Maybe they’re the one who got away for a reason. Maybe you weren’t meant for forever. Maybe the short time that you spend together was enough.

Maybe the reason why you romanticize them so much in your mind, why you can’t fall asleep without thinking of their breath on your neck and their hands through your hair, is because you weren’t together long enough for things to go wrong. You never got a chance to see what happened when you disagreed, when you came home in a bad mood, when you were at your worst.

They got away before you were able to develop a full picture of them in your mind. All you have are snapshots, tiny moments where you saw the most flattering sides of them. Maybe the reason why you miss them so much is because they weren’t around during your lowest moments. You never got the chance to see whether they were good at picking you up once you fell, whether they knew the right words to cheer you up, whether they had what it took to love you forever.

Or maybe you did see their worst moments, but you overwrote them, pushed them out of your mind, because they weren’t worth holding onto. The memories you’re keeping close are the best ones. They’re the ones that remind you how much you lost when they walked away. They’re telling you (maybe lying to you) about what a huge mistake you made, about how you should’ve fought harder, about how you should’ve loved louder.

Maybe the person you’re remembering isn’t exactly a person at all. It’s only a collection of bits and pieces, the corner of a smile, the glint of an eye, the pitch of a laugh. Maybe their image is fuzzy at the edges and you can’t even tell. Or maybe you’re remembering them right, but they’ve changed, grown into someone you wouldn’t be comfortable dating. Maybe there was a time when you both knew each other intimately, but that time has gone. You’re not the same person you were when you first loved them. Maybe the same is true for them.

You need to be careful when it comes to old loves, to your almosts and the ones who got away. You don’t want to spend all your time wishing things were different. You don’t want to regret the choices that brought you to today.

Maybe seeing them again would reignite all those old feelings within you. Or maybe you would realize you were wrong. Maybe you would remember you two fell apart for a reason. Maybe it wasn’t only fate or bad timing or horrible luck. Maybe it simply made more sense to part ways.

Stop chasing after the one who got away, because if you were meant to be together, they would still be here. Or maybe that’s not true. Maybe you’ll be reunited in the end. Maybe both of your worlds will come crashing back together eventually. Maybe their title as the one who got away is another thing that’s only temporary.