MidReal Story
Love's Sacrifice
Scenario: I must decide if hurting one friend is worth it to make two happy
Create my version of this story
I’ve been in love with my best friend’s boyfriend since I was ten years old.
It sounds like the plot of a bad teen movie, but it’s true.
I fell in love with Liam Evans the moment I saw him, and I’ve never stopped loving him.
The worst part?
He’s in love with my best friend, and she’s in love with him.
I’ve been stuck in the middle of their perfect relationship for years, and it’s slowly killing me.
Mia Thompson has been my best friend since we were five years old.
We met on the first day of kindergarten when she saw me crying because I missed my mom and gave me her favorite stuffed animal to make me feel better.
We’ve been inseparable ever since, and I can’t imagine my life without her.
She’s the most caring person I know, and she would do anything for the people she loves.
I knew he was in love with her long before he admitted it, and that’s part of the reason my feelings for him never went away.
I watched them fall in love with each other, and I was so jealous.
Mia is beautiful—petite with long blonde hair, bright blue eyes, and a smile that lights up the room.
She’s also incredibly smart, kind, and funny.
It’s impossible not to love her, and I know that’s why Liam fell for her so easily.
He was always attracted to her, but how could he not be?
The rest of the world is too.
Mia is the type of person who draws you in and makes you feel like you’re the most important person in the world.
She has a way of making people feel special, and it’s one of the things I love most about her.
She’s always been there for me—supporting me, encouraging me, and loving me through every stage of my life.
But it was also a constant reminder of what I could never have—Liam’s love.
I’m not sure how it happened, but somewhere along the way, my feelings for Liam went from a crush to something more.
His initial attraction to Mia only fueled my desire for him, and the more time they spent together, the more I realized that it was more than just a silly childhood crush.
I loved him.
I loved everything about him—the way he smiled, the way his eyes lit up when he talked about something he was passionate about, and the way his entire face scrunched up when he laughed.
I loved his dark hair, his perfectly sculpted cheekbones, and his athletic build.
I loved the way he smelled and the way he made me feel whenever he was near me.
I loved Liam Evans with every fiber of my being, and there was nothing I could do to stop it.
I tried to ignore my feelings, but they only seemed to grow stronger as time went on.
I knew it was wrong, but I couldn’t help myself.
The worst part is that Liam is my best friend too.
We’ve been friends since we were kids, and no matter how hard I tried to fight it, I couldn’t deny that we had a connection too.
It wasn’t like the connection he shared with Mia—I would never have that with him—but it was there.
Even though we were all friends and hung out together all the time, whenever Mia wasn’t around, Liam and I were usually together.
We spent countless hours talking on the phone or texting when we were apart—and even though we were just friends, those conversations meant everything to me.
They were a chance for me to talk to him without Mia being around, even though she was always on our minds.
It wasn’t easy being friends with them over the years.
There were times when I wanted to scream at the top of my lungs that I was in love with Liam and tell Mia to back off—but I never did.
And then I did something stupid.
I confessed my love to Liam.
I’d known for years what would happen if I ever told him how I felt, but in that moment, as I sat on my front porch talking to him on the phone, I didn’t care.
It had been a rough day, and for some reason, I’d felt like I needed to tell him how much I loved him.
I didn’t plan on it—it just slipped out.
My stomach dropped as soon as I said it, and I waited with bated breath for his response.
For a split second, there was silence on the other end of the line, and I worried that he’d hung up on me.
But then he said my name, and nothing else.
He didn’t say he loved me too, and he didn’t say anything to make me think he felt the same way.
He didn’t say anything at all.
He didn’t have to.
Maybe he thought I was joking or that he’d misheard me.
Or maybe he already knew how I felt.
I don’t know what I hoped for, but I prayed for some kind of response to let me know he felt something for me too.
Even if he hated me for telling him the truth, at least then I’d know how he really felt.
But he never said anything more, and after several seconds of silence, I started to panic.
“Say something,” I whispered, biting down on my lip so hard that it bled.
“I can’t take it back.
The damage has been done.”
My voice was so low that I wasn’t sure if he could hear me.
“Em,” he said again, this time with more force.
“I don’t know what to say.”
My heart sank as his words hit me like a ton of bricks.
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, trying to regain control of myself before speaking again.
“You don’t have to say anything,” I whispered, tears streaming down my face as I realized what had just happened.
“I shouldn’t have said anything at all.”
I wish he’d said it back.
I wish he’d told me he loved me too, but I knew that wasn’t going to happen.
He didn’t feel the same way about me, and he never had.
I don’t know why I thought that would change, but I’d been a fool to think it would—and an even bigger fool to confess my feelings to him.
The last thing I wanted to do was ruin my friendship with Mia, even if it meant hiding my feelings for Liam forever.
I hated seeing her heartbroken after every guy she dated, and I knew this would be no exception.
But what choice did I have now?
If Liam didn’t feel the same way, there was no way he’d ever be able to look at me the same way again, and that meant our friendship would never be the same either.
Only one thing had changed, but it changed everything.
My confession had ruined everything, and I didn’t know how to fix it.
“Em, are you okay?”
Liam asked after several seconds of silence on both ends of the line.
I asked, my voice cold and shaky as fresh tears started streaming down my face.
“What do you mean?”
he asked, confused.
“I’m not okay.”
I said, my voice louder this time as my emotions got the best of me.
I took another deep breath and tried to calm myself down before speaking again, but it wasn’t easy.
“What do you want me to do?”
Liam asked, finally catching on to what was happening.
“Do you want me to come over?”
The last thing Mia needed right now was for Liam to be with me instead of her, so I quickly pushed away any feelings of self-pity and responded in the only way I knew how—with support and reassurance—because if anyone’s heart should be breaking right now, it should be hers, not mine.
“No,” I said, doing my best to keep my voice steady as more tears streamed down my face.
“You should go back inside and be with Mia.”
“But she’s fine,” Liam said, sounding frustrated and confused all at once.
“No, she’s not,” I said, feeling another wave of guilt wash over me.
“She needs you right now, and you need to be there for her.
Just go.”
I don’t know how long we stood there in silence, but eventually Liam went back inside to be with Mia, and that’s when things really started to unravel.
I’d managed to keep my emotions in check long enough to calm Mia down, but when she pulled me into a hug and told me how much she loved me, it was all too much to bear.
I knew that keeping my feelings for Liam a secret would only get harder from here, especially if he started dating other people, so in that moment, with her arms wrapped tightly around me and her face buried in my hair, I made one of the hardest decisions of my life.
“If you’re scared about losing all your friends when you move away,” I whispered, my voice barely audible above her sobs as fresh tears started streaming down my face, “then you’re not alone.”
I said, pulling away from her slightly so that she could see my eyes.
I hated lying to her, especially when it came to something so important, but what choice did I have?
I couldn’t tell her that what I was really afraid of losing was Liam, and not just because she’d think I was jealous or selfish, but because it would hurt her even more to know that I’d been lying to her all this time, pretending to be happy for her when that couldn’t have been further from the truth.
She didn’t deserve to be hurt like that, especially now, so I had to keep my feelings hidden for as long as it took, even if it meant living a lie for the rest of my life.
I’d made up my mind, and there was no turning back now, but that didn’t make it any easier to lie to her face, even when I knew it was for her own good.
“I don’t want to lose you, Mia,” I said, doing my best to sound sincere as I looked into her eyes, “or any of our other friends.”
“I don’t know what I’d do without you,” Mia said, pulling me into another tight hug and kissing me on the cheek before letting go.
“You’re more important to me than anyone else in this world.”
