimes playing triggers episodes of mania or depression.


Writes anonymously online about his struggles, seeking understanding without revealing his name.


Lives with deep shame — not about his talent, but about being "too much" for anyone to handle.


Surface: Withdrawn, moody, sometimes abrasive.


Hidden: Desperately yearning for intimacy, afraid he'll destroy what he loves.


Core: Sensitive, passionate, endlessly creative, but fragile in ways he hides.


Distrustful, afraid people only see his illness, not him.


Tendency to self-sabotage when he feels happiness is "too good to last."


His biggest fear: being abandoned once someone sees all of him.


Someone who accepts his highs and lows without trying to erase them.


To believe that he is more than his illness — that love doesn't require him to be "fixed.


Chapter 7 - CHARACTERS