<p><br/></p><p><br/></p><p>When I finally agreed to go out with him again, I wasn’t expecting much. Just another outing. Another chance to pass time.</p><p><br/></p><p>But that day turned out different.</p><p><br/></p><p>We laughed real laughter, the kind that sneaks up on you until your cheeks hurt. We ate, teased each other, argued over little things, then agreed like we hadn’t just been stubborn seconds before. We watched movies, shared vibes, and somewhere in between all the noise, something quiet was happening inside me.</p><p><br/></p><p>I didn’t notice it at first. But by the time the night ended, it was there. A shift. A realization I didn’t want to say out loud: I was already going in. Falling, even if I didn’t understand what I felt yet.</p><p><br/></p><p>That scared me.</p><p><br/></p><p>So I did what seemed right I went for permission.</p><p><br/></p><p>I told my friend about it. I didn’t frame it as a confession, just a cautious question: Would it be wrong if I dated him? She surprised me by saying no, that she had no problem. She even laughed like it was nothing, like I was finally catching up to something she’d expected all along.</p><p><br/></p><p>Still, I didn’t trust just her words. I told my other friends, even my sisters. Asked for their opinions. They gave them freely, most of them nudging me forward, telling me to stop overthinking.</p><p><br/></p><p>But then came the twist.</p><p><br/></p><p>Not long after, he slid into my DMs not with sweet words, but shouting. Demanding to know what I had told her.</p><p><br/></p><p>The nerve.</p><p><br/></p><p>I shouted back, of course. Matched him word for word until I got tired of the noise and simply sent him a screenshot of my chat with her. Let him see for himself.</p><p><br/></p><p>His reply? Just two words: Never mind.</p><p><br/></p><p>That was it. Cold, abrupt, leaving me hanging.</p><p><br/></p><p>For a day or two, silence stretched between us. I told myself I was done. Told him, even, when he came back casually asking why I hadn't been responding. My words were sharp, final: Fuck off. Go back to her if that's what you want. Stop making me confused.</p><p><br/></p><p>I meant it. Or at least, I wanted to.</p><p><br/></p><p>But feelings aren't always obedient.</p><p><br/></p><p>Later, talking with my friends and sisters (not that one friend, never again), they cornered me with truths I didn't want to hear. One of them even said, "Why are you putting your feelings aside? This is the first time you actually like someone, actually want someone. Don't you have sense?"</p><p><br/></p><p>I snapped back, "It's the sense that's telling me not to go back there. Don't you get it?" She only laughed.</p><p><br/></p><p>"Listen," she said, "if he comes again, just... listen."</p><p><br/></p><p>And that's how the wall I thought I'd built around myself began to crumble. Slowly. Quietly. Against my will.</p><p><br/></p><p>Because when he did come again, I didn't push him away. I listened.</p><p><br/></p><p>And in listening, I accepted something I didn't know would be so good and so forbidden.</p>