Prince Charming makes you lose 10 years — and he knows how to make you lose them twice.
To the one who is still waiting for him: 10 years of excluding real men in the name of a script written by others.
To the one who no longer expects anything: 10 years concluding that "men don't know how to love" — the same story, read backwards.
The two interpretations clash everywhere, and they come from the same book: in both, it is the scenario that decides.
The confession
I grew up surrounded by women who built everything on their own — mothers, grandmothers, friends who relied only on themselves, or on other women.
For a long time, I considered Prince Charming for what he is: a tale that is put in cradles, and that shapes better than any school.
I wasn't wrong about the story — I was wrong about the conclusion.
The first release — wait for better
The scenario demands an arrival: a man who appears, who guesses, who saves.
Each real man is then compared to a character — and a character always wins, he was written for that.
The reckoning for this exit is coming late: solid men sidelined for an off-script detail, years spent checking that no one is compliant.
The second exit — expect nothing more
Disappointment has delivered its verdict: men cannot succeed, hope is naive, autonomy will suffice.
This exit has the elegance of lucidity — it has above all the trappings of it: to conclude that nothing exists because a tale has lied is still to let the tale write the ending.
The 3rd way — momentum maintained, scenario delivered
Prince Charming has been relegated to the realm of fairy tales, but the impulse remains: to believe that an encounter can change everything, without deluding ourselves.
Hope, yes — but with eyes open, and that's where everything is at stake.
Momentum without a script changes everything it touches.
We stop waiting for an arrival — we organize presences.
We stop comparing to a character — we read about behaviors.
We stop drawing conclusions about all men — we choose from among the real ones.
Hope stands on its own — it was the imposed casting that had to fall.
The scene that the story will never write
A real man doesn't just gallop in — he arrives on a Tuesday, four minutes late, with a whole day's worth of baggage, and a conversation that lasts until closing time.
The story would never have written this scene — that's exactly how we recognize it.
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