When Love Lies

I know you’ll probably be wondering why I said that. How can love lie?

Love, as sweet as it is, can also be tricky. There are people who believe they are deeply in love until a little test comes along and suddenly makes them question everything they thought they knew.

Sometimes, there are relationships that look perfect from the outside, yet the two people involved may not actually be right for each other. Everything can seem to be going well, but somewhere along the way, the realization comes.

That is why you sometimes hear about two people getting married and getting divorced within the same year. It doesn't always mean the love was fake. Sometimes, the realization simply came late.

I have a friend who experienced something that made me think about this differently.

She had been in a relationship with a guy for a while, and honestly, we all thought they would eventually end up together. They seemed like a good match. But she eventually ended the relationship because she felt like something was missing.

Later, she got married to someone else.

The strange part?

The person she married did not treat her as well as her ex did.

It makes you wonder how often we leave something because we think something better is waiting for us, only to realize later that what we had was not as bad as we thought.

But love doesn't only lie in romantic relationships.

Sometimes, it lies in friendships and families too.

That is where you see two siblings who grew up together, loved each other, and shared almost everything eventually becoming enemies. You see friendships that people thought would last until death ending because of betrayal.

You trust someone because you love them, and sometimes that same love makes their betrayal hurt even more.

Love has lied to me too.

I once saw so many signs that made me believe my crush was in love with me. The way he acted, the little things he did, and the way I interpreted our interactions made me feel like there was something between us.

So, I made the first move.

I was rejected.

Looking back, maybe he never actually gave me those signs. Maybe I simply saw what I wanted to see because I already had feelings for him.

And that made me realize something.

Sometimes, love doesn't lie to us directly. Sometimes, we interpret things through the eyes of someone who wants to be loved.

There are also people who never meet the person they truly love because their hearts deceive them. They convince themselves that someone is right for them when they aren't, or that someone isn't worth choosing when they actually are.

I have seen situations where a guy clearly likes a particular girl but eventually ends up dating someone else.

Maybe it was because of timing. Maybe circumstances got in the way. Or maybe the person they thought they wanted wasn't actually the person they needed.

Perhaps that is what makes love so complicated.

We don't always know the difference between love and attachment. Between attraction and compatibility. Between being comfortable with someone and genuinely wanting to build a life with them.

Sometimes we realize too late.

Sometimes we choose the wrong person.

Sometimes we let the right person go.

And sometimes, we convince ourselves that someone loves us simply because we desperately want them to.

Maybe love doesn't always lie.

Maybe sometimes our hearts lie to us in the name of love.

And perhaps that is the most dangerous lie of all.