(Guest Post)
There’s something uniquely devastating about loving someone who doesn’t love you back.
Not with cruelty, not even with neglect, but with the kind of gentle disregard that only long-standing friendship can offer. You’re always there. But you’re never it.
Chris, in Let It Fall, is that kind of heartbreak.
He’s the best friend in a best friend romance. The emotionally complex male character who knows her down to the hour she stopped drinking coffee. The man who’s loved Giselle for eighteen years, and still has to sit quietly while she chooses someone else.
“I’ve spent my entire life waiting for you. Just waiting… Wondering when you’d realize what you meant to me… Praying for you to understand my feelings… Contemplating when to kiss you at the perfect moment so you’d remember it for the rest of your life.
…My world revolves around you, Elle.”
If you’re searching for fiction that explores unrequited love, this is it.
The Pain of Watching Her Leave
Chris is not bitter. He doesn’t sabotage her happiness. He doesn’t confess his love to win. He confesses it because it’s eating him alive.
“I’ve loved you from the moment I saw you. You were in your pigtails and wore a pink frock… I loved you when we played in the rain, when you scraped your knees, and when we watched cartoons. I loved you when you cried in my arms, and even when you loved someone else.”
It’s the kind of slow burn romance with angst that doesn’t end in triumph. It ends in ache. The long, drawn-out kind that seeps into your bones.
And yet… he never stops loving her.
What Makes Him Unforgettable
When Giselle finally realizes it—when her lips tremble and she whispers, “I love you, Chris,”—he doesn’t even believe her.
“No, I don’t want you to say something you’d regret later. Trauma does that. It’s okay…
Loving you is not a transaction. I will always be here for you even if you don’t love me back.”
Because that’s who Chris is. The kind of man who doesn’t ask for love in return, even after offering his entire heart.
Unrequited Love in Fiction, But Never Unfelt
The thing about unrequited love in fiction is that it often mirrors real heartbreaks. It reminds us of the times we waited. Hoped. Stayed. Even when we weren’t seen.
Chris sees Giselle through every breakdown. Every death. Every moment of collapse. And even when he confesses—when he says “I don’t remember not loving you”—he still steps back, lets her choose.
If you’ve ever been the one who loved in silence, if you’ve ever been the best friend instead of the boyfriend, the almost instead of the always, Chris will break you.
But maybe that’s the point.
Maybe unrequited love isn’t about being chosen.
Maybe it’s about loving anyway.
Looking for books with emotionally intense characters, best friend heartbreak, and painful but beautiful love stories?
Let It Fall is waiting for you.
Munazza Bangash | Author 
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