The On-and-Off That Taught Me to Stay

Some people walk into our lives like they were pulled straight out of a script we secretly wrote. He was like that — exactly my type, with all the right tastes, the right conversations… it almost felt like fate.
At first, it seemed like it was going to work. But soon, the excuses started, and he went back to his ex.
End of story? Not even close.

Some time later, he came back. And I, who had already promised myself not to fall for it again, fell. Hard. And, once again, it didn’t work.

Then more time passed, and just when I thought I had truly reached my limit — he came back. This time, I ghosted him, hoping to protect what was left of me. But not even that worked.

I started dating someone else, and so did he. Everything seemed to finally be in its place — until the missing came back.
We both broke up with our partners and gave it one more shot. The fourth time.
And guess what?
It ended the exact same way it did the first time.

But something different happened this time: we became friends.

It wasn’t a movie kind of happy ending, but it was a more mature one. I learned that some people aren’t meant to stay the way we wish they would — but they can stay in another way. And that’s okay.
Because in the end, between all the back and forth, the chaos and the quiet, we grow.
And that, too, is part of love.