I promised myself that I’d give it a year and if I still felt like I had to say something, I would. I don’t want to spend the rest of my life regretting being silent.
So, here it is.
I walked away for a good reason but it was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do. I knew you didn’t feel the same way I did, and there was nothing I could do to change your mind. I was willing to be patient, kind, and wait to be chosen until it felt like losing myself.
Despite knowing I made the right choice, and despite remembering all the moments that hurt me, my feelings didn't simply disappear. I’ve thought about you every single day for a year. I think about all the good moments, and being happy, and being with you. I’ve tried not to, believe me.
I never said it out loud but you know I loved you. I’m not sure if you were aware, but I don't usually let people get close to me. I'm guarded, scared, and shy, and I don't give love a chance very often, but I really tried with you. In one of the hardest years of my life, I put you first and never asked for anything more than your time. I put my own grief aside to make you a priority, but eventually I realised I couldn't keep putting my own feelings last.
Sometimes I wish I had never met you. Sometimes I wish I could go back and experience it all again, even if it ended the same way. Sometimes I wish I didn’t give you so many chances. Most of all, I wish you could have given me a chance.
I really do hope you're happy. I always believed in you, and despite everything, it's been difficult to reconcile the person I admired so much with the way things ended. I’m not saying all of this because I expect you to love me back, or to be different, or for you to even reply. I just wanted you to know that my feelings for you were always real, and that I don’t want you to think leaving you was easy for me, because it wasn’t, and it still isn’t.
I know I wasn’t perfect either, and I know I could have done some things differently, but I genuinely had nothing but good intentions with you. You really hurt me, and it’s been really hard. I miss you, and it’s been difficult to accept that missing you doesn’t change anything. I'm still hurt that you never apologised. That you didn't try to stop me when I walked away. That you never communicated clearly or honestly with me, even when it became obvious how deeply I felt about you. I wish things had been handled differently, because I deserved more than the uncertainty I was left with.
I just needed to tell you that I love you. I don't expect anything to come from saying it, and I'm not asking for anything to change. I'd just rather tell you the truth than spend the rest of my life wishing I had. I’ll always be rooting for you and I really do hope you find what you’re looking for.
This is my goodbye. You don’t have to respond, I just needed to tell you this so I can finally close the chapter and move forward.
I really did mean what I wrote.
Lucky is to have you and it always will be to the person I was.