Love will always be a game.

I <3.

I swore I'd never fall again. That it won't catch me off guard ever again, that I'll constantly be in control. I'd keep my head held high and fend off anyone trying to reach in.

Why?

It's just easier, I guess. The moment you start having feelings for someone, everything just shifts uncontrollably and in order to regain control, a lot of collateral damage occurs. It's the kind of damage you can't avoid and when it happens, you don't even realise it. Takes a while to figure out exactly what went wrong and when, and even if you do... Nothing ever changes past events. Time doesn't rewind. Ever.

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I <3. It's always the little things. The way you lightly touch my skin, or when you reach for me at five in the morning. To say my insides flutter with an overflow of feelings would be too much of a mushy cliche. But it does. And I can't stop it, no matter how much I try.

I've fallen. I can't get away from this, you draw me into your atmosphere worse than gravity and it would be useless to try and push it away. I try to be guarded, but when it comes to you and <3, I think you had me at hello. Is that too silly? Do you even remember the first hello? A drunken haze surrounds our first moments together and it's hard to tell if you ever knew. Sometimes I wonder if you'll ever know. Or if I'll be brave enough to say it out loud.

Yes, it scares me. It's insecurity, you'll say. But I know it's not. It plays off as being an insecure little child, but it's actually an alarm bell that failed to ring one too many times. And we all know what happens when you forget to wake up...

It's okay. They say I'm strong. Will I still be strong if you destroy me? If you rip my heart out and chuck it away... Take what you need or want, as I won't stop you. Make me cry until I see red. Cut me open and see I'm real. Give a little and get a lot. Just as long as you <3.

I do. I <3. Berry much.

I never thought, I used to know.

People are fickle. We dress poor lies in glamorous words and hope we'll get away with it, for if we said what we really meant...

Truth hurts. No matter how small or big, simple or complex, it always tears through and at the end you're left standing without a piece of yourself. It comes like a hard blow, like a tornado of hurtful words that one cannot stop or predict. Regardless of how guarded we try to be and how much we pretend we're not affected, we end up having to pick up the pieces and start building afterwards, just like the consequence of an earthquake.

Sometimes, it's good when things end. Some happen just to teach us valuable lessons, mostly about ourselves. And then, occasionally, we have to learn that there's nothing to know, apart from what it actually is. No hidden meaning or resolution, just painful experience.

Most of the time, though, this part of life comes at a huge price, because whenever something ends, it takes away something precious. And it leaves behind moments that take forever to become blissful memories. Today, a private symbol of fondness and affection, tomorrow's blood, tears and sweat. We tend to forget this part, and try again. And that's alright.

For if we didn't try, we'd end up becoming empty shells of the people we use to be once. With every single person that comes and goes, we shift and change and evolve. And it hurts. And it's okay.

It's okay to grow. It's okay to learn. It's okay to hurt. And most of all, it's okay to forget and let go.