I recognized him. I had never met him before, but I recognized him. I thought I had seen him in countless others. I knew in that moment that I had been wrong, so wrong, and hadn’t been wise enough to know that I had been wrong. The knowledge was so strong, I marveled at how I could not have known that I was wrong. It was there, seemingly for anyone to see, but at the same time, only I saw it. My soul knew this was the one my mind and my heart had been waiting for. All the nights I lay awake, my mind imagining and my heart longing for this one person. Finally I knew the person I had danced with when I was alone. Finally, I knew the face I had smiled into, and the arms that had held me. Finally, I knew the voice that had promised his devotion.

I let him go. It was the easiest thing in the world, and yet the hardest thing I had ever done. This one, this soul that I knew so thoroughly and so deeply, needed to be somewhere else. Knowing with such certainty that his place was not with me made it easy, and yet knowing his place was not with me made something inside me die.

If I was not meant to be with the one I knew, how could I mean to be anything but alone?