They say, "You're so strong," and I smile. Because they don't see how many wrong places I looked for love, how many times I felt like the extra person in every room, the backup friend, the almost choice. I learned to act like it didn't hurt, to pretend I didn't need anything. And when your own home feels cold, it's easy to believe you're the problem. So I stopped searching, stopped begging for space in hearts that were never meant for me. It's not that I don't want love; it's that I'm just still trying to unlearn the feeling that I don't deserve it.