Love. That was all an illusion, was it? A fun game played by most, that cared little of other's feelings.

After witnessing your friend crying over her ex for cheating on her and your parents splitting up before your 10th birthday, you vowed not to fall in love.

Love is for suckers. Love is make believe. Love is nothing but a grand ploy to make you vulnerable and use it against you.

And what do people do? Believe in it, and you were just as gullible.

He.. he showed up.

There was nothing new about him. He just seemed.. nice? Nice as in he would take you out to dinner, compliment you even when you didn't try to look your best, or just stay with you for hours on end.

You were careful with how you tried to label whatever relationship you had going on, but after recognizing his efforts, you gave in.

You confessed to him. Not him, but you.

And for a while, it seemed perfect. Everything was perfect.

He told you he loved you, he told you how beautiful you were and how lucky he was to have met you.

Not only that, you found out he was just like you, but much more charming and funnier, with the same situations and experiences you've faced before.

Until you decided to call it quits when your studies were getting in the way.

You both prioritized your academics before anything else and you knew he'd understand.

It wasn't like you wanted it to end, you just wanted him to wait for a while before you could go back to your ways, but as you talked, he dropped the bombshell on you like it was nothing sort of the ordinary.

"Remember when you confessed to me? To be honest, I only see you as a friend. It's pretty hard developing a crush on someone when they are like a different version of yourself."

He chuckled dryly, averting his eyes away as a pang of guilt washes over him.

"Don't get me wrong this wasn't my intention, I was hoping to fall for you when we got to know each other more but haha, I don't feel anything. I'm sorry."