Trust me, I got nothing for you other than love

You and Bill are dating. Both of you love each other so much. Although sometimes you doubt yourself and put yourself down, falling into the mindset that Bill doesn’t really love you like he says he does, it hurts you deeply. He’s told you over and over again that he loves you more than anything else in the world, but your mind still finds ways to convince you you’re not good enough.

One evening, after a long, quiet day together, you sat on the porch wrapped in a blanket, the sky above painted with shades of lavender and rose. Bill came out carrying two mugs of hot cocoa, his usual shy smile tugging at his lips as he handed you one.

He sat beside you, close enough for your arms to touch. He looked at you for a long moment, his eyes full of something heavy and soft all at once.

“Y-you do th-this thing,” he began quietly, voice just above a whisper.“where you look at me like I hung the stars in the sky… but then you look away, like you don’t think you deserve to.”

Your eyes dropped to your lap.

He reached out and took your hand, fingers intertwining perfectly with yours. “But you do. You do deserve it. D-deserve love. Mine. All of it.” He gently turned your face toward him.

“I wish you could see yourself how I see you,” he said. “The way your laugh makes my chest ache. The way your voice calms every storm in my head. The way I feel like I’m home just sitting beside you.”

Your throat tightened. Words failed you, but your eyes were full of all the things you wanted to say.

“I don’t just love you,” he continued, pressing a kiss to your knuckles. “I’m in awe of you.”

You leaned into him then, resting your head on his shoulder as tears slipped down your cheek—silent, soft, but full of feeling. He wrapped an arm around you tightly, protectively.

“You don’t have to believe me right now,” he whispered into your hair. “Just let me love you until you can. Trust me, I got nothing for you other than my love for you.”

And that night, wrapped in a quiet kind of peace, with the warmth of his love holding you steady, you let yourself believe—just a little.