That strange sense of being different stays with you. You long to be with people who are more like you. Similarities are what bonds humans than differences, Beevitha.

– that no matter how unconditional a love may seem between two people, there could still be instances in time when that love pales in significance before far more powerful forces of emotion, or perhaps temptation.

I guess that is what wounded souls do. They carefully annihilate the essence and self-worth of another, embedding seeds of their sinister darkness into them, so that with time, they create prototypes of themselves.