Love is one of those things that feels general, e go touch everybody. But if you pay attention, you’ll see that it’s also a very fickle thing; coming and going, morphing through various forms, afflicting each sufferer differently.

This February, we will explore different experiences of romantic love in all of its iterations: the pining while seeking it, the joy of living with it, and the despair of losing it. Through honest, personal stories from real people, we’ll examine what love truly feels like.

This is V’s story.

Category: Heartbreak

One late afternoon in May 2024, I went to the mall for groceries and spotted this girl with her friends. She caught my eye immediately (in my head, I was like damn, this babe is mad o) but I didn’t approach her. I just continued shopping.

Then on the checkout queue, I saw her in another line. We kept making eye contact. As I walked out of the supermarket, she was waiting for me outside. She came up, said hi, and asked if I wasn’t going to get her number. I didn’t have my phone on me, so she took mine instead.

She called that night, and we started texting regularly. Our first date was a movie date, and the chemistry was off the charts. It felt like she had been my girl for years. We kept linking up, and it was awesome. I was really falling hard for this babe.

A few weeks in, her grandfather passed away. It was really tough on her, and so we barely talked, though I tried to stay in touch. Something felt off, but I told myself it was just the tragedy, and I shouldn’t think too far. I told myself I’d know for sure when next I saw her in person.

When we finally met up again, 2 or 3 weeks later, early July, I still wasn’t convinced. I asked what was going on, and she told me she wasn’t in the right headspace to commit to anything. It wasn’t a shock per se, since I’d already sensed something off, but I had convinced myself that I was just tripping.

A few weeks later, I’d stopped viewing her streaks, but this particular day, I clicked on her Snap, and it was videos & pictures of her loving up with another dude like 2 or 3 weeks after she told me she couldn’t be in anything.

I was just like damn, was she ever really ‘my girl’ or was this other nigga always in the picture?