You take a good look at her, and realized you’ve memorized all her features. You know how it transforms to compose different personas, depending on what the situation demands. You realize that she looks both the same and oh so different, and yet she has always been stunning and wonderful and amazing in your eyes, and your breath hitches at this realization. Your breath hitches and before you were sure it was because she left you breathless; now it’s that, and more. You notice the breath has grown into a sigh, for everything that was beautiful and damaging, for the hopeful tomorrow that you could let your guard down again completely around her, and for the bittersweet realization that this is where it has led to. Your paths are intertwined and yet branch off at an important point, and yet run closely parallel to each other, with just enough distance to immediately see how the other is doing and cheer for them, and to run through if in the case the other needs help. You are grateful that both of you have weathered the shitstorm and now have found a tentative calmness brought about by compromise, understanding, open communication, and maturity, and you know that this is altogether another type of love. The genuine kind, the kind you never knew you could give someone after everything that has happened. You decide that this love is worth keeping and protecting, that maybe there are certain people in your life you just care for, no matter what. So far, that’s what you make of it. You hope that this one lasts, and although it’s not where you initially wanted it to be, both of you know it’s for the best. She asks you what’s on your mind, and you smile and shake you head, and release the sigh quietly. You take a good look at her and try to be content with this.













