What It Costs to Wait

At nineteen, she's never held hands with someone. Never been kissed. Never been chosen.

While her friends fall in love like it's the easiest thing in the world, she's left behind, watching from the edges, smiling, listening, pretending she's fine. They talk about dates, goodnight texts, and soft kisses, and she tells herself she's happy for them. And she is. She truly is. But when the laughter fades and the night turns quiet, the ache creeps back in. The longing for something she's never had and can't seem to find.

She's tired of hearing that "love comes when you least expect it." She's stopped expecting. She's stopped searching. And yet, the loneliness still lingers like a second heartbeat, one that won't let her forget what she's missing.

What It Costs to Wait is a quiet, aching story about the weight of patience, the beauty and pain of yearning, and the moment you realize that sometimes hope hurts more than heartbreak itself.