Still Waiting: When Love Lingers Without an Answer

Five Years, No Yes, No No—Just Silence....

It’s 2025, and Liam is still waiting. Still holding on. Five years have passed since he first met Elara in 2020, but it feels like time has stood still for him. Everyone else around him has moved forward—graduated, started new relationships, built careers—but he’s still here, stuck in the same place, waiting for something that may never come.

The Beginning: A Quiet Spark

Liam never thought it would be like this. When he first met Elara, it wasn’t like the love stories he’d read about in books or seen in movies. There was no dramatic first kiss, no sweeping confessions under the stars. Instead, there was a quiet connection that built slowly over time, like a flame starting in the dark.

Her voice was soothing, like a melody he couldn’t get out of his head. Her laugh was a little contagious, and the way she saw the world—her curiosity, her deep thoughts—pulled him in completely.

He fell for her without even realizing it. Slowly, quietly, completely. But it wasn’t love in the way he expected. Elara never gave him the validation he was hoping for. She never told him she loved him, nor did she push him away. She just... was there.

And for Liam, that was enough. She never said no, so he kept believing.

The Years That Followed

Every year since 2020, Liam kept waiting. It wasn’t an active decision—it wasn’t like he set out to wait, but time just passed, and there he was, still in love with her. He saw her post pictures on social media, living her life, getting closer with other people. Her hair changed, her interests evolved, and Liam stayed the same. He was the one who hadn’t moved forward.

At first, he convinced himself that maybe she just needed time. Maybe she didn’t know how she felt yet. He’d message her every now and then, and when she replied, he’d feel that small spark of hope. Sometimes, they’d have long, deep conversations, and he’d think, This is it. She’s starting to care.

But then nothing changed. She didn’t pull him closer, but she didn’t shut him out either. He was always on the edge of something—always so close, but never quite there.

No Rejection, No Return

As the years wore on, Liam’s friends started to notice. They told him to move on. “If she really cared about you, she would’ve said something by now,” they’d say.

But Liam couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something more. Elara never said no. She never told him to stop. So, how could he walk away when the door hadn’t been closed?

He was caught in the in-between—a place that tortured him. It wasn’t heartbreak, because there was nothing to break. It wasn’t hope, because hope had long faded into something quieter—something unsure. It was limbo. And limbo, he soon learned, was the hardest place to live.

What Is This Feeling?

As he sat with his thoughts, Liam began asking himself the most important question: What is this feeling?

Is this love? True love, even when it’s one-sided? How can you call it love when the other person never actively chooses you? When they never tell you, “I want you too”?

Maybe it’s not love at all. Maybe it’s attachment—holding onto a version of someone that exists only in your mind. Maybe it’s devotion—a kind of loyalty that doesn’t ask for anything in return. Maybe it’s fear, that quiet terror that if he lets go, he’ll never find someone like her again.

But then, maybe—just maybe—it’s the purest form of love. The kind that doesn’t need to be answered. The kind that exists simply because it does.

The Psychology of Holding On

Psychologists often say that there are three reasons why people hold onto something—or someone:

• Hope – believing that things will eventually change.

• Habit – the comfort of something familiar.

• Fear – the fear of letting go and never finding something as deep.

Liam felt all three.

The hope was easy at first. Maybe one day, she’ll see me the way I see her. The habit was harder to admit. Every time he looked at her posts, or saw her in passing, it was like a small part of him expected her to finally say what he’d been waiting for.

And the fear? The fear of letting go and realizing that maybe... maybe it was never meant to be. The fear that he’d wasted five years of his life for something that was never going to happen.

But as the years passed, Liam started asking himself a new question: Am I holding on because of love? Or because I’m afraid to let go?

2025: The Question That Remains

It’s now 2025, and Elara is still the same—kind, distant, unreadable. Liam still hasn’t gotten an answer from her. But he’s not the same. Something inside him has shifted. He’s not sure when or how it happened, but one day, he woke up and realized that he was starting to love someone else: himself.

He’s started to ask himself, What do I deserve? Not just in love, but in life. What do I want—and more importantly, what do I deserve?

Liam is realizing something important. Love isn’t just about waiting. It’s about being met halfway. It’s about balance, about mutual respect, about shared feelings. And when that’s not there, maybe it’s time to walk away.

A Final Thought

So, what is this feeling?

Maybe it’s love. Maybe it’s hope, pain, or attachment. Maybe it’s all of those things combined.

But what Liam is slowly beginning to understand is that love isn’t about how long you wait. It’s not about hanging on when there’s nothing left to hold. Love is about knowing when to stop waiting and start living.

Because sometimes, love doesn’t come with a clear answer. And sometimes, the greatest act of love is knowing when to let go.