He was my best friend since we were children. We grew up side by side, collecting memories that never knew they would one day become the pieces of my heart.
Somewhere along the way, I fell in love with him.
I loved him more than I ever wanted to. It was the kind of love that made me want to say,
*"I'll do anything you ask of me. If you need me, I'll be there. If it makes you happy, I'll choose your happiness over mine."*
But I never said it.
Instead, I convinced myself that loving him was wrong. That he deserved someone better. Someone who could love him without fear.
So...
I pushed him away.
I ignored his calls. I answered with cold smiles. I built walls so high that even he couldn't climb them.
I watched him slowly stop trying.
And then...
He moved on.
Everyone said time heals everything.
They were wrong.
Years passed, but my heart never did.
The world around me changed. Seasons came and went. People entered and left my life.
But every time I closed my eyes, I still found the little boy who used to laugh beside me.
I was still loving him.
Still waiting for a tomorrow that had already passed.
Then one day...
After all those years...
He stood in front of me again.
His eyes searched mine the way they always had—as if they had never forgotten where home was.
His voice was quiet.
*"I loved you then."*
A tear slipped down my cheek before I could stop it.
He smiled, the same smile that had once made my world feel safe.
Then he reached for my hand.
Gently.
Carefully.
Like he was afraid I might disappear again.
*"And I still want to love you..."* he whispered.
*"If you'll let me."*
For a moment, I couldn't speak.
I simply looked at the hand waiting for mine.
The hand I had been too afraid to hold all those years ago.
This time...
I didn't let fear decide for me.
I placed my hand in his.
And smiled through my tears.
*"I'm tired of running away from the only place my heart has ever belonged."*
He laughed softly before pulling me into the warmest embrace I'd ever known.
It felt familiar.
It felt like home.
Maybe we couldn't get back the years we had lost.
Maybe we couldn't rewrite the past.
But we could write what came next.
Sometimes love doesn't arrive too late.
Sometimes...
It simply waits for two hearts to become brave enough to choose each other.
And for the first time in years...
I stopped waiting for tomorrow.
Because my tomorrow...
Was finally standing right in front of me.
