After that heartbreaking breakup, I began the slow and painful process of rebuilding myself. I was shattered, but I didn't want to stay broken. Little by little, I started picking up the pieces - quietly, patiently - trying to make myself whole again. I focused on loving myself more, because I realized that no one else could fill the emptiness I carried except me.

Even though I had grown to despise love, even though I told myself I didn't want it anymore, someone unexpected came into my life. She was the kindest, sweetest soul I had ever met. She made me feel seen. She made me feel whole. She reminded me that I was enough - even with all the cracks in my heart.

She pursued me gently, without pressure. And even though I wasn't fully healed, I said yes to her. Maybe it was too soon. Maybe I wasn't ready. But something about her felt safe. She didn't try to fix me - she just stayed, patiently, while I tried to fix myself.

But not all stories get to bloom.

Her mother asked me to end things with her. And I did.

Not because I stopped caring - but because I didn't want to be the reason for a rift between a daughter and her mother. It was one of the hardest decisions I've ever had to make. To walk away from someone who chose to stay with me through my healing? just to protect the bond she had with someone else she loved.

She was the gentle soul who helped me stand again when I thought I never could. She never hurt me - she held me. And leaving her felt like tearing open a wound that had only just begun to close.

But even in the loss, I learned something:

Sometimes, love doesn't come to stay.

Sometimes, it arrives just to remind you - you are still capable of feeling, of healing, of beginning again.