They did not fall in love in one moment.

It happened in pieces

In the way he stayed on the call even after both of them ran out of things to say

In the way she pretended not to wait for his message but checked her phone anyway

In the way his day felt unfinished if he had not told her about it

He was not extraordinary

Not rich

Not overly confident

But he listened

And she had never been listened to like that before

He remembered small things

The way she hated loud chewing

The way she loved the smell of rain but never carried an umbrella

The way she said “I’m fine” when she absolutely was not.

The way she hated cigarettes and alcohol

She liked that about him

The attention

The steadiness

The way he felt like something that would not leave

And maybe that was the problem

He loved openly

She loved cautiously

He gave his heart like it was something renewable

She guarded hers like it was her last possession

At night, when the world quieted down, their conversations deepened

He would say

“Promise me you won’t disappear.”

She would respond lightly

“Why would I?”

But she never promised

And he noticed

Still, he stayed

Because loving her felt like finding water in a desert he had survived for years

She felt safe with him

Safe enough to tell him about the nights she cried alone

About the people who left without explanation

About her fear of not being enough

He told her she was more than enough.

He believed it

She wanted to believe it too

Days turned into months

Their calls became routine

Their names became habits on each other’s lips

He began to imagine a future with her in it

She began to imagine what would happen if she ever walked away

And that thought scared her

Not because she would lose him

But because she knew he would break

"And breaking someone who loves you deeply feels heavier than being broken"

So slowly, almost invisibly, she started pulling away

Replies became shorter

Calls became less frequent

Excuses became easier

He felt it

Of course, he did

But instead of stepping back, he leaned in

He tried harder

Loved louder

Gave more

Because he believed love was something you fought for

She believed love was something that could suffocate you

One night he said quietly

“Are you tired of me?”

She laughed.

“No. You just think too much"

But after the call ended, she stared at the ceiling and felt something unfamiliar

𝙳.𝚒.𝚜.𝚝.𝚊.𝚗.𝚌.𝚎

And she did not close it

Because part of her wanted to see if he would survive without her

She did not understand that some hearts do not bend

They shatter

And when they do

they do not make noise immediately

They collapse silently

Some people do not leave in one step

They leave in centimeters

And he loved her through every centimeter she moved away

𝐇𝐞 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐨𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠....