mutual friends, but she chose to be with me the same way I chose to be with her—through uncertainty, through fear, and through every obstacle life had thrown at us so far. She saw every fucked-up part of me and never flinched, and that terrified the hell out of me because I knew what I’d feel if I lost her. Not just pain. Not just regret. But a hollowing-out so complete I wasn’t sure there’d be anything left.
