I never meant to hurt anyone, least of all him. He was always there, like a steady hand in a stormy sea, but I couldn’t allow myself to reach for him, not fully. From the very first time we met, I felt a spark—something raw, something real—but I was with someone else. An older man who, at the time, I thought I needed. He was broken, yes, but I was broken too. I believed that if I could just make things work with him, then maybe I could fix something inside myself