I saw your photo today.

It came out of nowhere—just appeared on my screen while I was mindlessly scrolling. You were smiling. Really smiling. Laughing with a girl. The photo was a collage of four candid shots, and in none of them were you looking at the camera.

Your eyes were on her.

You weren’t just smiling with your lips. Your whole face was lit up—eyes crinkled, cheeks lifted, that soft look I don’t think I ever saw when we were together. You looked calm. You looked happy. And strangely, my first instinct wasn’t jealousy or sadness—it was relief.

Thank God, I thought. You finally found what you were looking for. What you always deserved.

Because for the longest time, I carried this guilt like a second skin. The guilt of not loving you the way you loved me. Of staying when I should’ve let you go. Of holding on too tightly to someone I couldn’t love properly, hoping maybe time would shift something in me that never did.

You gave me everything—your heart, your kindness, your patience. And I tried. I cared for you deeply. I would’ve done anything to protect you. I might’ve even died for you. But I couldn’t love you like that. And no matter how hard I tried, I never saw you the way you saw me.

You deserved someone who could look at you the way you used to look at me. And now, seeing that photo, I think maybe—finally—you’ve found her.

 And that… brings me peace.

 There’s something quietly healing about seeing someone you once hurt finding happiness again. It doesn’t sting the way I imagined it would. It doesn’t feel like losing. It feels like something has finally come full circle.

This isn’t a love letter, and it’s not an apology either. It’s just a release. A small, soft surrender. For you. For me. For anyone who’s ever been loved in a way they couldn’t return, and for anyone who’s stayed too long trying to force something that wasn’t there.

Because love isn’t something you earn with effort or loyalty. It’s not something you can fake into existence. It either lives in you, or it doesn’t. And when it doesn’t, the kindest thing you can do—for both of you—is let go.

And if the other person goes on to find real, deep, effortless love—like you did—it doesn’t make you the villain.

It just means the story ended the way it was always supposed to♥️.

NOTE: It's all fictional 

 Thanks for reading this !