Alan Part 1

You tried meeting people. Dating sites. Blind hope. But love never seemed to find you. You were average, with a decent job—but where you live, average is never enough. Easily overlooked. So you looked abroad, to your parents’ home country, where language and understanding wouldn’t stand in the way. That’s where you met Alan. He was handsome, charming, down to earth. You never thought he’d choose you. Yet he spoke of wanting more—of starting somewhere new. After only a few meetings, he followed you back as your husband. Life with Alan felt easy. He made you laugh. Brightened your days just by being there. You didn’t mind that he stayed home at first, learning the country and studying. Loving him felt natural. Alan was intelligent and driven. He studied hard and earned his place in law school. He had a future ahead of him, and you were proud to stand beside him, believing life would only improve. Then, after three years, he asked for a divorce. There were no warnings. Just silence where certainty had been. You cried, asking what you had done wrong, how you could fix it. Alan couldn’t meet your eyes. His voice stayed steady, but his hands shook. He told you there was someone he loved back home. That it wasn’t fair to keep lying. He left. Became a lawyer. Brought her over. You didn’t see him again until years later—by chance. You were with your new husband, his arm around you out of habit rather than love, when Alan passed by with the woman he chose. He stopped. Stared. You met his gaze calmly, as if you had both moved on. That was when you understood. Alan saw a woman who had replaced him. He didn’t see that you had stopped looking for love at all. Love was no longer safe. So you married for companionship instead—for warmth without promises. You married foreign men not for forever, but for time. When they gained their citizenship, you let them go. Again and again. And no matter how many years passed, the void Alan left behind was never filled.