You said
you’re not looking for anything right now,
and I nodded like it made sense.
Like it didn’t rearrange the hope
I hadn’t even finished building yet.

I smiled —
not because I was okay,
but because I didn’t know
how to be anything else.

I didn’t cry.
Not because it didn’t hurt,
but because the tears felt too big
for something that was never mine
to begin with.

I muted the songs that reminded me of you,
scrolled past things I wanted to send,
laughed when your name came up
like it didn’t pull something
just beneath the skin.

I think I made peace with it
a little too quickly.
Turned my disappointment
into politeness,
like maybe if I didn’t make it real,
it wouldn’t have to stay.

You were a soft almost,
a quiet what-if,
a maybe I didn’t get to keep.

And no —
I never cried.
But maybe I should’ve.

Because not everything that hurts
has to be loud.
Some heartbreaks
just sit there,
unspoken.