There’s a saying that goes, “Love is blind,” but that’s not true—not really. When it comes to love, we often see things far too clearly.
And sometimes the truth hurts more than we’re willing to admit. I was always the one people came to when their hearts were broken.
I was the friend who could listen for hours, comfort them, offer advice, and somehow know what to say to make things better. So, when my best friend Mia went through her devastating breakup with Ben, I was determined to be there for her—no matter what. Mia and Ben were inseparable for three years. They were the couple everyone envied, the couple who seemed perfect together.
But when Mia found out Ben had been hiding things from her, things she could never forgive, their relationship fell apart in a way that shattered her. She cried for days, barely leaving her apartment, and I was there every step of the way—making tea, sitting in silence when she didn’t want to talk, and offering her my shoulder to cry on. I never thought about how this might affect me.
It wasn’t about me. It was about Mia. That’s how I saw it. But then there was Ben. I hadn’t expected him to contact me. In fact, when Mia broke up with him, I thought I’d never see him again. But that wasn’t the case. He called me a few weeks after the breakup.
At first, I thought it was just an attempt to apologize, to find closure.
But when he invited me for coffee, something inside me told me this time would be different.
I agreed to meet him at a cafe, mainly to make sure he didn’t completely lose his grip. The last thing I wanted was for Mia’s ex to completely collapse. He was still someone I cared about, even though he’d hurt my best friend.
What I hadn’t expected was how much it would hit me to see him again. He was different. His usual confident demeanor was gone.
Instead, he seemed vulnerable—almost fragile.
There were dark circles under his eyes, and he looked thinner than I remembered. The moment he sat down across from me, he didn’t even know where to begin.
“I messed up, didn’t I?” he asked in a low, shaky voice. All I could do was nod.
He had. He really had.
The conversation started with Mia, but slowly drifted into other topics—his life, his regrets, and feeling lost without her.
I found myself listening not just out of pity, but with a growing realization that I was seeing a side of him I hadn’t noticed before.
I’d always seen him as the charming, confident guy who had everything together, but now I saw his true, honest self.
And it made me question everything. We talked for hours that afternoon, and as the day wore on, I realized how easy it was to talk to him.
How much we had in common. And how much I missed the person I thought I knew—before all the lies, before the betrayal. Ben wasn’t just Mia’s ex. He was someone I once cared about very much, someone I could connect with on a level I hadn’t expected. When we said our goodbyes, I felt conflicted. I’d done what I’d set out to do—make sure he was okay.
But I couldn’t shake the feeling that there was more between us.
Something that felt dangerous, something I wasn’t sure I was ready to confront. Over the next few weeks, Ben and I kept in touch.
It started innocently enough, with him telling me about his therapy, his work, and his life after the breakup.
But soon the conversations took a different turn.
We started talking about more personal things—memories from the past, shared experiences, and moments we’d never really discussed when we were just friends.
It was all so easy, so natural.
And as much as I hated myself for it, I began to realize I was developing feelings for him again.
It wasn’t something I had planned.
I tried to ignore it, to suppress the thoughts that kept coming back.
But the more we talked, the more I saw the person Ben could be, without the baggage of the past always hanging over him.
And the more I realized I wasn’t just missing the version of him that was Mia’s boyfriend—I was missing the version of him that was mine.
Then came the evening when everything changed.
Mia looked at me with a hint of guilt in her eyes. “I invited him,” she said quietly. “He wanted to apologize, to make everything right.” I tried to remain calm, to appear neutral.
But it was impossible. The tension in the room was palpable, and every glance between Ben and me seemed charged with meaning. In that moment, I realized I could no longer pretend everything was fine. The way he looked at me, the way we shared that unspoken understanding—it was just too much.
That evening, after Mia went to bed, Ben stayed behind to talk. He stood by the window, gazing at the city, and I joined him. Without saying a word, he turned to me, his eyes filled with something I couldn’t deny.
He leaned toward me slowly, and for a moment, it felt like everything was slipping out of my control.
“I’ve always felt for you, Emily,” he said, his voice barely a whisper. “Even when I was with Mia, I couldn’t forget you.”
It was the moment I’d dreaded. The moment I’d both wanted and dreaded.
And as much as I knew it was wrong, as much as I wanted to push him away and protect Mia, I couldn’t stop myself. I kissed him.
The kiss was brief, but it felt like everything had changed. Like I’d crossed a line that couldn’t be taken back.
When I left the next morning, I knew nothing would ever be the same.
I couldn’t go back to the way things were.
My heart was torn between loyalty to my best friend and the unmistakable feelings I had for someone who had once been a part of my life—and maybe could be again.
Perhaps this is the picture of 1 person.
Now I was faced with a reality I didn’t know how to navigate. I had to figure out what I wanted—before I lost both my best friend and the man I’d fallen in love with again.
