There’s a certain kind of magic in best-friendship: the effortless laughter, the late-night conversations, and the simple feeling that comes when someone truly understands you. For three years, he was that person for me. My safe space. My go-to for every inside joke, every bad day, every small victory. And for three years, I believed with full certainty that we were just friends. But then, other people started noticing.
Friends would tease me, asking when we were finally going to date. Strangers assumed we were together. Even my family would casually mention how close we were. Every time, I laughed it off. We were friends, nothing more. Right? But the more people pointed it out, the more I started questioning myself. I began replaying our moments together and how easily we understood each other, how he made me feel safe, how much I genuinely loved being around him. And suddenly, I couldn’t tell if I had been blind to my own feelings, or if they had quietly grown over time without me realizing. It hit me all at once: I had fallen for him.
At first, I tried to ignore it. I told myself it wasn’t worth ruining what we had. But once I saw him that way, I couldn’t unsee it. Every moment with him felt different, more fragile, more precious. And eventually, I couldn’t keep pretending. I had to tell him. So, I did. I told him everything, expecting (hoping) he might feel the same. But he didn’t. He cared about me, deeply, but not in the way I wanted him to. And just like that, everything changed. I told myself we could go back to being friends, that I could move past it, but then I watched him fall for someone else. I listened as he talked about her in the way I had secretly hoped he would talk about me. And I realized the hardest truth of all: staying in his life meant slowly breaking my own heart, over and over again.Â
So, I walked away. Not because I wanted to, but because I had to. Because loving someone shouldn’t mean losing yourself in the process. Because sometimes, the bravest thing you can do is let go of the person you thought would be your forever. This experience broke me, but it also taught me something invaluable. Love isn’t just about who you choose; it’s about who chooses you back. And the right love, the love that’s meant for you, will never leave you questioning whether you’re enough.
So, to anyone who’s fallen for a friend who doesn’t feel the same: I know it hurts. I know it feels like you’re losing a part of yourself. But I promise you, one day, you’ll look back and realize you weren’t asking for too much—you were just asking the wrong person.