Let’s start with a hard truth: love, no matter how real, doesn’t always mean forever. Sometimes it means for now, and occasionally, it means until one of us figures out how to function like a semi-stable adult. The idea that “if the love is real, we’ll see each other again” sounds romantic, but it can also be a very convenient excuse to avoid letting go.
Real love doesn’t always get tied up in a neat little bow. Sometimes, it slips through the cracks of silence, wrapped in the kind of unresolved tension that could power an indie film soundtrack. You find yourself staring into space, remembering how they once looked at you like you were the only person in the room. Now? You’re two strangers with each other’s secrets, navigating life separately but still haunted by those intimate fragments of “almost.”
Why is it so hard to move on from people who got us? Well, when someone sees the unfiltered, unscripted parts of you—and doesn’t run for the hills—it creates a kind of soul bond that’s hard to delete, even with aggressive journaling and blocking them on every platform imaginable. They know things. Weird things. Tender things. Things that feel like sacred confessions you didn’t even mean to share.
And yet, here you are, living parallel lives. Maybe you still check their social media, pretending it’s just idle curiosity. Or maybe you don’t—but their birthday still echoes in your mind like a song you can’t un-hear. You don’t talk. You don’t reach out. But the pull? Oh, it’s there. Quiet, persistent, annoying.
This is where it gets tricky. That invisible string between you isn’t necessarily a sign to reconnect. It might just be the echo of something important that was. And that’s okay. Not every love story needs a sequel. Sometimes, what you shared was real and temporary. It doesn’t make it less meaningful.
So here’s the advice: feel the pull, acknowledge the ache, and then do your best not to romanticize what was probably a very messy, very human relationship. If fate has plans, it will let you know. But in the meantime, live your life. Don’t sit in the waiting room of your own story, hoping someone from the past will return and magically fix the plot.
If they’re meant to find their way back, they will. But don’t forget—you have permission to keep walking forward, even if part of your heart still glances back.
