LOVE THAT WASN'T MINE

They say love is the most beautiful feeling in the world, but what if the love you feel is the very thing that destroys you?

I gave him my everything. My time, my attention, my heart, and my soul. I loved him in ways I didn't know I was capable of loving someone. I stayed up late just to talk to him, I waited patiently even when he was busy, and I loved him silently, hoping that one day, he would finally see me the way I saw him. I built a future in my mind where we were happy, where we were together, and where we belonged to each other.

But reality is always crueler than dreams.

No matter how hard I tried, no matter how much I gave, I could never win his heart completely. Because deep down, I knew the truth. I knew that his eyes were still looking for someone else. I knew that his heart still belonged to the person who left him a long time ago. I was just the placeholder, the person who was there to fill the emptiness while he waited for her to come back.

I was his comfort, his friend, his temporary happiness-but I was never his love.

Every "I love you" felt like a lie, and every touch felt borrowed. I was loving a man who could never love me back the way I deserved. I was holding onto someone who was already gone. It was a love that was beautiful, yes, but it was also painful, toxic, and one-sided.

In the end, I had to learn the hardest lesson of all: You cannot force someone to love you, no matter how much you sacrifice. And you cannot keep someone who doesn't even want to stay.

This is the story of how I loved him with everything I had, only to realize... that this love was never really mine to keep.