Page 89 of Love Harder

We have to make mistakes to learn from them, and The Unicorn learned that I am stubborn and to never mistake my kindness for weakness.

And I learned that The Unicorn fights for what he wants, and it was apparent…that he wanted me.

It wasn’t our first fight, per se. But it was a moment that revealed a different side to The Unicorn.

Ironically, the other woman brought The Unicorn and me closer together as we had “the talk.”

He was mine.

I was his.

And we would work everything else out along the way.

It was hard to remember that we had only been seeing one another for such a short amount of time because we just fit.

But we needed to slow it down.

It seemed like the sensible thing to do.

But that idea lasted for about a minute.

I was so drawn to him because he was authentic. But being with him showed me just how broken by love I truly was because I was constantly waiting for the dreaded “but.” I was putting my faith and trust in yet another man, and we all know how that ended.

I wanted to believe him, but when something is a little too good to be true, it usually is.

But my friends, once again, swooped in and were my voice of reason when mine was on a sabbatical. They said no man puts the time and effort in as The Unicorn had if they didn’t like you.

The Unicorn himself had said the same thing.

Let this be a lesson for us all—if a man wants a woman, he is never too busy. He makes the time to see her, regardless of what he’s doing, and The Unicorn had proven that to me time and time by working the long days and hours he did, only to drive those extra miles to spend time with me.

If a man wants a woman, he makes the effort—period.

And The Unicorn was the only man who put the effort in and continued to do so. Yes, a man will chase at the beginning, but when they get what they want, most will retreat because the chase is over.

Men like the chase. When we make it too easy for them, the challenge is no longer there, and they move on to the next bestthing that catches their attention; a little like dogs chasing a new chew toy.

I wondered why this wasn’t the case with The Unicorn.

That’s when Mötley said something that stuck. She said youarethe next best thing. I can see that. And so can he.

I was so damaged by past loves that I no longer remembered that love can be simple too.

Yes, it’s fucking painful and, most times, leaves you questioningeverything. But sometimes, love can be kind. The type of love that makes us fight for our HEAs.

And I was soon realizing that I would fight for The Unicorn because he had done so for me.

We knew we had amazing sexual chemistry.

And that we vibed when together.

But the test was when we were apart.

And that was soon to be put into play because it was time for reality to kick in.

Often, those refer to the new beginnings of a relationship as the honeymoon period, where their new beau can do no wrong and the ick is nonexistent.

But with The Unicorn, it never felt like that because it always felt like we had known one another for longer than we had.