When I got bad news and the very first person I thought of calling was her. Not my mum, not my best friend. That was the moment I stopped pretending to myself it was just casual.
Watching him sleep one morning and feeling completely at peace — no anxiety, no performance, just contentment. I'd never felt that with anyone before. Didn't say anything until two weeks later but I knew.
When I started actively wanting her life to be better even when it inconvenienced me. That shift from want to want-for-them is the actual difference between attraction and love for me.
It built so gradually I couldn't point to a single moment. But there was a Sunday afternoon — nothing special was happening — when I thought 'I hope every Sunday feels like this'. That was it.
