Diana had grown up with love stories where everything seemed simple.
Since she was a child, she had absorbed the words of the romantic books her mother read aloud, and she saw in her parents the model of a happy couple—a lasting love that seemed to withstand everything. To Diana, love was supposed to be like that: intense, passionate, full of understanding and complicity. She was convinced that, when the time came, she would find that special someone who would make her feel complete, as if the world had been waiting for the two of them to cross paths.
In her youth, her relationships were fleeting but intense. She always believed that he could be the one—that maybe in that smile, in that embrace, she would find the certainty that she had found the love of her life. But each relationship ended at the same point: misunderstandings, broken promises, and disappointments that left small but persistent scars on her soul.
As the years went by, Diana began to question things. At thirty-five, she felt her heart had taken too many hits, and every time she allowed herself to hope, she seemed destined to fall again. There had been that guy who seemed to have everything she was looking for, but turned out to be someone completely different once the initial passion faded. She also remembered the man with whom she shared so many affinities, but who never dared to take the next step.
Each memory became a chain of disappointments that tied her to a single doubt: was love just an ideal? Maybe there was something in her that kept the magic of love from working.
One Sunday afternoon, Diana was sitting in her apartment, listening to the rain against the window. Outside, the city was a gray landscape, and inside her, a similar feeling took over. She thought about how relationships seemed easy for others, but for her they were always complicated. She remembered the words of her best friend, who always told her that sometimes love comes when you least expect it. "Don't look for it, and love will find you," she would say optimistically.
But Diana was tired of waiting. How many times had she given her heart only to see it shattered?
She looked at her reflection in the window and felt the sadness of a resignation she hadn't wanted to admit until that moment. Maybe, she thought, true love just isn't meant for me.
Perhaps it was time to close that chapter of her life and accept that not all stories have happy endings.
At that moment, a tear slid down her cheek, and Diana didn't stop it. It was as if, by shedding that tear, she was saying goodbye to an illusion—letting go of all the expectations she had held onto for years.
That night, as she prepared to sleep, Diana made herself a promise. She would no longer seek love, she would no longer open her heart so easily. She would focus on her life, on finding her own peace and happiness. If love was meant to come, it would come on its own—but she would no longer take that first step.
With that thought, she felt strangely calm, as if by giving up on love, she had found a new kind of freedom.
But fate often has plans of its own, and just when she decided to close the doors of her heart, someone unexpected was about to cross her path.