I probably deserved that. The quiet following my message. I was left on read without even a double blue tick explanation. It's simple to claim she was cold and uncaring, but in reality... I wasn't constant. One minute I was there, and the next I was gone. I told her I loved her, but I seldom showed it in the ways that mattered. There were no calls to check on her, no sincere texts, and no attempts made when she clearly required more than my bare minimum.
I thought she would always be there giving response, show smile, and wait for me. But, people become difficult. Even those that have softest hearts. Even those that don't intend to hurt you.
Perhaps I played too many games for the slow responses, the casual tone, and my attempt not to be desperate. But in the end, I simply appeared unavailable. Uninterested. And if you plant distance, you harvest absence.
So when she stopped trying and gave me back my own energy, it shouldn't have surprised me. Still, it did. I felt it in my chest. That silent, bitter realization that I wasn't the victim this time.
She didn't say goodbye. She didn't have to. Her silence spoke everything.
And now I sit here, wishing I had acted differently. Wishing I had been bolder with my heart. But regrets do not rewind time; they simply teach you the lesson you were too obstinate to learn the first time.
So yeah, maybe I deserved it. Every second of it.