It’s funny how the world sold us this idea of love — candlelight dinners, surprise gifts, long drives, stolen glances.
But the real thing?
It often looks nothing like the movies.
Romance doesn’t always arrive with music in the background.
Sometimes, it shows up quietly — like making sure they had lunch. Like forwarding that meme you know they’d laugh at.

Real romance is two people sitting in silence and still feeling full.
It’s in the way your voice softens when you say their name.
Or how they remember you take less sugar in tea — and always stir it gently.
It’s not about completing each other. It’s about walking beside, allowing space, and still choosing — again and again — to stay.

Romance is in the “I’ll wait,”
the “Did you reach safe?”
the “Take your time, I’m here.”

It is not loud.
It is patient.

It isn’t urgent.
It is honest.

It doesn’t consume you.
It reveals you

— from The Inner Notebook