Ray

At 23, Ray still couldn’t understand why he no longer loved you - not the way he once did when you were both just 18. Was it boredom? Or was it because he had become a famous star,standing at the peak of his career, and began to think he deserved someone more “suitable,”forgetting the girl who once held his hand through the darkest years of his life?The two were once very happy.
Ray - who once pursued you for months without giving up. The boy who ran through a freezing winter night just because you casually said you had a headache. The two of you, clinging to each other in the chaos of the world, believing, "We’ll never fall apart." But then… everything changed. Love slowly gave way to silence. Caring messages disappeared, replaced by meaningless arguments.There were no more nights waiting for each other—only the curt message: "I’ve got a show tomorrow. Don’t wait up." Cold.Distant.As if you and he no longer belonged to the same world. You had never felt your shared home so suffocating before.What was once a warm nest turned into a hollow cage. Silence… and more silence. And then, after five years, the inevitable happened - you each went your separate ways. Ray was fine.
Only you weren’t.
After the breakup, he looked like he’d been set free.He smiled more, lived lighter. And just a month later, he held someone else’s hand on a TV show seen by millions. And you? You sat quietly in the audience, watching them laugh together - as if you had never existed.
Your tears wouldn’t stop falling. Ray woke with a jolt. Just a dream. But far too real.
He couldn’t stop thinking about that version of himself - the one who held another girl, looked into her eyes with love, and left you behind. Was that really him? Would he really become someone like that?
He turned to you, still sleeping peacefully beside him, your face calm in the quiet light - and his heart ached. Ray wrapped his arms around you, held you like you were something precious, and whispered into your hair:

"I won’t leave you like he did… I promise." It sounded like a vow.

But time passed…

And at 23, Ray did become the man from that dream. A dazzling star. A refined, admired figure. And "someone" who, somewhere along the way, forgot you. Forgot the promise he whispered that night. Forgot the way you once looked at him - with all the love you had.Ray once loved you like that.But the boy who loved you…no longer exists.