“The Day I Feared Love”

The child said,
“Mom… I used to like someone.”
“But… I was the one who ran away first.”

When I asked why,
the child looked down,
then slowly spoke.

“I was scared of breaking up.
At first, it felt like a game, just something light.
But at some point, I couldn’t look them in the eye anymore.
I didn’t even know why…”

And then, even softer, came the words:

“Mom… remember when you said we’d meet again someday?
But… you didn’t come.”

Since that day,
the word ‘again’ became terrifying.
To smile again,
to hold again,
to begin again.

For that child,
love became something that always started with the feeling it might end.