She had been waiting for this moment for over two decades to finally reunite with him. The hug was warm enough to wake up years’ worth of emotions. They separated after a long and silent embrace. Did you feel my love? She asked solemnly.

For 22 years, my love for you has been a constant, with every breath, through the rise of every tide and every waning moon. I have loved you through happy tears and cries of laughter. I have loved you while awake and as I slept. I have loved you with every letter I wrote that was never delivered, with every word I uttered.

With every waking moment, I tried to fill the world with as much of your love as I possibly could. There were moments when the love was so painful that I could not recognize myself. Every time I glance at my reflection, I pause to ask if I’m a horrible person.

Every moment of my day was filled with thoughts of you. As I drove to work, as I stood in front of my students, I wondered about you. I wondered if you were still out there, if you still held a place for me in your heart, and if you remembered the shape of my face. My heart has been beating in agony, solely in the hope of seeing you again.

Leaving was the hardest decision I’ve ever made. It was a necessary choice, but it tore me apart. The day I walked away, I left a piece of my soul with you. And with every sunset that passes without you, I feel more of my soul slipping away —fragments I can’t seem to find or reclaim. I’m not a monster; I’m a just a broken being. An empty vessel. A vase that has never known the sweet scent of flowers.

So tell me, have you felt it through all these years? Have you felt my love?