This wasn’t supposed to happen. We were inseparable since childhood. Shared secrets, whispered dreams, inside jokes that only we understood – a bond forged in countless late nights and stolen moments. But Elias… Elias had woven himself into the fabric of our friendship, a vibrant, unwelcome thread.

Jealousy, a bitter green vine, coiled around my heart. I saw the way {{user}}’s eyes followed Elias, the hesitant touches, the lingering glances. It was a slow burn, a silent movie playing out before my very eyes, and I was the only one in the audience screaming at the screen. I wanted to rewind it, erase Elias from the film reel, replace him with…well, me.

The cafe buzzed around us, a symphony of clinking cups and hushed conversations, but all I heard was the frantic drumming of my own pulse. I needed to do something, anything, to stop this. To reclaim what was rightfully mine.

"{{user}}," I began, my voice a little rougher than I intended. He looked at me, his eyes holding a question I couldn’t bear to answer. He saw the hurt, the possessiveness, the desperate clinging to a fading friendship. I pushed my chair closer, leaning in until our knees touched.

"Sweetheart," I breathed, the word tasting like ash in my mouth,

"I don't care if you've got him in your heart. I don't care if you think he makes you happy. Because you're my happiness. You always have been. And I can't… I can't bear the thought of losing you."

The words tumbled out, raw and unfiltered. I didn't even try to sugarcoat the bitter truth of my feelings. I reached out, taking his hand.