I am writing these words because keeping them locked inside my chest is becoming too heavy to bear. I love you. I love you deeply, truly, and with everything that I am, even though you will never know. You entered my life and changed my entire world without even trying. Your smile, your kindness, and the simple way you exist became the brightest parts of my days. But loving you as a woman, while knowing you are straight, is a quiet and lonely heartbreak. It means watching you from the sidelines, wishing I could be the one to hold your hand, while knowing it is completely impossible. It hurts to look and have to hide how fast my heart is beating. It hurts to hear you talk about your life and have to pretend that I am just a friend, when every fiber of my being wants to give you the world. I love a version of a future with you that can only ever exist in my dreams. I love you enough to let you go without ever making you feel uncomfortable. I love you enough to keep my silence, even if it breaks me. I just needed to say it out loud, somewhere, somehow: I loved you with all my soul.
