She must have seen it before. She must have heard it. She must have felt it... because he's been giving her hints now and then.

-

He liked her. And for all its connotations, he must have already 'loved' her.

She was the sun of his lonely galaxy... the moon in his starless night sky... the sea in his parched earth... the bearer of all things great and small...

She was the one. She had to be. For no one's ever made him feel that way: around her he felt small, insignificant, weak. But at the same time, she made him feel like he can conquer the world...

That he can do anything and that it didn't matter what he was – whether he was rich or poor, young or old, good or bad. None of those mattered.

She took him for who he was. He wasn't perfect. But neither was she.

And he must have loved her for that.

-

Now she must have known what it was that he was trying to tell her through his eyes. She must have sensed the longing in his touch. She must have felt his heart beating harder and faster every time she walked by.

But he felt rejected. He persisted still. But his was an unrequited love...

Or so he thought.

-

The sun, the moon, the sea – the bearer of all things great and small – loved him as well! But he knew not.

She could not tell him. Oh, and how her heart ached to tell him that he, too, was the sun, the moon, the sea and the bearer of all things great and small!

He knew nothing of how much she suffered in silence. He knew nothing about her desire to look deep in his eyes and to tell him the same things that his eyes said. He knew nothing about her longing to hold him.

He knew nothing about how her heart would beat at the same time as his and how much it hurt because:

She could not tell him.

-

She didn't want to hurt 'her' – the friend she'd kept for the longest time; the friend she cared most about.

Like her, 'she' must have loved him. He was everything 'she' had ever wanted.

He, however, felt differently: he loved her. And not 'her.'

Hence, 'hers' was an unrequited love.

And by that, she knew better than to hurt 'her' by loving him. She could not love him. She shouldn't.

Fate was cruel to her. She did not ask for these things to happen. She had been caught in the middle and now she had to choose.

To save a friend from harm and risk losing him.

Or to take the lover and risk wounding 'her.'

Friend.

Or lover.

Lover.

Or friend.

She'd lose either way. And she hoped she never had to do it.

But she had to choose...

-

His galaxy has a new sun now... his night sky, a new moon... his earth, a new sea. He had gotten tired. He had given up and moved on.

She was merely the past that never was... the way things were... the girl he used to love.

She used to be the sun, the moon...

-

-

-

-

She used to be.