I Thought I Was Your Home, But I Was Just a Shelter – And Yet, I’m Still Waiting

 

# **I Thought I Was Your Home, But I Was Just a Shelter – And Yet, I’m Still Waiting**  

I don’t know why I ever thought I was different. That maybe, just maybe, I could be the one someone stayed with. That you would stay. But now, I see it for what it is. I was never a home. I was just a shelter.  

People come when they’re lost. When they need comfort. When the world is too cruel to face alone. And I—I give them warmth, I listen, I stay up all night making sure they’re okay. And once they’ve healed? Once they’ve found their way again?  

They start slipping away. Slowly. Silently. Until one day, I wake up and realize… they were never mine to begin with.  

And now, here we are. You’re still here, technically. But not really. It’s been 20 days since we actually *talked*—not just me trying, not just me waiting for a reply that never comes, not just you giving half-hearted responses. You’re avoiding me. Hiding something. And I don’t know why.  

Or maybe… I do.  

The day you confessed, something changed. Not just for us, but in me. I don’t know why, but after that, I started acting like I had some right over you. *Ye mat karo, wo mat karo. Yahan mat jao, wahan mat jao.* Do this, don’t do that. I don’t know when caring turned into controlling, when love turned into rules.  

And maybe that’s why we’re here today. Maybe I made you feel trapped instead of safe. Maybe, without realizing it, I pushed you away.  

I don’t know. I just… felt it. And if that’s true, if I ruined this with my own foolishness, then I don’t know how to fix it.  

I just know I’ll still be waiting.  

For the day you stop running. For the day you let me in again. For the day you realize my feelings weren’t a lie.  

I chased you when I had no chance. I kept trying. I never stopped. And now that I have even the smallest chance… I won’t let you go. I won’t let you down.  

Maybe it’s foolish. Maybe I should stop. But I won’t. Because I meant it when I said my search stopped at you. And deep down, I still hope… someday, you’ll come back.  

To anyone reading this—don’t make the same mistakes I did. Love isn’t about control. It’s not about setting rules. If you truly care about someone, give them freedom, not restrictions. Because once distance replaces closeness, once silence replaces conversations… you might realize it too late.

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