Chapter 6: The space between us

After that call, everything became uncertain.

Some days he reached out. Other days, he didn’t.

And I found myself slipping into something I hated recognizing—

waiting.

Waiting for messages. Waiting for calls. Waiting for signs that I mattered in his present the way I once existed in his past.

It wasn’t dramatic at first.

Just small habits.

Checking my phone more than necessary. Overthinking replies. Reading meaning into silence.

And slowly, I began to realize something uncomfortable.

I was giving more emotional energy than I was receiving.

One night, I sat alone and admitted it to myself:

I was tired.

Not of him.

But of the uncertainty.

That was the moment I decided something quietly.

I would stop chasing.

Not because I stopped caring.

But because I needed to see what remained when I stopped reaching first.